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CRITICAL
BLACK ATHLETIC SPORTING EXPERIENCES
RACE
IN THE UNITED STATES
THEORY
Edited by
Billy J. Hawkins
Akilah R. Carter-Francique
Joseph N. Cooper
Black Athletic Sporting Experiences in the
United States
Billy J. Hawkins • Akilah R. Carter-Francique • Joseph N. Cooper
Editors
Black Athletic
Sporting Experiences
in the United States
Critical Race Theory
Editors
Billy J. Hawkins Joseph N. Cooper
Department of Health and Human University of Connecticut
Performance Storrs, Connecticut, USA
University of Houston
Houston, Texas, USA
Akilah R. Carter-Francique
Prairie View A&M University
Prairie View, Texas, USA
v
vi FOREWORD
behaviours that reinforce these practices rather than overt speech acts.
Sport, and collegiate sport at that, can therefore be viewed as a racial
formation, the result of racial processes that subjugate, subordinate and
exclude some while simultaneously empowering and privileging others.
This collection demonstrates that racial processes are complex, dynamic,
hegemonic, gendered and classed, the salience of each shifting in ambigu-
ous and variegated ways. Yet one thing that remains consistent and cen-
tral in these complex problematics is the centrality of ‘race’. As readers
explore this volume, they will see the local, national and international rel-
evance of this collection by Hawkins, Carter-Francique and Cooper. CRT
is reaching a new generation of activist scholars requiring of all of us to
rethink how we see sport in its many social contexts. The dissemination
of this work facilitates critical stories of ‘race’, racism and under-theorised
counter- stories that require serious consideration. Regardless of one’s
status, if readers are in positions to effect changes in their approach to
racialised sporting problematics, as advocated in Critical Race Theory and
American Sport, they should embrace the opportunity.
Critical Race Theory and American Sport is especially important at the
end of the second term of the first Black President of the United States.
Despite various claims in his first term, few really believe that we have a post-
racial, colourblind America/world because though change begins with one,
others must follow. In this edited collection, it is clear that vested interests,
personal and institutional politics lead to changes being much less straight-
forward and predictable than some might suggest. There are many in sport
and society who require more than a single symbolic shift to transform igno-
rance or bigotry. ‘Race’ and sport matter, and Critical Race Theory and
American Sport are likely to persuade readers that in the morass of ‘race’ and
racism in sport activist scholars are working terrifically hard to articulate and
finesse the challenges to understand and transform their impact.
Kevin Hylton
Carnegie Faculty
Leeds Beckett University,
Leeds, UK
FOREWORD vii
Note
1. Audre Lorde, “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s
house,” In Social Theory: The Multicultural and Classic Readings.
Charles Lemert (Ed), 484–487 (Boulder, CO., Westview Press,
1979).
Bibliography
Lorde, Audre. 1979. The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.
In Social theory: The multicultural and classic readings. ed. Charles Lemert,
484–487. Boulder: Westview Press.
Contents
1 Introduction1
Billy Hawkins, Akilah Carter-Francique, and Joseph Cooper
ix
x Contents
13 Conclusion317
Billy Hawkins
Index321
Notes on Contributors
xiii
xiv NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
College and University) athletics and Africana Diaspora in Sports. He is one of the
preeminent voices on Historically Black College and University sport business
analysis and one of the preeminent scholars on HBCU sports culture theory,
HBCU Sports History, the HBCU Diaspora, sport business and leadership. He
has published research articles such as the Impact of Demographic Variables on
African-American Student athletes’ Academic Performance, completed commis-
sion studies such as HBCU (A Minimum of Nine, A Maximum of 12) Football
Reclassification & New HBCU FBS Conference Formation Study, and presenta-
tions such as Athletic Director’s Leadership Perception of Variable Determining
the Effectiveness of Administering HBCU Athletic Programs.
Keith Michael Champagne, Ph.D. serves as the Associate Dean for Student
Development at Central Washington University. He is responsible for providing
leadership, management and administrative oversight for several units and pro-
grams. He has spent the past 24 years working in student affairs, university athlet-
ics, and academic and student lives. He is a graduate of the prestigious Sports
Management Institute and he is a member of the Sports Lawyers Association. He
has completed the NACDA-NCAA Sports Management Institute. He has a bach-
elor of arts degree in Communications and Public Relations from Loyola
University, New Orleans, a master of science degree in Communications and
Media Management from Clarion University of Pennsylvania, and a doctorate in
Educational Leadership and Policy Studies with an emphasis in Intercollegiate
Athletic and Sports Management from the University of Washington.
