Gullah Tales: Little John: Museum Object and Cultural History
Gullah Tales: Little John: Date: 1988. Directed by: Gary Moss, American. Subject of: E. Katibo Bennett.
The object in the museum catalogue
A short film with the title Gullah Tales. It consists of a single reel of positive 16mm acetate film with variable-area optical sound.
Set at around 1830, the film opens with a narrator describing the importance of the Sea Islands in the coastal regions of South Carolina and Georgia to African Americans, and the creole language and culture known as Gullah.
In the opening scene, which depicts life on a plantation, a young girl runs around informing other children on the plantation that "Mama Nancy be telling stories." They join other children in a barn sitting at Mama Nancy's feet. A woman enters the room and chastises her children for joining the others before turning to Mama Nancy and saying, "Nancy, I know we'll never discourage you from telling tales, but must you preach lessons of immorality? Goodness knows we have enough trickery and theft on this plantation as it is..." When the woman and her own children exit the building, Mama Nancy, in a distinctly Gullah accent, tells the remaining children a story about an enslaved man, John, who is a "good wrestler" and outwits his enslaver into manumitting him.
Materials, dates and provenance
- Date: 1988
- Directed by: Gary Moss, American
- Subject of: E. Katibo Bennett
- Subject of: Martha DeWeese
- Subject of: Barbara Gagrinsky
- Subject of: Christina Hunter
- Subject of: Janie Hunter
- Subject of: Cory Jackson
- Subject of: Charles Joyner, American, 1935 - 2016
- Type: sound films
- Type: color films (visual works)
- Type: short subjects
- Type: 16mm (photographic film size)
- Medium: acetate film
- Dimensions: Duration: 20 min.
- Dimensions: Physical extent (film): 700 ft
- Place used: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, Sea Islands, North and Central America
- Place depicted: South Carolina, United States, North and Central America
- Topic: African American
- Topic: African diaspora
- Topic: Communities
- Topic: Emancipation
- Topic: Film
- Topic: Folklife
- Topic: Language
- Topic: Slavery
- Object number: 2017.55.4.1a
- Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Transferred from the DC Public Library
- Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture
Sources and reuse
Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Restrictions likely apply. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
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