PINKSTER By Robert J. Damm

any percussionists know about the West-Central ; “The abundance of names er cultural activities. “During Pinkster, the hill was rich African cultural traditions that ending in ‘Congo’ and ‘Angola’ indicates that the transformed into a facsimile of an African village. were retained and disseminated for overwhelming majority of slaves composing the Preparing the holiday must have involved knowledge more than a century via the Sunday charter generation in New Netherland were of [this passed down through the generations—slaves had gatheringsM at Congo Square in New Orleans. A area]” (Dewulf, p.39). The Pinkster festival became to learn how to construct the Guinea drums, dance lesser known example of African cultural survival is infused with African cultural expressions and pro- the toto dance, and erect the African-style huts that the Pinkster festival. Despite the harsh oppression vided the opportunity for Africans to retain and pass housed commercial exchange throughout the fair- imposed on the slaves in the Dutch and English col- on many of their traditions. Pinkster Hill in Albany grounds” (Verter, p. 419). onies, and the fact that Pinkster took place only once became home to an annual bustling marketplace, The 1803 article published in the Albany Centinel a year, Africans used the occasion to celebrate and African drumming, processions, oratory, and Af- described the construction of booths and listed some pass on rich cultural traditions including singing, rican dancing. Although it is a work of historical of the items sold at the Pinkster festival: “These ar- dancing, and drumming. fiction, Fenimore Cooper’s novel Satanstoe includes bors are divided into different apartments, filled up The Dutch West India Company established New a description of a Manhattan Pinkster festival. The with seats, and stored with fruit, cakes, cheese, beer, Amsterdam (later ) in 1624. The Dutch African tone of the gathering is emphasized: and liquors of various kinds. In the centre of this settlers brought with them Pinkster, their name for villa, and in front of the royal arbor, a sort of Amphi- , which is a Christian celebration marking By this time, nine-tenths of the blacks of the city, and theatre is laid out, where the Guinea dance is to be the descent of the Holy Spirit on Christ’s disciples. of the whole country within thirty or forty miles, performed” (Pinkster, p. 4). Pentecost is celebrated for seven weeks (50 days) af- indeed, were collected in thousands in those fields, Market festivities during Pinkster were described ter the moveable feast of . The Dutch Pinkster beating banjoes, [and] singing African songs…The in Thomas DeVoe’s The Market Book: A History of lasted three to six days and included church ser- features that distinguished a Pinkster frolic from the the Public Markets of the City of New York, which was vices, visits with neighbors, building arbors, playing usual scenes at fairs, and other merry-makings, how- published in 1862 but drew on memories of earlier, games, and eating special foods such as gingerbread ever, were of African origin…( Dewulf, p. 7). first-hand experiences. DeVoe’s list of items sold by and dyed eggs. slaves during the Pinkster holidays included “roots, With the arrival of African slaves in New Am- MARKETPLACE berries, herbs, yellow or other birds, fish, clams, sterdam, as early as 1628, Pinkster began transform- In the African village, the marketplace is a loca- oysters, etc. (344).” Verter proposed that items sold ing into a festival recognized more for its African tion for people to buy and sell goods as well as meet at the Pinkster market included roots and herbs to qualities. Specifically, the traditions were those of with friends, share news, and transact countless oth- be used for folk remedies (p. 401). Perhaps the stalls at the Pinkster festival included items related to what Figure 1 in Africa is called a fetish market. The fetish market is a supply store for the ingredients needed for tradi- tional religious practice. The tables of animal parts, plants, and herbs are used for fetishes (sometimes called talismans, charms, or gris-gris) as cures for everyday maladies, animal sacrifice for worship, protection from curses, and various rituals. Everyday objects can be activated to provide protection, chan- nel communication with