Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 36, No. 1

• A Pennsylvania Dutch Yankee: The Civil War Letters of Private David William Mattern (1862-1863) • New Evidence on the European Origin of Pennsylvania V Notching • Sem Kaufman\u27s Instructions to my Children • Worldview on the Landscape: A Regional Yard Art Study • Aldes un Neies / Old & Newhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/pafolklifemag/1113/thumbnail.jp

Sparto: A Greek Textile Plant

INTRODUCTION Cotton and flax are known as plants whose fibers are used in the manufacture of textiles, and hemp and jute are known as plants used to make rope. Less well known for its contribution to both textile and rope manufacture is the plant sparto (Spartium iunceum L.; Spanish broom) which grows wild over much of the Mediterranean region in brushwood localities of the mountainous and semi-mountainous zones, including the area of my fieldwork village on the West Coast of the Greek Peloponnesos. Sparto is a perennial broom, growing as a shrub not reaching over 3m. in height. Its abundant green branches are slender and sharply-pointed. Leaves are small; and tiny, bright yellow flowers form spikes at the ends of stems and appear from May through July. Sparto\u27s use for rope and textile manufacture may reach back into Greek pre-history as Homer mentions sparto ropes in the Iliad. Writing in the 1st century A.D., Pliny, in eight books of his Natural History discusses sparto as a source for making ship\u27s rope, bedding, shepherd\u27 s clothes and footwear. This testimonia gives evidence for the use of sparto in antiquity, but these sources do not furnish complete descriptions of processing methods. On the other hand, though sparto was commonly exploited in rural Greece until less than a lifetime ago, modern documentation on either the plant\u27s use or its manner of processing is rare. Because the customs surrounding sparto are still within the living memory of older Greeks, recording information is essential. First, the information explains how sparto was processed in the near past and may give clues to ancient processing methods. Second, the information aids in reconstructing the social meaning of hand-producing textiles in the past. Third, the information helps to explain recent changes in modern, rural Greek society. One of my primary contributors is Evagelika. In response to my queries about sparto, she offered to demonstrate the step-by step precedures for processing it. This occurred over two days in August 1990. My narration incorporates information received from a variety of people; but because I participated in most of the steps during Evagelika\u27s demonstrations, these events form the core of my record of processing methods, as well as my analysis of the social implications

New raiments of self: African American clothing in the antebellum South

This folk history examines the clothing adopted by Black Americans in the southern United States during the thirty years before the American Civil War. It takes the perspective of the formerly enslaved by basing its contents and direction on the testimonies recorded in The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography (George P. Rawick, ed., 1972, 1977 and 1979). Complimentary sources of evidence include nineteenth-century, African American autobiographies; the comments of white visitors to, and residents of, the antebellum South; and West African historical accounts. The African Americans demonstrate a thorough knowledge of how they and white Americans employed clothing to demarcate age, sex, status, work, recreation, and special secular and sacred events. Their testimonies offer proof of the African Americans\u27 vast technical skills in producing cloth and clothing. Because scholarly analyses most often have focused on white viewpoints, the clothing worn by enslaved African Americans generally is viewed as both static and as a standard imposed by white overlords. This study shows, however, that the clothing of the enslaved changed over time, that it served multiple functions, and that the customs and attitudes about dress evolved distinctly from within the African American communities. The clothes of the enslaved served both as a fundamental reflection of the peoples\u27 Afro-centric craftsmanship and aesthetic sensibilities and as a reaction to their particular place in American society. Clothing provided a paramount means by which the formerly enslaved depicted what slavery had meant, and clothing offered an important modus operandi by which they articulated a consciousness of self-worth and preserved their communal heritage

New raiments of self: African American clothing in the antebellum South

This folk history examines the clothing adopted by Black Americans in the southern United States during the thirty years before the American Civil War. It takes the perspective of the formerly enslaved by basing its contents and direction on the testimonies recorded in The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography (George P. Rawick, ed., 1972, 1977 and 1979). Complimentary sources of evidence include nineteenth-century, African American autobiographies; the comments of white visitors to, and residents of, the antebellum South; and West African historical accounts. The African Americans demonstrate a thorough knowledge of how they and white Americans employed clothing to demarcate age, sex, status, work, recreation, and special secular and sacred events. Their testimonies offer proof of the African Americans\u27 vast technical skills in producing cloth and clothing. Because scholarly analyses most often have focused on white viewpoints, the clothing worn by enslaved African Americans generally is viewed as both static and as a standard imposed by white overlords. This study shows, however, that the clothing of the enslaved changed over time, that it served multiple functions, and that the customs and attitudes about dress evolved distinctly from within the African American communities. The clothes of the enslaved served both as a fundamental reflection of the peoples\u27 Afro-centric craftsmanship and aesthetic sensibilities and as a reaction to their particular place in American society. Clothing provided a paramount means by which the formerly enslaved depicted what slavery had meant, and clothing offered an important modus operandi by which they articulated a consciousness of self-worth and preserved their communal heritage

New raiments of self: African American clothing in the antebellum South

This folk history examines the clothing adopted by Black Americans in the southern United States during the thirty years before the American Civil War. It takes the perspective of the formerly enslaved by basing its contents and direction on the testimonies recorded in The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography (George P. Rawick, ed., 1972, 1977 and 1979). Complimentary sources of evidence include nineteenth-century, African American autobiographies; the comments of white visitors to, and residents of, the antebellum South; and West African historical accounts. The African Americans demonstrate a thorough knowledge of how they and white Americans employed clothing to demarcate age, sex, status, work, recreation, and special secular and sacred events. Their testimonies offer proof of the African Americans\u27 vast technical skills in producing cloth and clothing. Because scholarly analyses most often have focused on white viewpoints, the clothing worn by enslaved African Americans generally is viewed as both static and as a standard imposed by white overlords. This study shows, however, that the clothing of the enslaved changed over time, that it served multiple functions, and that the customs and attitudes about dress evolved distinctly from within the African American communities. The clothes of the enslaved served both as a fundamental reflection of the peoples\u27 Afro-centric craftsmanship and aesthetic sensibilities and as a reaction to their particular place in American society. Clothing provided a paramount means by which the formerly enslaved depicted what slavery had meant, and clothing offered an important modus operandi by which they articulated a consciousness of self-worth and preserved their communal heritage