Notecards

African Drums

Source:

Kalman, Bobbie. Slave Family . Crabtree.

Quote:

” Slaves made drums by stretching animal skins over bases of hollowed wood. They danced to the beat of the drum. They also made up codes and sent one another messages using drumbeats. When suspicious owners took away the drums, slaves simply drummed on their bodies and tapped their feet instead.” page 28

Paraphrase:

• Slaves used animal skins for drums
• They used drums for dancing
• Used codes through drums to talk to one another.
• Suspicious owners eventually took away the drums
• Slaves used their bodies instead to talk to others

My Ideas:

African drums were more then just instruments. They were a source of communication. There are so many ways to use a drum. It is not just for music. I can infer that the slaves knew that the world they were coming to wasn’t going to be a nice one. They also probably realized that they needed some form of communication This probably started off as them trying to sneak off and talk but then they realized that this wouldn’t work. The slaves had drums for singing and dancing. I can infer that a group of slaves figured out that if they drummed out a certain pattern, they could communicate with each other. The only problem with that is when a slave master gets suspicious. I can infer that the slaves used this form of communication so much that the slave masters realized that they were communicating and they wanted it to stop. So the slave masters took away the drums and instruments. the slaves weren’t going to give up that fast. So instead of giving up they found a way around it. They started to use their bodies to communicate. They would drum on their bodies to make drum beats. I wonder if they were caught for communicating by using their bodies? And if they did what would happen to them? 

History:

Created: 10/14/2016 10:56 AM