. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. By Carla B. Burgess John Kunner was dead. His sheepskin-covered drums quieted. His contorted, gyrating dance stilled. His costume of colorful rags, feathers, sheep's bells and bulls' horns faded into dust. Yes, many — including the Journal of American Folklore, community newspapers and some historians — believed that by the turn of the century this icon of African- American Christmas had slipped from our midst. But Michael Luster was skeptical. In 1991, the Beaufort folklorist had heard an elderly black wo
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. By Carla B. Burgess John Kunner was dead. His sheepskin-covered drums quieted. His contorted, gyrating dance stilled. His costume of colorful rags, feathers, sheep's bells and bulls' horns faded into dust. Yes, many — including the Journal of American Folklore, community newspapers and some historians — believed that by the turn of the century this icon of African- American Christmas had slipped from our midst. But Michael Luster was skeptical. In 1991, the Beaufort folklorist had heard an elderly black woman recollect her childhood memories of the "John Kunners," who painted their faces and donned fantastic costumes in which to haunt the streets at Christmastime, singing and dancing. This venerable masquerade of African origin was a custom called John Kunner; its participants, John Kunners. Luster went to back issues of the Beaufort newspaper, searching for signs of Kunner's life in the 20th century. He cranked through every micro- filmed issue of the Beaufort News between 1920 and 1950, and John Kunner managed to elude all but one report. On the next to the last day of 1937 was a morsel about Jack Chadwick, one of a parade of costumed black men, who was struck by a car, taken to the hospital, treated and released. The news brief was lacking in context or description. But the presence of John Kunner — or John Canoe, John Coonah, Jonkonnu or any of the other names by which it has been identified — in that parade was unmistakable. Continued. The ragman and the "fancy dress" man collect coins from the plantation owner and his family during a re-enactment of the John Kunner celebration at Somerset Homecoming, a reunion of slave descendants, in 1988. Only during these Christmas festivities were Somerset slaves allowed on the lawn ofJosiah Collins' Lake Phelps mansion. COASTWATCH 13. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcollectionunclibra, booksubjectoceanography
