DIGGING
UP THEAFRICAN-AMERICAN
PAST:
AND
HISTORICAL
PHOTOGRAPHY SLAVERY
ARCHAEOLOGY,
Shane White
UncommonGround: Archaeology and Early AfricanAmerica, 1659-1800. By Leland
Ferguson, SmithsonianInstitutionPress, Washington, 1992, pp. xlv + 186, US$35.00
(cloth) and US$14.95 (paper).
WaterfromtheRock: Black Resistancein a Revolutionary
Age. By Sylvia R. Frey, Princeton
UniversityPress, Princeton, 1991, pp. xii + 376, US$29.95.
Life in theAntebellumSouth. Edited by Edward
BeforeFreedom Came: African-American
D. C. Campbell, Jr.withKym S. Rice, UniversityPress of Virginia,Charlottesville,1991,
pp. xv + 219, US$19.95.
of freeblacks establisheditself
New England, a small settlement
In late eighteenth-century
at PartingWays, neartheforkin theroad fromPlymouthto Plympton.In pre-Revolutionary
times,the residentsof thiscommunity- Cato Howe, Prince Goodwin, Plato Turner and
Quamany - had been slaves in society in which blacks were a very small minorityof the
population;duringtheRevolutiontheyhad foughtin theContinentalArmy.On bothgrounds
we would expect themto be fairlywell acculturatedto white society. Yet evidence from
an archaeological dig at Parting Ways hintsat a more complex picture. Although the
community'shouses were builtof much the same materialas othersin New England, their
twelve-footfloorpattern,
It utilisedan Africanor African-American
design was different.
ratherthan the sixteenfoot patterntypical of Anglo-Americandwellings. Furthermore,
the fourhouses were clusteredtogetherat the intersectionof the blocks, an arrangement
thatquite possiblyreflectedthemore communalpatternsof Africa.1There are indications,
then,thatafterlivinga good proportionof theirlives as slaves withina whiteNew England
society these blacks, on regainingfull controlof theirlives, drew on theirAfrican past
to build a settlementthat,in importantways, was at variance withthose of theirYankee
neighbours.
The example of PartingWays points to the varied and eclectic natureof the evidence
thathistoriansinvestigatingthe lives of AfricanAmericans in the American colonies and
in the early years of the new nationhave to examine. Few slaves could read and write;2
foreven fewerwas it thecase thatwhattheydid writewas likelyto survive. These simple
facts provide the major intellectualchallenge for those attemptingto recover the black
and ambiguous- allusive rather
past. Evidence is almostinvariablyhardwon, fragmentary,
and
thandefinitive.Interdisciplinary
imaginationare requiredto tease out its full
analysis
materials must
and eighteenth-century
with
seventeenthwho
work
Those
significance.
look withenvious eyes at thecornucopiaof evidence (in particulartheW.P.A. interviews)
available to historiansof later periods.
Historianshave metthischallengein a numberof well-knownways, bothreinterpreting
old sources with new methodsand uncoveringnew types of evidence. For a long time
now historicalarchaeology has appeared (at least to me) to offerthe most promise of
37
of
turning
up new materialthatcan helpdeepenour knowledgeof slavery,particularly
thedetailsof everydayslave life,thesortsof thingsnotcommonlymentioned
in either
oralorwritten
sources.Untilrecently,
theveryhighcostofconducting
excavations,
lengthy
timelags beforematerialis publishedand thusmade available to thosewho are not
of historicalarchaeologists
to ask questionsof theirmaterial
'insiders',and a tendency
thatsometimesseemeitherobtuseor obscure,have combinedto limittheutility
of their
workforotherscholars.However,a new generationof historicalarchaeologists,
with
a moresophisticated
of the historiography
of slaveryand an abilityto
understanding
minimise
thatdo notjustillustrate
what
jargon,hasbegun,now,tocomeup withfindings
we alreadyknow,butextendand challengeour understanding
of some crucialaspects
of slavery.3Historicalarchaeologists
are beginningto deliverthegoods and historians
woulddo well to pay attention
to theirwork.
LelandFergusonbeginsUncommon
Ground:Archaeology
and EarlyAfrican
America,
1650-1800 witha briefaccountof theshorthistoryof African-American
archaeology.
To all intentsand purposesit originated
in the 1960s whentheCivil Rightsmovement
proddedscholarsintoa realisationthatblackAmericanswerepartof thecolonialpast.
