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Kongo to Kings County City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 6-2016 Kongo to Kings County Marcus Alan Watson Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1288 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Kongo to Kings County African Cultural Continuities at The Lott Farmstead, Brooklyn, New York by Marcus Alan Watson A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2016 © 2016 Marcus Alan Watson All Rights Reserved ii Kongo to Kings County African Cultural Continuities at The Lott Farmstead, Brooklyn, New York by Marcus Alan Watson This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Anthropology to satisfy the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. H. Arthur Bankoff Date _____________ _________________________________________ Chair of Examining Committee Gerald Creed Date ____________ _________________________________________ Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: Dr. H. Arthur Bankoff Dr. Sophia Perdikaris Dr. Diana Z. Wall THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii Abstract Kongo to Kings County African Cultural Continuities at The Lott Farmstead, Brooklyn, New York by Marcus Alan Watson Advisor: Professor H. Arthur Bankoff This dissertation aims to provide evidence to support the hypothesis that the artifact assemblage found in 1998 under the garret room floor in the attic of the Lott Farmstead is an extension of Kongo-descended cultural practices. This connection is shown by the presence of several artifacts that taken together, invoke a Kongo Cosmogram called the diKenga, alongside artifacts arranged in what is believed to be a Kongo N’Kisi, or spiritual container, that also originates in Kongo ideology. The ceramic found in the kitchen house with an incised X indicates a reverence to this diKenga symbol. Similar symbols have been found on ceramics and other items both in the present-day areas of Central Africa where the Kongo Kingdom (Fig. 2) held influence during the majority of the Atlantic Passage. These same symbols are also found all over the New World in different contexts. Additionally, there is a rather extensive collection of items that were discovered under the floorboards in a small attic room over the lean-to kitchen structure on the east side of the main house. The way that the items were laid out indicates that at least several items in the assemblage were placed purposely in their last known location. Part iv of this assemblage was a diKenga symbol made out of one whole corncob and one that was broken into two pieces to form the two vertices of an ‘X’. Many of the items in this assemblage are similar to items that would be placed into a N’Kisi in Western Africa and are also found at various places around the the Eastern United States where African- descended individuals were present. The items found in the cache (Fig. 28) included a hand stitched sachet of soil. Soil, especially soil from cemetery or burial contexts holds powerful meaning in Kongo spiritual practices and is an essential component to many Haitian Voodoo ceremonies. Additionally, small white pearlware fragments were found. In Kongo cosmology, the color white is believed to symbolize the world of the dead, and the color white is very important in rituals, as well. White items are also found in most of the spiritual caches discovered in the New World. There were two pieces of lantern glass from two separate globes; these fragments could have functioned as something shiny to lure the spirit to the cache and activate it. Additionally, two nails were found. It is believed by Leone (2005) that nails at times were used as protection from whipping (Leone 2005:227), but the instances of nails being discovered, as researched by Leone (2005) were from contexts buried in the ground (Leone 2005:227). Iron is also a very important Kongo ritualistic item (MacGaffey 1986). Other items included in the cache were a sheep/goat pelvis bone (Fig. 38), which are often found as parts of spiritual caches, as well as an oyster shell and a hand-stitched baby shoe. While the relevance of bones in a cache are yet unknown (Leone 2005:226), shells are known to be symbols of cyclical life and prosperity in the Kongo mindset (MacGaffey 1986:117), and serve as a reminder that life is in constant motion. v The entire artifact catalog from the Lott House assemblage was reevaluated for possible signs of African-descended spiritual practices. A few items were singled out, including the presence of both a blue and clear bead. The presence of beads, especially blue and beads in African-descended contexts is well documented. All in all, this research connects the Lott Farmstead to a growing list of places in the United States where evidence of African spiritual practices has been discovered. There is a possibility that the Lott Farmstead was a stopover for the Underground Railroad. This is based on several factors. One, there is corroboration of oral histories in different branches of the Lott family that fleeing captives were harbored in the home, including in the area over the kitchen, where there is a hidden stairwell in the closet of the lean-to kitchen leading to the former slave quarters. Secondly, some of the architecture of the home is peculiar in that there are some false walls and areas, such as the garret room, that have been hidden from view. Thirdly, much of the Underground Railroad traffic was in the form of boats. The Lott Farmstead is in close proximity to the water and there was constant boat traffic all around the area, including many free black sailors, oystermen and longshoremen. It is possible that this spiritual cache was created by escaping slaves, perhaps as a protective measure against being apprehended. The Lott Farmstead has a great deal of importance to the history of the City of New York and the region at large, not just as the story of a progressive pioneering Dutch family, but also as a story of race relations in New York City. There are many misconceptions about the magnitude of slavery in the north and its importance to the local and global economies, and the farmstead can help answer many of these questions, especially as the Lott family kept slaves over a very long period starting in the early vi eighteenth century. Furthermore, the Lott House Site will be the only place that one can see slave quarters in their original contexts within the City of New York, and the fact that individuals, under the oppression of slavery were carrying out rituals that are extensions of the Kongo Culture is both extraordinary and rare. vii Acknowledgements: Firstly, I would like to thank Dr. H. Arthur Bankoff for nearly a decade and a half of cooperation and tutelage. Our good cop/ bad cop routine out in the field (see Fig. 64) has worked well over the years. I miss waking up at 4 a.m. to get the college students to the field by 5 a.m. I have added several pins to my map through working with you. I really appreciate your genius. Thank you to your family as well for welcoming me into your home. Thank you to the rest of my committee for your sustained interest and feedback: Dr. Diana Z. Wall, thank you for exploring the African roots of colonial New York/Amsterdam and for digging deeper than most researchers think to go. To Dr. Sophia Perdikaris, thank you for our time together since Bones to Behavior; I learned quite a bit about interactive teaching based on our experiences together. Thank you to my external reader, Dr. David Dalby, you have seen many things during the decolonization period and beyond in most of Africa. You have been an inspiration to me, both through your publications and premise; and for showing that the ideas about race and racism that are today labeled as “progressive” have existed in the ideologies and actions of certain people; and that the ideas about trying to get information about “prehistoric” African civilizations is not necessarily new. I thank you for the over 6 hours we spent on the phone and constant e-mails to complete this manuscript. I would like to thank all of the students from Science Technology and Research (STAR) Early College High School at Erasmus and Brooklyn College students who haven taken part in our summer archaeology classes over the last thirteen years (see Fig. viii 65). Throughout my development as an archeologist and historian, I have been learning alongside my students. I thank David Patient and Neil Orr, my South African Uncles, for an intensity of inspiration that I have not experienced elsewhere and for being great role models, teachers and life coaches and for being the best examples for how people should treat one another that I have ever experienced. Thank you to both of you for opening up your house to me so that I could camp out in the living room and type; even in your own time of need. Neil, I thank you specifically for chaining me to the desk at the farm and for the monitor and the keyboard (and the constant harassment to get it done)! I want to thank Nicole Lunsford for your wit, snark and keen eye, and continued cheerleading throughout the entire process; all eight years.
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