African-American History

Harriet Jacobs noted "Every child rises early on Christmas morning to see the Johnkankus...These companies of a hundred each, turn out early in the morning and are allowed to go around until twelve o'clock (midnight)."

The Johnkankus apparently originated along the West Coast of Africa and was spread to the West Indies and the southern coast of America with the African Diaspora.

Edward Long the author of "History of Jamaica" (London, 1774), II 424-25 noted:

"This dance is probably an honorable memorial of John Conny, a celebrated cabocero at Tres Puntas, in Axim, on the Guiney coast; who flourished about the year 1720. He bore great authority among the Negroes of that district."

And an Englishman who visited Africa in 1725 wrote, "I visited King Conny in his Castle, who received me very kindly with the usual ceremonies of their country, musick, drums and horns".

Tres Puntas at Axim was a small town in the Northern province of the southwest gold Coast colony off the Gulf of Guiana 38 miles West of Takoradi. Today it is part of the southwestern Ghanaian coastal town of Axim near Prestea at the mouth of the Ankobra River.

It is also believed that the "Johnkankus" was propagated by the Papaws or Popos a tribe from the so-called "Slave Coast" of Africa. From the sources it is not clear which tribal grouping John Conny belonged to. Papaws or Popos were the largest group of Africans exported and enslaved in the early eighteenth century. They were speakers of Ewe and in this language there is a word dzon'ku ' a sorcerer's name for himself and the word -nu meaning man. Put together the words mean a sorcerer man or witch-doctor. Folk etymology then transmogrified the word to John Canoe and its various derivations.

The festival was distinctive for its unusual costumes all made out of rags and tatters, found objects and recycled materials. The Jonkonnu members wore masks that were wildly original made from whatever odds and ends the slaves could find. The African-American slaves were some of the first environmentalist creating the entire festival from garbage and genius. The John Conny was also known for the inventing of songs and original chants, loudly and rhythmically performed to the beat of the drums called gumba (gombe) boxes made from animal skins pulled over a frame.

Other instruments for the celebration were made from animal bones, sticks, reeds, cows' horns and triangles. The basic instruments for a Johnkankus festival in North America were a drum, a reed instrument and a triangle.

The leader of the parade or "Johnkankus (Jonkonnu)" himself was usually male, but in Jamaica as early as 1769 there were male and female Connus. In the U.S., only toward the end of the celebration around 1865 in North Carolina, was there an occasional Jonkonnu female. In a painting by Winslow Homer called "Dressing for the Carnival" the Johnkankus is male while those helping him get dressed for the celebration are female.

The John Connu songs were always very inventive, funny and sometimes ended with a sting. Thereby creating one of the earliest protest songs. For example:

Poor Massa so de say
Down in the heel
So de say
God Almighty bress you
so de say

OR

Christmas comes but once a year
Ho rang du rango
Everyone should have a share
Ho rang du rango

or the Jamaican counterpart:

Massa Buccra lob for see Bullock caper like monkee Dance and Shump and poke him toe Like one humane person, just so

At the end of the parade one or more of their number dressed in his "Sunday go to Meeting clothes" would pass the hat and ask for donations of money or rum.

Oh poor Koners John For me, For me my Lady Give the poor Koners one more cent For me, For me my lady

If a donation was not forthcoming the Koners would sing a song with a definite bite.

Run Jinnie run, I'm going away Going away to come no more This am the poor house I'm going away This am the poor house

The festival has been extensively studied by the researcher John W. Nunley. "Along the coast of West Africa and particularly in Freetown, there are two opposite manners of dressing for the African Masquerades, the precursor of the Johnkankus festival. One consist of fancy paper and cloth strips and beautiful headdress; the other is made of animal parts, plain dark gunney sack material and skin covered horn head pieces. The same stylistic and aesthetic parameters are found in the Jonkonnu of the West Indies, New Orleans and the Carolinas."

In the American south the styles converged for you had a mixture of the two; the grotesque and fearful along with exquisitely beautiful costumed Johnkankus revelers.

Jamaica, where it is still celebrated, is where the Jonkonnu has had the longest continuous celebration. Additionally, the Dictionary of Jamaican English lists several spellings from various books of the time (1774 John Connu, 1801 Johnny Canoe, 1816 John-Canoe, 1825 Joncanoe, 1826 Jonkanoo and several attempts at folk pronunciation (1943 jancunoo, jankoono, jan-kunnah, 1949 Jan Cunnoo, 1951 Juncoonu)

In recent years The Gombey Dancers have been revived in Bermuda for the tourists trade.

"If you see a group of people dancing down a Bermuda street to the sound of drums and whistles and if those dancers are wearing grotesque, colorful costumes, then you may well be witnessing that most elusive of Bermuda Events - The Gombeys"

The Bermuda Gombey is the island's premier folk art. The troupe of anywhere from 10-30 people are traditionally male and sometimes from the same family, who pass the techniques of the Gombey from one generation to the next.

Created during the 17th century by slaves brought to Bermuda from West Africa, the Caribbean and North America, the Gombey dances borrows from many cultures.

"Gombey" is derived from an African word meaning rhythm, and the dance itself is part West African, Caribbean and American Indian. The dances have names, and the musical accompaniment is usually a kettle drum, two snare drums, and a fife.

The dance is performed primarily on Christmas and Easter Holidays. It was born originally to be performed only on Boxing Day (December 26) and New Year's Day, when slaves were granted a brief rest, and celebrated their taste of freedom with extensive festivities and dances. Today, Gombey dancers also perform on the Monday after Easter as well as on other unspecified days.

The celebration of the Jonkankus died out among African Americans around 1865 because of its association with slavery. African Americans ashamed of their slave past wanted to purge all remembrances of their prior servitude. The Jonkankus was seen as a low-class slave tradition and a reminder of slavery. A clear example of the disrepute with which the Johnkankus came to be viewed is that the word "Koners" became synonymous with (ugly) buffoon or foolish person. Interestingly, toward its end, the Johnkankus crossed cultures and was continued by the white community until the early 1900's.

In his article "Do you Remember When" Henry Bacon McKoy states, "We went Coonering each year after the festivities of the Christmas Day had gone by. The boys of my neighborhood around the turn of the century engaged in "Coonering" no other time except between Christmas Day and the New Year. A group of five to ten boys would don whatever costume or garment he was able to get. There were sashes and shawls, overcoats and long pants. There were red bandannas, shirts and dresses. Everything had to be old and ill fitting. And then there was always the mask or "Coner" face."

Early this year after reading Louis T. Moore's "Stories of the Cape Fear Region" I learned that "Coonering was a custom handed down to us by the Negroes. And that it was supposed to be "Koonering" as a ceremony of John Koner. We didn't know how to spell it. We just did it. And it was fun."

Irene Smalls graduated from Cornell University with a degree in black studies and from the New Your Univeristy with an M.B.A. in marketing and behavioral science. She lives in Boston with her three children: Dawn, Kevin Logan, and Johnathan. Her first children's book, Irene and the Big, Fine Nickel, was inspired by her fond memories of Harlem. Her second book, Johnathan and His Mommy, is a love song for her son. Two more titles by Irene Smalls are Irene Jennie and the Christmas Masquerade, the story of a slave girl's Christmas, and Louise's Gift, the story of how an unappreciated gift changes a yound girl's view of herself.

Visit her website at http://www.melanet.com/Johnkankus. Contact her at Johnkankus@melanet.com