Cultural Transmission
Flora was an African woman enslaved by the Nowell family of York.
Joseph Moody was the son of York’s Congregationalist minister, Rev. Samuel Moody.
The following is an excerpt from Rev. Joseph Moody’s diary:
“I questioned our Flora to some extent about the customs of her nation. She told me that among her people there were certain old men who were able to bring dark matters into the light. They cover their faces with a disk, bound by a leather thong above; they walk about, repeatedly plunging their hands in water, and clapping with their palms. At length, the bond being loosed, they make clear the secret matters.”
This fascinating account offers a powerful example of the sort of cultural transmission that would have occurred across this region over the centuries, as people of African heritage shared aspects of their customs and traditions with European settlers and their descendants. Very few such exchanges were recorded, however.
As Flora tells Joseph about some of the spiritual practices in use among her people, we learn that she has direct cultural memory of her home in Africa. For his part, Joseph’s curiosity is evident, since he admits to having actively questioned Flora about these customs. Given that the social hierarchy existed to maintain distance between the preacher’s son and this enslaved woman, it is noteworthy that their conversation took place at all.
While we will never know for sure, it seems plausible that Moody might have been influenced by Flora’s account when he later began wearing a handkerchief to hide his own face when preaching and in public.
Citation: Joseph Moody, Handkerchief Moody: The Diary and the Man, ed. and trans. Woodwell (Portland, ME: Colonial Offset Printing Co., 1981), 125.
Reflection Questions:
Why may Flora have chosen to tell Joseph about this aspect of her culture?
Would these spiritual practices have seemed foreign or familiar to Joseph?
This research was compiled as part of The Descendants Walk, which took place in York on November 16, 2024. For more information about this walk, click here.
For more research related to this area, click on the tags below. To download a hi-res version of the posters below for educational use, please contact where@atlanticblackbox.com.
This walk was a collaboration between Historic New England, York Diversity Forum, York History Partners, York Land Trust, and Atlantic Black Box.