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Kicking & knocking N"Gullah - " FLYING ".

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HONOR !

I"M A SOLDIER "

Beloved,
  I am Pastor Joe Fisher, I was inducted into the
"World Christian Martial Arts Hall Of Fame "
Aug. 7,1999. I received the "Silver Life Achievement Award ",
 
I am a Gullah - Mandingo , My mother is " Gullah' and my father is " Mandingo '. My father"s name is " TUDE  ".  I recently found out why his name was "tude ". He kept an attitude, very volatile.
 
My mother told me the only time he acted like he had some sense, was when he shot at her , and some of the buck shot touched her.
 
He begged her don"t tell her father. My grandfather was a legend and if he knew, anything happened to one of his daughters, someone was going to " DIE ".
 
One of my early martial arts teacher"s was my aunt
' CLEO ". Her motto; " If they"re close enough to hit the"re close enough to be hit ".And if that didn"t work, pick up something and bust their brains out.
 
She would get mad just saying that ' motto ". As we all did , I studied oriental martial arts. In the 60s we had one of the first black martial arts dojos.
 
We were so tough, a lot of the bow in greeting was changed and the orientals started to do only " FORMS " and "Katas".
 
So when I ran into capoiera,especially " Angola ", It seemed very familiar. I went to " Pelorinho "{ slave whipping area } Bahia.
 
All these bad " BLACK " caporistas who couldn"t get out of the country were taking it to another level. Brazil has a color problem. I believe there are at least 21 kinds of black combinations of " BLACK".
 
The most avoided in the past was " PRETO ". But because of the works done in the states by blacks.
Black pride is alive and well.
 
" OLUDOM " is one of the oldest escola de samba schools. I would see light skinned caporistas taking notes in " Pelorinho ". I see some of these people turning capoiera " WHITE ".in the " STATES ".
 
No problem; same whine different bottle. All black culture is being " BOOTLEGGED ".
 
" N GULLAH has all of the above ingredients. The " Ladiniha ' ( opening prayer } is the same you"ll hear a deacon singing those unmetered , no book,moanings.
 
In the " RODA " { circle - ring shout } rhythmically, you have hand clapping , feet shuffling , add the tambourines , hoe bells,  I produced a " GULLAH  DRUM " when the " Saints " hear that drum call , Make sure you got the " FLORIDA WATER ".
 
I been told you can"t do capoiera un less you can speak Portuguese. The spirit understands all language.
 
Sometime at the skate rink { circle } when we " B " boys get to busting moves ! people say  " You doing capoiera ". It"s just a conversation of bodys.
 
Gullah is also a legend of fighters , Everyone knows a  " GEECHEE " can fight. We just didin"t have the luxury of writing a system down.
 
I remember a few names my my aunt " CLEO "used, " jack u up ", " CoCo But ", I laughed when I heard it was outlawed in the " Tough man " competition. That " COCO BUT " was my aunts first and sometimes the only move needed .
 
More to come on " N GULLAH "
 
 

Joe Fisher
" Flying Africans "
Ebos Landing

The story that gives Ebos Landing its name is one of the most colorful and enduring tales in
Ebos Landing ... See More
Georgia's rich literary history. Better known as the "Myth of the Flying Africans," this narrative has been told and embellished for 200 years in the form of local legends, children's stories, movies, novels, and television shows. Based on an actual historical event, this remarkable tale of an Ebo (or Igbo) slave rebellion on St. Simons Island has become a powerful metaphor of African American courage, longing, and conviction.

The historical roots of the flying Africans legend can be traced back to the spring of 1803, when a group of Igbo slaves arrived in Savannah after enduring the nightmare of the Middle Passage. The Igbo (from what is now the nation of Nigeria, in central West Africa) were renowned throughout the American South for being fiercely independent and unwilling to tolerate the humiliations of chattel slavery. The Igbo who became known as the flying Africans were purchased at the slave market in Savannah by agents working on behalf of John Couper and Thomas Spalding. Loaded aboard a small vessel, the Igbo were confined below deck for the trip down the coast to St. Simons. During the course of the journey, however, the Igbo rose up in rebellion against the white agents, who jumped overboard and were drowned.

