Janie Hunter (June 7, 1918 – June 14, 1997) was an American singer and storyteller who worked to preserve

Gullah The Gullah () are an African Americans, African American ethnic group who predominantly live in the South Carolina Lowcountry, Lowcountry region of the U.S. states of Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina, within the coastal plain ...

culture and folkways in her home of

Johns Island, South Carolina Johns Island is an island in Charleston County, South Carolina, United States, and is the largest island in the state of South Carolina. Johns Island is bordered by the Wadmalaw Island, Wadmalaw, Seabrook Island, South Carolina, Seabrook, Kiawah I ...

. She received a 1984 National Endowment for the Arts

National Heritage Fellowship The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States government's h ...

in recognition of her contributions to folk art and traditions.

Early life

Janie Bligen Hunter was born on River Road on Johns Island, South Carolina in 1918. Her father was Joe Bligen, a fisher and farmer. When she was young, Hunter worked as a cotton picker, earning less than 40 cents a day for her work. She married Willie Hunter, with whom she had fourteen children.

Singing and storytelling

Hunter came from a large family of singers and storytellers, and she traced the lineage of these stories to ones handed down from her great-grandparents, who were enslaved in the

Sea Islands The Sea Islands are a chain of tidal and barrier islands on the Atlantic Ocean coast of the Southeastern United States. Numbering over 100, they are located between the mouths of the Santee and St. Johns Rivers along the coast of South Carolina, ...

. She and her brother Benjamin were some of the last native speakers of the

Gullah language Gullah (also called Gullah-English, Sea Island Creole English, and Geechee) is a creole language spoken by the Gullah people (also called "Geechees" within the community), an African-American population living in coastal regions of South Caro ...

. She framed the use of the Gullah language among enslaved people as a form of resistance to oppression, a creation of private linguistic space that could not be understood by white slaveowners. Hunter's stories often featured animals as characters, and had familiar songs woven into the telling. These tales were both a form of entertainment and a teaching tool used to pass on customs and cultural lessons to children. Many of the traditions she worked to preserve, whether in songs, stories, or crafts, showed the continuing influence of African cultural forms in the region as a result of

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

and the

African Diaspora The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from native Africans or people from Africa, predominantly in the Americas. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the West and Central Africans who were e ...

. Hunter was a member of Wesley Methodist Church, and was known for her singing at Moving Star Hall, a local praise house. Moving Star Hall was a place of special importance to her as a singer, as she explained to musicologists Guy and

Candie Carawan Carolanne Marie "Candie" Carawan () (born 1939) is an American civil rights activist, singer and author known for popularizing the protest song "We Shall Overcome" to the American Civil Rights Movement with her husband Guy Carawan in the 1960s. ...

You can feel yourself in that hall. You have a chance to explain yourself ... anybody who want to. But in church on Sunday, we just have one preacher talk. And you might get a chance to raise a song or pick out one person to make a few remarks. But to that hall, everybody could have their way, tell your own story. That's the difference it makes.

Hunter toured as a song leader with the Moving Star Hall Singers for 30 years, beginning in 1964 with a performance at the

Newport Folk Festival Newport Folk Festival is an annual American folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the Newport Jazz Festival. It was one of the first modern music festivals in America, and remains a foca ...

. She made recordings for three Smithsonian Folkways albums with the group: ''Sea Island Folk Festival: Moving Star Hall Singers and Alan Lomax'' (1964), ''Been in the Storm So Long: Spirituals & Shouts, Children's Game Songs, and Folktales'' (1967), and ''Johns Island, South Carolina: Its People and Songs'' (1973). Hunter was well-regarded by academics and folklorists for her wide knowledge of Gullah customs and traditions, and was a frequent source in their research and preservation work. She was featured in Alan Lomax's documentary ''Dreams and Songs of the Noble Old'' (1991), which focused on her singing, storytelling, and efforts to pass on folk traditions to the younger generations. She was also featured in John Cohen's documentary ''Musical Holdouts'' (1975), performing the song "Sweet By and By." Her storytelling has been published in the Carawans' ''Ain't You Got a Right to the Tree of Life'' (1967) and ''Talk That Talk: an Anthology of African-American Storytelling'' (1989).

Honors

Hunter was recognized as an NEA National Heritage Fellow in 1984 for her singing. The fellowship cited her knowledge and teaching of storytelling, game songs, and folk medicine, as well as her skill in quilting and crafting of brooms and rag dolls. She traveled with a large group of family members to the National Heritage ceremony in Washington DC, and performed a

ring shout A shout or ring shout is an ecstatic, transcendent religious ritual, first practiced by African slaves in the West Indies and the United States, in which worshipers move in a circle while shuffling and stomping their feet and clapping their hands. ...

as part of the Folklife Festival. Hunter also received honors from the Smithsonian Institution and the National Association of Black Storytellers. She was a winner of the South Carolina Folk Heritage Award.

Death

Janie Hunter died in Johns Island on June 14, 1997 of lung cancer. She was 78.

References

External links

Janie Hunter and family: "Water my Flowers" (1983) Alan Lomax ArchiveJanie Hunter and the Moving Star Hall Singers: "Jonah" (1983) Alan Lomax ArchiveMusical Holdouts (1975) FolkstreamsDreams and Songs of the Noble Old (1991) Folkstreams
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, Janie 1918 births 1997 deaths American storytellers Women storytellers People from Johns Island, South Carolina National Heritage Fellowship winners