The Transmission of Banjo Culture in 18th Century America
Added 2018-03-24 19:22:00 +0000 UTC'From at least as early as the late 18th century, then, African American banjo players could be found in Appalachia. This fact is not surprising, since one would expect that they could be found wherever African Americans could be found. Many whites migrating into Appalachia from the east would have brought enslaved African Americans with them, some of whom would play the banjo. To illustrate this phenomenon, a fellow banjo researcher, George Gibson, has uncovered an account of the 1781 migration of the Upper Spotsylvania Baptist Church into Kentucky during which, when all were feeling the difficulties of their journey, the leader called on “one of his negro men” to play his banjo and sing to help them proceed “with lighter hearts.”
'When did whites begin to learn from blacks to play the banjo? Did it not happen until Sweeney and Ferguson were doing it in the 1830s? George Gibson believes that it must have happened long before that, a not unreasonable belief. But, despite serious efforts, he has found no indisputable evidence for this scenario.'
