Slave reenacting?

[Eric Burke]

I hate to bring up somewhat of a touchy subject, but I'm really interested in how it is treated in the authentic-side of the hobby (or if it is done at all). I would think that slavery, being the issue of paramount historical importance that it is, would be reenacted on at least some level by African American individuals interested in preserving their history.

Obviously portraying an enslaved person wouldn't be the funnest impression ever, but I feel that slaves played such a huge part in the war, it would be a total shame if none of our African American brothers decided to form such a group (if one doesn't already exist) in the Civilian-oriented area of the hobby.

Does anyone know of such an organization?

[Hank Trent]

Re: Slave reenacting?

"Forming groups" really isn't the way it works for civilian EBUFU events--registration is almost always by individual, and people at each event are organized according to their one-time roles for that event.

But I've seen slavery portrayed just like anything else. Emanuel Dabney will be along shortly to tell you his experiences :) but I've been at many events where he's done an excellent portrayal of a loyal slave, usually a house servant. Anita Henderson often portrays a free black, or occasionally a slave, but I'm not sure if she posts here or not.

I wish I could tell you what's going down at an upcoming EBUFU event, but I'm sworn to secrecy. Watch the AARs in a few months to read about another angle of slavery being portrayed.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Slave reenacting?

Contact Colonial Williamsburg (Carter's Grove Plantation). They have an excellent, long-standing program.

http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/history/museums/carters_grove.cfm

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Re: Slave reenacting?

Eric,
Williamsburg has the most effective organized slave presentation, of course that's before our era.

Now back to the Civil War....

When I started reenacting in 1997, I wished to present the case of the loyal enslaved servant, being loyal to whatever the family was loyal to. Not that I would NEVER portray the errant, runaway; but since we're trying to present the norm the overall public thought of masses of blacks running to the smiley-faced Yankees who stood with open arms to embrace their black bretheren...well, you know that is false. That is not to say every slave enjoyed his/her involuntary servitude, for that too is false. Just the same, it is a side of slavery that has been effectively swept under the rug by such entities as the NAACP and other pro-black organizations.

Moving on from the politics of it, I do something that is of course, not "PC" and I wish to thank those who have praised me in the past and at the present for my portrayal of a domestic servant. This impression I chose as I left the military role of a body servant of a CS officer to the civilian world. It is inaccurate for the most part to portray field hands. Why? Most events are not based around agricultural processes of the 19th century. Another reason I chose to portray a domestic servant is, I'm not sure if you've ever portrayed an illiterate, local jargon person; but it's very difficult. The domestic servitude impression allows me to be aligned with "dominate race" of the antebellum and Civil War periods in which we portray. Plus, I truly believe within a week I would have been dead of some exhaustion related disease with being a field hand. It is also thought of the entire black slave South existing in log huts working from sun up to sun down, fed twice a day in fields, and spent most of their days picking crops. That idea totally ignores the fact that a grand scale of work occurred in and around the house and yard that was just as difficult as working outside.

Perhaps my BEST experience of this fact occurred in an Atlantic Guard Soldiers' Aid Society (AGSAS) only event at the historic property of Kathryn Coombs. This one day living history showed just how much the times have changed. From 11AM or so when our event began to 5PM when it ended was filled with first person, with exception that lunch was prepared with a modern stove. The 11AM hour opened with preparation of tea, which I served to various women in the parlor. After this, I dusted the parlor. By 1 o'clock the dinner (lunch) was ready to be served. Kathryn assisted with the serving of lunch, and then lunch was announced to the guests. They all entered the dining room and were seated according to their social position in the society at two tables. I then came round to pour each person their drinks. Then I ate my lunch in a separate room, meanwhile they all chatted away about the war and the formation of a ladies' aid society to support the troops. I ate in silence, alone, just moi. I also ate hurriedly to rush back to the dining room to assist the plethora of women in their dining experience. I took a position to overlook both tables at the door into the room. After lunch, they departed back to the parlor and I cleaned up the dining room. As soon as that was done, time for the afternoon tea to be prepared and served which indeed ended the event. However for that period of six hours, I had no rest, no down time, sat for a total of perhaps 5 minutes to eat, in being so occupied with seeing to everyone else I was slightly dehydrated and my lower back ached from not drinking enough. However, it was one of the best experiences of my reenacting life. The thought of domestic servitude being easier was forever relinquished.

Being a domestic meant better food, clothing, and a closer relationship with whites; however, it also meant being under their watchful eye all the time, no time to yourself, and being on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Christmas to the domestic slave meant a great amount of work, where as to field hands it meant a period of rest, sometimes the only period of great rest.

AGSAS is lucky to have two black members and we are actively seeking out some more who have expressed interest in our organization. There are a few other people out there who portray slaves in an accurate light, but it's few and far between. Hopefully, as we have now entered the 21st century, it will become an easier issue to deal with than it was in the past. It certainly was never a "great" institution, but it happened.

[Matt Woodburn]

Roaring Applause!

Friends of the Hobby,

If you ever get the opportunity to have a first person experience with a man or woman of color doing a period portrayal of a slave, free, or otherwise, I encourage you to sieze the chance. In my 25 years with the hobby, one of my most enjoyed and memorable first person experiences was given to me -a precious gift - from Emmanuel Dabney. I was portraying a Federal officer at an outpost in Georgia, and he was with a group of local white refugees needing to pass through our lines further south. To make this short, I discussed freedom with him if he was a slave and not free. That I would see to his safe passage to freedom. He assured me he was free, but loyal to the whites with whom he was traveling. Emmanuel's knowledge of the period is researched and his portrayal is polished and convincing. Thanks for the time trip and the experience.

