Slavery Re-enactment
Louise R. Howard
From the Washington Post:
In Williamsburg, the Painful Reality of Slavery
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 7, 1999; Page A1
As America's premier pre-Revolutionary tourist
attraction, Colonial Williamsburg is known for its sanitized and rather
bloodless version of history -- white men in breeches making speeches while
white women in aprons churn butter. It is a history of good Patriots vs. evil
Redcoats, of freedom vs. oppression. Choosing sides has been easy.
But a gripping program unveiled here a few months ago, called Enslaving
Virginia, weaves the shameful history of human bondage into the fabric of
storytelling at Williamsburg, underscoring a Revolution fought for the
liberty of some, but not all. This edgy new representation of Colonial life
casts costumed actors as slave leaders and slave owners while paying
tourists find themselves in the roles of slaves.
The reenactments are so realistic that some audience members have
attacked the white actors in the slave patrol, who have had to fight to
keep their decorative muskets. And when some early performances drove
young children to tears, Williamsburg added "debriefing" sessions
afterward to help calm them.
One visitor even attempted to lead his own revolt against the slave
handlers. "There are only three of them and a hundred of us!" he yelled.
The actors had to step out of character to restrain him.
At an attraction that historically has appealed almost exclusively to whites,
the skits have stoked particularly strong emotions among African
Americans, some of whom welcome frank discussion of a topic often
given short shrift, even as they and others are discomfited by repeated
images of subjugation. Several black actors have refused to portray slaves
because they find it demeaning and emotionally wrenching.
Such powerful reactions reflect the uneasy racial tensions that simmer
across American society a full 300 years after Williamsburg was crowned
capital of England's largest and richest colony.
Even as Enslaving Virginia plays at the 173-acre historical park, debate
rages 50 miles to the west in Richmond over the placement of
Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's image along a waterfront promenade.
And visitors to Charlottesville are still coming to terms with the idea that
Thomas Jefferson, democracy's icon and a onetime Williamsburg resident,
likely fathered a child with one of his slaves.
"The program is about the contradiction between freedom and slavery in
Colonial America, but it's also about the contradictions of race in America
today," said Harvey Bakari, development manager of Williamsburg's
African American program. "One minute, they'll be standing and cheering
when Patrick Henry talks about liberty, but the next minute they have to
confront the reality of racial discrimination. . . . When they react the way
they do, people almost seem to be attempting to right the wrongs of the
past, to step into history and say, 'Don't do this!' "
On a sweltering recent afternoon, more than 100 tourists assembled
quietly under a spreading oak, participants in an illegal slave gathering,
circa 1775.
The royal governor had just issued an enticing offer meant to drive a
wedge between the slaves and their rebel owners: Side with the king and
go free. Some slaves weighed fighting for the British while others argued
the whites should be left to kill one another.
Suddenly, without warning, the slave patrol appeared -- three white men
bearing muskets, intent on breaking up the meeting. The militia bounded
into the clearing as the frightened crowd gave way.
Charis Redmond, 7, grabbed her mother's arm.
"Are those real guns?" she asked. "Are we in trouble?"
Pam Redmond assured her daughter that it was just playacting, that the
muskets had no bullets. For Redmond and her husband, Eric, the
exchange was one of dozens they would have throughout the day with
their children and between themselves about the hidden role of African
Americans in the birth of their nation.
On their first visit to Williamsburg a year ago, the New Carrollton couple
left the park angry. The story of slavery's role in the Colonial town seemed
tacked on and half-hearted, they said.
This year, after hearing about the new emphasis on African American
perspectives, the Redmonds brought their three girls and Eric's parents
along for what they hoped would be a better experience. They were not
disappointed.
By focusing on the personalities of several key slave characters, the new
program brings their humanity to life, family members said. Also, they had
more opportunities to talk with actors and park experts about the
experiences of Colonial slaves. And Redmond, a theology professor at
Washington Bible College in Lanham, said he welcomed attention to the
importance of religious faith among Williamsburg's early black population.