What happened next is a striking example of the ways in which African American slaves and white slave masters interpreted "history" in starkly different terms. One of the only contemporary written accounts of the event was by Roswell King, a white overseer on the nearby plantation of Pierce Butler. King recounted that as soon as the Igbo landed on St. Simons Island, they "took to the swamp"—committing suicide by walking into Dunbar Creek. From King's perspective the salient feature of the story was the loss of a substantial financial investment for Couper and Spalding.

African American oral tradition, on the other hand, has preserved a very different account of the events that transpired that day. As with all oral histories, the facts of the story have evolved as storytellers elaborated the tale over the years, such that there are now dozens of variations on the original episode. In the late 1930s, more than 100 years after the Igbo uprising on St. Simons, members of the Federal Writers Project collected oral histories in the Sea Islands (many of which can now be found in Drums and Shadows: Survival Studies among the Georgia Coastal Negroes). An older African American man by the name of Wallace Quarterman was asked if he had heard the story of Ebos landing. Quarterman replied:

Ain't you heard about them? Well, at that time Mr. Blue he was the overseer and . . . Mr. Blue he go down one morning with a long whip for to whip them good. . . . Anyway, he whipped them good and they got together and stuck that hoe in the field and then . . . rose up in the sky and turned themselves into buzzards and flew right back to Africa. . . . Everybody knows about them.
This account of transforming the hardships of slavery into the magical powers of freedom has been retold by a distinguished array of African American artists throughout the last century. Virginia Hamilton and Julius Lester rendered the tale for children. Julie Dash celebrated the memory of Ebos Landing in elegant visual terms with her film Daughters of the Dust (1991). Perhaps most important, Nobel Prize–winning writer Toni Morrison used the myth of the flying Africans as the basis for her novel Song of Solomon (1977).

Morrison's literary masterpiece recounts the story of a young African American man, Milkman Dead, who has been crippled by persistent racism and limited opportunities. Having grown up in the industrialized North, Milkman returns to the South in search of his ancestral roots. In the course of his travels, he learns from oral histories that his family is
Song of Solomon
descended from an African shaman who possessed the power of flight. Having regained the knowledge of his family and his African heritage, Milkman recovers his lost ancestral powers at the end of the novel and takes flight at what appears to be the moment of his death. This soaring climax fittingly captures the power, hope, and magic inherent in the myth of the flying Africans and offers an important insight into why this tale has been cherished for so long. By transforming the painful memories of slavery and racism into the emancipating power of flight, the story of the flying Africans continues to play an important role in maintaining a cultural connection to Africa and empowering generations of black Americans.

Although the myth of the flying Africans will undoubtedly be told for many decades to come, a fitting coda to this particular version of the tale might be found in the consecration of Ebos Landing in the summer of 2002. The St. Simons African-American Heritage Coalition invited Chukwuemeka Onyesoh from Nigeria to designate Ebos Landing as holy ground and to put the souls of the enslaved to rest. "I came here to evoke their spirits," Onyesoh explained," to take them back to Igboland." Participants in the memorial traveled from Haiti, Belize, Canada, New York, and Mississippi, among other places to watch and pray as elder Igbo tribesman danced and sang under the aging cypress trees hung with moss.

Sadly, no historical marker commemorates the site of Ebos Landing, which is adjacent to a sewage treatment plant built in the 1940s. The African American community, however, continues to mark the sacred site in their own, more private ways. Some local fishermen on St. Simons, for example, will not cast fishing lines or crab nets in the fecund waters of Dunbar Creek for fear of disturbing the ghosts of the Igbo. Despite the fact that the state has not yet recognized Ebos Landing as a landmark, the many stories ranging from folktales to Nobel Prize–winning novels surely constitute a kind of literary memorial worthy of the remarkable story of the flying Africans.