In 1967 CharlesFairbankswas contracted
by Florida State Park Serviceto excavate
andunderFairbanks'influence
theUniversity
ofFloridabecamethe
Kingsmillplantation
centreof whathe called 'plantation
The
of feelingconcerning
archaeology'.
groundswell
the historicalexperienceof blacks in Americathatflowedon fromthe Civil Rights
movement
thefederalgovernment
to interpret
theNationalHistoricPreservation
pressured
Act so as to includeAfricanAmericanarchaeologicalremains.As a result,many
conductedtheirfieldwork
archaeologists
just ahead of thebulldozeron federally-funded
construction
In
the
1970s
and
1980s
mosthistoricalarchaeologists
weredoing
projects.
workon a contract
basis.Theyaccumulated
of
data
to submit
and,required
hugequantities
took
their
lead
from
the
social
scientists
then
the
reports,
dominating discipline,working
out listsof artifact
therateat whichslavespickedup European
frequencies,
measuring
to demonstrate
thedifferent
economicstatusof slaves and
traits,and usingtheartifacts
theirowners.As Fergusontartly
concludesin relationto theiractivities,
someofthedata
and interpretations
are useful,buttheirmoregeneralconclusions'are of littleanthropologicalor historicalinterest'(p. xi).
In Uncommon
GroundLeland Ferguson,influenced
over
by theworkof historians
thelastdecadeor so (and hereI shouldadd thatthishistorian
was a bitunnerved
to have
his profession
held up as theepitomeof sweetnessand lightin manyof the
constantly
author'sintradisciplinary
turfbattles),setsoutto writean introductory
bookthatis 'wide
and
not
a
review
of
but
an
of newly
ranging speculative;
completedresearch,
offering
discoveredawareness,ideasandthings'(p. xxxiv).His mainconcernsare withpotsand
aboutwhichAfricanAmericanarchaeologists
have
housing,thetwoclasses of artifacts
amassedthemostknowledge.
It was in the 1930s thatarchaeologists
at Williamsburg
and surrounding
plantations
firstfoundfragments
ofclaypotsusedbyslaves.In 1962IvorNöel Hume,fromColonial
Williamsburg,
publisheda paperin whichhe arguedthatthesevesselshad been made
free
Indians.
Nöel Hume,afterconcludingthattheastuteIndiansmayhave founda
by
marketamongtheslaves,labelledtheartifacts
Colono-IndianWare. This remainedthe
conventionalwisdomwell intothe 1970s when the sheer quantityof materialbeing
recoveredin SouthCarolinaforceda reconsideration.
HereFerguson'saccountbecomes
withfaintechoesof IndianaJones,buthe and otherswereable to
just a bitbreathless,
38
show, by lookingat potsmade in Africaand searchingthewrittenrecordas well as analysing
thousandsof bitsof pottery,thatslaves made potsin America. Not all were made by African
Americans- some were clearlyNative American- butmorethanenoughwere to warrant
Ferguson proposingthatthe 'Indian' be dropped and the artifactslabelled simplyColono
Ware.
The fragmentsfoundwere almost invariablyfrombowls and not plates, hintingat a
ratherdifferentpatternof foodways from thatof the Europeans. But Ferguson's most
fascinatingfindingabout the use of Colono Ware concernsa small numberof bowls from
South Carolina marked with a simple cross or a cross enclosed in a circle on the base.
Most of these pieces were discovered not around slave quartersbut in rivers adjacent to
old rice plantations.Ferguson suggeststhatthe marksare Bakongo cosmograms and that
thesesmall bowls containedsacred medicinesor minkisiand were used in ritualsinvolving
the ubiquitous West African water spirits. If he is correct, and his argumentappears
of thecontinuedimportance
convincing,thenthesemarksare a quite strikingdemonstration
of some African ways in the South Carolina low country.
Housing is the othertype,of evidence which archaelogistshave investigatedin some
detail. Althoughmost of our knowledge concerns the antebellumperiod there has been
sites. Slave houses foundin theCarolina lowlands,
some excavationof eighteenth-century
fromotherstructuresfoundin colonial America.
at Yaughaii and Curriboo,were different
The houses had clay walls similarto those foundin Africa. Nearby pits were used initially
as a source for clay for daubing the walls and later to hold rubbish. By the nineteenth
centurythe structureswere takingon some European features,particularlychimneys,but
the houses remainedvery small, much smaller than those found in Virginia. Again this
appears to reflectAfricanculturalpatterns Europeans lived inside theirhouses, but for
AfricanAmericans most activities occurred in the yards around their dwellings.
Some of the details in UncommonGround are new, but Ferguson's major contention
about theimportanceof theAfricanpast in the lives of slaves in mainlandNorthAmerica
contains few surprisesfor anyone versed in the historiographyof slavery over the last
decade or so. However, forthisreviewer,at least, it was the author's material,both from
his own researchand thatof others,highlightingthe fluidityand contingencyof AfricanAmericanculturethatwas mostnovel and interesting.In particular,theevidence pointing
to Native American influencein the formationof African-Americanculturehelps to draw
out a factorthatis oftenhintedat, butneverreallydeveloped fiillyin theworkof historians
relyingon the writtenrecord.
