Educational Media Reviews Online

This film, narrated by Vertamae Grosvenor, is about the non-history of African-American men and women, and how a song was the catalyst to uncovering the African heritage of one African-American family. In 1931, a musicologist in Georgia discovered the longest text/song in the African language still sung in America. It was sung by Amelia Dawley, a former slave in Georgia, in the Mende language/Gullah dialect, and was an ancient funeral song. This information remained unknown until 1970, when anthropologist Joseph Opala and ethnomusicologist Cynthia Schmidt rediscovered the tape containing the song, and set out to discover its history. The film recounts their journey to Sierra Leone, the discovery of the tribe that initiated the song, the ritual for which it was used, and a reenactment of the ceremony. Both Opala and Schmidt went even further, and tried to find out whether the song was still sung in America. Amazingly, the daughter of Amelia Dawley, Mary Moran, had continued the tradition of singing the song and passing it down through her family. The film shows the reunion between Mary Moran and the tribe in Sierra Leone that still sung the song. Thus, one African-American family was able to trace their roots back to the exact African location and tribe from which they originated, all through the chance recording of a song here in America in the 1930's.

This film is a wonderful account of an extraordinary event, one that happens very infrequently in the African-American community, being able to trace one's history to pre-slavery times. It is a superb documentary, and presented similarly to a detective or mystery novel, where people have to dig for clues and signs in order to bring the story to conclusion. It is a unique and indeed remarkable story. The African chieftain of Mary Moran's tribe is responsible for the title when he states, "You can identify a person's tribe by the language they cry in."

Highly recommended for all audiences.