"I used to think, 'Why go to Williamsburg? There's nothing there about us,'
" said Redmond's mother, Linda Redmond, of Forestville. "Now there is,
even if it's not something I'm happy about or comfortable with. These kids
need to know about this side of history."
Redmond was not alone in her earlier dismissal of Williamsburg, where
African Americans account for just 4 percent of nearly 1 million annual
visitors.
Twentieth-century visitors often are surprised to learn that free and
enslaved blacks made up more than half of Williamsburg's 1,800
inhabitants in the 18th century. Yet their story generally has been played
down, told mostly on a re-created plantation six miles from the main
grounds and overshadowed by Henry's speeches on freedom and
Jefferson's discourses on horticulture.
The effort to sharpen the park's focus on race got its start five years ago
with the controversial reenactment of a slave auction as part of a
three-day celebration of the coronation of George III. NAACP and
Southern Christian Leadership Conference members protested what they
called the trivialization and degradation of African American history.
Williamsburg stuck with the idea of explaining the role of blacks in
Colonial times until it became a major focus of programming this year.
Black actors were introduced into the town's "living history museum"
concept in the 1970s and now make up almost 10 percent of the
578-member ensemble.
"The slavery perspective was in very small doses," spokeswoman Kate
Lanier said last month as she walked the path leading to the Colonial
courthouse, one of 88 original buildings in the historic area. "You wouldn't
see many slave characters walking down the street, or walking into the
programs. It was separated. But this year it's everywhere."
In the new skits, slave leaders risk punishment by speaking up at white
gatherings. They discuss with the audience the pros and cons of siding
with the British, and -- in one especially popular narrative -- a slave and
his pregnant wife anguish over whether to attempt an escape.
The frankest, and potentially most disturbing, treatment is still to come: A
reenactment that debuts this month will focus on the brutality endured by
slaves, including the graphic sounds of whippings. Printed schedules will
contain a prominent warning for parents.
King Salim Khalfani, executive director of the Virginia NAACP, praised
the new program for its extensive treatment of Colonial slavery. The 1994
auction was objectionable, he said, because it treated the subject as a
trifling aside.
James Ingram, a Baptist minister who portrays the Rev. Gowan Pamphlet
in the Williamsburg skits, said the program tells the history of people who
didn't have that chance for themselves. "It's an honor for us to tell that
story. It needs to be told, and it needs to be told truthfully."
In one of the program's more popular plots, which play throughout the day
around town, a wiry young slave named Peter Southall is arguing with his
wife, Sarah, behind Raleigh's Tavern. The British are offering freedom,
and he wants to take it; she worries about their safety and that of their
unborn child.
A hush falls over the courtyard. Scores of onlookers lean forward, eager
to see what will happen.
"It's like going to the next chapter of a good book. I want to know what
happens, but I'm afraid to read it," said Rennie Siebenhar, a teacher from
Oxford, Ohio, who, like many in the audience, is tracking the unfolding
story.
Children follow the actor playing Peter from site to site, even as he tries to
use the restroom or grab lunch. On occasion, several youngsters have
formed a protective circle around Peter to ward off the slave patrol.
One 10-year-old boy from Alabama, a white child, came back a second
day wearing full Colonial regalia and begging to accompany Peter to
Norfolk to join the British.
"The children are very affected by the story," said Richard Josey, who
portrays Peter. "They seem to really take it to heart."
Jason Murdock, 9, said he chose a return visit to Williamsburg over a trip
to Disney World. Jason, who is white, said he has few black friends back
home in Denver and wanted to help Peter. Outfitted in a tricorn hat, he
was invited to be Peter's confidant, and in the last scene of the day, they
escaped with Sarah as the audience applauded enthusiastically.
"Some people were doing wrong things and some people were doing right
things, and I just picked the side of the people doing the right things,"
Jason said later. "I just think a person's a person. A white person is a
person; a black person is a person -- it doesn't matter."
