136 Culture, Identity, and Community: From Slavery to the PresentAngola. Slave traders during the 1500s fi rst used the name
“Kongo” in reference to the BaKongo people. As the Atlan-
tic slave trade increased, the term was used to describe any
person brought from the Atlantic coast of Central Africa
to the Americas. Th e meaning of “Angola” also broadened
with the intensifi cation of the Atlantic slave trade. “Ngola”
referred specifi cally to the ruler of the Ndongo part of mod-
ern-day northern Angola, but by the mid-18th century, it
was used almost interchangeably with Kongolese.
When Angolans were enslaved and brought to the
New World, they were known for their warrior skills and
their conjuring powers. Th ese attributes played an impor-
tant part of group resistance to slavery in the Americas; not
only were Angolans leaders in the Stono rebellion of South
Carolina, but it was also “Gullah” Jack, a conjurer, who pro-
vided the conspirators in the Denmark Vesey plot with spe-
cial powers. Th e descriptors “Gulla,” “Gullah,” and “Gola”
usually referred to Africans in the Americas who were from
Angola. Th e “Gullah” islands off the coast of South Carolina
and Georgia have a language and culture that is a product of
their Angolan origins and American residency.
Angolan and Kongolese presence can be found in many
places of the Atlantic world. In the Maroon communities
of Brazil, Angolan presence was noted by observers, and
symbols, such as the Kongo cosmogram, suggest an equally
infl uential presence of Kongolese. In both Puerto Rico and
Cuba, Kongo priests still practice the rituals of their African
ancestors.
See also: Gullah; Kongo Cosmogram; Stono RebellionJarett M. FieldsBibliography
Th ompson, Robert F. Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro- American
Art and Philosophy. New York: Vintage Books, 1984.
Th ornton, John K. Africa and Africans in the Making of the At-
lantic World, 1 400– 1 680. New York: Cambridge University
Press, 1992.
Washington, Margaret C. A Peculiar People: Slave Religion and
Community Culture among the Gullah. New York: New York
University Press, 1988.Animal Trickster Stories
“Trickster” literally means cheater, or joker. It evokes a
buff oon-like image but also involves a mythical dimension.once again sang in Washington, D.C., when she performed
the National Anthem at the inauguration of President John
F. Kennedy. In 1963, President Kennedy presented her with
the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She began her farewell
tour the next year—with her starting venue at Constitution
Hall—and retired from singing in 1965. In 1972, she re-
ceived a Peace Prize from the United Nations. Marian An-
derson passed away in 1993 at the age of 96 and is buried in
Eden Cemetery in Philadelphia.
See also: Cold War and Civil Rights; National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People; Roosevelt, Eleanor
Jane M. AldrichBibliography
Anderson, Marian. My Lord, What a Morning: An Autobiography
(Music in American Life). New York: Viking Press, 1956.
Arsenault, Raymond. Th e Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson,
the Lincoln Memorial, and the Concert Th at Awakened Amer-
ica. New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2009.
Dudziak, Mary L. Cold War, Civil Rights: Race and the Image of
American Democracy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 2000.
Keiler, Allan. Marian Anderson: A Singer’s Journey. Urbana: Uni-
versity of Illinois Press, 2002.
Plummer, Brenda Gayle. Rising Wind: Black Americans and U.S.
Foreign Aff airs, 19 35– 19 60. Chapel Hill: University of North
Carolina Press, 1996.
Angolan/Kongolese
Angolan and Kongolese are oft en used in reference to
persons belonging to the ancient kingdom of the Kongo,
whose infl uence stretched well beyond its modern bound-
aries. Spelling Kongo with a “K” distinguishes inhabitants
of the old Kongo kingdom from the modern-day “Congo.”
Th e Kongo kingdom stretched from present-day Gabon, in
the north, eastward to the Kwango River and southward to
northern Angola. Th e sovereignty of the Kongo kingdom
lasted from the early 15th century to the late 18th century.
One of its major chieft ainships was in modern-day Angola.
As a result, Angolans and Kongolese shared many cultural
traits. Both Angola and the Kongo receive their names from
the Portuguese.
As the Portuguese gradually took control of the At-
lantic coastal strip throughout the 16th century by a series
of treaties and wars, they eventually formed the colony of