gods, or ensure supernatu- ral power over others. Figure 1 is of a fetish market in Mali. The author can be seen accepting a chunk of salt from Timbuktu in one hand and holding a mon- key head in the other. AFRICAN DRUMMING African drums were assembled for use during festivals, but they were generally banned throughout the rest of the year. For example, South Carolina’s Negro Act of 1740 specified that it was absolutely necessary to restrain slaves from “using or keeping of drums, horns, or other loud instruments, which may call together or give sign or notice to one another of their wicked designs and purposes.” Possibly for this reason, none of the drums actually used for the New York celebrations of Pinkster (1600–1800s) exist today. There are, however, a number of detailed

PERCUSSIVE NOTES 46 MAY 2018 PERCUSSIVE NOTES 47 MAY 2018 descriptions of African-style drums played during was a symmetrically formed wooden article usually beating lustily with his naked hands upon its loudly the colonial period. An anonymous letter published denominated an eel-pot [a trap with a funnel-shaped sounding head, successively repeating the ever wild, in the New York Weekly Journal in 1736 gave an ac- opening for catching eels], with a cleanly dressed though euphonic cry of Hi-a-bomba, bomba, bomba, count of an April 10 holiday somewhere outside New sheep skin drawn tightly over its wide and open in full harmony with the thumping sounds. These York City. This must have been a Pinkster festival extremity—no doubt obtained expressly for the oc- vocal sounds were readily taken up and as oft repeated due to the drums, rattles, and banjos in the ensem- casion from the celebrated Fish Slip, at the foot of the by the female portion of the spectators not otherwise ble, which accompanied the singing and dancing: Maiden’s Lane (Eights, p. 326).” Eileen Southern de- engaged in the exercises of the scene, accompanied termined that the event described by Dr. Eights took by the beating of time with their ungloved hands, in It was no small amusement to me, to see the plain place during the 1770s (p. 41). Based on available strict accordance with the eel-pot melody (Eights, p. partly covered with booths, and well crowded with historical descriptions, a replica of an African-style 326). Whites, the Negroes divided into companies, I sup- Pinkster drum was assembled by the author [see Fig- pose according to their different nations, some danc- ure 2]. The shell was a re-purposed wooden fish trap Although there seems to be no other primary ing to the hollow sound of a drum, made of the trunk [see Figure 3]. Assistance was provided by master source information about Jackey Quackenboss, of a hollow tree, others to the grating rattling noise of woodworker Dr. John Guyton and Malian master Stuckey surmised that “Jackey Quackenboss…was pebbles or shells in a small basket, others played the drummer Bassidi Kone [see Figure 4]. at the height of his powers and possibly the greatest banjer [banjo], and some knew how to join the voice From the available sources about African drum- drummer in the slave population, North or South [to] it (The Spy, p. 1). mers at Pinkster festivals, we learn the names of (p. 171).” Stuckey supported his speculation with the Jackey Quakenboss and King Charles. Quackeboss is following statement: In Satanstoe, Cooper described drums in the the drummer identified in the most frequently cited Pinkster festival: “Among other things, some were account of Pinkster drumming: Regarding drumming, it is essential to remember making music, by beating on skins drawn over the that drumming was outlawed in much of American ends of hollow logs, while others were dancing to it, Astride this rude utensil [drum] sat Jackey Quacken- slavery, so to have a source that mentions a slave in a manner to show that they felt infinite delight. boss, then in his prime of life and well known energy, drumming in the U.S., a description of how the drum This in particular, was said to be a usage of their was made, together with other slaves responding to African progenitors (Cooper, p. 70).” Another de- the beat of the drum is rather rich documentation. It scription indicated the use of a large double-headed Figure 3: Wooden Fish Trap is not the only reference to drumming during slavery drum: “The music was obtained from a huge drum- but