At the dawn of the 20th century, a Gullah Geechee family, descendants of escaped slaves living on an island off the coast of the southern U.S., prepares to move to the mainland and emigrate north. This decision is the occasion for a gathering to mark the end of one era and the beginning of another, with rites meant to bridge the traditions of the past and the coming of the new, as three generations of the family’s women confront the strictures placed upon them. Daughters of the Dust earned a place in cinema history as the first feature film by an African American woman, but it is the film’s beauty and ambition that are the hallmarks of director Julie Dash’s achievement.