Oni Thornell Interview:

GREAT HOPE PLANTATION SLAVE HOUSE INTERPRETER 10/20/16

“Secret messages that were put into songs were mostly about survival,”

• Song called white possum is about a possum wrecking the master’s plantation.
• They are telling each other that the master is coming
• The rhythm of the song was important
• The faster the song, the faster the slave will go to escape
• They would sing about where, when and how to run
• Songs are have a lot of information
• Some songs were meant to be hidden from children

Emma Diamond Interview:

ENGLISH FORT INTERPRETER 10/18/16

“You either love Morris dancing, or you hate it with a passion,”

• English and Scottish country dancing is where square dancing came from.
• Island Fling was dances solo by men and was marshal tradition.
• Before woman came to the colony the dances were a mix of English and Scottish dancing.
• Ladies loved when men did Galliard.
• Galliard was mostly stepping and leaping/jumping.
• Country dancing was big in Jamestown
• There is a dance called the Morris dance
• Morris was mostly done with sticks
• It was stepping and jumping with bashing sticks together.
• If you know know the new dances happening in France, you were considered in the know.
• They stepped to the beat