HISTORY OF FACE JUGS
The history of face jugs starts all the way back from the fourteenth century. For centuries, African Americans have utilized face jugs and is a symbolic item of African American material culture. During the civil war, the local potteries and slaved labor mass produced clay wears like pitchers and plates for the confederate army. Historians are still unsure whether face jugs were made during or after the civil war due to carrying small items was most not likely in the Underground Railroad. Face jugs first came about when African Americans were enslaved and were not allowed to use tombstones or any sort of “dangerous” weapon. Many of these jugs were made by African Americans all over the world, and a lot were from Edge-field in South Carolina during the mid-nineteenth century. African Americans used this jug to either keep their personal items in or as a water holder. Face jugs are very rare and is made on a potter’s wheel. The decorative designs are also created by hand and require some time in order to make them. The bottom of the jug is done with ash glaze, which is done by wood ash. Face jugs represent the earliest folk art by African Americans. A numerous amount of slaves were brought to the United States and were taken ton the Caribbean where they obtained a belief in a certain Voodoo. Historians state "The exposure to Voodoo, along with their own beliefs brought with them from Africa and the introduction to Christianity must have created extraordinary confusion to people from an entirely different culture. " One of the most famous slave potter was Dave Drake. He was the first slave to have created a face jug and utilize it as a water carrier to plant the plantations.
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