Election Day 189as a mimicry of their election procedures, but this was not
the case; “Negro” election day was much more celebratory
and not only involved the election of a king or governor
but also entailed music, dancing, dress, and feasts. In Mas-
sachusetts, Election Day was held on the last Wednesday
of the Easter season; the festivities of election week would
begin the Monday prior to Election Day and would not end
until the Saturday aft er it.
Campaigning, planning, and preparation for Election
Day would begin well in advance. Th e enslaved population
would begin saving their pocket change in order to pay to
put on some of the events that would occur. In fact, some
would even make food items to sell in order to raise addi-
tional money for the festivities. Such treats as root beer and
gingerbread election cakes also were prepared for election
week. In addition to the money that the enslaved popula-
tion earned and saved, their owners were also expected to
contribute to the festivities, especially if one of the elected
offi cials was their slave. Music and dance were a large part
of the celebration throughout the Americas. Instruments
such as the fi ddle, banjo, fi sh horn, and Guinea drum were
used in the celebration. Th e inaugural parade that followed
the election showcased the musicians, the dancers, and the
newly elected offi cial dressed in bright colors and many
times riding a horse with plaited hair.
When an enslaved person was elected to one of these
positions, governor or king, that person’s owner was ex-
pected to have an inaugural dinner in his honor. Th e owner
was also expected to provide clothing for the events and
provisions such as food and liquor. Although the positions
earned were held only by blacks, the owner would also share
in the prestige. Th e whites did not see the election festivities
as being a threat because they thought that the proceed-
ings were mimicking their own election procedures. Th ey
also wished to utilize those who were elected as enforcers
of colonial policies and to maintain social order within the
enslaved communities.
Th e title “king” or “governor” varied by location: in the
royal colonies such as New Hampshire and Massachusetts,
the title king was given, and in other colonies such as Con-
necticut and Rhode Island, the title of governor was utilized.
In order to be eligible to run for offi ce, the candidate had to
be of African descent, his owner must be of some political
signifi cance, and he had to have great physical strength. Th e
governor or king had authority over his “countrymen” and
held jurisdiction over his subjects. In return, the governorfriends were in the Western Hemisphere, not Africa, and
thus they would not need the ability to take fl ight or “re-
turn” by other means. Th e phenomenon of fl ying Africans
or analogues to Ebo Landing are absent in African folklore
for similar reasons. If an individual dies in Africa, the spirit
has no need to fl y because it is already home. Th ough rooted
in African metaphysical understandings, this represents an
orientation that is uniquely African American in orienta-
tion and perspective.
Both the historical accounts and the folkloric rendi-
tions of Ebo Landing are what give the site known as Ebo
Landing, in Glynn County, Georgia, its name. In addition
to being immortalized in folk tales, the stories of Ebo Land-
ing and fl ying Africans were given expression in Julie Dash’s
masterful refl ection on Gullah life in the 1991 fi lm Daugh-
ters of the Dust; in novels by Toni Morrison, Paule Marshall,
and Gayl Jones—Song of Solomon (1977), Praisesong for the
Widow (1984), and Song for Anniho (2000), respectively;
and in children’s stories by Virginia Hamilton, Alice McGill,
Janice Liddell, Linda Nickens, and Julius Lester.
Walter C. RuckerBibliography
Doster, Stephen, ed. Voices from St. Simons: Personal Narratives of
an Island’s Past. Winston-Salem, NC: John F. Blair, 2008.
Georgia Writers’ Project. Drums and Shadows: Survival Studies
among the Coastal Negroes. Athens: University of Georgia
Press, 1940.
Gomez, Michael A. Exchanging Our Country Marks: Th e Trans-
formation of African Identities in the Colonial and Ante-
bellum South. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina
Press, 1998.
Goodwine, Marquetta L. Th e Legacy of Ibo Landing: Gullah Roots of
African American Culture. Atlanta, GA: Clarity Press, 1998.
Kenan, Randall. Walking on Water: Black American Lives at the
Turn of the Twenty-First Century. New York: Knopf, 1999.
Stuckey, Sterling. Slave Culture: Nationalist Th eory and the Foun-
dations of Black America. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1987.
Election Day
Election Day was a weeklong event involving the enslaved
and free black population in the American North that began
in the early 18th century. Th e event took place on diff erent
dates, but those dates usually correlated with the election
events of the white population. Th e event was seen by whites