an important one, a key source for evidence of like instrument, four or five feet long and a foot in rhythm-consciousness… (personal communication, diameter, covered at either end by a tightly stretched July 14, 2016). sheepskin (Paus and Pinkster, p. 4).” Dr. James Eights, a scientist and artist born in Al- Quackenboss was loudly calling with his drum bany, gave valuable information about drums in his and chant for all who understood to collectively essay regarding Pinkster festivals there: “The music participate in a public, yet secret, ritual. The word made use of on this occasion, was likewise singular “bomba” has been identified as Kikongo—a Bantu in the extreme. The principal instrument selected language spoken by the Kongo and Ndundu people to furnish this important portion of the ceremony living in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, and Angola—and Figure 2: Pinkster Drum translated as “secret” (Frere-Jones, p. 6). PROCESSIONS Drumming was likely an essential part of the parade that opened the annual Pinkster festival. Figure 4: Attaching the Goatskin Head

PERCUSSIVE NOTES 46 MAY 2018 PERCUSSIVE NOTES 47 MAY 2018 “Drums are generally considered the most important Monthly Magazine: “The procession started from Now all the common on the hill, musical instruments of Africans…they are symbols ‘young massa’s house’ (82 State Street; where now Is ours, to do what e’re we will… of political power…embodiment of black spirituality, stands the large seedstore of Knickerbocker and Tho’ torn from friends beyond the waves, galvanizing tools, uniting forces, speech surrogates, Price) and went up State Street to Bleeker Hill, on the Tho’ fate has doom’d us to be slaves, and exquisite artifacts (Dor, p. 14). However, there crown of which was the Bleeker Burying-ground. In Yet on this day, let’s taste and see are no known, primary source accounts of Pinkster front of the king always marched Dick Simpson and How sweet a thing is Liberty… parade drumming. This is surprising because de- Pete Halenbeck, the latter the Beau Brummel [model Thus spake King Charles, when all the crowd, scriptions of another New England holiday called of fashion and style] of his time. The last parade was Roused full strong, long and loud, “Negro Election Day” or “’Lection Day” are ample. in 1822 (A Glimpse of an Old Dutch Town, p. 526). And thank’d kind Heaven on bended knee, That annual custom had much in common with Peter Hallenbecke was certainly a musician as For this, their short-lived liberty. Pinkster. The Papers of the New Haven Colony indicated in the 1881 magazine article recounting (Aimwell, p. 34–35) Historical Society include numerous reports of how “In the evening there was a grand dance…to the drumming in the ‘Lection Day ceremonies, in which music of Pete Hallenbecke’s fiddle (Harper’s, p. 526).” DANCING slaves elected and paraded their own kings and gov- King Charles must have had a close connection to Other verses of “The Pinkster Ode” refer to spe- ernors: the two men since records from the period indicate cific Pinkster elements such as the banjo and Guinea that Hallenbecke, Simpson, and King Charley were dance. The highlight of the Albany Pinkster festival His parade days were marked by much that was all slaves of the Douw family in Albany. Records of was the Guinea dance, accompanied by the Guinea showy, and by some things that were ludicrous. A slave manumissions [the act of a slave owner free- drums and led by King Charles: “The dances were troop of blacks, sometimes an hundred in number, ing his or her slaves] in Albany specify that Peter the original Congo dances, as danced in their native marching sometimes two and two on foot, some- Hallenbecke, age 27, and Richard Simpson, age 21, Africa. They had a chief, Old King Charley. The old times mounted in true military style and dress on were freed from John P. Douw in 1819 and 1823 settlers said Charley was a prince in his own country, horseback, escorted him through the streets, with respectively (Yoshpe, 503). Perhaps Hallenbecke and and was supposed to have been one hundred and drums beating, colors flying, and fifes, fiddles, clario- Simpson played drums in the parade. If so, they may twenty-five years old at the time of his death! On nets, and every sonorous metal that could be found, have also drummed in the African musical