Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Introduction:
The Olympic Games join athletes from across the globe in the highest levels of competition and excellence. The games have included, since their inception, a cultural component, but never before as extensively as in Atlanta in 1996. The Centennial Olympic Games brought together musical and dramatic performances, exhibitions, and artists from around the world. But most importantly, the Olympic Arts Festival highlighted the American South.
Southern culture was born from the interactions over past centuries of Native Americans, European settlers, and peoples from Africa. In the South, various forms of expression have arisen and transcended boundaries of race, gender, religion, and geography. So powerful have these expressions been - jazz, blues, gospel, rock 'n' roll, civil rights songs, Southern oratory, and food - that they have constituted unique American contributions to world culture. At the 1996 Festival on the National Mall, these forms of expressive culture were celebrated. Later the same summer in Atlanta during the Olympic Games, the program was the core of Southern Crossroads, a festival of Southern culture mounted in the new Centennial Olympic Park - the gathering spot for several hundred thousand visitors a day and billions more through television coverage. An Enhanced-CD Smithsonian Folkways recording with Internet connections and other educational material derived from the Festival program reached countless more after the Olympic Games.
The 1996 program not only exposed regional cultural roots but also showed how many of them have become part of traditions known to America and the world. Technology amplified the stories and songs of Southern rivers and roads, travails and struggles - as documenters recorded, disk jockeys broadcast, and performers toured these cultural expressions, helping them bridge race, gender, class, and ethnicity and producing forms of music now identified with American culture as a whole.
The world of Southern culture celebrated in the 1996 Festival was one of family, home, and community. The program explored new points of juncture and the evolution of new identities. In these could be discovered in today's South the roots of a new, evolving American culture.
Philippa Thompson Jackson was Program Curator and Phyllis K. Kimbrough was Program Coordinator.
The American South was made possible by and was produced in collaboration with The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Cultural Olympiad and in cooperation with the Southern Arts Federation. Additional support was provided by The Recording Industries Music Performance Trust Funds.
Presenters:
Dori Addison, Tara Browner, Katherine Hagedorn, Joyce Jackson, Worth Long, Derek Lowery, Tim Patridge, Henry Willett Ill, Otis Williams, Joe Wilson
Particpants:
Performance Traditions
BEAUSOLEIL AVEC MICHAEL DOUCET
Jimmy Breaux, Acadian accordion, Lafayette, Louisiana
David Doucet, lead and backing vocals, acoustic guitar, Lafayette, Louisiana
Michael Doucet, lead vocals, fiddle, Lafayette, Louisiana
Al Tharp, vocals, banjo, bass, fiddle, Lafayette, Louisiana
Billy Ware, percussion, Lafayette, Louisiana
THE BIRMINGHAM SUNLIGHTS
Reginald Speight, tenor, Birmingham, Alabama
Barry Taylor, bass, Birmingham, Alabama
James Taylor, light tenor, Birmingham, Alabama
Steve Taylor, bass, Birmingham, Alabama
Wayne Williams, tenor, Birmingham, Alabama
CALLIOPE HIGHSTEPPERS
Henry Freeman, dancer, New Orleans, Louisiana
Johnny Stevenson, dancer, New Orleans, Louisiana
James Taylor, dancer, New Orleans, Louisiana
THE FREEDOM SINGERS
Betty Mae Fikes, 1946-, vocals
Rutha Harris, vocals
Charles Neblett, 1941-, vocals
Cordell Hull Reagon, 1943-1996, vocals
GENO DELAFOSE & FRENCH ROCKIN' BOOGIE
Geno Delafose, diatonic, Acadian & piano accordion, vocals, Eunice, Louisiana
Bobby Broussard, guitar, Eunice, Louisiana
John Espre, bass, Eunice, Louisiana
Germaine Jack, drums, Eunice, Louisiana
Steven Nash, rub board, Eunice, Louisiana
IFÉ ILÉ
Philbert Armenteros, congas, Miami, Florida
Rodolfo L. Caballero, vocals, Miami, Florida
Catalino Diaz, dancer, Miami, Florida
Ruben Romeu, congas, Miami, Florida
Luis E. Torres, bata, congas, chekere, Miami, Florida
