Creativity and Resistance: Maroon Culture in the Americas
odd: label: Introduction
content: Contemporary Maroon peoples' identities are rooted in memories of the collective liberation struggles from which their societies emerged. In most Maroon communities, a profound sense of history pervades present-day life. The 1992 Festival encouraged visitors to understand the contemporary cultures of Maroons as creative syntheses that combined and recombined originally diverse African elements, as well as non-African elements, in unique ways. This historical process of blending and adaptation, resulting in cultures that are simultaneously old and new, is known as "creolization."

Eight contemporary Maroon peoples from six different countries participated in the Festival in the Quincentenary year. Three of these peoples came from the Amazon basin in northeastern South America. The ancestors of the Saramaka began escaping from Surinamese plantations in the late 17th century; after fighting against the Dutch for nearly a century, they made a treaty with them in 1762. Today the Saramaka live along the Suriname River in the interior rainforest of Suriname. Their neighbors, the Ndjuka or Okanisi (Aukaners), began fleeing from Dutch plantations in the early 18th century, and made a treaty with the Dutch in 1760. Across the Maroni and Lawa rivers in French Guiana live the Aluku or Boni, whose forebears began leaving the plantations shortly after the Ndjuka. In 1776-77 they crossed from Suriname into French Guiana, where they have lived ever since. After years of struggle, their freedom was recognized by a joint treaty with the French and Dutch in 1860.

Colombia is home to the contemporary Maroon community of Palenque de San Basilio, not far from the port of Cartagena, which was once at the center of the Spanish slave trade. The Palenqueros are descended from slaves who escaped from Spanish plantations during the 17th century. After several failed attempts to eradicate them, the colonial government and the ancestors of the Palenqueros came to terms between 1713 and 1717. In Jamaica are some of the best known contemporary Maroon communities. The Windward Maroons are based in the villages of Moore Town, Scotts Hall and Charles Town in the eastern Blue Mountains. They can trace their origins as a people back to 1655, when the British seized the island from the Spanish, and a large number of slaves fled into the hills. In later years these initial runaways were joined by others from British plantations. The ancestors of the Leeward Maroons, whose main contemporary settlement is Accompong in the western Cockpit Country, began to escape from plantations in the late 17th century. By the 1730s, both groups posed such a threat to the plantation system that the British colonial government had to sue for peace, concluding separate treaties with the two groups in 1739.

The Maroons of the Costa Chica area in the Mexican states of Guerrero and Oaxaca are descendants of slaves who began escaping in the late 16th century from Spanish cattle ranches and estates along the Pacific coast. When the colonial government launched a military campaign against them, they retreated into more inaccessible areas, where they remained undefeated until the abolition of slavery in Mexico in 1829. The Seminole Maroons, now divided among Oklahoma, Texas, the Bahamas, and the northern Mexican state of Coahuila, originated in Spanish Florida, where groups of escaped slaves from South Carolina and Georgia began seeking refuge in the early 18th century. After the end of the Seminole War in 1842, they were transported along with their Seminole Indian allies to Oklahoma. To avoid raids by slave-catchers, a portion of the Seminole Maroons moved to Mexico, where their descendants, known as Negros Mascogos, remain today. During the mid-19th century, some of these Mexican Seminoles moved to Texas, where they joined the U.S. Cavalry as part of a special division known as the Seminole Negro Indian Scouts. Their descendants live today in Brackettville and Del Rio, Texas.

Ken Bilby and Diana N'Diaye served as Curators of the Maroon program, with Héctor Corporán as Program Coordinator. Regional Coordinators were: Thomas Doudou, French Guiana; Miguel Angel Gutiérrez Avila, Mexico; Ian Hancock, Texas; Hermes R.M. Libretto, Suriname; Lorenzo Manuel Miranda Torres and Heliana Portes de Roux, Colombia; Maureen Rowe, Jamaica.

Creativity and Resistance: Maroon Culture in the Americas was made possible with the support of the governments of Colombia, French Guiana, Jamaica, Suriname, and Guerrero, Mexico; the Texas Commission on the Arts and Texas Folklife Resources; Camille O. and William H. Cosby, Jr.; InterAmerican Foundation; and the Smithsonian Educational Outreach Fund.
label: Fieldworkers
content: Farika Birhan, Bernhard Bisoina, Miguel Angel Gutiérrez-Avila, Ian Hancock, Heliana Portes de Roux
label: Presenters
content: Adiante Franszoon, Miguel Angel Gutiérrez Avila, Ian Hancock, Hermes Richène Martin Libretto, Hazel McClune, Heliana Portes de Roux, Richard Price, Sally Price
label: Participants
content: Colombia Palenqueros

Rafael Cassiaini Cassiani, singer, drummer, Colombia

Cristobalina Estrada Valdez, singer, dancer, Colombia

Gabino Hernandez Palomino, oral historian, Colombia

Lorenzo Manuel Miranda Torres, drummer, dancer, singer, Colombia

Graciela Salgado Valdez, drummer, singer, Colombia

Dolores Salinas de Caceres, singer, dancer, Colombia

Maximo Torres Berrio, drummer, drum maker, singer, Colombia

Jose Valdez Simanca, marimbula player, craftsperson, storyteller, drummaker, Colombia