ensemble these festivals old Charley was dressed in a strange uttering martial sound…united in innocent and for the Pinkster dances. and fantastical costume—he was nearly bare legged, amusing fun and frolic—every voice upon its high- wore a red military coat, trimmed profusely with est key, in all the various languages of Africa, mixed ORATORY: KING CHARLES variegated ribbons, and a small black hat with a with broken and ludicrous English, filled the air, ac- The most famous African associated with the pompoon stuck in the side. These dances and an- companied with the music of the fiddle, tambourine, Pinkster festival was a drummer and dancer known tics…must have afforded great amusement for the the banjo, drum, etc. The whole body moved in the as King Charles: “The hour of ten having now ar- ancient burghers. As a general thing the music con- train of the Governor-elect, to his master’s house, rived, and the assembled multitude being considered sisted of a sort of drum, or instrument constructed where, on their arrival a treat was given by the gen- most complete, a deputation was then selected to out of a box with sheep skin heads, upon which old tlemen newly elected, which ended the ceremonials wait upon their venerable sovereign king, ‘Charley Charley did most of the beating, accompanied by of the day (Platt, p.320–324). of the Pinkster hill,’ with the intelligence that his singing some queer African air. Charley generally led respectful subjects were congregated, and were off the dance, when the Sambos and Philises, juve- Regarding Pinkster, Edwin Olson wrote: “All anxiously desirous to pay all proper homage to his nile and antiquated, would put in the double-shuffle- things being now in readiness, on Monday morning, majesty their king… He was tall, thin and athletic; heel-and-toe-breakdown…” (Munsell, p.56). the blacks and a certain class of whites, together and although the frost of nearly seventy winters had John J. Williams, a former slave, was quoted in with children of all countries and colours, begin settled on his brow, its chilling influence had not yet History of the county of Albany, N.Y. from 1609 to to assemble on Pinkster Hill collected from every extended to his bosom, and he still retained all the 1886: “Many of the old colored people, then in Alba- part of the city and from the adjacent country for vigor and agility of his younger years. Such were his ny, were born in Africa, and would dance their wild many miles around, forming in the whole a motley manly attributes at this present time (Eights, p. 325).” dances and sing in their native language (Howell and group of thousands.... An old Guinea Negro, who is In 1803, a pamphlet featuring a lengthy poem en- Tenney, p. 725).” According to primary sources, the called King Charles, is master of ceremonies, whose titled “The Pinkster Ode,” written under the pseud- Guinea dance used a characteristic circle formation authority is absolute, and whose will is law during onym of Absalom Aimwell, appeared in Albany. and, at times, a configuration of paired couples: “The the Pinkster holiday. On Monday morning between The Ode is “one of the earliest descriptions of a folk dance had its peculiarities, as well as everything else the hours of ten and twelve o’clock, his majesty, after festival in the United States” and “the most detailed connected with this august celebration. It consisted having passed through the principal streets in the account of the whole (Pinkster) jubilee (Fabre, p. chiefly of couples joining in the performances at city, is conducted in great style to The Hill already 17).” The ode was dedicated to “CAROLUS AFRI- varying times, and continuing it with their utmost swarming with a multifarious crowd of gasping CANUS, REX: Thus Rendered in English: KING energy until extreme fatigue or weariness compelled spectators. Before him is borne a standard, on which CHARLES, Captain-General and Commander in them to retire and give space to a less exhausted set; significant colours are displayed, and a painting con- Chief of the PINKSTER BOYS” (Aimwell, p. 31). It and in this successive manner was the excitement taining his Portrait, and specifying what has been the references oratory as an essential part of the festival. kept up with unabated vigor, until the shades of duration of his reign. Two pedestrians, in appropri- King