Yesterday, February 16 marked the 87th year of Edna Mae King, my mom's birth day. Born in 1925, on the Waccamaw River Neck -- between Georgetown and Pawleys Island, this September 9th, will mark 21 years since her demise.
It is amazing how fast time has passed. My sons have matured, as they reach their 28th and 19th birthdays this year. We have lived many memorable moments between New York City and South Carolina, by the rivers, both literally and of life. It is the waters that enhance my fluidity, intuitive and creative process.
The Hudson River was the closest body of water to our last Harlem dwelling. During my formative process of growing up in the Bronx, we were near the Bronx River, Orchard Beach (a man made one), and the Long Island Sound, not far from City Island. Here in Chuck and George towns, we are surrounded by the Waccamaw, Black, Sampit, North and South Santee Rivers in Georgetown county; and the Ashley, Cooper, Wando, and Stono Rivers in Charleston county.
Interestingly enough, there was a famous uprising -- the Stono Rebellion (
9 September 1739 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stono_Rebellion ), which occured along the latter river. An early rebellion of those enslaved by the British in what was then called Charles Towne.
Synchronicity is my mother's crossing over on the day of the Rebellion !!!!!! Ashe ..................
One of the earliest known organized rebellions in the present United States, the uprising was led by native
Africans who were
Catholic and likely from the
Kingdom of Kongo, which had been Catholic since 1491. Some of the Kongolese spoke
Portuguese. Their leader,
Jemmy (referred to in some reports as "Cato", and probably a slave belonging to the Cato, or Cater, family who lived just off the Ashley River and north of the Stono River) was a literate slave who led 20 other enslaved Kongolese, who may have been former soldiers, in an armed march south from the
Stono River (for which the rebellion is named).
They recruited nearly 60 other slaves and killed 22–25 whites before being intercepted by the South Carolina
militia near the
Edisto River. In that battle, 20 whites and 44 slaves were killed, and the rebellion was largely suppressed. A group of slaves escaped and traveled another 30 miles (50 km) before battling a week later with the militia. Most of the captured slaves were executed; a few survived to be sold to the
West Indies.
In response to the rebellion, the South Carolina legislature passed the
Negro Act of 1740 restricting slave assembly, education and movement. It also enacted a 10-year moratorium against importing African slaves, and established penalties against
slaveholders' harsh treatment of slaves. It required legislative approval for
manumissions, which slaveholders had previously been able to arrange privately.
