Transcriber: Tijana Mihajlović Reviewer: Denise RQ
When I was in graduate school working on the doctorate,
I eventually reached the point
where you have to decide on a topic for the dissertation.
The dissertation, or thesis, or book has to be original
and it has to make a contribution to the field,
in my case, American studies.
I didn't know what I was going to do, although I had one idea:
I thought of creating a study of the drum, the African drum,
and how it was used in early America.
There is a cliche in American history
that the African drum was banned, prohibited in early America,
because it was thought
that the drum was used as a tool of communication in slave revolts.
Think of an object, a cultural object, that has been banned,
taken by one group from another group.
Can you think of any examples?
Books have been banned
over time in various places.
The phrase "banned in Boston" comes to mind.
Alcoholic drink was banned
in the early 20th century during Prohibition.
In Western Europe, the Jewish Torah was banned,
taken from public view.
In the British Isles, bagpipes were banned
by the English against the Irish, long ago.
I took my idea for a studying of the drum in the Americas back to my professors
and they said, "No, Chris,
you can't do a study on the drum in the Americas.
There's no evidence.
There's one example, you know, the guy up at Yale.
Everyone uses his quote."
Well, after two years,
I had found over 140 personal accounts
and over 563 citations
of the use of the African drum in the Americas.
Many people wrote about African-American culture generally
in the early Americas:
Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson,
Hector St. John de Crèvecœur in his "Letters from an American Farmer",
Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, among others.
I'd like to share three examples with you.
Sir Hans Sloane was one of the creators
of The British Museum.
This is his writing. Have a quick look.
In the 1700s, he was physician to the Duke of Albemarle in Jamaica
and during his time there
wrote about African slaves that he saw performing.
Notice here towards the bottom,
he says, "It was thought to"
regarding the use of the drum in relation to war.
Also the word 'thouls'; it's just a part of the drum.
Colonel Edward Marcus Despard was sent by the British Crown
to Honduras in 18th century to assist with the settlement there.
He also wrote an account and here, in the middle of the page,
- take my word for it -
(Laughter)
he writes about how a group of slaves were playing a gumbe drum
and caused a stir in the town.
In the 19th century, Benjamin Latrobe,
who was an architect, a surveyor, and an engineer
- he helped design Washington D.C. -
visited New Orleans and created drawings of the drums he saw there.
He also drew other instruments that he saw.
Here on the left is an early version of the banjo.
The banjo isn't an American invention.
The banjo uses drum technology and its construction.
Here, a skin is stretched over gourd and neck is attached with strings,
an African style sculpture at the top.
My research showed
that there were many non-violent uses of the drum in the Americas,
such as for weddings,
at Christmas time,
for harvest festivals,
to signal an arrival,
and for dance.
Oh, and the war drum - there wasn't any.
Of the approximately 250 revolts
in the Americas during the slave epoch,
how many used drums?
Two: one in Louisiana, the other in South Carolina.
So, the drum was banned,
although the ban didn't work.
But the drum was banned.
The situation led to the creation of surrogates,
substitutes, other instruments used in the place of the drum,
such as tambourine,
bones, the banjo, and fiddle.
Imagine being a slave.
You have few personal items, your time is not your own,
and you do really hard work.
The instruments African Americans used
then had to be small, lightweight, and portable.
After Emancipation,
African Americans got their hands on many more instruments,
particularly those of the marching band.
The marching band and its music was a kind of a popular form
in the late 19th century;
brass instruments, woodwind instruments, and percussion.
In the early 20th century,
black players began to experiment
with the form and the instruments.
They also began to improvise.
Picture the instruments, the percussion instruments,
of the marching band:
bass drum, tam-tam, snare, and cymbals
arranged on the floor
not so that one person could play each instrument,
which is the case in a marching band,
but so that one person played
all of the instruments.
This innovation led to the development
of one of the most important instruments in music today,
the drum set.
By the way, this is a photo of Max Roach.
So it was that a simple musical instrument
made of wood and skin
that was loved by many and taken away, returned,
and was the cause, the catalyst of something amazing.
Thank you.
(Applause)