African slave traditions live on in U.S.

[Number23]

FA-SCI-NATING!!!!!!

'African slave traditions live on in U.S.'
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/07/world/africa/gullah-geechee-africa-slavery-america/index.html

Along the lush sea-islands and the Atlantic coastal plains of the southern East coast of America, a distinctive group of tidewater communities has stuck together throughout the centuries, preserving its African cultural heritage and carving out a lifestyle that is uniquely its own.

The Gullah/Geechee people are direct descendants of West African slaves brought into the United States around the 1700s. They were forced to work in rice paddies, cotton fields and indigo plantations along the South Carolina-Georgia seaboard where the moist climate and fertile land were very similar to their African homelands.

After the abolition of slavery, they settled in remote villages around the coastal swath, where, thanks to their relative isolation, they formed strong communal ties and a unique culture that has endured for centuries.

Oh my God. I know where I'm going the next time I come home to the States.

[HooptieWagon]

1. More than likely, the people's ancestors

brought the banjo here from the same West African region. I'd suggest you do a google search of history of the banjo for some fascinating articles and videos. Also, buy Otis Taylor's CD "Recapturing the Banjo"...one of my favorite CDs.

[HooptieWagon]

2. Here's a link to start:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akonting
You can also google Daniel Jatta, the Gambian historian who led the research and revival of the Akonting.

[Downwinder]

3. Look up the origin of okra/gumbo.

Hint: it is not southern.

[Number23]

4. Thanks for the tip!

Had no idea about the banjo's history.

[kwassa]

5. Other African contributions

same area.

http://slaverebellion.org/index.php?page=african-contribution-to-american-culture

The major contribution of enslaved Africans was in agriculture. In the 1740s, rice from Madagascar was introduced to South Carolina’s farming economy. Africans, experts in rice cultivation, were transported from the island of Goree, off the coast of what is now the Senegambia, to train Europeans to cultivate this new crop.

The first successful cultivation of rice in the New World was accomplished in the South Carolina Sea Islands by an African woman who later showed her owner how to cultivate rice. The first rice seeds were imported directly from the island of Madagascar in 1685; Africans supplied the labor and the technical expertise for this new crop industry. Africans off the coast of Senegal helped train Europeans in the methods of cultivation and those who specialized in rice cultivation were imported directly from the island of Goree. Africans were able to successfully transfer their rice culture to the New World. The method of rice cultivation used in West Africa and South Carolina was identical. Enslaved Africans used three basic systems: ground water, springs, and soil moisture retention, or high water table. These three systems are found on both sides of the Atlantic, and formed the basis for South Carolina’s antebellum economy.