Ecuador

Juan Garcia, oral historian, storyteller, Ecuador

French Guiana Aluku (Boni) Maroons

Granman Joseph-Joachim Adochini, Paramount Chief, oral historian, French Guiana

Cecilon Anabi, basket maker,  -- kwakwa --  player, French Guiana

Adolphe Anelli, drummer,  -- agwado --  player, singer, storyteller, French Guiana

Charles Anelli, dancer, French Guiana

Romain Balla, drummer, singer, French Guiana

Charles Cazal, drummer, dancer, singer,  -- agwado --  player, flute player, French Guiana

Agnes Ceguy, hair braider, singer, cook, French Guiana

Thomas Doudou, dancer, French Guiana

Marcel Doye, dancer, singer, French Guiana

Samacon Doye, basket maker, woodcarver, dancer, drummer, French Guiana

Analia Kondokou, calabash carver, dancer, cook, French Guiana

Simon Kouakou, dancer, flute player, French Guiana

Antoine Lamoraille, woodcarver, French Guiana

Marie Celine Lobi, hair braider, dancer, French Guiana

Stanislas Lobi, dancer,  -- kwakwa --  player, French Guiana

Sephiro Mais, singer, dancer, French Guiana

Saneti Sacapou, singer, cook, French Guiana

Louis Topo, oral historian, drummer, singer, dancer, French Guiana

Jamaica Accompong Town Maroons

George Huggins, drum maker, calabash carver, Accompong Town, Jamaica

Ferrel McKenzie, singer, dancer, drummer, Accompong Town, Jamaica

Nevilte McLeggon, abeng blower, cook, drummer, Accompong Town, Jamaica

Edwin Peddie,  -- gumbe --  drummer, Accompong Town, Jamaica

Rosalie Rowe, singer, dancer, Accompong Town, Jamaica

Alrena Wright, singer, dancer, drummer, Accompong Town, Jamaica

Colonel M.L. Wright, Chief, oral historian, singer, Accompong Town, Jamaica

Jamaica Moore Town Maroons

Major Charles Aarons, 1929-, drummer, dancer, jerk specialist, herbalist, abeng blower, Moore Town, Jamaica

Hermine Daure, dancer, singer, cook, craftsperson, Moore Town, Jamaica

Martha Downer, 1931-, dancer, singer, cook, Moore Town, Jamaica

Colonel C.L.G. (Collin Lloyd George) Harris, 1917-, Chief, oral historian, Moore Town, Jamaica

George Harris, 1926-, drummer, drum maker, jerk specialist, thatcher, carver, abeng blower, mat maker, Moore Town, Jamaica

Edith Myers, 1925-, cook, dancer, singer, craftsperson, Moore Town, Jamaica

Emmanuel Palmer, 1935-, drummer, abeng blower, calabash carver, Moore Town, Jamaica

Carl Patterson, 1977-, dancer, animal trapper, Moore Town, Jamaica

Mexico Costa Chica Maroons

Melquiades Dominguez Guzman, storyteller, Mexico

Adan Garcia Marcial, singer, Mexico

Tiburcio Noyola Rodriguez, guitarist, Mexico

Suriname Ndjuka Maroons

Granman Gazon Matodja, Paramount Chief, oral historian, Suriname

Baja Kalenga Cason, boat builder, drummer, singer, dancer, Suriname

Badjan Kelion, hunting & fishing skills, drummer, storyteller, boat builder, Suriname

Albert Koejoe Dosoe, dancer, Suriname

Sentele Molly, animal trapper, drummer, singer, oral historian, Suriname

Jomena Sibe, cook, dancer, singer, needle worker, hair braider, Suriname

Modillie Siemie, cook, house decorator, hair braider, storyteller, Suriname

Suriname Saramaka Maroons

Granman Songo Aboikonie, Paramount Chief, oral historian, Suriname

Adwingie Aboikoni, drummer, singer, thatcher, storyteller, woodcarver, Suriname

Djangilie Amoesi, hunting & fishing skills, thatcher, dancer, wrestler, basket maker, Suriname

Aniekil Awardie, woodcarver, drummer, dancer, singer, Suriname

Edoe Eduard Bobby, fish trapper, thatcher, drummer, dancer, singer, Suriname

Patricia Main, cook, dancer, house decorator, hair braider, Suriname

Alisetie Ngwete, cook, dancer, singer, calabash carver, house decorator, hair braider, textile artist, calf-band maker, Suriname

Akoemajajo Pansa, cook, dancer, singer, calabash carver, textile artist, calf-band maker, hair braider, Suriname

Kajanasieh Saakie, cook, dancer, singer, calabash carver, house decorator, textile artist, calf-band maker, Suriname

Texas Seminole Maroons

Alice Fay Lozano, 1916-2011, cook, Del Rio, Texas

Ethel I. Warrior, 1919-, cook, Del Rio, Texas

William "Dub" Warrior, 1927-, storyteller, Del Rio, Texas

Charles Emily Wilson, 1912-2006, storyteller, Brackettville, Texas
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
setName: label: See more items in
content: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1992 Festival of American Folklife
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
identifier: label: Identifier
content: CFCH.SFF.1992, Series 3
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials