NF Uncommon Ground

[matthew mckeon]

Uncommon Ground by Leland Ferguson

To try to recreate the world of the enslaved communities in the colonial southeast, Leland Ferguson uses archaeology to gain insight into the customs and material culture of these people.

He concludes that in South Carolina more than Virginia and Maryland, the Middle Passage didn't entirely blast off African culture, but in naming, food, household items and shelter, a surprising amount was recreated.

I enjoy archaeology and this book very much.

 

[matthew mckeon]

Ferguson said that enslaved people(and not just in Antebellum America) have three ways to resist their oppressors: economically, militarily and ideologically. In antebellum slave society, the enslaved resisted somewhat economically by withholding or manipulating labor in some way. Rarely did they attempt the hopeless military challenge. Their victory was ideological: they didn't accept they deserved to be slaves and should hope for nothing more.