Geremy Cheeks, Ph.D. is currently an assistant professor at Alabama A&M University
in the Department of Health & Physical Education. He obtained his baccalaureate
and master’s degrees in Business Administration from Florida A&M University in
Tallahassee, FL. His research and scholarship focuses on HBCU Athletics and reve-
nue generation disparities between HBCUs and historically White institutions of
higher education, predominantly based on his experience as a former intercollegiate
athletics administrator.
Joseph N. Cooper, Ph.D. is currently an assistant professor in the Department of
Educational Leadership (Sport Management Program) at the University of
Connecticut (UConn). Cooper’s research interests focus on the intersection
between race, sport and education. His current research agenda focuses on identi-
fying the key influences that facilitate positive educational and holistic develop-
ment outcomes for Black college athletes who attend HBCUs and historically
White colleges and universities (HWCUs). His research has been published in
interdisciplinary journals such as Race, Ethnicity and Education, Journal of Mixed
Methods Research, Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, Journal of
Intercollegiate Sport, and Journal of Sport and Social Issues.
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS xv
Sarah K. Fields, J.D., Ph.D. is the Acting Associate Dean for Student Success and
an associate professor at the University of Colorado Denver. Her research and
teaching focus largely on the intersection of sport and American culture, specifi-
cally examining issues of law, identity as well as injury. She is the author of Game
Faces: Sport Celebrity and the Laws of Reputation and Female Gladiators: Gender,
Law, and Contact Sport in America. She is the co-editor of Sport and the Law:
Historical and Cultural Intersections, and she has published over 50 articles in
journals as varied as JAMA Pediatrics, the Journal of Sport History, and the
International Journal of Sport Communication.
Courtney L. Flowers, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of Sport Management at
Texas Southern University. Her scholarship is grounded in exploring the sport
experiences of African American women from a sociocultural perspective focusing
on legal aspects, HBCUs, and online teaching and learning strategies. Additionally,
Dr. Flowers has held positions with the United States Golf Association, The First
Tee, the former National Minority Golf Foundation, and numerous junior golf
programmes. She has also served as an NCAA Division I senior academic advisor,
NCAA Life Skills/ CHAMPS coordinator, Athletic Tutor and Mentor manager
and a Student-Athlete Advisory Committee facilitator. Dr. Flowers holds member-
ships with the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, North American
Society for Sport Management and SHAPE America.
Justin R. Garner is a doctoral student in the Division of Sport Management at
Texas A&M University. His research interests are in the area of talent management
and social development in the context of the sport and entertainment industry
while employing the critical lens of anti-colonial thought. He received his M.S. in
Sport Management at Florida State University, where he also worked for Student-
Athlete Academic Services as a mentor, mainly working with high-profile Black
college athletes. Much of his work involves, but is not limited to, examining the
role of race and racism on the lived experiences of Black athletes and is concerned
with the development and management of primary stakeholders of popular sport
and entertainment.
Emmett Gill, Ph.D. currently serves as an assistant professor at the University of
Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) Department of Social Work. Prior to arriving at
UTSA, Dr. Gill worked at North Carolina Central University (NCCU), Rutgers
University, and the US Military Academy Center for Enhanced Performance,
where he supervised men’s and women’s basketball student-athletes with academic
and athletic performance enhancement. Dr. Gill is also the founder of the Student-
Athlete’s Human Rights Project (SAHRP)—a 501©4 organization dedicated to
social justice for student-athletes. Dr. Gill’s scholarship focuses on the intersection
between social work and athletics.
xvi NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
writing Contesting ‘Race’ and Sport: Shaming the Colour Line for Routledge. Kevin
is Board Member for the International Review for the Sociology of Sport (IRSS) and
the new Journal of Global Sport Management. He is Patron of the Equality
Challenge Unit’s Race Equality Charter and Chair of the Leeds Beckett University
Race Equality and Diversity Forum.
Vanessa P. Jackson, Ph.D. is chair of the department of Retailing and Tourism
Management at the University of Kentucky. She has served as chair for two years
and is a member of the faculty of records committee for the Honors program at
the university. Dr. Jackson also serves as the editor of the International Textile and
Apparel Association newsletter. Her research interests are athlete preparation and
success in college and soft skills identification for student success. The results of
her research would help academicians and industry leaders create strategies to
enhance students’ productivity in the world of work regardless of their chosen
disciplines. Dr. Jackson received her master’s and Ph.D. from Michigan State
University in Human Environment: Design and Management in 1998.
