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Levi Jordan
Plantation
I heard it through the Grapevine: Oral Tradition
in a Rural African American Community in Brazoria, Texas
by Cheryl Wright
Master's Thesis, University of Houston, 1994 (15)
This site also includes a section on how to do oral histories.
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 We will put a picture of Cheryl here when she
gives us one...
And as with all these participant
pages, it is hoped that Cheryl will write her own
biography to insert here!
Questions
or Comments?
Please let us know!
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| Cheryl Wright completed her
master's degree at the University of Houston in 1974, and
since then has been teaching and, with her husband Bruce,
raising several children (and, recently, to begin helping
to raise one grandchild!). She is now employed as an
anthropology instructor and guidance counselor at the
University of Houston, Downtown Campus. In order to
obtain material for her thesis, Cheryl conducted
interviews with the descendants of the African-American
people who lived on the Jordan, Mims, and Stratton
Plantations. She wanted to learn more about the
African-American community that existed, and still
exists, in and around Brazoria, Texas – to find out
how people lived and survived both the slavery and
post-slavery periods. She discovered an extremely close,
vibrant community in which there are strong connections
between past and present. People in this community know
their histories, and they continue to draw strength from
the creative ways that their ancestors learned to survive
and flourish.
While the individual people that she interviewed are
not named in her thesis, or here (because of their desire
for personal privacy) Cheryl was able to mention some of
the larger family names in her introduction, to affirm
their roles in the history of Brazoria County. Some of
these same family names also
appear on these web pages in other contexts, and include
the Wright, Williams, Hendricks, Johnson,
Lee, Holmes, Austin and
Higgins families. Sometimes we are able to provide links
from things that Cheryl learned to some of the
archaeological data – this is usually speculative.
However, if family members see this web site, and are
willing for their ancestors to be named has having a
specific role in the plantation community (such as the
person who was the hunter, or the midwife/healer), we
would be very grateful.
Here are the sections from Cheryl's thesis included
here:
Introduction
History of Brazoria (a useful
overview of the history of the area, and of the various
plantations).
Social and Economic Aspects of
Life: Birth, Death, and Everything in Between:
Birthing Practices
Kinship
Medicine and healing
Folktales
Church life and education
Racial Issues
Burial Practices
Church Histories
A Meeting of Descendants held at
the Jordan Plantation in 1994: A Transcript
ABSTRACT
The customary way of passing on information in the
African American community has long been that of oral
tradition. This cultural practice dates back to the
population's African heritage. The purpose of this study
was two-fold. The author collected oral tradition in an
attempt to reconstruct the everyday life of a rural,
African American community in Brazoria, Texas in the late
1800's and early 1900's. The topics that were discussed
included birth practices, kinship, medicine, folktales,
church and education, burial practices, racial issues,
agriculture and land acquisition, and reciprocity. The
second goal of the study was to examine the methodology
of oral tradition itself, not only as a means of passing
on information, but as a cultural dynamic in the
community as well. To accomplish these two goals, the
author interviewed 10 African American males and 7
African American females. With the exception of two
informants, they all ranged in age from 70-91 years old.
Findings of this study indicate that after freedom from
slavery, the African Americans of this rural community
were socially, politically, and economically isolated
from their Anglo counterparts. Because of this, they had
to adapt in sometimes drastic ways in order to survive.
The informants viewed the church and reciprocity as the
main tools which enabled survival. The most significant
finding involved the use of oral tradition itself.
Because of mass media and high mobility in the younger
generations, the oral traditions are not being passed on
as they have been in previous generations. This cultural
change may warrant an alternative means of preservation
of historical material. However, writing the accounts of
an oppressed population may present certain ethical
problems as well.
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