Afro-American Play Parties

Subject: RE: Afro-American Play Parties
From: Hollowfox
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 10:32 AM

While you're at the library, see if you can find "Step It Down" by Bessie Jones, assisted by Bess Lomax Hawes. (1972, Harper & Row; reprinted 1987,University of Georgia). You'll find play-party games galore, (although she called them clapping plays, ring plays, singing plays, etc.) for all ages. Some of the games are on recordings, as well, but I'm at work, and no specific titles or recording labels come to mind.

Subject: RE: Afro-American Play Parties
From: Jacob B
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 09:26 AM

Bessie Jones was extremely important in keeping alive and popularizing the Black traditions of the Georgia Sea Islands. She's dead now, but Doug Quimby and some of her other children are carrying on her work. "Little Johnny Brown" is one of the play parties she taught (Little Johnny Brown, lay your comfort down.) I believe that "Zodiac" also came from her. And I remember one more that she taught, which started

There was a man down in Brewster
Who had two hens and a rooster
The rooster died, oh how we cried
They don't lay eggs like they used ta

The dancer in the middle acted out the agonies of the slaves who were beaten for going to visit their girlfriends on the other farm in spite of the fact that they no longer had the excuse of going there to buy eggs.

Jacob

Subject: RE: Afro-American Play Parties
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 02:04 AM

Got no use for them Sorch, darlin,' I don't wear makeup. Thanks anyway!

Subject: RE: Afro-American Play Parties
From: Sorcha
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 01:57 AM

40 lashes for you, then c.ranger!! Your bad, your bad!!

Subject: RE: Afro-American Play Parties
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 01:37 AM

There is an excellent book called Black Culture and Black Consciousness: Afro-American Folk Thought From Slavery To Freedom, by Lawrence W. Levine. He is a (now retired) U.C. Berkeley history Prof. who wrote this major study of African American Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century folk culture, his thesis being that there is much to learn through studying the oral traditions of groups that have been traditionally rendered trivial by historians, and that the oral traditions of blues, work songs, play-party songs, games, etc. play an important part in studying African American culture. This is also a very good read - not a dry academic text. It was published in 1978, and if you live near a college, maybe they'll have it in a library. It is a great book, and has good stuff about play party songs in it.

-chanteyranger

"Conciousness" corrected...
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Afro-American Play Parties
From: Sorcha
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 01:13 AM

This is really just a re-fresh. Personal opinion: I think (I) need some more info here. Exactly what period? I know there was/is a lot of "fakey" stuff out there, such as the vaudeville black face, and possibly a lot of cross cultural stuff, but which started where? Shotnen' (Shortening)Bread? Jump Da Broom? S. Foster is probably right out (unless he borrowed from the black tradition as readily as he did the Irish), and I think Golden Slippers is a Blackface vaudeville tune, not that it is a PlayParty tune anyway.

ALL the PlayParty tunes/songs/games that I know are white and from the American Reveloutinary period, or just after.

HELP!!

Subject: Afro-American Play Parties
From: big48mama
Date: 27 Jul 00 - 11:53 PM

I'm looking for anyone who might know something about Afro-American Play Parties. This is not to be confused with the traditional play parties within the white culture.