Friday, December 13, 2019

The Lives of Black New Yorkers

In an essay format, answer the following question using all of the sources we have thus far considered.

What kinds of lives did both free and enslaved Africans/African-Americans live in 18th-century New York?  
Make sure to remark on their work, as well as the social and cultural aspects of their communities.  Include, too, their interactions with the majority white/English population.

You should cite/refer to the range of the material we have read.  Your response should be around two pages in length.

Share as a doc with Mr. Mastrodonato and Mr. Regler.

Due:  Wednesday, December 18

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

African Spirituality, part 3


Read pages 172-177 of S. Stuckey’s “African Spirituality,” and answer the following:

1.    Describe Charley’s music.  What is the source Stuckey relies on for an understanding of Charley’s art?  (pgs 172-173)
2.    What was the nature and meaning of the dance?  Where did it take place most significantly? (pgs 173-174)
3.    Identify five of Stuckey’s key points about African cemeteries. (pages 174-175)
4.    What African practices around burial were misunderstood by whites? (pg 174-175)
5.    How did the dance of Pinkster and of Africans like Charley get adapted by whites? (pg 175-176)
6.    What does Stuckey say about resistance? (pg 174-176)

Due:  Wednesday, December 11

Monday, December 9, 2019

African Spirituality, part 2


Read pages 166-171 of S. Stuckey’s “African Spirituality” and answer the following:

1.    What is the meaning of the “King Buzzard” tale? (pg 166)

2.    What was the feenda, and how did it relate to enslaved African jumping from the slave ships?

3.    Who was Charley, and what role did he play withing the enslaved community of Albany, New York (pgs 167-169)

4.    What was the Pinkster celebration? (pg 168)

5.    In what ways does Stuckey discuss the rebellion of 1712 and the “Great Conspiracy” of 1741 in New York? (pgs 169-170)

6.    How was the Pinkster celebration more than it seemed for Africans?  For whites? (pg 171)

Answer in your notebook.

Due:  Tuesday, December 10

Thursday, December 5, 2019

African Spirituality in Colonial New York, part 1

Read pages 160-165 of Sterling Stuckey's essay, "African Spirituality in Colonial New York, 1700-1770" and answer the following:


1.      Why did Africans tend to sing while working, according to Stuckey? (pg 160)
2.      People like Ben Franklin and John Adams dismissed artistic endeavors.  What was ironic about that with respect to African music and dance? (pg 161)
3.      Why does Stuckey cite the cultural historian Neil Harris? (pg 161)
4.      Stuckey states:  “The failure of white Americans to understand the African aesthetic and how it relates to African religion has persisted in the historiographic perception of African art and religion.”  How does Stuckey use the example of Jon Butler to support this? (pg 161-162)
5.      Identify four characteristics of (African) dance. (pg 163)
6.      Stuckey claims that African dance was pervasive.  Why do you think he cites white writers, like Walt Whitman and Herman Melville, to support his claim? (pg 164)
7.      Why does Stuckey not seem to be addressing, in the first five pages, the stated topic of the essay—or is he?


Due:  Monday, December 9