Charles apparently presented an annual speech, night began to fall slowly over the land, and at length ate badges, lead a superb steed, of a beautiful cream including content about liberty. The following lines deepen into the silent gloom of midnight (Eights, p. colour, on which their fictitious sovereign rides in of the poem refer to his passionate “harangue” and 326).” all the pomp of an eastern nabob—whilst a large the freedom granted to slaves during the Pinkster The Guinea dance at Pinkster was also referred to procession of the most distinguished and illustrious holiday: as the “Toto”: “From the beginning, African slaves characters follow after. At length he reaches the en- and early generations of adopted campment, and after the ceremonies in honor of his And when you know him, then you’ll see Pinkster and combined it with the worship of their arrival are ended, he proceeds to collect his revenue” A slave whose soul was always free… African god, Totau, whom they acknowledged with (Pinkster, p. 4). But-hush-now Charles the King harangues, dance and drum performance during the week-long The two pedestrians leading the procession are A hundred fiddles cease their twangs. celebration. (Williams-Myers in Long Hammering, later identified as Peter Hallenbecke and Richard Harken, ye sons of Ham, to me; p. 88).” Simpson in an article published in Harper’s New This day our Bosses make us free; Williams-Myers gave no source to corroborate his

PERCUSSIVE NOTES 48 MAY 2018 PERCUSSIVE NOTES 49 MAY 2018 speculation. Dewulf expressed his concern that “no to Pomp, a male slave owned by another, in exchange of vending any spirituous liquors, beer, mead or anthropological study on indigenous African prac- for his setting fire to Gansevoort’s house and adjoin- cider, or any kind of meat, fish, cakes, or fruit nor tices ever identified the existence of this mysterious ing shop. Pomp enlisted the help of two girls (Dinah to collect in numbers for the purpose of gambling [Toto] god (p. 7).” Stearns gave a completely different and Bet). All three were convicted and sentenced to or dancing…or to march or parade, with or without translation of the word “toto.” He provided an exam- death by hanging. The 1790 map of Albany, by the any kind of music during the days commonly called ple of a New Orleans signifying song in which “toto” State’s Surveyor General, includes reference to a “Ne- pinxter, under penalty of ten dollars or confinement was translated as “backside” [i.e. buttocks]. He ex- gro burial ground just north of Pinkster Hill.” That in jail.” Walsh (1898) noted that the “enforcement of plained that this song exemplified “songs of allusion,” Pomp, Dinah, and Bet are buried on Pinkster Hill is this statue eventually drove the holiday out of exis- which are characteristic of the music and dance of also supported by a reference in the Pinkster Ode of tence (p. 813).” Williams-Myers wrote that the rea- Africa and the African diaspora (Stearns, p. 11). 1803: son for the ban was that whites were afraid that the Perhaps the “toto” dances and accompanying songs congregation of large groups of African Americans at Pinkster festivals fall into this category. If that was might provide an opportunity to plot and execute a Now if you take a further round the case, the Africans were highly effective in using revolt (in Pinkster Festival, p. 16). It may be more You’ll reach the Afric’s burying ground. their double meaning songs of insult and dances of than a coincidence that the year 1811 is remembered There as I rambled years ago derision to secretly communicate messages that were as a time of fear in America as a result of many ran- To pass an hour of love-lorn woe; completely misinterpreted by the white spectators. dom occurrences including the appearance of the I found a stone at Dinah’s grave. Great Comet, a total eclipse of the sun, a mass mi- (Aimwell, p. 42). SACRED GROUND gration of squirrels, a time of general sickness, and The site of Pinkster festivals in Albany and Man- In Manhattan, “The area known as the Common the first of many earthquakes on the New Madrid hattan might have held a deeper significance for had originally served as a place that could be used fault line. Africans, making use of a space that may have been for anyone to let cattle graze or to collect firewood. considered sacred ground