The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-11-15

mlIiarity with communities in which
African slavery yet exists we do not
recall the existence OF the sentiment
OF freedom as SUCH not an aspiration
To stir mems souls after Barbour, be-
cause IL Is "a nobill thing" and this
despite the literature OF the slave prob
lem in this country during the aboi-
ton movement. Brought from the trop-
zeal jungles Of Africa, the slave labors
because he must, he runs away from
work IL he may, but only when the
conditions OF the place OF his servi-
tude attract. In our South there was
little running away until the under
ground railway was established I'm
queer complex Of philanthropy and
politics. The dominant reason was
that the slave was inconveniently situ-
ated for evasion, he was worked upon
plantations in fairly settled com
munity and there was no wild forest
close at hand IN which he could revert
In conditions sufficiently familiar in
African experience. We recall but two
notable instances OF runaway slaves in
this country which have left any mark.
ono Is in the mountains Of Tennessee.
which proved a goal for runaways from
adjacent regions in the Carolnas,
Georgia and Alabama. and where the
sedentary Indians. Chortaws and Cher
okees. accepted the Africans; the other
IS at the east ond Of Long Island.
which was the goal ~ runaways from
the Dutch settlements and where the
Indians proved a. hospitable that
within tho last few months the courts
have decided that the remnants Of the
once powerful Montauks and shin
Tecocks are now - be held African
and not Indian.
Bu' In tho Guiaras the condit ons
were wholly favorable FOR the runaway
Planta ions were not in thickly settled
communities with all the apparatus ~
Constahles and other patrol. the track
less Jungle was at the edge Of the Gull
tlvated fields. and II was such jungle
as to he newcomer from Africa offered
welcome as an agreeable home. Hence
arose the BoschneGcr, the maroon. The
article in this encyclopedia is from the
pen OF Jonkheer l.. 6. van Panhuys. an
Acknowledged authority. Subsidiary
contributions within the scope Of these
three fasclcles deal with some Of the
Super~tI'ions and practices Of these
maroons. such as Baltroe or the spirit
which comes at the call Of the wizard
ur "wislman." and the common belief
in the evil eye Booze cog. IN whose
Meyer Engelsch name OCri Al We md
no difficulty in identifying Tgly Eye).
For our particular interest here we note
the record " the AfgOderiida or win
tidans. a dance Of clearly African origin.
In which The emotions Of The wild men
- tn" forest are worked up TO pitch
~ frenzy and religious zeal. II Is to he
prefaced that among the elemental peo-
pies, always limiting the note to the
Vcrlost savages and he weakest intel
LICENCES. religious exercises are always
60 be classed among the neuroses
In tho rapid growth Of the modern
dance IN our communities OF culture
finding expression In rhythm the recent
turkey tro. was. II not the source, at
least the effective stimulus for the in
PRODUCTION OF YET newer dances from
frankly aboriginal sources. This char
actcrlzation is not to the dscredii Of
these later dances. FOR whether the wit
10 IN the head or the heels is all one:
the Sir Roger de Coverey with all its
refinement Of courtesy Il bur the dance
Of Hodge Of the hedeerow dressed up:
even the mlnuet was taken from the
peasant dance to celebrate the pressing
NJ the grape.
our historians have been at pains to
record the origin OF the turkey trot
while Vet It was possible 1t is a refine
ncnt added in San Francisco by the
Bdrbacy Coast, a somewhat notorious
scat Of culture, to the more or less spon-
tauoous and unconnncd movements Of
a dance of negro origin. We are there
10y brought to the dances OF our African
folk
For the most par, IN the days OF
slavery in this country, period of far
greater social freedom for the slave WAC
was cStoppod from all thought Of what
might he In good form, the plantation
dances passed unrrcordcd OF the social
historian. certainly never were they
adopted by the dominant class. Even
the much more readily asslmilabc vocal
music of the African with It's peculiar
attraction did not begin to make its way
among our people until the invention Of
the niger minstrel show only a few
years before the war, and was not
wholly accepted until the vogue of the
Jubilee Singers shortly after the war.
The dance i'm tho quarters was roughly
described as the hocdown, and few per-
sons carried away much recollection OF
its generally unregulated steps and not
( then attractive swayinEs and posturings
Of the body Probably the highest at
tainment Of the white person in the
negro dance was the ability 10 pat tuba
that usually as Joke in ridlcule o. the
darby.
We recall but one record as evidence
OF the existence in our former slave ele-
ment OF any Of the greater dances
known to exist In Africa This is the
Congou dance Of lower Louisiana, de-
scribed by Lafcadlo Hearn In powerful
vet abhorrent terms. The subject has
been but little studied here; It Is quite
impossible to determine whether this
Congou was solitary in the slave life
or II there were other similar mad
whirls which existed far below the plane
of white observation.
In the Dutch West indies. particu-
larlv among the maroons as free as in
Africa itself, the conditions We're favor
able for the pcrpetuation OF such dances.
In the nature of things the subject must
he yelled i'm great Obscurity. Positive
evidence, the testimony OF eyewitnesses
in whom CredcnCo may he placed, Is as
hard to come at as in other and more
/ ,rucsoae themes OF negro life Within