shades of brown. Thus, the colors red, white, and
black should be understood as representative of
themselves as well as the range of colors associ-
ated with them.
During ritual, the use of these colors communi-
cates the roles of the individuals involved, the
transitions between stages, as well as the spiritual
significance of particular involved individuals
and/or stages. For example, during the initial
stages ofayie(funeral rites), as the departed lies in
state, she or he is dressed in white, while friends
and distant relatives wear any combination of
black, red, maroon, or brown, and close relatives
wear black. After burial, attendees continue to
wear variations of black, while close relatives
often change into red as a sign of extreme grief.
Then, during the final stage of thanksgiving,
everyone wears white to communicate celebra-
tion, rather than loss, of life.
Yaba Amgborale BlaySeealsoAdinkra Symbols; Akan; Red; White
Further Readings
Arthur, G. F. K. (2001).Cloth As Metaphor:(Re)reading
the Adinkra Cloth Symbols of the Akan of Ghana.
Accra, Ghana: Cefiks Publications.
Hagan, G. P. (1970). A Note of Akan Colour
Symbolism.Institute of African Studies:Research
Review, 7 , 8–14.
CONGOJACK
Congo Jack, also called Gullah Jack, appears in
history in connection with the insurrection
planned by Denmark Vesey in Charleston, South
Carolina, in 1822. He was the person Vesey relied
on to strengthen the rebels against harm.
Vesey, like so many other African American
leaders of the 19th century, came from the “upper
class” of slaves: the engineers and craftspeople
who were given a high degree of independence
and self-actualization, as opposed to field workers
or house slaves. He purchased his own freedom
and settled down as a carpenter in Charleston,
South Carolina.
Despite the surface placidity of his free life, he
was fired with anger over slavery and the situation
of black slaves. Throughout his entire free exis-
tence, he planned and thought about freeing his
fellow slaves. He was so full of anger that com-
panions say that he could not even remain in the
presence of a Euro-American.
Like Gabriel Prosser, another rebellion leader,
Vesey was also deeply inspired by Christianity, in
particular the Old Testament. An integral aspect of
slave and free Christianity was its emphasis on the
delivery of the “children of Israel” from bondage
in Egypt. This story was perhaps the most power-
ful religious and cultural influence on the world-
view of 19th-century Americans. Although most
historians stress the passive nature of the Israelite
deliverance, that deliverance was also yoked to the
Israelite invasion of the land of Canaan.
Although this invasion was barely successful,
the Old Testament books telling the history of the
Canaan occupation and its aftermath are ruth-
lessly violent and present a warrior god with no
mercy toward non-Israelites. All evidence suggests
that slaves understood that these two events were
connected and that deliverance along Israelite
lines would be bought with human blood. Vesey,
who went around quoting biblical texts to slaves
to inspire them to revolt, particularly loved to
quote Yahweh’s instructions to Joshua when he
demands that Joshua kill every occupant of the
cities of Canaan including women and children.
Congo Jack was the spiritual guide who con-
vinced Vesey that it was alright to rise against
enslavement. In fact, Vesey, having come from the
West Indies, probably the Virgin Islands that had
been controlled by the Danish, believed more
firmly in Congo Jack than many of those he
wanted to lead.
Vesey’s task, as he saw it, was to incite
enslaved Africans into revolt. In 1821, that focus
changed dramatically, and he began to organize
his own revolt. He organized a working group of
lieutenants that included Gullah Jack, a religious
man considered absolutely invulnerable, and
Peter Poyas, who was one of the great military
and organizational geniuses of the early 19th
century. Poyas organized the revolt in separate
cells under individual leaders. Only the leaders
knew the plot; if any slave betrayed the plot, they
would only betray their one cell.Congo Jack 175