“Where I Come From…” The University of GA Wanderer Symposium

     Ward Lee’s family came into the room and presented me with a black baseball cap and a white tee-shirt that said “Ward Lee Family Reunion”, “From Slave Ship, to Cruise Ship.”

The Lee family meets with Fred Morton, descendant of Yango Lanham another Wanderer Survivor

I accepted with delight as Pat Bishop, Ward’s Great Great Grand-daughter told me I was “officially part of the Lee family”.  I couldn’t have been more proud.  Later during this weekend’s symposium in Athens at the University of Georgia, Professor Wayde Brown, Associate Professor in the College of Environment and Design, gave a great presentation about the history of Africville, Novia Scotia and how the power of place, the power of word and the power of an object can make an extraordinary impact.

The power of place started in Athens and it began with the breaking of bread. Well actually, it was oysters and fried calamari. It was a rather remarkable thing to me, to be sitting across the dinner table, sharing a meal with the family of Ward Lee and Yango Lanham. Here I was, passing plates and sharing stories with Ocea Barns, the 92 year old Grand-daughter (yes, there is no great in there) and the others.  It feels like yesterday I held the Wanderer’s photographs in my hand and wondered with a far off curiosity, of where they were and what may have happened to them.  There I was now, having dinner with their families. Fred led us in prayer and in the giving thanks.

Dinner before the symposium

It wasn’t long before the power of word came into discussion. Memories began to flow as easily as the sweet tea and key lime pie. Fred Morton, descendant of Yango grew up in North Augusta not far from Trenton SC where the Lee family resided. Neither had ever met until this dinner despite their deep-rooted connections.  It was an evening filled with conversation, emotion and sharing. We conversed about Ward Lee, Yango, and the tribes and valleys of Madimba, Africa. We talked about family and the spirit of perseverance. “We all need to go back…to Madimba” Bishop stated.  We all nodded in agreement.

I described the Kongolese religious beliefs of the ancestors and the Southern folk practices of “conjure”.  I leaned over to Ocea and asked if she knew anything about it.

Mark Newell Presenting at UGA

She took a long pause, and carefully answered, “Sure, but I don’t know how those people were able to do the things they did, putting spells on people, but I sure heard of it.”

One by one, each began to share their own tales and recollections of conjure practices in their communities. Fred made us laugh about the fears of our hair getting taken from our hairbrushes or an adversary securing clippings of our fingernails.

“Oh , you sure don’t want that!” one declared.

Cousin Barbara Butler gave a loud chuckle and added that she had never had an open forum like this to talk so openly about such things.

The Lee and Lanham Descendants share their history

The symposium at the University began with Mark Newell laying the foundations of the Archeology of the face jug tradition and I followed with sharing the collective stories of the Wanderer Survivors. Afterwards, Ocea, Pat, Fred and Janette all took the stage to answer questions.

The audience seemed to be in awe that they were in the presence of people that had descended from survivors of a slave ship and had a tangible history to share.

An informative talk by John Hunter shared Jekyll Island’s history and the island’s future mission which will be to include the Wanderer episode both in place and story.

This was followed by a gallery tour of “Face Jugs, Art and Ritual in 19th Century South Carolina.” The power of object was clearly seen when curator, Dale L. Couch had the room captivated by his invitation to view the face jugs as a means of resistance and cultural perseverance. Slowly we all walked around each piece and contemplated their curious expressions, looks that almost seemed to shout to us of their intentions.

Valerie Babb, Head of African American Studies UGA

Exaggerated ears, protruding tongues and grinning Kaolin mouths and eyes – all roared with a message. They could see, they could speak and they certainly wanted us to listen.

Valerie Babb, the Director of African American studies at UGA had organized a momentous event. She and Kendra Wilkinson (a shout out to the behind the scenes hard work!) organized a wonderful event, the symposium, luncheon and gallery tour.  So, it was only fitting it ended with a gift.  Edgefield Master Potter, Gary Dexter had been commissioned ahead of time to create three face jugs to honor the event.  We hushed our voices while we presented Ward Lee’s granddaughter, Ocea with a face jug with an inscription of hope.  Fred Morton was the second recipient and we finally thanked Valerie Babb with another jug.

Presenting Ocea with a face jug

The face jugs have something to say, but Ocea had seized the theme of the day.  I leaned over at the end of the event and she smiled and said, “I’ve never been so proud.”

The 2012 Face Jug Symposium

Fred Morton came and shared with us a “Face Jug Cane” he crafted from a piece of wood from Jekyll Island, the same shores, his Great- Great- Grandfather, Yango came aboard the Wanderer in 1858.  This cane was inspired in his memory and carved in much the same fashion as the one by Romeo and Cilucangy. 

