- Oct 25, 2005
- 1,210
- 23
Woman shares slave artifacts
CHANDRA HUSTON
Bulletin Staff Writer
Carolyn Williams had gathered all of the artifacts she could from a dilapidated barn but turned around to take one last look. That's when she saw him. His face was old and weathered, and his wooden "skin" was dirty from lying in years of debris.
"There's just something about him that I love so much," Williams said, staring at the stern face. "I don't know what it is, but there's just something about him."
The "him" is an African ceremonial mask that belonged to the Williams ancestors. She found the item in a rundown barn on her family's property in El Dorado, property she now owns.
Williams suspects the mask, made before 1839, made its way to the United States aboard a slave boat. She said it is likely that a slave who could keep the other slaves quiet wore the mask to show authority.
...
IMAGINE that OUR ANCESTORS was able to BRING a LARGE MASK on THOSE RUTHLESS WHITE SLAVE VESSELS to AMERICA through the ATLANTIC POSSIBLY the CARRIBEAN to the SHORES OF AMERICA.
HOW?
Another MYSTERY.
Oh well.