singing for strength: enslaved africans and community building in the transatlantic slave trade by...
TRANSCRIPT
Singing for Strength:
Enslaved Africans and Community Building in the Transatlantic Slave Trade
by J. Hunter Moore
Barracoon, Sierra Leone, 1840’s
From Captive Passage: The Transatlantic Slave Trade…, Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002
Jamaican Instruments from Voyage to the Islands Madera by Sir Hans Sloane (1688)
Funeral in Annabon , 1841
Georgia Prayer Meeting, 1872
Cudjo Lewis (d. 1935) with great-granddaughters
Enslaved Africans re-created community through singing, helping them to resist the dehumanizing effects of
slavery
Thesis
• Singing was a constant feature of community life for Africans
• Africans identified themselves through social networks
• Slavery destroyed existing networks, threatening identity
• Enslaved Africans re-created communities and preserved their identity through singing
Main Points
First-Hand African Narratives
• Sibell (?)
• Olaudah Equiano Igbo land, Nigeria
• Ottobah Cugoano Gold Coast, Ghana
• Mahomma Gardo Baquaqua Benin, Upper Volta
(all recorded in 18th century)
European Observers
• Early Portuguese account (1445)
• Richard Jobson (1620) Gambia River
• Willem Bosman (1721) Gold Coast
• Mungo Park (1795) Gambia/Niger Rivers
• Thomas Bowdich (1816) Gold Coast
• Hugh Clapperton (1829) Oyo-Yoruba land
Slave Ship Accounts
• Ottomah Cugoano’s account, published in 1787
• Capt. William Snelgrave, 1713
• Mr. Town, 1768-69
• Mr. Janverin, 1767-72
• William Butterfield (Henry Schroeder), 1786-87
• George Pinckard, 1796
• Capt. Hugh Crow, early 1800’s
• Capt. Theodore Canot, 1830’s and 40’s
Celebrations, funerals, rebellions
Jamaica
• Ligon-1673• Sloane-1688, feast days• Leslie-funeral, 1740• Nugent-1801, Christmas celebration• Funeral rebellion plot-1816
Spanish Colonies-18th & early 19th century
• Dia De Reyes-Havana and Santo Domingo• Florida-Laurel Grove-Christmas and crop festivals
Celebrations, funerals, rebellions
British North America and U.S
• Stono rebellion, 1739• North Carolina drownings, 1800• New Orleans funeral, 1819• New Orleans group celebration, 1831• Wildfire, 1860• Clotilda, 1860• Sea Islands, 1865