Transcript
Uncovering our African American
HistoryResearch Presentation by: Bianca WareFaculty Advisor: Ferne Caulker Bronson
The unknown What I previously knew about my history…
Slavery in the Southern states Harriet Tubman Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation
Proclamation Civil Rights Movement Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Discovering the Unknown
The Slave Trade (three stages) The forced loss of Identity
The enslaved Africans were not allowed to speak their own language, to keep up with their traditions, or practice their religion
How slaves kept in touch with who they are… Oral traditions passed down through generations
that are meant to trace them back to their people
A small population of African Americans completely isolated on the Sea Islands of Georgia and South Carolina up until recently
They have their own culture and language that survived for hundreds of years
Dr. Lorenzo Dow Turner and Amelia Dawley Discovered the connection between the Gullah people and
the Mende Tribe in Sierra Leone: the funeral song passed down from generation to generation, from mother to daughter
The Ring Shout
The Gullah (Geechee) Culture
Going to Georgia Visiting Savannah, GA, the Sea Islands, and Charleston,
SC February 10 2013- February 18, 2013 The Plan…
Film shooting, tours of Savannah, GA, visit Sapelo Island, archival research in Savannah and Charleston, SC, interview Gullah individuals, and attend a black church service.
My anticipations of this journey Uncovering more history/learning more about the Gullah A journey of self-discovery?
Factories in Savannah
Handmade canal
The First African Baptist Church
Oldest black church in North America
Freedmen built entire church made out of African wood used to build the slave ships
Doors were painted red, means ‘Welcome!’
First African Baptist Church
The Bottle Tree Used to capture evil
spirits who are attracted to the colors
Hear music when the spirit is captured
Sapelo Island
Sapelo Island
Sapelo Island
The Indigo Plantation
The black church service
We went to visit a Baptist church in Darien, GA. I grew up going to a church service similar to
this one in Havre de Grace, MD. They conduct the service similarly
The Call and Response and the more recent version of the Ring Shout was present, which traces back to some African religions
The energy in the church was unlike what you experience in a Catholic mass
Thirst to know more… My life’s purpose:
Conduct my own research by visiting different countries to learn about their deaf culture and their sign language
Connect with other deaf dancers from around the world, communicate with them using their language
Develop the Ware Technique in dance (developed through the use of the foreign sign languages)
Open my International School of Dance for Deaf Dancers
Educate people about our history
Works cited Frazier, Herb. Singing for the Ancestors a Song
that made the Roundtrip to Africa. Ware, Bianca. History 313 Midterm Study
Guide. p.2. 2011. Ware, Bianca. Research notes. February 11
2013.
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