Entry · catalog no. 7873
shout
/ /ʃaʊt/ /SHOWT
noun · Coastal South; Black church nationwide · 1860s
✓ Verified
1.
Ecstatic, spirit-filled dancing in the Black church — the holy dance that breaks out when the music and the Spirit meet. Rooted in the ring shout of slavery days; today a shout runs on drums, organ and clapping, and shout music is its own gospel engine.
“Church didn't let out till nine — half the congregation caught the shout.”
Origin & Attribution
Enslaved Black worshippers of the coastal South. The ring shout — counterclockwise, feet never crossing — was documented in Slave Songs of the United States (1867). The shout carried into Holiness and COGIC worship under its own name and powers praise breaks to this day.
1867
Slave Songs of the United States documents the ring shout of the coastal South
1900s
The shout moves into Holiness and COGIC sanctuaries as the holy dance
1998
Art Rosenbaum documents the McIntosh County Shouters, the tradition's living line
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
The South
Coastal South; Black church nationwide · 1860s
Spoken by
Black congregations — Baptist, Holiness, COGIC — and the gospel musicians who drive them
$SHOUTThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Enduring159 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
55/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1867
in the culture
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@nolakid
New Orleans, LA
@htxdri
Houston, TX
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Citations & Sources
■
Allen, Ware & Garrison, Slave Songs of the United States
1867
■
+ Cite a sourceArt Rosenbaum, Shout Because You're Free: The African American Ring Shout Tradition in Coastal Georgia
1998