Learn about some of the contributions and facets of African American culture.
For more information about the various tribes, visit the African American History collection.
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A 1930 photograph of a group of African American laborers cultivating with hoes. Hoe culture was the predominant method of working the soil in traditional African agricultural societies, and the hoe...
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"Head-toting" of bundles is a distinctly African method of transporting bulky materials, whether it be firewood for the home, cotton from the fields, or produce carried to market. Courtesy of the...
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An Alice Huger Ravenel Smith watercolor of African-American workers loading rice on a ship to send to market. Note the use of "head-toting" as a way of moving the heavy rice sacks. Courtesy of the...
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Richard S. Roberts (1880-1936), a talented photographer, left an enduring film record of Columbia's African-American middle class community during the 1920s and 1930s. This self portrait was taken in...
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John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (1917- ), a native of Cheraw, began playing the trombone and the trumpet in 1929. He studied harmony and music theory at Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina before...
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During the exhibition,Twiggs traveled back to his native Saint Stephens. There, met by his brother George, he ventured inside the house where he grew up. The brother had the house built for their...
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Another way that Penn helps to remember the culture is through the Heritage Days Celebration. The event was rekindled in 1981 but has its roots in the old harvest day celebration. Heritage Days are...
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Located on St. Helena Island, some may remember it as Penn School, while others know it as Penn Center. St. Helena is one of the few places where you will see a living Gullah community. The history...
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Culinary adaptations transformed traditional African dishes into a unique, new creolized cuisine, influenced by European and Native American traditions, and characteristic of Gullah culture. Foodways...
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David Drake was an enslaved African American in Edgefield, South Carolina during the first three quarters of the nineteenth century. He’s known today for the magnificent quality of the pots he made...