It appears thatthe old idea of a segregated existence, implicitin the label 'ColonoIndianWare', was mistakenand thatto a much greaterextentthanhistorianshad previously
thoughttherewas a three-wayculturalcontact occurringin colonial America. Perhaps
the earliest example of this process, althoughthis is still a controversialinterpretation,
involvespipes made in seventeenth-century
Virginia.MatthewEmerson,a studentof James
from
fifteensites in the colony. He concluded that
bowls
694
re-examined
Deetz,
pipe
was
of
the
the
European and thatthedecorationswere predominantly
pipes
shape
basically
Native American influence.Most of these pipes
demonstrated
also
but
that
African,
they
were made in the late seventeenthcenturywhen whites and blacks lived in very close
contact; locally made pipes declined and disappeared early in the eighteenthcenturyas
plantationlife became more segregated and European pipes more readily available.
39
One of thebestexamples of thecreationof thiscreole cultureis containedin Ferguson's
fascinatingdiscussion of the foodways of South Carolina blacks in which he shows how
Native American, Africanand European influencescombined withinthe constraintsof
slavery to shape theirdistinctiveculinarypractices. Basically, therewas a change from
an Africandietof rice, milletand manioc to one centredon corn (even in therice colonies,
forrice was a valuable cash crop), withsupplementsfromgame theywere able to snare.
Whites served food on plattersand plates, but slaves used theirfingersand ate froma
varietyof bowls.
Historical archaeologistsare also able to provide evidence about the timingof cultural
developments.For example, in South Carolina the incidence of Colono Ware, ubiquitous
in eighteenth-century
sites, drops markedlyafterthe beginningof the nineteenthcentury.
A numberof factors- theend of theAfricanslave trade,theincreasingawareness among
AfricanAmericans of glazed and highlyfiredpottery,and the increased availability of
industriallymanufacturedceramics - combined to diminishthe importanceof plantation
made-pottery.In thenineteenthcentury,thedemand forColono Ware bowls - theywere
highlyvalued forcooking African-American dishes such as okra - was met by itinerant
Catawba Indians.
Althoughthe point is not discussed by Ferguson, implicitin much of the materialhe
adduces is a sense of the interactionbetween slaves and the fundamentaltransformation
of the economies of the North Atlantic World during the eighteenthand nineteenth
centuries. The issue this raises, of course, concerns the extentto which the consumer
revolution affectedthe life of North American slaves. Were African-American craft
traditionsrenderedincreasinglyobsolete by thepenetrationof cheaplymanufactured
goods
intothemarketof theslave South?The evidence fromseventeenth-century
Virginianpipes
and Colono Ware certainlysuggests thatthis was the case. There is, however, at least
one area where the situationwas rathermore complicated. In the colonial period slaves
wore garmentswhichwere eithermade by themselvesfromcheap importedclothor were,
with surprisingfrequency,as the runaway advertisementsindicate, ready-made. This
changed in the last decades of the eighteenthcentury.Startingwiththe non-importation
movementduringthe Revolution and gaining momentumin the years afterthe invention
of the cottongin and the rapid expansion in the growthof cotton,thisaspect of slave life
was transformed.By the timethe ex-slaves who would be interviewedin the 1930s were
growingup in the 1850s and 1860s, theirparents,particularlytheirmothers,were weaving
clothand makingtheirclothes. Testimonyfromtheex-slaves is filledwithpages of detailed
descriptionsof the hours spent weaving cloth, manufacturingdyes fromvarious leaves
and berries,and tanningleatherto make shoes. To be sure, store-bought
clothesand shoes
were highlyvalued and any extra money earned in the slaves' own time was frequently
craftthatexpanded
spenton them,butitis stillthecase thatthiswas one African-American
in antebellumyears.
There is a certainamount of idiosyncrasyin Uncommon Ground. Althougha short
book, it sprawls with not particularlywell-organised chapters. Twice the author uses
fictionalisedrecreationsto illustratehis point (a strategywhich, to my surprise,I found
helpfulon thesecond occasion). The Epilogue, a confessionalaccountcentredon theeightyear-oldFergusonand a friendusing theword 'nigger' to a black railroadworkerin 1949,
while interestingenough, seemed barely relevant.But the book is certainlyengagingand
easy to read, and it effectivelyconveys to outsidersa sense of the potentialof historical
40
archaeology for those interestedin the African-Americanpast. Hopefully historians,
particularlythose unfamiliarwith the work of historical archaeologists, will read it.