In Colonial times, it did. The rules governing blacks in Virginia stipulated
that no more than five could gather in one place.
When a white patrol leader, his voice dripping with contempt, tried to
break up an illegal gathering during a recent Williamsburg skit, Pam
Redmond laughed out loud in the audience.
"That's still illegal," she said to no one in particular. "Five blacks on a
corner right now -- that's grounds for arrest in most places, or at least
investigation."
Such comments typify the major difference park officials have noticed in
the reaction of blacks and whites to the characterizations. Although both
groups unite in hissing at the slave patrol, whites tend to view the
depictions as relics of the past while blacks draw comparisons to the
present.
"The details are different," Eric Redmond said, pushing his youngest
daughter's stroller. "But the pattern and the overall themes -- a lot of those
are the same."
Aristine Cummings, a 68-year-old visitor from Philadelphia, said Colonial
Williamsburg takes on a different sheen when viewed through African
American eyes.
"I experienced a lot of what's going on right here in front of us," said
Cummings, who grew up in the Jim Crow South. "It's the way they talk to
you, the way they look at you, the way they act like they own you. I'm
from Georgia originally. I know what that's like."
The resonance of the historical skits can be painful for black visitors. It is
not uncommon for some to walk away from graphic scenes or criticize
their tone, while others have taken issue with the portrayal of a free black
woman who owned slaves herself.
Khalfani, the NAACP director, said such reactions are not surprising. "A
lot of African Americans will tell you they don't want to talk about it, they
don't want to see it, they don't want to be reminded of that subservience,"
he said. "The handwriting of the past still writes on the slate of the
present."
Bakari and others at Williamsburg say most blacks have indicated that
they were impressed by the program.
Lynn and Sharon McCallum, for example, came all the way from Yokota
Air Base in Japan to experience Enslaving Virginia, hoping to arrange for
the actors to visit their base. The couple, schoolteachers overseas for
more than two decades, said that expatriate African Americans are
starved for connections with their heritage and culture and that few realize
that slavery played a role in America's fight for independence.
"For so many years, we didn't want to be reminded of slavery," Sharon
McCallum said. "But when I walked out of this program, I was proud.
This country was built on the backs of my people, and we survived and
we flourished."
Her husband, walking along the dirt road toward Williamsburg's working
windmill, agreed.
"This gives a whole new meaning to the Fourth of July for me," he said.
"As blacks, I've always felt like we had to justify ourselves as Americans,
as if we hadn't contributed anything. But this shows that we did. This
shows that we helped make this country what it is from the very
beginning."
Keep the Faith,
Louise
furplay
"Louise R. Howard" wrote:
>
> From the Washington Post:
>
> In Williamsburg, the Painful Reality of Slavery
>
> By Dan Eggen
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Wednesday, July 7, 1999; Page A1
>
> As America's premier pre-Revolutionary tourist
> attraction, Colonial Williamsburg is known for its sanitized and rather
> bloodless version of history -- white men in breeches making speeches while
> white women in aprons churn butter. It is a history of good Patriots vs. evil
> Redcoats, of freedom vs. oppression. Choosing sides has been easy.
>
[all sorts of politically correct dogshit snipped]
The message: Come to Williamsburg and see that all the virtues of our
founding fathers is a big stinking lie! Makes you hate your country all
the more, does'nt it?
Sheesh! No wonder every grubby towelhead in Dogcrapistan and Montana
nutbar thinks they can declare jihad on every single American.
Black! Black! Black! Blah! Blah! Blah!
I think the covert CIA gun-running and crack deliveries into the inner
cites is'nt moving fast enough. Time to make some late-night airdrops
with a B2.
> "This gives a whole new meaning to the Fourth of July for me," he said.
> "As blacks, I've always felt like we had to justify ourselves as Americans,
> as if we hadn't contributed anything. But this shows that we did. This
> shows that we helped make this country what it is from the very
> beginning."
>
"A giant arctic region, covered with ice" -- Steve Martin
Woo Moo
Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitor wrote in message <87vhbwf...@blob.ariadne.com>...
