Rock Hill duo to perform spirituals this weekend at Black History Month program
Carlo L’Chelle Dawson and Stephen Crotts began in unison.
She clapped her hands while he picked his banjo to the intro of the spiritual “Down by the Riverside.”
Then she sang out the lyrics: “I’m gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside…ain’t gonna study war no more.”
The duo will perform the spiritual, famously performed by Louis Armstrong, and other songs on Saturday at Historic Brattonsville’s “By Way of the Back Door” event. Brattonsville is a former plantation site near McConnells, S.C. The program will highlight arts and cultural contributions of the enslaved.
Spirituals are a type of religious folk music associated with enslaved people in the American South, according to the Library of Congress’ website loc.gov.
The Historic Brattonsville program is part of the site’s focus on the daily lives of enslaved people who were forced to work there in the 1700s and 1800s.
“At this particular event, we wanted to actually sing African American spirituals and it is something that I really felt passionate about,” Dawson said. “Spirituals have always been something that I’ve grown up with and I really wanted that history to be preserved.”
Dawson is a journalism and creative writing teacher at South Pointe High School in Rock Hill. She’s also a storyteller and historic re-enactor who performs at schools, museums and libraries.
She and Crotts met in 2020 when the two collaborated on videos for the virtual program of “By Way of the Back Door,” which is a yearly event during Black History Month.
Dawson said she sang spirituals as a soundtrack for the video that Crotts produced.
Dawson said she has done research on the history of Brattonsville to learn the way of life of enslaved people. She also interviewed historians and descendants of the enslaved who lived at Brattonsville and used her own experience growing up in church with the music, she said.
Other songs the duo will perform are “We are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder” and “Our Precious Lord.”
An interest in Southern folk ways
Crotts is an illustrator who worked in marketing with the York County Culture and Heritage Museums for several years where he met descendants of the enslaved people who lived at the Bratton plantation.
Crotts said he has an interest in southern folk ways, which includes food and music.
“My particular interest is in the banjo, which is an African American instrument,” he said. “So that has brought me into all kinds of beautiful music and stories, and it was a connection point for Carlo and I.”
Carlo said she thinks about the legacy of her ancestors and the stories and songs they left.
“What better way to celebrate life than to give back and to honor the lives that have come before us.”
Details
“By Way of the Back Door: Arts and Cultural Contributions” will be 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Saturday at Historic Brattonsville. For more details, visit chmuseums.org.
This story was originally published February 23, 2023 at 1:51 PM.