'
Sylvia Frey s WaterFrom theRock: Black Resistance in a RevolutionaryAge illustrates
well the range and varietyof evidence thathistoriansneed to piece togetherin order to
attemptto recover the black past. Her research in writtensources, particularlyarchival
material concerning the conduct of British operations in America, is little short of
prodigious,and she has turnedup much new informationabout AfricanAmericans. The
sensitiveto thepossibilitiesin theworkof historicalarchaeologists
authoris also particularly
and frequentlyincorporatestheirfindingsinto her account. Sylvia Frey's thesis can be
simplystated:to a muchgreaterextentthanmosthistorianshad previouslythought,African
Americanswere closely involved in the American Revolutionin the South. In her words,
'... a black liberationmovementwas central to the revolutionarystrugglein the South,
and thefailureofthatmovementdid notdissipate theblack revolutionarypotential,which
re-emergedin the postwar period as a strugglefor cultural power' (p. 4). Frey shows
how blacks in the years after 1765 were swept up by 'the force of ideological energy'
(p. 49), and how thecolonists' fearof black restivenessshaped Britain's southernstrategy.
Her account of the role blacks played in the Revolution in the South, of the incredible
disruptioncaused by what was oftena vicious civil war, and of the way some Southern
slaves, carryingwiththema distinctiveAfrican-American cultureparticularlyin the area
of religion, ended up in all sorts of obscure places in the aftermathof the Revolution,
is an importantcontributionto the historiography.
Accordingto the author,in the early years of the New Republic, evangelical religion
playeda crucialrole in theshiftfroma patriarchalto a paternalistsystem.Once theBaptists
and Methodistsacknowledgedtheirfailureand shuckedofftheirhostilitytowardsslavery,
theybecame 'increasinglyinfluentialin shapingthepaternalisticethos thatwas to become
markof an antebellumsociety' (p. 244). The result,Frey argues, was
the distinguishing
a 'gradual ameliorationof some aspects of slavery' (p. 280). Evidence from historical
archaeology of the replacementof African style housing with frame housing, even the
raised wooden flooringon some plantationsand a shiftfromColono Ware to imported
European ceramics, supportsher contention.If evangelical religionofferedslaveholders
a way to live withthe moral problems of slavery, it meant somethingratherdifferentto
the slaves. For them,it was a symbolicassertionof self,a way of transcendingtheirstatus
in a slave society. Religion became the centrepieceof theirculture.Southernblacks were
thwartedin the Revolution,but theirhopes for freedombecame increasinglytied up in
culturalassertionin ways thatranged fromthe rise of uñsanctionedcommercial activity
by slaves to the establishmentof separate black churches. Thus in Frey's account, the
AmericanRevolutionwas a pivotalmomentin African-Americanhistoryas well, and that
most mythicof American events no longer has to carrythe burden of a JimCrow past.
As is probablyapparentby now I had mixed reactionsto thisbook. The middle section,
dealing with the Revolution, is exhaustively researched and as comprehensive and
convincingan account of the role blacks played in the struggleas one could hope to find,
but in therestof thebook, althoughtherewere useful insights,I was oftenleftstruggling.
Much of my unease stems fromProfessorFrey's ideas about the natureof black culture
and my differenceswith her over the sorts of conclusions that can be drawn from
and imperfectevidence. What I would like to do here, by way of illustration,
fragmentary
in
some detail at a couple of issues raised by Frey's opening chapter, a forty
look
to
is
page surveyof slavery and black culture in the pre-RevolutionarySouth.
41
of theAfrican
assertsthattherewas a 'systematic
The authorrepeatedly
repression
is the'strikingly
heritage'(p. 36). The mainevidenceadducedto supportthisproposition
or African-derived
ritualobjectsinarchaeological
apparent... absenceofAfrican-related
depositswheretheywouldbe expectedto appear'(p. 36). Shealso claimsthat'thematerial
bytheslave regime'(p. 36), and
expressionsof Africanreligionwerelargelydestroyed
later,thattheevidencecollectedfromburialgroundsin Marylandand Virginiafromthe
late seventeenth
to theearlynineteenth
centuriesshows'minimalAfricaninfluence
and
of Africanpractices'(p. 40). This line of argument
is
suggests]theforcedextinction
intotheperiodaftertheRevolution:in thelastchapterof thebookFrey
carriedthrough
talksof a 'massiveprogramof culturalgenocidedevelopedand efficiently
managedby
slaveowners'(p. 285).
ProfessorFrey's quitestartling
claimsaboutthesuppression
of Africanculturein the
colonialperiodappeartobe basedon a misunderstanding
ofthesortofevidencehistorical
are likelyto turnup. Archaeologists
archaeologists
diggingthroughslave quartersare
usuallyonlygoingto findobjectsthathavebeenabandoned,discardedor lost.Not even
all oftheseare goingto survive;basketry
and itemsmadeof woodor clothremainintact
in
the
most
Further,thingsthathold
underground only
exceptionalcircumstances.4
are
more
value
to
be
on
than
left
for
Excavations
particular
likely
passed
archaeologists.
on theJordan
in
Texas
a
of
illustration
these
Here
Kenneth
plantation
provide good
points.
