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Difficulty: Very hardEveryday Resistance and Cultural Retention

Archaeological excavations of antebellum plantation sites in the Edgefield District of South Carolina have recovered stoneware 'face vessels' (or face jugs) featuring expressive human countenances with eyes and teeth made of inserted white kaolin clay. These vessels, crafted by enslaved potters, were often deposited in sacred spaces such as burial sites or hidden within slave quarters. Which of the following statements best analyzes the historical significance of these artifacts as a form of cultural retention and everyday resistance?

  1. A
    They served as utilitarian containers designed primarily to store agricultural surpluses, demonstrating that enslaved labor prioritized physical survival over covert spiritual practices.
  2. B
    They functioned as clandestine boundary markers to delineate permanent grand maroon communities, demonstrating how everyday resistance directly facilitated territorial sovereignty.
  3. They adapted West and Central African spiritual cosmologies, specifically the Kongo belief in the ancestral realm symbolized by white kaolin, to assert humanity and maintain community cohesion under chattel slavery.Answer
  4. D
    They represented a simplistic, polytheistic animism that ceased to have relevance once enslaved communities underwent forced conversion to Christianity in the Lowcountry.

Answer

The adaptation of Central African Kongo spiritual cosmologies, such as the use of white kaolin to represent the ancestral realm, as a means to assert humanity and maintain community cohesion under chattel slavery.
The correct answer identifies that Edgefield face vessels are an example of cultural retention that blended Central African (specifically Kongo) spiritual beliefs with local materials like stoneware and kaolin clay. This allowed enslaved people to silently assert their humanity, maintain ancestral connections, and build community cohesion, constituting a covert form of everyday resistance.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the historical context of the Edgefield District face vessels, noting who crafted them (enslaved potters) and their features (white kaolin clay eyes and teeth).
Identify that the materials and motifs reflect West and Central African cultural influences brought to the Americas via the transatlantic slave trade.
Understanding the cultural origins of the materials is necessary to evaluate how they functioned as a form of cultural retention.
2
Connect the use of white kaolin clay in the face vessels to Central African Kongo cosmologies.
Recognize that white kaolin represents the realm of the ancestors and spirits (mpemba) in Kongo belief systems.
This connects the material practice directly to specific African religious beliefs rather than generic animism.
3
Evaluate the role of these vessels as a form of everyday resistance.
Determine that maintaining these covert spiritual connections and asserting one's humanity through art constituted a significant method of everyday cultural resistance against the dehumanizing forces of chattel slavery.
This links the artifact's cultural retention aspect directly to the learning objective of everyday resistance.

Key Concept

Everyday Resistance and Cultural Retention
Estimated Time:2m 30s
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Topics

Everyday Resistance and Cultural Retention

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