Abstract
In the early 1979, Morgan was the first scholar in 40 years to unearth primary source material pertaining to the Pinkster Festival that occurred in eighteenth century New York City and Albany. Her research uncovered a complex cultural dialogue between Dutch colonists and African-American slaves that occurred in both cities around the spring holiday of Pentecost. Utilizing anthropological theory of ritual, performance and topsy-turvy with archeological findings of eighteenth century land-use and outdoor market placement as well as a treasure trove of memoirs and literature of the times, and, Morgan makes a case for the way in which cities hold history in their streets in such a way that the Breakdancers of our modern times have found their place crossing boundaries and re-telling the past.
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Notes
- 1.
The organization of the market was based on a system of benevolent paternalism not unusual to the eighteenth century, pre-capitalist, urban environment. Butchers and grocers owned their own selling areas, while the New York City Common Council played a regulatory role: checks of weights and measures; enforcing opening and closing times, prices; and controls for sanitation and spoilage.
- 2.
Minstrelsy shows are a whole other realm of study that grew out of the traditions of marketplace dance and dancing in the street for money.
- 3.
“Topsy-Turvey” is a familiar term used by historians and folklorists to describe what they call “inversion festivals” that occur in cultures with strong proscriptions regarding behavior or dominance hierarchies. These festivals function as built-in societal release where those who are being dominated are allowed during festival time to be in power.
- 4.
Coventry was a Scottish physician living in Hudson, New York (Cohen 1984: 153).
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Dedicated to John Wallace, ex-merchant marine, survivor of The Texas City Mine Disaster, and cardboard box collector for 191 Front Street archaeological lab, 1979.
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Morgan, K.T. (2013). Finding Pinkster: The Ethnoarchaeology of Dancing in the Street. In: Janowitz, M., Dallal, D. (eds) Tales of Gotham, Historical Archaeology, Ethnohistory and Microhistory of New York City. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5272-0_11
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