Brownand Doreen Cooplerdid actuallyfinda collectionof artifacts
probablyused in
and
divination
rituals.
The
forced
and
abandonment
of
the
sitebytheblack
healing
abrupt
residents,theyargued, led to the discoveryof objects usually not presentin the
record.5Butthiswas atypical.In short,thesortofartifacts
archaeological
Freyapparently
seeksinexcavations
ofslavequarters
probablywouldnotevenbe foundintheexcavation
of mosteighteenth-century
West Africanvillages.
ButI thinkrathermoreis involvedherethanProfessor
Frey'sunrealistic
expectations
of whathistoricalarchaeologists
shoulduncover.Implicitin muchof herdiscussionof
slavecultureis an assumption
thatAfricanculturesurvivedthemiddlepassagepretty
well
to
fall
foul
of
an
and
interventionist
white
intact,only
oppressive
slaveowningregime.
theslaveownersmoretolerant
My own viewis thattheslave tradewas moretraumatic,
of thecultureof theslaves (notfromanyfeelingsof benevolence,butbecausetheyhad
otherconcerns),and thattheterm'AfricanAmerican',withitssuggestion
of a dynamic
creoleculture,is thecorrectone.
Thereis no needtoembracefullyStanleyElkins'famousthesisinordertoacknowledge
theprofoundly
slaves.
shocking
impactoftheslavetradeandthemiddlepassageon African
Evidencefroma varietyof sourceshintsat themassiveculturaldisruption
thatinevitably
ensued. Excavationsat the seventeenth-century
sitesof Pettusand Utopia in Virginia
uncoveredpottery
madeby slavesthatwas of a verypoorquality.As LelandFerguson
of
asked,how could WestAfricans,comingfroma culturewitha tradition
pertinently
finehandbuilt
makethesecrudeexamples?Similarly,TheresaSingletonpoints
pottery,
out thatAfricanceramicswere elaborately,even ostentatiously,
decoratedand thatby
African-American
were
almost
bereft
of
decoration.6
A thirdexample
comparison
pots
of thisprocessconcerns'countrymarks'or ritualscarifications.
These bodyand racial
are frequently
foundon African-born
slaves,butto myknowledgeat least,no
markings
one has foundthemon an American-born
slave.
42
The explanationforthese and otherculturaltransformations
does not lie in anything
in black lives on seventeenth-and eighteenth-century
as crude as directwhiteinterference
plantations.To be sure, slaveowners and officials clamped down on anything,such as
large gatheringsfor funeralsor the banging of drums thathad the potential to foment
rebellion, but I have never seen any evidence of slaveowners or overseers forbidding,
forexample, ritualscarifications.Even had theydone so it is doubtfulthatbanning the
practice could have been so completely successful that not one slave shows up in the
historicalrecord as being so marked.
A more satisfyingexplanation can be found in the natureof the slave trade and the
circumstancesin which Africans found themselves in the New World. Although some
areas in mainlandBritishNorthAmerica did end up with concentrationsof slaves from
the same region in Africa- forexample Kongo-Angola was a very importantsource for
South Carolina slaves - slavers deliberatelymixed the ethnicmake-up of theircargoes
as a safetymeasure. Probablyeven more importantwas theyouthof slave cargoes, a factor
thathas received littleemphasis in thehistoriographyof slavery. The purpose of the slave
tradewas to supplylabourers; about two-thirdsof slaves undergoingthe 'middle passage'
were males and mostwere eitherteenagersor in theirearly twenties.In seventeenth-and
West Africa,as Leland Fergusonpointsout,potterywas generallymade
eighteenth-century
by female specialists,who thentradedtheirgoods. Young girls fromfamilies who made
these wares learnedthecraft,but the majorityof Africansprobablydid not. The chances
were againstany one plantationin seventeenth-century
Virginiaor earlyeighteenth-century
South Carolina endingup witha skilled Africanpotter.On theotherhand, most Africans
would have had some idea about the basic materials and techniques. And, to speculate
further,such people, if theysought to make pots, were probably more open to picking
up practicesfromNative Americans or Europeans than someone who knew exactly what
they were doing.
African culturewas based on an integratedview of the world, a view thatthe slave
tradeand enslavementin the New World turnedupside down. Subjected to slavery, with
the consequent loss of controlof theirlives (a loss thatwas doubtless particularlyacute
for males resultingin masculine feelingsof inadequacy and frustration),it is likely that
Africanswould have seen initiationceremoniesand ritualscarification,signallingthe rite
of passage to manhood, as wildly inappropriate.What survived in the New World was
not Africancultureas such, but the elements of African culturethatwere useful in the
settingof the plantation.These were combined with what was already present in the
Americas to forma new and dynamiccreole culturethatwe now call African-American.