Neri Torres, lead dancer, Miami, Florida
Tony Littleturtle Clark, Lumberton, North Carolina
Kat and Ray Littleturtle, Lumberton, North Carolina
Willie Lowery, Lumberton, North Carolina
MAGGIE LEWIS WARWICK WITH TILLMAN FRANKS' OLD TIME LOUISIANA HAYRIDE BAND
Maggie Lewis Warwick, guitar, vocals, Shreveport, Louisiana
Jimmy Day, lead guitar, Shreveport, Louisiana
Tillman Franks, acoustic bass, Shreveport, Louisiana
Paul Griffith, drums, Shreveport, Louisiana
John Peck, fiddle, Shreveport, Louisiana
Felton Pruitt, steel guitar, Shreveport, Louisiana
Kenny Bill Stinson, keyboards, Shreveport, Louisiana
NEW COON CREEK GIRLS
Dale Ann Bradley, guitar, Renfro Valley, Kentucky
Kathy Kuhn, fiddle, White Creek, Tennessee
Vicky Simmons, bass, Berea, Kentucky
Ramona Church Taylor, banjo, Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Eddie Pennington, Princeton, Kentucky
Douglas Quimby, 1936-, Brunswick, Georgia
Frankie Quimby, Brunswick, Georgia
Arnold Richardson, London, Kentucky
SKEETER BRANDON & HWY 61
Skeeter Brandon, vocals, keyboards, North Carolina
Chris Grant, bass, North Carolina
Armand Lenchek, guitars, North Carolina
Kelly Pace, drums, North Carolina
Rusty Smith, trombone, North Carolina
Wally West, tenor saxophone, North Carolina
TREME BRASS BAND
Benny Jones, Sr., snare drum, New Orleans, Louisiana
James Andrews, trumpet, vocals, New Orleans, Louisiana
Lionel Baptiste, bass drum, vocals, New Orleans, Louisiana
Kirk Joseph, tuba, New Orleans, Louisiana
Frederick Shepherd, trumpet, vocals, New Orleans, Louisiana
Gregory Veal, trombone, New Orleans, Louisiana
ULALI
Pura Fe Crescioni, Cherokee-Tuscarora, vocals, rattles, hand drum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jennifer Kreisberg, Cherokee-Tuscarora, vocals, rattles, hand drum, Hartford, Connecticut
Soni Moreno, Aztec-Maya, vocals, rattles, hand drum, Staten Island, New York
Craft Traditions
David Allen, cane carver, Homer, Louisiana
Anna Branham, potter, Rock Hill, South Carolina
Monty Branham, potter, Rock Hill, South Carolina
Nola Campbell, potter, Rock Hill, South Carolina
Melissa Darden, Chitimacha basket weaver, Charenton, Louisiana
Mary Jackson, sweetgrass basket maker, Charleston, South Carolina
Eric Miller, potter, Brent, Alabama
MISSISSIPPI CULTURAL CROSSROADS (MCC)
Essie Buck, quilter, Port Gibson, Mississippi
Patty Crosby, quilter, Port Gibson, Mississippi
Geraldine Nash, quilter, Port Gibson, Mississippi
Mary Ann Norton, quilter, Port Gibson, Mississippi
Shirley Motlow, patchwork clothing, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Donnie Tolson, biblical carver, Winchester, Kentucky
Elsie Trivette, rug maker, Zionsville, North Carolina
Alvin Wood, basket maker, Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Trevle Wood, basket maker, Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Foodways Traditions
Larry Frey, food demonstrations, Eunice, Louisiana
Julietta Garcel, food demonstrations, Miami, Florida
Lucky Grissette, food demonstrations- Mountain View, Arkansas
Johnny Kallus, food demon¬strations, Katy, Texas
Steve Orsak, food demon¬strations, Katy, Texas
Larry Wietstruck, food demon¬strations, Katy, Texas
Sara Wilson, food demonstrations, St. Helena, South Carolina
Gospel Sing
THE CHAPLIERS, UNION CHAPEL BAPTIST CHURCH
Rev. Jimmy Strickland, minister, Pembroke, North Carolina
PROSPECT UNITED METHODIST CHURCH CHOIR
Rev. Bill James Locklear, minister, Maxton, North Carolina
Harold Dean Jacobs, diatonal minister, Maxton, North Carolina
THE SPIRITUAL TONES, WEEPING MARY FULL GOSPEL BAPTIST CHURCH
Rev. Henson F. Brooks, pastor, Salisbury, Maryland
Rev. Russell Campars, Sr., Salisbury, Maryland
Timothy Waters, II, manager, Salisbury, Maryland
WESLEY TEMPLE GOSPEL CHOIR, UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Rev. Grant Johnson, minister, Salisbury, Maryland
Diane West, choir director, Salisbury, Maryland
Mary Winder, pianist, Salisbury, Maryland
Janet Ames, president and business manager, Salisbury, Maryland
WHITE HILLS FREE WILL BAPTIST CHURCH CHOIR
Rev. Jerry Locklear, minister, Maxton, North Carolina
Eddie Carter, music director, Maxton, North Carolina
Collection Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1996 Festival of American Folklife, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.