 

It’s a cat and dog thing – which is why something remarkable happened this last weekend at a symposium called “Unmasking the Mysteries of Face Jugs” held at the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia SC.

 Put a cat and a dog in a room and sooner or later you’re going to get a fight that does not end well (the cat always wins). Academics (or independent skilled researchers) and collectors are like cats and dogs. Collectors have a passion for the things they acquire – they can know absolutely nothing about an object and yet be consumed by the desire to buy and own it – and others like it. Academics rarely have the money to buy an object that interests them – and that interest is more often than not merely clinical. They want to know how an object was crafted, how it was used, the role it played in the society that produced it, how it compares to similar objects from style and fabric to minute comparative measurements. Like we say, cats and dogs.

 It is true that, over time, collectors do research, talk to other collectors, sometimes (guardedly) to the occasional academic. They form their own ideas and opinions, but rarely are they seeing the data they collect through the dispassionate and clinical lens of the researcher. As result, their information and opinions can range from the ludicrous to the absolutely correct. Both are good enough reasons for most academics to avoid collectors (especially when they gather in groups) like the plague.

 Which is why something remarkable happened this past weekend. The Chipstone Foundation of Milwaukee. Wis., is probably the most significant Decorative Arts research and education organization in America today. Its head, Jon Prown, has the radical idea that, if researchers and academics met with collectors in a formal setting to exchange ideas and information, something good would result.

 Face jugs are common to various cultures worldwide – After 1858 in South Carolina a very distinct kind of face jug suddenly appeared. They had distinctly African features and were made for a period of approximately twenty years. The jugs were produced by workers in the many potteries that peppered the Old Edgefield District at that time. Collectors began to acquire them in the early 1900′s and today they range in price on the collector market from $15,000 to $67,000. This may explain the vicious cut and thrust of the acquisition process as collectors vie with each other to own new pieces as they come onto the market.

 Until recently, the opinions of collectors and academics as to who made these face vessels and to what purpose they were put was equally at odds. Some collectors insist that Edgefield face jugs were made by white potters as whimsies, or ” to scare people away from the contents.” These same voices insisted that, despite the African appearance of the jugs, slaves or African American freedmen could not have been skilled enough to throw pots or make such uniquely powerful objects.

 Researchers and academics knew otherwise. From 1909 onwards, hard evidence existed that made it clear that slaves made face jugs. Over the intervening decades archival, anthropological and archaeological evidence has confirmed this.

 During the symposium  “Unmasking the Mysteries of Face Jugs” collectors and researchers took the podium during a full day of lectures that provided details about this research, about collections and collectors ideas and opinions.

 No one threw rotten eggs or bad tomatoes. In truth, there was far more agreement with the researchers and academics than anything else.

 This remarkable occurrence was the result of Jon Prown’s philosophy and Chipstone’s support for “interdisciplinary” scholarship. This approach brought historians, archaeologists, curators, and independent scholars together with major collectors. Over the past two years the dialog between these diverse groups has been free and lively.

 As a result the “passion driven” opinions of the collectors has undergone a major change. Most now completely agree with the academics. Edgefield face jugs were made by slaves and free African Americans (and native born Africans) and they were used for ritual/religious purposes in keeping with the traditions brought from their land of origin – in most cases central West Africa. It also became clear from the various lectures that it is highly likely that the catalyst for the “sudden” resurgence of face vessel based ritual in Edgefield, was the importation of some two hundred Congolese Africans brought to American by the slave ship Wanderer.

 Jane Przbysz at the University of South Carolina’s McKissick Museum http://artsandsciences.sc.edu/mckissickmuseum/  deserves much credit for supporting and organizing the symposium alongside Jim Witkowski, and sponsors such as Chipstone, Jim & Susan Witkowski, Phillip and Debbie Wingard  & Wooten and Wooten Auctioneers.   Claudia Mooney’s exhibit, Face Jugs: African- American Art and Ritual in 19th-Century South Carolina
September 28 - December 16, 2012 is a striking collection of 23 of the face jugs “celebrating the aesthetic power of this potent art form and suggest new ways to consider their uses and, perhaps more importantly, their cultural meanings within a community of Americans who lived within challenging circumstances”  (Columbia Museum of Art (LINK: http://artsandsciences.sc.edu/mckissickmuseum/index.php?q=exhibitions/facejugs

 As a result, there is a great foundation now created on which sensible dialog between disparate groups will advance our understanding of Edgefield’s face Jug tradition and it’s likely connection with the Africans of the Wanderer.

~Mark Newell~