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Coleman 3

foot upon North American soil that is now the United States. It was in the South that the newly transplanted Africans had to negotiate a new beginning, and develop survival strategies for the long haul. The slaves knew, however hopeful they may have been, that they would not return to "Guinee", certainly not in this life.

The making of objects by these transplanted Africans was conditioned by their present cultural and physical environment and by their pre-American memory. Throughout the South slave craftsmen built architectural structures such as the late eighteenth century Yucca and Africa houses on the Melrose plantation near Natchitoches, Louisiana which exhibit construction and decorative appointments that show connections to traditional houses in the Cameroon and Zaire.*

In South Carolina and Georgia and the other Southern states, slaves served as potters, and while we can be sure that their work was closely monitored, some of the craftsmen produced works that are clearly aestheticlaly [[aesthetically]] linked to West Africa. Of particular note are the effigy jars made by Black craftsmen in Aiken, South Carolina. Also, the Africanisms continued in the style and technique of Gullah basketry of coastal South Carolina are very well known. The walking canes of Henry Gudgell (1826-c.-1895), the decorative appointments in the furniture and architectural interiors of Thomas Day (active 1818-c. 1840's) reveal traditional African sensibilities and stylistic qualities