Stono

As part of our long presenting history with D.C.’s Step Afrika! troupe, we are excited to welcome these brilliant artists back for a digital presentation and discussion. We’ll start with a world premiere of scenes from their powerful, pulsing piece entitled Stono—a new work highlighting the spirit of resistance and activism of the oft forgotten parts of American history.

On September 9, 1739, the largest insurrection of enslaved Africans in North America began in South Carolina on the banks of the Stono River. Twenty Africans marched south toward a promised freedom in Spanish Florida, waving flags, beating drums, and shouting ‘Liberty.” When Africans lost the right to use their drums through The Negro Act of 1740, they began to use their bodies as percussive instruments in response, giving rise to ring shout, tap, hambone, and stepping. They were referred to as “Drumfolk,” keeping their traditions alive in the face of oppression and inequity.