Colono Ware was anythingbut a replica of West African pottery.It was a response to
new conditionsand thatis why,forexample, Colono Ware fromVirginia was much more
influencedby European ideas of formand shape than thatfound in South Carolina. It
is also whypotteryfromtheSouth,in contrastto thatof West Africa,was almostcompletely
undecorated.
African-American culturewas fluid and dynamic. It was also contingent,constantly
respondingto theconditionsin whichAfricanAmericansfoundthemselves.Because those
conditionsvaried considerablythroughoutthe New World, historiansmustbe extremely
wary of assumingthata generalised patternbased on what happened in Africa or in the
West Indies would necessarilyoccur in Virginia, South Carolina or New York. Sylvia
Frey's studyillustratestheproblem. In themiddle of a good discussion of the slave family
43
in thepre-Revolutionary
Southshe claims that'(p)olygyny,a respectedand formally
WestAfrica,was alsoprevalent
sanctioned
theSouth'
arrangement
throughout
throughout
(p. 34, myemphasis).Quite possiblythiswas thecase. The black familyis probably
the most politicallycharged area of African-American
and not
historiography,
is mostin needof re-evaluation,
butit is stillthecase thatthereis little
coincidentally,
knownevidenceto supporthercontention.
Freycitesone examplefromRichardDunn's
studyof Mt. Tayloe in nineteenth-century
Virginia.This case and theotherone Dunn
foundmay well turnout to be cruciallyimportant,
but theyhardlydemonstrate
the
in thepre-Revolutionary
South.
'prevalence'of polygyny
Theotherassumption
in muchoftherecentworkofAfricanAmericanculture
implicit
is a modelof declension.Africaninfluencewas at its peak at some timeearlyin the
and thereafter
in importance.
diminished
The corollaryis thatifone
eighteenth
century
inthenineteenth-century,
can findsomething
inthiscase a polygynous
union,thenitmust
haveexistedearlierinthecolonialperiod.Thisreviewerremainsunconvinced
thatculture
travelsin suchconveniently
lines.RogerBastide'sconclusionthatreligiouscults
straight
shouldbe viewed*... as a seriesof discontinuous
and
events,of traditions
interrupted
Americanculturein theUnited
recovered',couldhave a broaderapplicationto Africanin theyearsbefore1808 whentheslave tradeofficially
ended.
States,particularly
Changedcircumstances
maywell havemadepracticesretainedonlyin thecollective
ofAfrican
Americans
JamesDeetz's workat FlowerdewHundred
memory
newlyrelevant.
uncovered
a strong
correlation
betweentheincidence
ofColonoWareandtheestablishment
of separatehousingforslavesin thelateseventeenth
Thissuggeststhatoncethe
century.
situation
of slaveschangedand theywereremovedfroma veryclose contactwiththeir
whiteownerstheybeganto maketheirown bowls. Similarly,theblacksmentioned
at
thebeginning
ofthisessaywhosettledat PartingWaysin New Englanddrewon African
culturalpatterns
oncetheyregainedcontroloftheirlives.I suspectthatwhen,intheearly
decadesof thenineteenth
century,slaves began in greaternumbersto maketheirown
clothesthismayalso havebrought
to thesurfaceagainmemoriesofhowto makevarious
from
such
as
berries,leaves and barkthatlay close to hand.
dyes
ingredients
Withthethirdstudyunderreviewhere,thefocusshiftsforwardsto slaveryin the
antebellum
period.BeforeFreedomCame is a book designedto accompanya museum
exhibition
in Richmond,Virginia,which
organisedby theMuseumof theConfederacy
was on view in Richmondand thenwas shown in Columbia, South Carolina and
Ohio. Usually,it is ratherhardto takethetextin books thataccompany
Wilberforce,
- something
exhibitions
tooseriously
aboutthelargesize format,
theglossypaperor the
abundanceof picturessignalsthatthereaderis expectedto browseand notto read. In
thiscase, though,thatwould be a mistake.Six well-knownscholarshave provided
substantial
essaysof an impressively
highstandard.Drew GilpinFaustoutlinestherole
has
slavery playedin theAmericanschemeof things;JohnMichaelVlachuses an array
ofsourcestodescribethesetting
oftheplantation;
DeborahGrayWhitereprises
herearlier
workto givean accountof femaleslaves; CharlesJoyner
describestheplantation
world
of slaves,judiciouslybalancingblackcreativeachievements
withtheconstraints
imposed
better-known
forhisworkinthetwentieth
byslavery;DavidR. Goldfield,
probably
century,
a
fine
account
of
urban
in
the
antebellum
gives
South,andinthefinalpieceTheresa
slavery
A. Singleton
offers
an excellentassessment
ofthecontribution
thathistorical
archaeology
can maketo understanding
I
am
not
certain
how
useful
thevolumewill prove
slavery.
forcasual exhibition-goers,
but therecan be littledoubtof its value in theuniversity.