because of its connection Part of the Common was later used as a cemetery CONTEMPORARY REVIVALS to the local slave cemetery. “In many African tradi- for deceased slaves. This graveyard was discovered Several places in New York have revived the tions, graveyards are sites of great ritual significance; in Manhattan in 1991, which led to the erection of annual Pinkster festival. In 1978, the Hudson River crossroads between the mundane plane and the the African Burial Ground National Monument Valley Association revived Pinkster at Phillipsburg realm of the spirits, loci of spiritual power (Verter, p. (Dewulf, The Pinkster King, p. 70). Manor, an 18th-century living museum located in 419).” A 1793 story involves the sentencing of three Sleepy Hollow, New York. Kofi Donkor, a drummer teenaged slaves for setting a fire that destroyed sev- END OF AN ERA from Ghana now living in New York, has become a eral blocks in downtown Albany. The prevailing ver- In 1811, the Albany Common Council passed an cultural contributor to the Pinkster festival in Sleepy sion of the incident reports that two white men with ordinance that read: “No person shall erect any tent Hollow. He and his Sankofa Drum and Dance En- a grudge against Leonard Gansevoort offered a watch or stall within the limits of this city, for the purpose semble bring African cultural elements to the cele-

PERCUSSIVE NOTES 48 MAY 2018 PERCUSSIVE NOTES 49 MAY 2018 bration and provide a link to the Africans who came Pinkster thrived from the 1600s into the mid-1800s Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott. to the colonies as slaves. making it the oldest and longest-running African Williams-Myers, A. J. (1994). Long Hammering: Essays on The 2016 Pinkster included the pouring of liba- festival in the United States. the forging of an African American presence in the Hud- tions at the beginning and end of the day’s program, son Valley to the early twentieth century. Trenton, NJ: a traditional ritual that invokes the spirits of the REFERENCES African World Press. ancestors. The morning procession began at the Aimwell, Absalom [1803] 1952. “A Pinkster Ode for the Williams-Myers, A. J. (1985). Pinkster Carnival: African- administration building and crossed over a wooden Year 1803.” Geraldine R. Pleat and Agnes N. Under- isms in the Hudson River Valley, Afro-Americans in bridge to the festival grounds. Kofi explained that wood (Eds.), New York Folklore Quarterly (VIII), pp. New York life and history, 9(1), pp. 7–17. crossing the bridge can symbolically represent going 31–45. Yoshpe, Harry B. (1941). “Record of Slave Manumissions from the slavery of the past to the freedom of today; Cooper, James Fenimore (1845). Satanstoe, or The Littlep- in Albany, 1800–28,” The Journal of Negro History, the crossing of a bridge is also found in certain Af- age Manuscripts: A Tale of the Colony. New York, NY: 26(4), pp. 499–522. rican rituals such as puberty rites. Kofi’s percussion Hurd and Houghton. Retrieved from http://www.gasl. ensemble played the amanko rhythm to accompany org/refbib/Cooper__Satanstoe.pdf Robert Damm is Professor of Music and Director of the procession. This is fitting, he said, because in De Voe, Thomas F. (1862). The market book. New York, Music Education Partnerships at Mississippi State Ghana it represents unity; the name translates to NY: State University of New York Press. University, where he teaches Drum Circle class, “one people” or “one village.” Seemingly in the tra- Dewulf, Jeroen (2017). The Pinkster King and the King of African American Music, World Music, Research dition of King Charley, King Kojo prominently ap- Kongo: The Forgotten history of America’s Dutch-Owned in Music Education, and World Drumming. He peared in formal colonial dress and was recognized Slaves. