African Voices in the African American Heritage (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: African Voices in the African American Heritage Carolyn Morrow Long African Voices in the African American Heritage. By Betty M. Kuyk. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003. Pp. xxviii + 201, illustrations, notes, bibliography, index.) Until the mid-twentieth century, most scholars contended that, in the United States, "primitive" African culture was obliterated by the shattering experience of slavery. In African Voices in the African American Heritage, Betty M. Kuyk follows the lead of Melville Herskovits (The Myth of the Negro Past, reprint Beacon Press [1941] 1990) and Robert Farris Thompson (Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy, Vintage Books, 1983), arguing that black Americans retained a great deal of their African heritage in religious belief, community government, language, music, and the visual arts. Kuyk focuses on Central and West African influences in the Atlantic seaboard states, particularly in South Carolina and the Georgia Sea Islands. Not only did Sea Island plantation slaves have little contact with people of European descent, but also African traditions were continually reinforced by the approximately fifty-four thousand Africans who were smuggled into this region after the African slave trade was declared illegal in 1808. The narrative of Sam Gadsden of Edisto Island, South Carolina, tells of his great-grandfather Kwibo Tom, son of a Kongo prince, who, with his brother Wali and their wives and children, was illegally transported by a Dutch ivory trader. He landed on Wadmalaw Island and was purchased by plantation owner James Clark III in approximately 1819. Gadsden's story is supported by Kuyk's research, which reveals that the prince of the Vili/Kongo people had a trading relationship with the Dutch and that the families of Kwibo Tom and Wali were listed in Clark's slave inventory. Being of royal linage, Gadsden's ancestors continued to occupy positions of leadership in the plantation hierarchy, and, as he declared in his recorded [End Page 103] interview, "out of that family has come . . . a whole nation" (p. 40). Kuyk compares African American fraternal organizations, particularly the Independent Order of St. Luke, to African secret societies such as the Ozo Society among the Igbo of Nigeria and the Lemba Society among the Kongo peoples. Kuyk asserts that such societies on both sides of the Atlantic had a parallel organizational structure that promoted trade, moral behavior, and friendly relationships and that ensured a proper funeral for members. In the Sea Islands, rituals associated with joining the church echo African secret society initiation rites. The candidate underwent a period of fasting and prayer, called "seeking in the wilderness," that resulted in a visionary experience. The individual was then instructed by a spiritual mentor and examined by a committee of church elders, culminating in baptism in the river followed by a nighttime "ring shout." Initiation into the Kongo Lemba Society included time spent alone in "the bush," instruction by a priest/father, and presentation to the ancestors at a stream or at the crossroads. Kuyk also examines African influences in the work of three self-taught African American artists. Sam Doyle of St. Helena Island, South Carolina, depicted local scenes and people, as well as mythical beings like Jack-O-Lantern and Old Hag, in his paintings on sheet metal. Doyle's portrayal of the famous conjurers Doctor Eagle and Doctor Buzzard show figures in the "Kongo pose," left hand on hip and right hand extended. Kuyk likens his three-dimensional effigy of "Uncle Remus" to Kongo reliquary figures. Bill Traylor was born to an enslaved mother who was probably Igbo. In his old age, Traylor lived in the back room of a Montgomery, Alabama, funeral home and began to produce drawings. Traylor often depicted a man attired in a black suit and hat who carried a cane. Although this figure may represent the local undertaker, a preacher, or simply Traylor's idea of a well-dressed gentleman, Kuyk finds it analogous to the Haitian Vodou representation of Baron Samedi, ruler of the cemetery, who also sports a black suit, hat, and cane. Because birds symbolize women in African art, Kuyk interprets Traylor's drawing of a pair of chicken thieves attacked by a farmer and his dog to...