44
It will be ideal for good studentsin surveyand black historycourses who wish to learn
about antebellumslavery.
Withall due respectto theauthors,though,it is notjust theessays thatmake thisbook
such good value formoney. What lingersin the mind when one puts the book down are
the 170 illustrations,woodcuts, paintingsand, in particular,photographs,taken fromthe
exhibitionitself.Some of theimages are well-known,othersless so; buttheyare all worthy
of the attentionof anyone interestedin the South or the black experience in America.
Historianshave nottakenfulladvantageof visual materialin theirattemptsto uncover
the African-Americanpast. Occasionally they have highlightedtheir argumentwith a
particularlyapposite image thephotographof fivegenerationsof a slave familytellingly
used on the cover of HerbertG. Gutman's The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom,
1750-1925 (1976) is a notable example - but generally illustrationsappear to be an
ratherthan an integralpart of theiranalyses. The mechanics and costs of
afterthought
book production,withphotographsusually segregatedfromthe text,have hardlyhelped
this process. In the case of Before Freedom Came, the illustrationsare spread through
the book, but the discussions of their meaning are disappointinglyinfrequent,and the
materialis set out in such a way thatalmost invariablyone has to turna page to findthe
image being referredto.
The principalanalyticaluse of visual materialhas been in studiesof 'the black image
in the whitemind'. There are a numberof outstandingstudiesof paintings,in particular,
whichreveal muchabout theassumptionsand attitudes
butalso woodcutsand illustrations,
of whitestowardsblacks.7More recentlya numberof scholarshave publishedworkdealing
thosetakenin the 1930s, but here,as in thecase of painting,
withphotographs,particularly
theyhave placed the emphasis on the assumptionsand intentionsof the person creating
thepaintingor photograph.This is obviouslyimportant,perhapseven crucial, but it leaves
unansweredthe questionof whetherpaintingsand photographscan tell us anythingabout
the person or object being represented.
There is scope for the historianto use images of slaves, particularlyphotographs,in
differentand rathermore illuminatingways. Whatever reservationsone may have about
The Civil War television documentaryas history,it would be churlishto deny that the
techniques used by Ken Burns infusednew life into hundredsof photographs.Such an
effectiveuse of themediummightmake historianswonderwhethertheyhave been glossing
over a potentially useful source. Extremely imaginative in their use of runaway
advertisements,which, of course, are essentiallyverbal descriptionsof slaves, historians
should be able, with a little inventivenessand skill, to use the hundreds of existing
photographsof slaves as evidence and not merely illustrations.
One possible way of achieving this is by viewing the bodies of slaves as a source.
observerswere certainlywell aware thattherewas somethingdistinctive
Nineteenth-century
in theappearance of blacks otherthanskincolour. Confrontedforthe firsttimeby a large
numberof blacks in themarketsof WashingtonD.C. in the 1850s, FrederickLaw Olmstead
concluded that 4[i]n theirdress, language, manner, motions- all were distinguishable
almostas much by theircolour, fromthewhitepeople who were distributedamong them,
and engaged in the same occupations'.8 The way in which AfricanAmericans presented
theirbodies to themselves,to whitesand to photographers,the way theywalked, talked,
dressed and styledtheirhair was significantand offersa point of entryinto theirworld
that may reveal somethingnew about African-Americanculture.
45
or otherness
notedbyOlmsteadpervadessomeof thephotoThe senseof difference
image (on p. 10) about two
graphsin BeforeFreedomCame. In one eye-catching
dozenmaleandfemalelabourerswalkhomefromthefieldson theWoodlandsplantation
nearCharleston.On theheadsof all buta coupleof themalesare largeloads of cotton.
The singlefileof slave s curvesfromtherightmiddlegroundacrossthepictureandthen
on theslave driverin front.Dressedin
backto therightforeground,
focusingattention
a tophat,a frockcoatanda whiteshirt,garbverysimilartothatoftheslavedriverwhom
sketchedwithhisdrawingmachinethreedecadesearlier
Basil Hall, an Englishtraveller,
on p. 55), and holdingsomesortof stick,he cutsa striking
(a sketchreproduced
figure.
has toldhis subjectsto be
by thepositionof theslaves' feet,thephotographer
Judging
stillwhilehe takesthepicture,butthedriver,unliketheotherslaves who are looking
offtherightmarginofthephotograph.
at thecamera,gazes resolutely
WithotherphotoAs TheresaSingraphsitis less theoverallimpactand morethedetailthatis important.
takenat Drayton
gletonpointsout, at least fiveof thewomenin an 1862 photograph
HiltonHead, SouthCarolina(on p. 163) arewearingbeadednecklaces.Charm
plantation,
as oneAfricanAmerican,
MollieDawson,remembered,
'... was supposedtobring
strings,
good luckterde ownerof it'. Similarly,I have spenta considerableamountof timereand paintings
to findoutmoreabouttheshoesexcentlyexamining
photographs
trying
slavesspentso muchtimediscussingin theW.P.A. interviews.
