In The Old Plantation, how is the Description and interpretation discussed?
The painting depicts African American slaves between two small outbuildings of a plantation sited on a broad river. It is the only known painting of its era that depicts African Americans by themselves, concerned only with each other, though its central activity remains obscure. Some writers have speculated that the painting depicts a marriage ceremony, with the attendant tradition of "jumping the broom". However, scholars have suggested that the subjects are performing a secular dance: western African dance patterns traditionally include sticks and a variety of body positions. The headdresses pictured are of West African origin.The painting shows two male musicians, one of whom is playing an early gourd banjo. This is the earliest known painting to picture a banjo. The second musician is playing a percussion instrument that resembles a Yoruba gudugudu. The two women hold what look like scarves, but are actually sheguras, rattles made of a gourd enclosed in a net of variable length into which hard objects have been woven.
West Africa jumping the broom gudugudu plantation African American slaves