Syllabus
Valerie Babb
“Where I Come From”: Discovering African American Culture on Jekyll Island
Course description
This course will raise awareness of African American cultural heritage on Jekyll Island,
GA. It will explore the history of Kongolese Africans transported aboard the yacht
Wanderer to the United States after the outlawing of the transatlantic slave trade. Prior
published research on the Wanderer has dealt mainly with the history of the ship—its
sailing under the flag of the New York Yacht Club, its landing on Jekyll Island—but little
has been done to document the lives of the 487 Kongolese Africans, illegally imported
and enslaved, who became known as the Wanderers. Through collaboration with the
Jekyll Island Authority and the Jekyll Island Museum, students will contribute to filling
the lacunae of this history by beginning the construction of a cultural.
Course Objectives
By focusing on one voyage, students will gain a deeper understanding of the transAtlantic slave trade. As they attempt to construct a cultural archive of this history, they
will learn how histories exist within histories, and will appreciate the methods of
expanding historical knowledge through genealogical research, archeological research,
and inventorying material artifacts.
Discussion in the course is designed to have students consider how history is told or not
told; and how the construction of historical sites and memorials shape understandings
of past experience in future times. Field work is designed to introduce students to the
many ways in which history and culture are archived, specifically through the theory and
practice of genealogical research, oral history, and archeological discovery. Working
with the Jekyll Museum will introduce students to the skills needed to organize
historical material while they undertake a “field service” project for a community
institution.
Course Requirements
Students will be asked to produce a portfolio that includes the following:
 A journal of their daily activities and insights while doing this research
 Their own walking tour of African American cultural sites on Jekyll Island
 A review of either Michael Gomez’s Exchanging Our Country Marks or David
Brion Davis’s Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World.
2
 A limited primary source inventory of the Jekyll museum resources on the
Wanderer including images and descriptions of the artifacts and transcriptions of
the written material (numbers of items will be determined).
 A final paper reflecting on lessons learned in the project
Readings and Resources
Required
Anderson, Gail, ed. Reinventing the Museum: Historical and Contemporary
Perspectives on the Paradigm Shift. Lanham, NY: AltaMira Press, 2004.
Calonius, Eric. The Wanderer: The Last American Slave Ship and the Conspiracy
That Set Its Sails. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2008.
Gomez, Michael, Exchanging Our Country Marks: The Transformation of African
Identities in the Colonial and Antebellum South. Chapel Hill, U of North
Carolina P, 1998.
Montgomery, Charles J. “Survivors from the Cargo of the Negro Slave Yacht
Wanderer,” American Anthropologist 10 (1908) 610-623.
Mark M. Newell and Peter Lenzo. “Making Faces: Archaeological Evidence of
African-American Face Jug Production.” Ceramics in America 6 (2006):
122–38
Web Resources
 http://thewandererproject.wordpress.com/

National Archives Southeast Region The Wanderer, a finding aid
http://www.archives.gov/atlanta/finding-aids/wanderer.pdf
 Captive Passage: The Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Making of the Americas
http://www.marinersmuseum.org/sites/micro/captivepassage/introduction/ind
ex.html
 Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database
http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/index.faces
 Joel Bresler, “Follow the Drinking Gourd: A Cultural History.”
<http://www.followthedrinkinggourd.org>
Recommended Resources:
Davis, David Brion. Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New
3
World.
Wells, Tom Henderson, The Slave Ship Wanderer
Tilden, Freemen, Interpreting Our Heritage
Carson, “Colonial Williamsburg and the Practice of Interpretive Planning in
American History Museums” Public Historian 20.3 (1998): 11-51
Gable and Handler, “Persons of Stature and the Passing Parade: Egalitarian
Dilemmas at Monticello and Colonial Williamsburg, Museum
Anthropology Vol. 29, No. 1 (2006), 5-19.
Leonard Todd, Carolina Clay: The Life and Legend of the Slave Potter Dave. New
York: W. W. Norton, 2008.
John Michael Vlach, The Afro-American Tradition in Decorative Arts. Athens:
University of Georgia Press, 1990.
Web Resources
 National Park Service, "Fulfilling the NPS Mission: The Process of
Interpretation,"
 Module 101, Interpretive Development Curriculum
http://www.nps.gov/idp/interp
 Edgefield Pottery, http://www.edgefieldpottery.org/
Course Schedule
Week I: The History of the Wanderer
During this week students will learn about the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and the role of
the Congo region in this trade. They will chart the voyage of the Wanderer from its
beginnings in New York to its landing on Jekyll Island. Readings and materials accessed
via web resources will examine cultural transitions and continuations created by this
trade.