Thusfarmyconclusion
thanthatitis amazinghow manyslaveswerephotographed
is no moremomentous
with
or
theirfeetobscured
shovels
whatever
else
close
to
foot.
There
furrows,
is,
however,
by
lay
in thefuture.
enoughevidenceto suggestthatsuchan approachmaywell provefruitful
blacks(andforthatmatter
womenandtheworking
class)backintotheirrightful
Writing
in
the
of
America
involves
a
eclectic
story
place
necessarily
highly
approach.Faced with
sourcesthatare oftenopaque and intransigent,
historians
haveborrowedfromanynumberofotherdisciplinesinordertoteasemeaningoutofwhattheyalreadyhaveor tocome
andvitality
ofthehistoriogup withnewevidence.Thisis wheremuchoftheexcitement
of
African
Americans
lies.
It
is
also
an
that
can
test
the
raphy
enterprise
patienceofothers.
historians
have
so
to
the
Thankfully,
though,
nothing precious
well-beingof thefuture
of Americancultureas thecanonto protect,and history
has suffered
onlya fewcranky
outbursts
ratherthanthesustainedassaultsof AllanBloomand his ilkthatliterature
has
hadto putup with.9The potential
forthecontinuation
of thishealthyprocessof interdisif scholarsof slaveryand
ciplinaryscholarshipremainshigh,and it will be surprising
theAfricanAmericanpastdo notheara lotmorefromhistoricalarchaelogists
and those
as evidencein thenextfewyears.
usingphotographs
NOTES
1. JamesDeetz,In SmallThingsForgotten:
TheArchaeology
ofEarlyAmericanLife,AnchorBooks,Garden
City,New York, 1977, pp. 138-54.
2. See JanetDuitsmanCornelius,WhenI Can Read My TitleClear: Literacy,Slaveryand Religionin the
Antebellum
of SouthCarolinaPress,Columbia,1991.
South,University
3. A specialissueofHistoricalArchaeology,
on southern
xxiv,1990,devotedtohistorical
archaeology
plantationsand farms,givesa good idea of someof theworkbeingdone. TheresaA. Singleton'sessay, "The
ofthePlantation
South:A ReviewofApproachesandGoals', pp. 70-7, inparticular,
is well
Archaeology
worthreading.
4. TheresaA. Singleton,
'The Archaeology
ofSlaveLife',inEdwardD.C. Campbell,Jr.(ed.), BeforeFreedom
Came:African-American
PressofVirginia,Charlottesville,
South,University
Lifein theAntebellum
1991,
p. 155.
5. Kenneth
L. BrownandDoreenC. Cooper,'Structural
inan African-American
SlaveandTenant
Continuity
HistoricalArchaeology,xxiv, 1990, pp. 7-19.
Community',
6. Singleton,4TheArchaeologyof Slave Life*,p. 161. She is relyinghereon theworkof MatthewHill.
46
Art:VolIV FromtheAmericanRevo7. See, inparticular,
HughHonour,TheImageoftheBlackin Western
lutionto WorldWarI. Part I, Slavesand LiberatorsandPart2, BlackModelsand WhiteMyths,Harvard
Press,Cambridge,Mass., 1989. For further
proofthatthereare exhibition
University
cataloguesworth
readingand fora notableincursionintothisarea by an historian,see PeterH. Wood and KarenC.C.
ofTexas
Homer'sImagesofBlacks:TheCivilWarand Reconstruction
Years,University
Dalton,Winslow
Press,Austin,1990.
on Cottonand Slaveryin the
8. FrederickLaw Olmstead,TheCottonKingdom:A Traveller'sObservations
AmericanSlave States,editedby ArthurM. Schlesinger,AlfredA. Knopf,New York, 1953, p. 28.
thecanon,andthecontroversies,
see HenryLouis
on AfricanAmericans,
comments
9. For someinteresting
AmericanTradition',in Dominick
and theAfroGates,Jr.,The Master'sPieces: On Canon Formation
on Hegemony
and Resistance,CornellUniversity
Press,
LaCapra(ed.), TheBoundsofRace: Perspectives
Ithacaand London, 1991, pp. 17-38.
47