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Primary
Source of the Month
"A Negroes Dance in the Island of
Dominica," engraved by Agostino Brunias,
London, England, ca. 1779. From the collections
of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
CONTENTS
"Juba
and Djembe: Music Helps Interpret Slavery"
Primary
Source of the Month
Teaching
Strategy
Colonial Williamsburg Teaching Resources
Teaching News
Quotation of the Month
The
next
Electronic Field Trip is
No Master Over Me
February 7, 2008
2007-2008 Teaching
Resources Catalog
2007–2008 Electronic Field
Trip Scholarships
Games,
activities, and resources about life
in colonial America
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TOP STORIES
"Juba
and Djembe: Music Helps Interpret Slavery,"
by Ed Crews
Music fills Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area. Throughout the year, guests can hear harpsichord and organ recitals, watch dancers at the Governor’s Palace, sing Christmas carols in the streets, and march behind the Fife and Drum Corps. No music in the restored colonial capital, however, carries as much impact or as many challenges as the songs known to slaves. Filled with emotion and meaning, they are powerful and painful, uplifting and melancholy, superficially benign and profoundly subversive. They also transcend boundaries of race and time.
Learn
More
Primary
Source of the Month:
"A Negroes Dance in the Island of Dominica"
Italian
painter Agostino Brunias traveled with
Sir William Young, the first governor
of Dominica, to the West Indies in 1770.
From 1770 until his death in 1796, Brunias'
work focused primarily on depictions of
life on the islands of Dominica, St. Vincent,
St. Christopher, and Barbados. His 1779
print "A Negroes Dance in the Island
of Dominica" shows a group of Dominicans
who have gathered to participate in music
and dancing.
Learn
More
Teaching
Strategy:
The Language of Music
American
music has been heavily influenced by African
musical traditions. Drawing from the music
of their homelands, enslaved Africans
eventually incorporated the European music
of the colonies to create a style that
was uniquely African American. In this
lesson, students listen to several examples
of eighteenth-century African American
music, describe the unique purpose(s)
of each, examine other reasons eighteenth-century
African Americans created music, and then
identify examples of modern music that
serve similar purposes.
Learn More
Colonial
Williamsburg Teaching Resources for Your
Classroom
Colonial
Williamsburg offers a variety of quality
instructional materials dealing with 18th-century
life, including:
- From Ear to Ear (CD)
- Stories Under African Skies
(CD)
- Hands-On History: Slave's Bag
(object kit)
- Slavery: A Colonial Odyssey
(lesson unit)
Learn
More
Teaching
News
Colonial
Williamsburg is Setting for HBO's
John Adams Miniseries Premiering
March 16–April 27, 2008
Scenes for HBO's six-episode John
Adams miniseries were filmed February
through May 2007 in Colonial Williamsburg’s
Historic Area. One of four shooting locations,
Colonial Williamsburg's Historic Area
offered a setting painstakingly faithful
to the 18th century.
Based on David McCullough’s Pulitzer Prize-winning
biography, John Adams stars Paul
Giamatti and Laura Linney as John and
Abigail Adams, and will focus on the first
50 years of a post-revolutionary nation.
Learn More
Quotation
of the Month
"In
Africa, music was a key essential of life.
It was like breathing. With African music,
everybody sang whether they were good or
bad singers. Everybody participated. There
was no audience."
—Art Johnson, Colonial Williamsburg
Foundation interpreter
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Volume
6, Issue 6
Historic Triangle