Our study of African American history and culture started at
the University of South Carolina with a series of interesting presentations
about different aspects of African American life. Daniel Littlefield gave the
first presentation „Race and South Carolina“ talking about slavery and
race-relations in early South Carolina and how they relate to today’s situation
of African Americans. "Race" is an important issue to the state of South Carolina
as its African American majority makes it distinctive in comparison to most
other states oft he USA in which African Americans constitute only a minority.
Littlefield argued that a distinctive slave culture developed in SC because of
its high number of African American inhabitants enabling the survival of African
traditions. According to Littlefiled, among these Africanisms are the language
Gullah and thus, early SC bilingualism, a certain architecture, assumptions of
life, cosmology, food, naming practices as well as music instruments. The banjo
was a distinctive feature of African American music before becoming popular
among white country musicians. Littlefield also mentioned other characteristics
of race relations in SC like the task system, rice cultivation and
miscegenation, the open practice of masters fathering slaves. Littlefield’s
talk gave us a good basis for the upcoming presentations and events of the
study tour.
Franziska
Franziska
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen