Shout Out to Anacostia

Even though I worked and lived in Anacostia for a short time, and even though I worked for the Smithsonian for years, I had never visited the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum.  I finally went on a field trip with friends this weekend to visit the museum, the Frederick Douglass home, the Big Chair (the world's largest!), Fort Dupont Park and drive around getting an overview tour of the east of the river communities!  It was fun to be over there again.

The museum exhibit was the highlight.  We all really enjoyed the Gullah exhibit featuring the work of Lorenzo Dow Turner.   The exhibit entitled "connecting communities through language" is a field that I'm really interested in.  One of the coolest things I learned was that Turner's research established a strong linguistic foundation for African American studies today.  I didn't realize that it was Turner who helped to establish as fact the understanding that slaves maintained their own culture and language despite the violence and harsh conditions that slavery imposed.  Previously, some had argued that the oppression of slavery made it impossible for people to retain any part of their language, culture, and traditions.

The intersections with everyday language was well-presented too.  This article/interview highlights some of the interesting connections made in the exhibit and by exhibit viewers: "one person happily sang the jingle for the Goober chocolate-covered peanut ad when she learned that the word “goober” came from Ngúba, which means peanut in KiKongo, a language spoken in the Congo. Isn’t that marvelous? It made my day."  The one that made my day was the word shout, which is a call and response dance instead of a form of yelling that I blurt out at rule-followers.

So, I'm happy to share my visit since I keep thinking about language and community.  It also puts the 1 in 3 people here in the DC community who are illiterate back into the forefront of my mind since language is such a key piece of learning.  The exhibit is there until July 24th, I recommend checking it out.