>furplay <fur...@novia.net> writes:
>> The message: Come to Williamsburg and see that all the virtues of our
>> founding fathers is a big stinking lie! Makes you hate your country all
>> the more, does'nt it?
>
>chillun's dose of patriotic brainwashing with some realization that
>the implementation of all those nice ideals has been somewhat
>... incomplete ... over the past centuries. The normal chillun will
>eventually realize that the ideals are still valuable even if our
>ancestors were part-time shits. The a.t chillun will love the country
>even more for it...
True, but if the folks at Williamsburg y REALLY wanted to make
it amusing (as well as being historically accurate) they'd have a
re-enactment of ole T. Jefferson sneakin over to the slave quarters
at 11:00 on Thursday evening to get a piece of 15 year old Sally
Hemmings bearded clam.
Bill
> Whooh, calm down boy! There's nothing unreasonable with seasoning the
> chillun's dose of patriotic brainwashing with some realization that
> the implementation of all those nice ideals has been somewhat
> ... incomplete ... over the past centuries. The normal chillun will
> eventually realize that the ideals are still valuable even if our
> ancestors were part-time shits. The a.t chillun will love the country
> even more for it...
When I read about this in the paper, I couldn't speak for the next two hours.
It is an attempt at being PC and it must have been brought on by a protest
or complaint. Their black slavery thing was just great. It ignored the fact
the 75% of the whites were slaves also. They got here by being indentured
servants for 3 years after with they were given about $10 and a couple of
tools. In this new theatric presentation at Williamsburg, it is only the
blacks that are being mistreated. Ms Marin is prolly descended from those
exact black slaves.
Rev. Syd Midnight
>
> Bill <Bill....@erols.com> writes:
> > In this new theatric presentation at Williamsburg, it is only the
> > blacks that are being mistreated.
>
> from the article, but it looks like white visitors (almost all of the
> visitors are white) are used as slaves as well. And they do portray a
> free black woman who owns slaves.
Hmm, this whole issue gave me pause, and made me reassess my ancestry,
wondering what roles my personal forbears would have held:
- Drunken German Mercenary
- Drunken Irish slave
- Drunken Alquippa Indian
- Drunken British Deserter
- Drunken Dutch trader
- Drunken Slovenian farmhand, 8,000 miles away from Williamsburg and
determined to keep it that way.
I wonder if they've got any job openings? I need to get more in touch
with my ethnic roots
ObIrish: Guess they're just biding their time until the whole
black/slave thing is finally settled, so they can bring up the fact that
they were sold as slaves to Romans and Africans for damn near 1000
years. Come to think of it, is there an ethnic group that *hasn't* been
oppressed at some time or other? And what's the big deal anyways?
History is nothing but people kicking other peoples asses, over and
over, with the odd bit or progress here and there. To me, ethnicity is
just an excuse to get drunk on certain holidays, wear funny clothes, and
eat certain vile foods that only your specific gene pool is dumb enough
to eat, like lutefisk or haggis or something.
--
Rev. Syd Midnight - Remove TREET or SPAM from my address to reply
"As soon as we advance into beings evolved enough to speak freely about
farts and barf and anuses, this stuff won't be funny anymore and we'll
move on to higher-minded topics. Until then, we're just capitalizing on
America's immaturity." -- Trey Parker
Gerald Belton
<syd...@nls.net> wrote:
> ObIrish: Guess they're just biding their time until the whole
>black/slave thing is finally settled, so they can bring up the fact that
>they were sold as slaves to Romans and Africans for damn near 1000
>years.
Hell, the Irish don't need to go back that far in their history to
find oppression. I used to really piss of my black friends in New
Orleans by pointing out the canals that ran all over the city. My
Irish ancestors died digging those damn canals, during a time when
slavery was still legal and commonplace. Why? Because a slave was
too fucking valuable to risk on that kind of work. Let the Irish do
it, it's cheaper to pay their meager wages than to replace all the
slaves that would surely be killed before the job was finished.
