The Talking Drum

Randy Sparks highlights a rare aspect of the history of slavery: the relentless effort of the enslaved to use their privilege to free themselves. Although it is not clear when the European and Africans first encountered each other in Old Calabar, it is evident that the constant trading between both parties built a concrete means of communication. As many individuals who have

Haour, A. (2005). Power and permanence in precolonial Africa: A case study from the Central Sahel. World Archaeology, 37(4), 552-565. Retrieved from the JSTOR

Africans have, since the early settlement of America, has had a great influence in the nation’s growth. These contributions to the United States from enslaved Africans have been greatly portrayed in American culture. Varying from cuisine, to song and dance are not only portrayed today but it has a deep-rooted impact throughout the United States. During the middle passage, enslaved Africans were forced to abandon their everyday lives, their families and their homes and forced to adapt to a new lifestyle they knew nothing of. However, upon arrival into the New World, due to their prior knowledge and wisdom from back home, they were able to quickly adapt and custom themselves to this new lifestyle in order to survive with the hope of potentially one day returning back to Africa. Unfortunately, African contributions to the culture of the United States has received little to no recognition and it has been taken credit for by Europeans and Whites since the early establishment of the United States.

The perspectives of African slave merchants, the female slaves, and the plantation workers in the Americans which are missing in this collection might add other dimensions to our understanding of this commerce in people. Knowing the perspective of the African slave merchants who were present during the slave trade in Africa would have

From the 1500s to the 1700s, African blacks, mainly from the area of West Africa (today's Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Dahomey, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon) were shipped as slaves to North America, Brazil, and the West Indies. For them, local and tribal differences, and even varying cultural backgrounds, soon melded into one common concern for the suffering they all endured. Music, songs, and dances as well as remembered traditional food, helped not only to uplift them but also quite unintentionally added immeasurably to the culture around them. In the approximately 300 years that blacks have made their homes in North America, the West Indies, and Brazil, their highly honed art

As children growing up in the United States, educated through our public schools, we learned about the institution of slavery, which was an integral part of life in our country for nearly 300 years. We do not usually question the historical facts we learned about slavery or ask how we know so much about the history of these people (the enslaved Africans in America) who left behind so little written record. In the classroom, archeologists do not receive much credit, but it is largely through their work and research that we have been able to learn about “America’s diverse ethnic heritage” (Singleton 155). In the 1960’s, excavations of slave cabins

Slaves who arrived on our shores were characterized by a strong attachment to their traditions and ancestral beliefs, intimately linked to their dances and music. Among the African groups that influence ethnic and cultural formation of the island are the Ashanti and Fante of Ghana, Carabalis southern shore of the Niger River, the Congos and Equatorial Africa from the late eighteenth century until the middle nineteenth century and the Yoruba of West Africa.

(1) The use of natural dialect can be seen throughout the slave narrative interviews through words and phrases used that were common during the period of slavery, but are not used today. One example can be seen in the dialect used by former slave Mama Duck, “Battlin stick, like dis. You doan know what a battling stick is? Well, dis here is one.” Through incomplete sentences and unknown words the natural dialect of the time can be seen. Unfamiliar words such as shin-plasters, meaning a piece of paper currency or a promissory note regarded as having little or no value. Also, geechees, used to describe a class of Negroes who spoke Gullah. Many examples can be seen throughout the “Slave Narratives”

The roots of modern american rock and roll music, are firmly planted in Africa. As the native Africans were torn apart from their family’s and brought to the new world their lives were immediately and drastically changed forever. Finding themselves immersed in a completely new environment with a foreign culture, they thankfully persevered and carried on with their own traditions and most importantly to this paper, musical ones. Most American slaves originated from Western and Central Africa. The West Africans carried a musical tradition rich with long melody lines, complicated rhythms (poly rhythmics) and stringed instruments CITATION. The West Africans music was also strongly integrated into their everyday lives. Songs were preformed for religious ceremonies and dances and music was often a

Slaveholders actually outlawed these drums at one point because they were a way of communication for the slaves. These "talking-drums" could be heard from miles around, so the slaves were forced to hide these instruments or to develop new ones.

While in Barbados, Ligon writes about cultural adaptations which are evident between the European and African inhabitants. Ligon knew a slave named “Macow”, he entered Ligon’s house only to find Ligon playing a musical instrument (called the “Theorbo”) and singing a song to it. Macow waited, watched, and listened attentively to these noises the Theorbo created. What caught Macow’s interest was the fact that the Theorbo made different pitches in sounds. All Macow knew was the drum, and how it was only capable of making a single tone. Ligon stumbled across Macow a couple days after this had happened. He noticed that Macow had a large piece of timber in which he was trying to duplicate the sound of the Theorbo. What Ligon points out in this story is the fact that some of the African slaves (or servants) actually have the potential to learn the Arts. Macow adapted to Ligon’s cultural practices and tried to duplicate them with this act.

Slavery has been around for thousands of years, but suddenly in the eighteen hundreds people started to oppose it. The New York Tribune wrote “Time Machine 1846,”and the Washington Post published “West African Country struggles to come to terms with its slavery past”; two articles that investigate the topic of slavery in the nineteenth century. In west Africa there is a small country along the coast called Benin. The whole country is in controversy over the country’s history and whether or not they should support their slavery past. In 1846, a man by the name of Northrup witnessed a slave auction and the cruelty of buying slaves. These two articles have similarities but are also quite different.

Lastly, there is the water drum. This drum sounds completely different from the previous types; it is built differently as well. The water drum is made from an iron kettles or hollowed out and dried calabashes, which are then filled to a specific height with water. Even though this particular drum does not have any direct influences in percussion instruments, it can be easily recreated with a present-day household item like a milk jug. All of these drums are used by Native Americans to connect to The Great Spirit and the Earth.

The narrative by Olaudah Equiano gives an interesting perspective of slavery both within and outside of Africa in the eighteenth century. From these writings we can gain insight into the religion and customs of an African culture. We can also see how developed the system of trade was within Africa, and worldwide by this time. Finally, we hear an insider's view on being enslaved, how slaves were treated in Africa, and what the treatment of African slaves was like at the hands of the Europeans.

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olandah Equiano provides a view of Africa and the rest of the world from the perspective of either an African taken into slavery early in his life or a slave of African descent born in the British colonies. Olandah Equiano’s narrative reveals more about the African Diaspora than it does African history itself, particularly with his birthplace called into question. If he was born in Africa as he claims, Equiano’s narrative provides a primary source for the history of the slave trade in Africa and Nigerian history. If he was born in South Carolina, his narrative provides a secondary source for these areas. In either case, Equiano’s narrative accurately reveals the horrors of the Atlantic Slave