Wardell Johnson, Ph.D. is an associate professor of sport management at Eastern
Kentucky University. His research interest centres on his dissertation of the plight
of Black male student athletes, particularly those attending predominately White
institutions of higher education. Having graduated from an HBCU, he has wit-
nessed firsthand this plight and how it has negatively influenced the Black male
student athlete and HBCUs.
Fritz G. Polite, Ph.D. is the Chair of the Management Science Division and
Director of the Sport Management Program, at The Harry F. Byrd Jr., School of
Business at Shenandoah University (VA). He has over 30 years of experience in
business, sports, management, coaching and teaching to include 19 years of inter-
national experience. His primary research focus is in the area of sociocultural
aspects of sport, including leadership, hiring practices, race, gender and diversity.
His secondary line of research is in the area of brand and vertical extension. He has
published in respected journal outlets, including The Marketing and Management
Journal, Sport Marketing Quarterly, The Spanish Marketing Journal, Public
Administration Review, Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics, and The
Harvard University W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African American Research. Dr.
Polite earned his Ph.D. in Sport Administration from The Florida State University,
his master’s degree in Public Administration from Troy State University (Alabama)
and bachelor’s degree in Management from Simpson College (Iowa).
Jeremai ‘J’ Santiago Sr. is the Assistant Director of Learning Resources and
Services and Learning Enrichment Coach, in the Division of Enrollment
Management and Student Success, at Shenandoah University (VA). Santiago is
working towards earning his Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership from Shenandoah
University. He has graduated with a master of science degree in Organizational
xviii NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
xix
List of Tables
xxi
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
B. Hawkins ( )
Department of Health and Human Performance, University of Houston,
Houston, TX, 77004, USA
e-mail: hjbilly@uh.edu
A. Carter-Francique
Health and Kinesiology, Prairie View A&M University,
Prairie View, TX, 77446, USA
J. Cooper
Department of Educational Leadership, University of Connecticut,
Storrs, CT, 06269, USA
this country could have embraced the hope of racial inclusion and prog-
ress toward a postracial society, we have witnessed a rise in racial crimes and
lenient or no punishment to the perpetrators of these violent crimes.
Clearly, the increase in racial tension and violence is not solely a US
phenomenon. In 2006, a United Nations expert noted that racial discrim-
ination is on the rise around the world.1 Whether they are immigration
issues, generalizations and misdiagnosis of all Muslims as terrorists or the
acts of genocide that have touched most major continents in the world,
they all denote the prevalence of race as a determining factor in social
interaction throughout the global community.
Within the context of the USA, the following list of victims and the dates
that they were murdered on denote the significance of race in this country:
This abbreviated list is a reminder that race still matters in this country.
It is hard to prove that race was the single motivating factor that ultimately
ended the lives of these victims, but it is also hard to deny that racial condi-
tioning was not a prerequisite to these murders. These are just a few of the
recent racially charged assassinations that captured this nation’s attention,
INTRODUCTION 3
occupies in sporting practices and how sport has been and continue to be
a platform that reflect and reinforce ideas about race, as well as a platform
where resistance is forged against dominant racial ideologies.
The chapters in this volume predominantly address issues related to
intercollegiate athletics and PWIs in the USA. However, the application
of CRT has also been useful in examining professional sports, specifically
the National Football League (NFL) and Historically Black Colleges and
Universities (HBCUs) experience. Moreover, the chapters of this book are
organized into four distinct yet interrelated themes.
The first theme of the book highlights “Theoretical Practices, Reform,
and Advocacy” in Chaps. 2, 3, and 4. In Chap. 2, Singer, Garner, and
Weems discuss the similarities and differences between CRT and systemic
racism theory (SRT) with a keen focus on how the intersection of these
two theories provides important insights into reform efforts for the cur-
rent structure of big-time college sports in the USA. Using both theories,
the authors present historical and contemporary evidence of racism in col-
lege sport as well as outline activist agendas informed by each theory.
In Chap. 3, Hawkins explores the viability of the interest convergence
tenet of CRT as a revolutionary tool for college sport reform. Within
this chapter, Hawkins offers a historical overview of college sport reform
efforts and draws attention to the effectiveness of various grassroots strat-
egies employed by students engaged in sociopolitical activism beyond
athletic-related issues. Interest convergence is presented as bargaining
mechanism whereby Black college athletes can leverage their power to
alter the conditions imposed upon them by the NCAA and its member
institutions.