If anyone is interested in learning more about slaves and their experiences, I want to suggest some books. In the 1930's the Federal Government created the Federal Writer's Project to record Slave Narratives. To preserve the history of what it was like to be a slave, former slaves in many states were interviewed. Who better to tell what it was like than those who had lived it, right? A series of books has compiled 20-30 selected narratives from slaves in each state. Edited by Belinda Hurmence, the first three books in the series are "My Folks Don't Want Me to Talk About Slavery", "We Lived in a Little Cabin in the Yard", and "Before Freedom When I Just Can Remember." The series has been continued by another editor that has added about four more states to the collection. The histories told by the slaves range all over the place in regard to experiences, owners, treatment, work, relationships, life, etc. They are short books and well worth the read. Those of you who will read them, I hope you'll enjoy and come to a clearer understanding of life as a slave. And to Emmanuel and others who brilliantly portray and accurately teach life of slaves, I say Bully to You!

Best Regards,

[Matthew.Rector]

Re: Slave reenacting?

Matt makes a wonderful point!
WPA slave narratives are wonderful resources. As some of you may know, many WPA narratives are now online through the Library of Congress and their American Memory Collection. Most aren't long-but very interesting to read and hear.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snhome.html

"Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938 contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. These narratives were collected in the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and assembled and microfilmed in 1941 as the seventeen-volume Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves."

You can also hear their stories in their own words...

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/vfshtml/vfshome.html

"Voices from the Days of Slavery: Former Slaves Tell Their Stories provides the opportunity to listen to former slaves describe their lives. These interviews, conducted between 1932 and 1975, capture the recollections of twenty-three identifiable people born between 1823 and the early 1860s and known to have been former slaves. Several of the people interviewed were centenarians, the oldest being 130 at the time of the interview. The almost seven hours of recordings were made in nine Southern states and provide an important glimpse of what life was like for slaves and freedmen. The former slaves discuss how they felt about slavery, slaveholders, how slaves were coerced, their families, and, of course, freedom. It is important to keep in mind, however, that all of those interviewed spoke sixty or more years after the end of their enslavement, and it is their full lives, rather than their lives during slavery, that are reflected in their words. They have much to say about living as African Americans from the 1870s to the 1930s, and beyond. As part of their testimony, several of the ex-slaves sing songs, many of which were learned during the time of their enslavement."

[ley74]

Re: Slave reenacting?

Emanual, Matt and Matt:

Thanks for the very meaninful responses to an awkward initial post. I am starting to think this board is filling up with opinions and less from facts.

Reader of more posts than an originator.

[HOG.EYE.MAN]

Re: Slave reenacting?

Very interesting thread!

I enjoyed reading your post Emmanuel.

Hog-Eye Man

[Linda_Trent]

Re: Slave reenacting?

One of Hank and my favorite memories of Burkittsville was when we were portraying the hospital and went out with Emmanuel late at night trying to get onto the day's battlefield to see if there were any more wounded soldiers still on the field. His impression of a slave at that event was incredible. We've had several wonderful experiences with both Em and Anita. They do amazing work.

Linda

[markmason]

Re: Slave reenacting?

If your ever in the Indianapolis, IN area stop in and check this out.

Freetown is living history museum with men and women protraying slaves and the underground railroad during the civil war era..worth seeing.

http://www.freetown.org/

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Re: Slave reenacting?

Dear Like-minded living historians,
Thank you for your complimentary words in the previous posts as well as in future posts. It is a wonderful feeling to know that your impression, research, and mindset is appreciated by a sundry of people. There have been so many wonderful experiences and so many various people that I have come in contact with to attempt to deliver a side of history often swept under the rug.

Thank you again to all for assisting me in having just as great experiences as yall have had with me.

[dusty27]

Slave reenacting; what are their roles?

I've read this thread with excitement and admiration, but I keep asking myself, if their were a number of African Americans who wanted to portray enslaved laborers with either army, is there an event out there that would allow them to dig works or be teamsters? I've only been to a couple of events that I remember that had any form of entrenchments (Grant vs Lee ) and another Wilderness, where we dug our own (tough work, as I recall). I don't recall any better events that I've attended where this portrayal would have been possible.

Am I naive about this or would events have to change for this type of portrayal to happen in numbers?

[PogueMahone]

Re: Slave reenacting?

Dusty,

I don't think it is the events holding back this type of impression. It is the lack of eager participants that holds it back.

I recall seeing my first servant impression. I can't say if she were a slave or not. The young, well-dressed black woman carried a very young white child in her arms, walking about five feet behind the white mother. This white woman was clearly a woman of means by her dress and demeanor, but the use of a servant to care for her child made it painfully obvious. Watching them walk through the crowd was like watching Moses part the Red Sea. Everyone stopped and stood back and looked.

[TeamsterPhil]

Re: Slave reenacting?

I don't think it is the events holding back this type of impression. It is the lack of eager participants that holds it back.

I agree with Joe on this one. There are a very small number of African Americans that are willing to portray this part of our history. Emmanual's and Anita's reputations are known even out here in the Trans-Mississippi. And even in the historic site field, there are very few interpreters willing to tackle the issue of slavery in a first person program. Aside from the Sites mentioned earlier in the thread, Fort Delaware is fortunate to have a very talented interpreter that portrays a freed slave apprenticed to the fort's blacksmith. "Esau" as portrayed by Willis Phelps is worth the price of the ferry ride out to the fort.

Phil Campbell

[dusty27]

Re: Slave reenacting?

Joe and Phil,

I agree that there are a small number of quality African American interpreters. My question, albeit hypothetical, was if there was in influx of folks wanting to give it a try, are current events (all types) built for this kind of thing? The only one that comes to mind would be the SFB event at Pamplin a couple of years ago.

Is there a place for workers in the current system?