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi. also directs a community African drum ensemble as a royal dignitary for the day. Dor, Worlasi Kwasi George (2014). West African drumming called Jembe Den. He has studied music and culture For afternoon performances, the drum ensemble and dance in North American Universities. Jackson, MS: in Cuba, Ghana, and Mali. Currently serving on played traditional Ghanaian dance rhythms such as University Press of Mississippi. the PAS Interactive Drumming Committee, he has kpanlogo, agbadza, gahu, and adowa. Kofi related the Eights, James (1867). “Pinkster festivities in Albany sixty served as President of the Mississippi PAS chapter. Pinkster festival to an annual festival celebrated in years ago.” In Joel Munsell (Ed.), Collections on the His- PN Ghana called afahye, which similarly involves mu- tory of Albany 2, (pp. 323–327). Albany, NY: Munsell. sic, dancing, traditional clothing, local cuisine, and Fabre, Genevieve (1995). “Pinkster Festival, 1776-1811.” games. Visual artists, storytellers, vendors selling In Ramon Gutierrez and Genevieve Fabre (Eds.). Feasts ethnic food, basket weavers, and handicraft artists and Celebrations in North American Ethnic Communi- making beaded gourd rattles were set up at stations ties (pp. 13–28). Albuquerque, NM: University of New on the festival grounds in tents or stalls. In the Mexico Press. Ghanaian village market, the stalls or huts are called Frere-Jones, Sasha (2009, July 13). Roundtable: Haitian apata in the Akan language. Kofi said that today’s Music, part 2: What Does Revolution sound like? festival gives a demonstration of what might have Retrieved from www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/ happened hundreds of years ago on this historic spot sashafrerejones/2009/07/haitian-music-part-2-what- on the Hudson River when slaves were given a brief does-revolution-sound-like.html. respite from the injustice of slavery to demonstrate “A Glimpse of an Old Dutch Town.” (1881, March). Harp- their talents, prepare their favorite dishes from the ers New Monthly Magazine, (62), pp. 525–526. motherland, communicate freely, and celebrate their Howell, George R. and Jonathan Tenney (1912). History of traditions (Kofi Donkor, personal communication, the County of Albany (II). New York, NY: W.W. Munsell September 24, 2016). Dewulf expressed, however, & Co. that this “reinvention of Pinkster as innocent mul- Munsell, Joel (Ed.) (1867). Collections on the history of Al- ticultural folklore runs the risk of glossing over the bany (II). Albany, NY: J. Munsell, p. 56. deep inequalities that characterized the type of soci- Olson, Edwin (1941). Social Aspects of the Slave in New ety in which Pinkster tradition developed (p. 186).” York. Journal of Negro History (26), pp. 66–78. In 2011, Albany lawmakers symbolically struck Paus and Pinkster: “The Dutch Eastertime Festivals in the 1811 Pinkster prohibition from their law books Mohawk Valley.” (1905, April 9). New York Tribune. Re- and have since initiated efforts to revive their trieved from http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ Pinkster festival. However, according to online an- Pinkster. (1803, June 17). Albany Centinel, pp. 3–4. nouncements, Albany’s Tulip Festival, “rooted in the Platt, Orville H. (1898). Negro Governors. Papers of the city’s rich Dutch heritage,” has become the city’s sig- New Haven Historical Society (6), pp. 317–333. nature cultural celebration. hosts an Southern, Eileen. (1971). Readings in Black American Mu- annual Pinkster commemoration that includes the sic. New York, NY: WW. Norton. pouring of libations, lectures, songs, performances, The Spy. (1736, March 7). “The Letter.” New-York Weekly reading of proclamations, and the laying of flowers Journal, pp. 1–2. at the African Burial Ground National Monument Stearns, Marshall W. (1956). The Story of Jazz. New York, Memorial. NY: Oxford University Press. Stuckey, Sterling (1999). African spirituality and cultural CONCLUSION practice in colonial New York, 1700–1770. In Carla The annual Pinkster festival in New Amsterdam/ Gardina Pestanna and Sharon V. Salinger (Eds), In- New York provided a context in which African equality in Early America (pp. 160–181). Hanover, NH: drumming, singing, dancing, procession, and orato- University Press of New England. ry reminiscent of life in the African village could be Verter, Bradford (2002). “Interracial Festivity and Power in celebrated by slaves in the Dutch/English colonies. Antebellum New York: The case of Pinkster.” Journal of This is especially noteworthy since it happened in a Urban History 28(4), pp. 398–428. setting in which African cultural expressions were Walsh, W. (1896). Curiosities of popular customs and highly restricted and drums were essentially banned. ceremonies, observances, and miscellaneous antiquities.

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