<I>Gullah Tales: Little John </I>
date: label: Date
content: 1988
name: label: Directed by
content: Gary Moss, American
label: Subject of
content: E. Katibo Bennett
label: Subject of
content: Martha DeWeese
label: Subject of
content: Barbara Gagrinsky
label: Subject of
content: Christina Hunter
label: Subject of
content: Janie Hunter
label: Subject of
content: Cory Jackson
label: Subject of
content: Charles Joyner, American, 1935 - 2016
label: Subject of
content: Stace McDaniel
label: Subject of
content: Kelly McEvoy
label: Subject of
content: Kee McKinney
label: Subject of
content: James Bear McRay
label: Subject of
content: George Mincey
label: Subject of
content: Glenn Rainey
label: Subject of
content: Arthur Rivers
label: Owned by
content: D.C. Public Library, American, founded 1896
notes: label: Caption
content: This film was a part of the Washington D.C. Public Library's circulating 16mm film collection housed at the Martin Luther King Jr. Central Library. The collection is particularly noted for the wide variety of African American and African diaspora content.
label: Description
content: A short film with the title Gullah Tales. It consists of a single reel of positive 16mm acetate film with variable-area optical sound.
label: Description
content: Set at around 1830, the film opens with a narrator describing the importance of the Sea Islands in the coastal regions of South Carolina and Georgia to African Americans, and the creole language and culture known as Gullah.
label: Description
content: In the opening scene, which depicts life on a plantation, a young girl runs around informing other children on the plantation that "Mama Nancy be telling stories." They join other children in a barn sitting at Mama Nancy's feet. A woman enters the room and chastises her children for joining the others before turning to Mama Nancy and saying, "Nancy, I know we'll never discourage you from telling tales, but must you preach lessons of immorality? Goodness knows we have enough trickery and theft on this plantation as it is..." When the woman and her own children exit the building, Mama Nancy, in a distinctly Gullah accent, tells the remaining children a story about an enslaved man, John, who is a "good wrestler" and outwits his enslaver into manumitting him.
place: label: Place used
content: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, Sea Islands, North and Central America
label: Place depicted
content: South Carolina, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: African diaspora
label: Topic
content: Communities
label: Topic
content: Emancipation
label: Topic
content: Film
label: Topic
content: Folklife
label: Topic
content: Language
label: Topic
content: Slavery
label: Topic
content: U.S. History, 1815-1861
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Collection title
content: DC Public Library Film Collection
label: Classification
content: Time-based Media - Moving Images
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Transferred from the DC Public Library
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2017.55.4.1a
objectType: label: Type
content: sound films
label: Type
content: color films (visual works)
label: Type
content: short subjects
label: Type
content: 16mm (photographic film size)
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Restrictions likely apply. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: acetate film
label: Dimensions
content: Duration: 20 min.
label: Dimensions
content: Physical extent (film): 700 ft