African-American performers were recorded in the turpentine
camps near Cross City; the Clara White Mission (then serving as
a WPA office) in Jacksonville; the Caruja Ranch near
Kenansville; a shrimphouse in Mayport; a menhaden fishing boat
off the Georgia coast; and the home of an ex-slave in Sebring.
Performers sang ballads, spirituals, and work songs; narrated
beliefs and superstitions, humorous recitations, and life
histories; and danced a tap dance. Some performances imitate the
Geechee, or Gullah, dialect, specific to a group of African
Americans who settled on the Sea Islands of South Carolina and
Georgia. Their geographic isolation enabled them to preserve
more of their West African heritage, including some elements of
language. Zora Neale Hurston, novelist, folklorist, and Federal
Writers' Project writer, performs eighteen songs learned from
her childhood in Eatonville, Florida, and her own collecting
trips. See also Bahamian Americans. Bahamian-American performers
of African descent were recorded in