In Chap. 4, Carter-Francique, Gill, and Hart shift the focus of CRT and
athletic reform to Black sport scholars’ advocacy of Black college athletes
at predominantly White institutions of higher education (PWIHE). Black
sport scholars at PWIHE who engage in activism are in a precarious situation
where their aspirations to generate positive change for Black college athletes
conflict with the dominant status quo at their respective employer institu-
tions. The authors use CRT to explore the complex relationship between
the institutional priorities at PWIHE, Black college athletes, and Black sport
scholars. Within this analysis, the authors offer practical strategies for Black
sport scholars to consider when pursuing their activist agendas.
The second theme of the book addresses “Academic Experiences,
Challenges, and Legislation” in Chaps. 5, 6 and 7. In Chap. 5, Flowers
and Cavil dissect the academic fraud scandal at the University of North
INTRODUCTION 5
Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) using CRT and explore the role of
race and racism in how Black college athletes were implicated, disad-
vantaged, and exploited. Within their analysis, the authors incorporate
sociocultural perspectives to highlight the problematic nature of the mass
media’s portrayal of the Black college athletes involved versus the insti-
tutional leaders (coaches, faculty, staff, and athletic administrators) who
were responsible for creating a fraudulent academic culture.
In Chap. 6, Johnson and Jackson examine the impact of the pervasive
myth of innate Black athletic superiority in US society. In particular, the
authors utilize CRT to juxtapose the enrollment and athletic success of
Black athletes at PWIs and HBCUs with concurrent lower graduation
rates among this same subgroup compared to their athlete peers.
In Chap. 7, Fields explores the legal implications of the Kevin Ross v.
Creighton University lawsuit. Kevin Ross, a former Creighton basketball
player, sued the university for educational malpractice, arguing that they
failed to provide him with quality education during his college tenure.
After four years at Creighton, it was determined that Ross’s reading level
was equivalent to a seventh grader and his language skills were at a fourth-
grade level. Fields employs CRT to debunk the myth of colorblindness
and racial equity within the US judicial system. More specifically, Fields
explains how the explicit omission of race in the case proceedings reflects
the perpetuation of racial stratification in the USA.
The third theme of the book focuses on “Athletic Representation and
Imagery,” as it pertains to Black athletes, control of their images, and mass
media (Chaps. 8 and 9). In Chap. 8, McWilliams-Henderson explores
the impact of NCAA’s amateurism policies, which limit college athletes’
ability to earn financial profits from their images during their collegiate eli-
gibility. McWilliams-Henderson utilizes CRT to argue how these policies
have a disparate impact on Black college athletes and serve as a detriment
to their career development, entrepreneurship, and financial sustainability.
In Chap. 9, Brown incorporates CRT in his examination of how the
NFL perpetuates White supremacy by promoting stereotypical images of
Black masculinity. Brown argues that the NFL promotes Black masculinity
as violent, anti-intellectual, and self-serving in order to benefit the league’s
capitalist intentions. The author asserts this imagery is not fortuitous but
rather intentionally constructed to reinforce dominant racial ideologies
which portray Black males as mindless athletic gladiators.
The fourth and final theme of the book presents “Best Practices and
Leadership” in Chaps. 10, 11 and 12. In Chap. 10, Cooper, Cavil, and
6 B. HAWKINS ET AL.
Cheeks apply a CRT lens to outline how systemic racism permeates the
macro-, meso-, and micro-level challenges facing HBCUs and their ath-
letic programs. The authors draw parallels between inequitable struc-
tural arrangements and racist practices in the broader USA (e.g. limited
access to quality educational opportunities, health care, housing, legal
justice, etc.) with the organizational policies within the NCAA that dis-
advantage HBCU athletic programs. In response to these unfavorable
circumstances, the authors offer Ten Pillars for Active Engagement for
Sport Leadership and Administration in Creating Athletic Organizational
Success and Sustainability for autonomy governance and a secession plan
from the NCAA as recommendations for enhanced financial stability, cul-
tural empowerment, and institutional integrity.
In Chap. 11, Polite and Santiago incorporate CRT to critique the orga-
nizational legitimacy of the NCAA’s treatment of Black college athletes
and present corporate social responsibility as a means to increase account-
ability to this subgroup of college athletes and additional stakeholders.
Drawing from the business literature, the authors surmise that the NCAA
must adopt racially conscious initiatives in order to maintain legitimacy
as athletic-educational business enterprise designed to benefit “student”
athletes’ overall development.