Suggested Reading

Michael A. Gomez, Exchanging Our Country Marks: The Transformation of African Identities in the Colonial and Antebellum South (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998).

Savannah Unit, Georgia Writers' Project, Work Projects Administration, Drums and Shadows: Survival Studies among the Georgia Coastal Negroes (1940; reprint, Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1986).

Timothy B. Powell, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Published 6/15/2004
December 28, 2009 at 10:25pm ·

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                                          " MY MOTTO "
 
A da tell oona fa true , ebrybody wa bleebe pon me gwine do miracle same like
A da do .  E gwine do ting wa eben mo greata den A da do .cause A de gwine ta da fada .
                      (  De Nyew Testament, Gullah bible }
 
John 14 ;12  
                    Verily , verily I say unto youl , He that believeth on me , the works that I do shall he do also ; and greater works than these shall he do ; because I go unto my father.

Observation vs.Preservation

Observation vs. Preservation
Category: Dreams and the Supernatural
As a Gullah/Geechee with my heritage at the crossroad . I sense the crucial consciousness
of " CHOOSEING " to " Preserve" my Heritage or " Observe " it .

With great respect for the esoteric use of " ENGLISH " ( to put a spin on ) I"d prefer " OBSERVATION " . When we observe a holiday ; example ; " Valentine"s day" .You make sure you have " RED " hearts , chocolates , cupids , flowers ,ribbons - bows etc . And you say ; I"m observing Valentine"s day not " Preserving " ( pickle - freeze etc.).

I suggest " OBSERVING " Gullah/Geechee heritage in subtle ways ,because it is still a sensitive crucial ting of pride /prejudice . It seems to be a closet ting . And many are closet gullah/Geechee .

A Gullah/Geechee can ; put horse shoe , broom , bible , etc. by de door .Put a little piece of blue masking tape on the portals if you can"t paint them .Put 1 bottle in a tree . Put glass water under bed , respect crossroads - cemeteries etc..

Add a Yena to " Hab A Nice Day ". Enjoy watermelon , chicken , rice, pudding pot ,hopping john , plant morning Glory's ( little John ) .

Cherish Family , children,Elders ,Ancestors etc. Ebry lee likle bit heps . Observe your Heritage ,not only ;Black history Month (shortest month 29 days ) Gullah Festival., Kwanzaa ,but ebry da Gawd bring fo we chillen .


en de name ob de " KONKER ",PAPA

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KICKING & KNOCKING

" My STORY "

RING SHOUT !

Ancestor style danceing

Ladja the Combat Dance of Martinique
Click on the picture to watch video or click to watch this ladja video no You-tube.

The above video shows an art form today known as the Ladja or Danmye (previously entitled the Ag'Ya) of Martinique. Two combatants engage each other in a game of trickery, skill and acrobatic agility. At the head of the circle musicians control the tempo of the contest singing, playing drums and other instrument of African origin. Could this far-away Caribbean lookalike be a long-lost capoeira cousin? Does this offer us clues as to Capoeira's African origins? The similarity is nothing but striking!

The video footage in this clip has been compiled from the Katherine Dunham Collection at the Library of Congress. Katherine Dunham, who passed away in May 2006, was a dancer, choreographer and researcher - a founding mother of African dance in American popular culture. She came across the Ag'Ya during a fieldwork expedition to the Caribbean and it inspired her to create an Ag'Ya dance performance back in the USA to popular acclaim. Click here to see an interview with Katherine Dunham speaking about the Ag'Ya.

As in all cultural manifestations of African descent music, song, dance and spirituality form a unified whole. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of video recording in 1936. Therefore I super-imposed, albeit artificially, authentic Ladja (Danyme) music taken from Alan Lomax's 1962 Caribbean Voyages onto Dunham's footage. Alan Lomax was a pre-eminent and much loved American ethnomusicologist who traveled the world from the mills of the Scottish Isles to the Far East in his quest to record the sounds of life.

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