New Exhibits Center Lowcountry Music, Indigenous Influence

University of South Carolina Lancaster’s Native American Studies Center launched two new exhibits this month that highlight the contributions of Native Americans to Lowcountry music and the impact of that music on American culture as a whole.

The Center is hosting Soul of the South in its North Gallery as well as Celebrating Indigenous Identity and Culture in the Lowcountry at the Five Points Gallery nearby. 

Curated by the Morris Center for Lowcountry Heritage and sponsored by musical instrument manufacturer Gretsch, Soul of the South highlights the influences that Native Americans, enslaved Africans, and European colonizers in the Lowcountry had on various genres of music including gospel, jazz, blues, musical theatre and  rock ‘n’ roll. 

Taking patrons on a musical journey, the exhibit showcases local musicians and groups whose notoriety have reached beyond the Lowcountry. 

“South Carolina has been home to original genres of music, internationally known performers and composers, and musical styles and traditions rooted in other parts of the world as well as Indigenous music reaching back millennia,” said Native American Studies Director Dr. Stephen Criswell in a release announcing the new exhibit. 

According to a 2020 documentary by Charleston Jazz (above), the Lowcountry — a region that refers to the coastal plains of South Carolina and in some descriptions include parts of Georgia’s coastal plain and the Florida panhandle — can be considered one of the earliest incubators for jazz music. 

Though developed in New York City during the Jazz Age, the origins of popular dance The Charleston can be traced back to African tribes and dances such as the Juba and the Camel Walk, developed by enslaved Africans in Charleston during the 19th century. 

Read more: Radeena Stuckey Puts the Originators First at Gottaswing Charlotte (2020)

Launched in 2015, the Lowcountry Music Hall of Fame honors the many musical innovators of all genres to hail from the region since that time.

Criswell, who helped develop the exhibit when it originally ran at The Morris Center for Lowcountry Heritage in Ridgeland, South Carolina, said Soul of the South will highlight genres and musicians mostly from South Carolina’s Lowcountry, though not exclusively. 

“In addition, we will be drawing on our holdings at the Native American Center to expand the exhibit’s Native American components,” he added. 

Complementing Soul of the South, the second exhibit, Celebrating Indigenous Identity and Culture in the Lowcountry, highlights the state’s recognized Indigenous tribes: the Beaver Creek Indians, Edisto Natchez-Kusso, Santee Indian Tribe, Waccamaw Indian People, and Wassamasaw of Varnertown Indians. 

The exhibit showcases these tribes’ powwows and celebrations, traditional arts and crafts, tribal histories and music. 

Criswell helped to develop this exhibit, as well, which was built from fieldwork he conducted among tribal communities in South Carolina’s Lowcountry in 2022 and 2023. 

“Tribal leaders and community members kindly shared their cultural traditions, histories, and contemporary concerns with me,” Criswell recalled. “I attended powwows and other community celebrations (and ate a lot of fry bread) and interviewed tribal members. Portions of the results of this fieldwork, including images and audio visuals from powwow celebrations, will be on display in this exhibit.”

Celebrating Indigenous Identity and Culture in the Lowcountry is on display in the Native American Studies Center’s Five Points Gallery through Feb. 15, 2025, while Soul of the South is on display in the Center’s North Gallery through Aug. 30, 2025.

The USC Lancaster Native American Studies Center is located at 119 S Main St., Lancaster, South Carolina, just over the border from Union County.