A True African American Ceramic Tradition

At various times I have tried to find an origin and the reasons for these, sometimes hideous, sometimes humorous works.  For years mostly what I found were folk tales and vague stories that smacked of "I don't know really, so I'll make something up" consequently there are some really dumb ideas running around.

 

A couple of years ago some grad students from LSU [ I'm not totally sure on this] were doing research on traditions originating with the slaves that had lived and worked in the Gulf Coast region.  What they found was remarkable and the first believable origins for the "face Jugs".

 

Slaves were not allowed to have Headstones when they died.  The face jugs served both as a marker for the grave and a talisman to ward off evil spirits.  As time wore on, the uses for the jugs evolved with the needs of the slaves.  Slaves were not allowed to read and anyone caught teaching a slave to read was normally prosecuted.  Not being able to read what was in a bottle or jug, the slaves adapted the face jug to indicate if the contents of a jug were harmful.  Example, kerosene or poison would be in a really nasty, scary looking jug, while honey or something similar would be in a jug with a happy face.

 

The Louisiana tradition has been traced back to the mid 1700's.  The South Carolina tradition has been traced to the early 1800's.

 

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These are a mix of old and contempoary works.