MS01.01.03.B02.F10.013

-11-

located ^ [on the Cane River] near Natchitoches, Louisiana. Built in the late eighteenth century by
a former slave, Marie Thérése Quan Quan, two of the remaining structures, one
of which was originally called Yucca House, can be directly linked to certain
rectangular shaped houses in Bamelike-type sloping roofs that are common to
the regions of contemporary Zaire and the Cameroons. The Bamelike house of
the Cameroons, which used rammed earth walls for support, provided [strikethrough: a] the model for
one building now called African House. 11 See figure

The round slave quarters, ^ [figure] constructed on the site of stately Keswick
Plantation near Midlothian, Virginia ^ [also] provides us with a very fine example of
the cylindrical or beehive house often [strikethrough: employed] constructed by Africans who live in the
rain forest. Constructed of brick, the Keswick slave house still retains a
specific African format in appearance and has in addition to its basic structural
pattern a central fireplace which served [strikethrough: the] a dual purpose of heating and ^ [for] the
preparation of food. Even though one finds similar buildings existing in
France, the pigeonnier, ^ [See figure] a structure which was normally build adjacent to stately
houses in Louisiana such as Labatut, Parlange and Melrose, shows a definite
kinship with the above mentioned cylindrical house in Africa. *

The transformation which took place between the artisan skills of good
craftmanship and black involvment in the fine arts of engraving on metal
plates, painting on canvas and sculpting forms for aesthetic enjoyment came
about during the more than 150 years after black immigrants were forcefully
brought to America. The sophisticated method of expressing visual images
through the graphic media of printing and painting were not foreign to the
artisan tradition in Africa since these forms of expression were found [strikethrough: to be] in

11 Driskell, David C., Amistad II, Afro-American Art Board of Homeland
Ministries, New York, 1975, p. 39.

-11-

located ^ [on the Cane River] near Natchitoches, Louisiana. Built in the late eighteenth century by
a former slave, Marie Thérése Quan Quan, two of the remaining structures, one
of which was originally called Yucca House, can be directly linked to certain
rectangular shaped houses in Bamelike-type sloping roofs that are common to
the regions of contemporary Zaire and the Cameroons. The Bamelike house of
the Cameroons, which used rammed earth walls for support, provided [strikethrough: a] the model for
one building now called African House. 11 See figure

The round slave quarters, ^ [figure] constructed on the site of stately Keswick
Plantation near Midlothian, Virginia ^ [also] provides us with a very fine example of
the cylindrical or beehive house often [strikethrough: employed] constructed by Africans who live in the
rain forest. Constructed of brick, the Keswick slave house still retains a
specific African format in appearance and has in addition to its basic structural
pattern a central fireplace which served [strikethrough: the] a dual purpose of heating and ^ [for] the
preparation of food. Even though one finds similar buildings existing in
France, the pigeonnier, ^ [See figure] a structure which was normally build adjacent to stately
houses in Louisiana such as Labatut, Parlange and Melrose, shows a definite
kinship with the above mentioned cylindrical house in Africa. *

The transformation which took place between the artisan skills of good
craftmanship and black involvment in the fine arts of engraving on metal
plates, painting on canvas and sculpting forms for aesthetic enjoyment came
about during the more than 150 years after black immigrants were forcefully
brought to America. The sophisticated method of expressing visual images
through the graphic media of printing and painting were not foreign to the
artisan tradition in Africa since these forms of expression were found [strikethrough: to be] in

11 Driskell, David C., Amistad II, Afro-American Art Board of Homeland
Ministries, New York, 1975, p. 39.