Bugno
Rev. Syd Midnight wrote in message <3785479B...@nls.net>...
> ObIrish: Guess they're just biding their time until the whole
>black/slave thing is finally settled, so they can bring up the fact that
>they were sold as slaves to Romans and Africans for damn near 1000
>years. Come to think of it, is there an ethnic group that *hasn't* been
>oppressed at some time or other? And what's the big deal anyways?
>History is nothing but people kicking other peoples asses, over and
>over, with the odd bit or progress here and there.
..Sig!
>To me, ethnicity is just an excuse to get drunk on certain holidays, wear
funny clothes, and
>eat certain vile foods that only your specific gene pool is dumb enough
>to eat...
..Sig!
> Rev. Syd Midnight - Remove TREET or SPAM from my address to reply
Mark
41 05 N - 80 40 W
Lucifer dwells within all of us. - Richard Ramirez.
Remove the sticky-chicken to reply.
Kruge
Louise R. Howard <god...@crystal.palace.net> schrieb in im Newsbeitrag:
7lvnj4$ph3$1...@crystal.palace.net...
[...]
Cool thing!
What a shame that there won't be any "Auschwitz reenactment" in the same
way in my lifetime...
Germany is wayyyy to boring for such a fascinating concept...
--
Michael Briel, Projekt N.O.R.B.E.R.T.,
Negation of Reality by excessive Radiation of Trash. (tm)
Mail: Kr...@gmx.de, Music: www.mp3.com/briel
furplay
Kruge wrote:
>
> Louise R. Howard <god...@crystal.palace.net> schrieb in im Newsbeitrag:
> 7lvnj4$ph3$1...@crystal.palace.net...
>
> [...]
>
> Cool thing!
>
> What a shame that there won't be any "Auschwitz reenactment" in the same
> way in my lifetime...
>
> Germany is wayyyy to boring for such a fascinating concept...
>
Dunno. It only took about 15 years after the Titanic sunk before it was
made into it's first film. Groups of people noshing
popcorn.......watching hundreds die a horrible freezing death and become
crab food. The public need for tastelessness will always outweigh
decency, given time.
I wonder when "Dumb and Dumber II: The McVeigh & Nichols Story" will
come out in theaters?
Bill
> Dunno. It only took about 15 years after the Titanic sunk before it was
> made into it's first film. Groups of people noshing
> popcorn.......watching hundreds die a horrible freezing death and become
> crab food. The public need for tastelessness will always outweigh
> decency, given time.
I just heard that the law suit against John Hinckly by all the people he
shot except Ronnie was settled yesterday. They wanted any money he
might make with a book or movie. Seems John boy sits around writing
rock and roll lyrics these days and some of it has been published.
Kruge
furplay <fur...@novia.net> schrieb in im Newsbeitrag:
378E1E61...@novia.net...
| > What a shame that there won't be any "Auschwitz reenactment" in
the same
| > way in my lifetime...
| > Germany is wayyyy to boring for such a fascinating concept...
| Dunno. It only took about 15 years after the Titanic sunk before it
was
| made into it's first film. Groups of people noshing
| popcorn.......watching hundreds die a horrible freezing death and
become
| crab food. The public need for tastelessness will always outweigh
| decency, given time.
Yeah, but was it done in Germany? Fucking No!
What I mean ain't a movie, but some nice reenactment, some kind of
summer-concentration-camp for over privileged fat children, where they
get their asses kicked by actors dressed as SS guards, were other
actors dressed in prisoner's uniforms get shot (including gory sfx)
without them guests knowing who's one of them and who's a
professional.
And then, on their last day, they'd be brought into the 'showers' ...
Of course, that'd be the exit, but they don't have to know...
--
Michael Briel
Projekt N.O.R.B.E.R.T.,
Negation of Reality by excessive Radiation of Trash. (tm)
MAIL: kr...@gmx.de / MUSIC: www.mp3.com/briel / ICQ: 15785108