Students will meet with curators from the Jekyll Island Museum to discuss the building
of a cultural archive. They will learn what primary sources historians use to research the
Trans-Atlantic slave trade including ship records; diaries, letters, and they will learn how
these are then used in curating exhibitions.
Readings:
Montgomery; selections from Colonius, Gomez,
Week II: Reading Material Objects
4
This week will consist of a guest lecture and a field trip.
Lecture on Wanderers genealogical research.
April Hynes, a professional archival and genealogical researcher with a specific
interest in the African American diaspora, will speak to students on conducting
genealogical research. Ms. Hynes will discuss how she recovered an impressive
amount of information on the lives of many of the Wanderer survivors, from
their capture in Congo riverside villages and barracoons, to their personal
accounts of transit through the middle passage, to their life on southern
plantations and the challenges they faced once no longer enslaved. Using
graphics, audio files and video files, she will share with them how genealogical
research served as the starting point for uncovering aspects of the history of the
Wanderer slaves and the many significant contributions they, and their ancestors
have made to modern American society
Field trip to Edgefield South Carolina
Students will be introduced to the Old Edgefield District of South Carolina and
archeologist Dr. Mark Newell, Chairman of the Archaeology Committee of the
American Canal Society. Dr. Newell discovered one of the first evidences of
Kongolese African conjure jug or face jug production in the area. During their
field trip students will be introduced to techniques of excavation, artifact
classification mapping, and contextual interpretation. Dr. Newell will discuss the
significance of the face jug finds to learning of the history of the Wanderers.
Readings:
Newell, Bressler
Week III: Planning a Wanderer Archive and Memorial
Students will begin this week by theorizing the interpretation of historic sites and learn
what goes into constructing a cultural archive. They will consider how facts and
information, are shaped to convey an act, event, or memory to the public.
Students will work with curators in the Jekyll museum to begin to organize resources for
a Wanderers cultural archive. They will examine letters, logs, and photographs to
identify relevant materials and construct a primary source inventory that will be the first
step toward an online resource exploring the history of the Wanderers.
Readings/study activities:
Readings in Anderson
Walking tour of African American cultural sites on Jekyll Island
Visit to and Consultation with archivists from the Jekyll Island Authority and Jekyll Island
5
Museum
Hands-on archival work with photographs, letters and ephemera that have not been
catalogued
6
Background Resources
Anderson, Gail, ed Reinventing the Museum: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives
on the Paradigm Shift. Lanham, NY: AltaMira Press, 2004.
Calonius, Eric The Wanderer: The Last American Slave Ship and the Conspiracy That Set
Its Sails. New York: St. Martin's, 2008.
Carson, “Colonial Williamsburg and the Practice of Interpretive Planning in
American History Museums” Public Historian 20.3 (1998): 11-51
David Larson, ed., Meaningful Interpretation: How to Connect Hearts and Minds to
Places, Objects, and Other Resources. Fort Washington, PA: Eastern National P,
2003.
Davis, David Brion. Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World.
New York : Oxford University Press, 2006
Gable and Handler, “Persons of Stature and the Passing Parade: Egalitarian Dilemmas at
Monticello and Colonial Williamsburg, Museum Anthropology Vol. 29, No. 1
(2006), 5-19.
Gomez, Michael, Exchanging Our Country Marks: The Transformation of African
Identities in the Colonial and Antebellum South. Chapel Hill, U of North Carolina
P,
1998.
Leonard Todd, Carolina Clay: The Life and Legend of the Slave Potter Dave. New York: W.
W. Norton, 2008.
Mark M Newell and Peter Lenzo. “Making Faces: Archaeological Evidence of AfricanAmerican Face Jug Production.” Ceramics in America 6 (2006): 122–38.
Wells, Tom Henderson, The Slave Ship Wanderer. Athens, Georgia: U of Georgia P, 1968.
Tilden, Freemen, Interpreting Our Heritage. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 2007.
Vlach, John Michael The Afro-American Tradition in Decorative Arts. Athens: U
of Georgia P, 1990.
Web Resources
7
 Bresler, Joel. “Follow the Drinking Gourd: A Cultural History.”
<http://www.followthedrinkinggourd.org
 Captive Passage: The Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Making of the Americas
http://www.marinersmuseum.org/sites/micro/captivepassage/introduction/ind
ex.html
 National Archives Southeast Region The Wanderer, a finding aid
http://www.archives.gov/atlanta/finding-aids/wanderer.pdf

“Planning for Interpretation and Visitor Experience” and “Comprehensive Interpretive
Planning,” http://www.nps.gov/hfc/products/ip.htm
 http://thewandererproject.wordpress.com/
 Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database
http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/index.faces