In the following essay, Elam discusses the depiction of slave ship as a presentation of "the survival of African culture."
In the performance of Slave Ship playwright Baraka and director Gilbert Moses also sought to connect the cultural past with their immediate social struggle. They created images and action that infused the present historical moment with symbols of African cultural heritage. Through sparse dialogue, music, sound, and movement, Slave Ship chronicles African-American history from Africa through the middle passage to the civil rights and black power struggles of the 1960s and 1970s. The symbolism in Moses's production of Slave Ship emphasized the survival of African culture, spirituality, and communalism in African-American experience. Yoruba dialect was spoken during the first twenty minutes of the play, while the beating of African drums remained constant throughout. As the action.....
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