In Chap. 12, Champagne utilizes CRT and social cognitive career
theory (SCCT) to examine factors related to the underrepresentation of
Blacks in leadership positions within the NCAA and at PWIHE. In par-
ticular, Champagne focuses on understanding how current Black athletic
administrators experience career mobility in a system designed to reward
and support White males. The author concludes the chapter with recom-
mendations for how to increase racial diversity among leadership positions
at the intercollegiate level.
NOTES
1. “Racism and racial discrimination.” UN News Centre. http://www.
un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=17718#.VqmMCzYxf-Q
(accessed January 15, 2016).
2. PWI’s will be used in referring to the predominantly White NCAA
Division I institutions. More specifically, those institutions that make
up the eleven BCS conferences: Atlantic Coast Conference, Big East
Conference, Big Ten Conference, Big 12 Conference, Conference
USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West Conference, Pac-
10 Conference, Southeastern Conference, Sun Belt Conference and
Western Athletic Conference.
INTRODUCTION 7
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Racism and Racial Discrimination. 2016. UN News Centre. http://www.un.org/
apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=17718#.VqmMCzYxf-Q. Accessed 15 Jan
2016.
PART I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter focuses on the striking similarities between critical race the-
ory (CRT) and systemic racism theory (SRT), and how they can be used
in tandem to further understand and address Black athletes’ educational
rights and college sport reform in the USA. The idea for this chapter was
conceived from multiple conversations we have had with noted sociolo-
gist, race scholar, and author of the book Systemic Racism: A Theory of
Oppression, Joe Feagin. In particular, it was during a doctoral dissertation
defense in 2014 for a student whose committee both Feagin (as chair)
and Singer served on when Feagin suggested CRT and SRT are very close
relatives and acknowledged that both frameworks are rooted in the Black
J.N. Singer ( )
Department of Health and Kinesiology, Texas A&M University,
College Station, TX, USA
e-mail: singerjn@tamu.edu
A.J. Weems • J.R. Garner
Division of Sport Management, Texas A&M University,
College Station, TX, USA
Language: English
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
1896
Copyright, 1896,
By Charles Scribner’s Sons.
University Press:
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A.
TO
THE SOCIETY OF COLONIAL DAMES
OF THE
STATE OF NEW YORK
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED BY A LOYAL
AND LOVING MEMBER
THE AUTHOR
PREFACE
This book should perhaps have been “intituled” Colonial Days in
New Netherland, for much of the life described herein was in the
days of Dutch rule. But it was New Netherland for scarce half a
century, and the name is half-forgotten, though it remained, both in
outer life and in heart, a Dutch colonie, even when the province was
New York and an English governor had control. In New Netherland,
as in every place where the Dutch plant a colony, as in South Africa
to-day, Dutch ways, Dutch notions, the Dutch tongue lingered long.
To this day, Dutch influence and Dutch traits, as well as Dutch
names, are ever present and are a force in New York life.
Fair and beautiful lay the broad harbor centuries ago before the
eyes of Hendrick Hudson and his sea-weary men; a “pleasant place”
was Manhattan; “’t lange eylandt was the pearel of New Nederland;”
the noble river, the fertile shores, all seemed to the discoverers and
to the early colonists to smile a welcome and a promise of happy
homes. Still to-day the bay, the islands, the river, the shores
welcome with the same promise. In grateful thanks for that welcome
and for the fulfilment of that promise of old,—for more years of life in
New York than were spent in my birth-place in New England,—and
in warm affection for my many friends of Dutch descent, have I—to
use the words of Rabelais—“adjoined these words and testimony for
the honour I bear to antiquity.”
ALICE MORSE EARLE.
Brooklyn Heights,
September, 1896.
CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I. The Life of a Day 1
II. Education and Child-Life 14
III. Wooing and Wedding 45
IV. Town Life 70
V. Dutch Town Homes 98
VI. Dutch Farmhouses 115
VII. The Dutch Larder 128
VIII. The Dutch Vrouws 154
IX. The Colonial Wardrobe 172
X. Holidays 185
XI. Amusements and Sports 204
XII. Crimes and Punishments 227
XIII. Church and Sunday in Old New York 261
XIV. “The End of his Days” 293
COLONIAL DAYS
IN
At the first break of day, every spring and summer morn, the quiet
Dutch sleepers in the old colonial town of Albany were roused by
three loud blasts of a horn sounded far and wide by a sturdy cow-
herd; and from street and dooryard came in quick answer the jingle-
jangle, the klingle-klangle of scores of loud-tongued brass and iron
bells which hung from the necks of steady-going hungry Dutch cows
who followed the town-herder forth each day to pastures green.
On the broad town-commons or the fertile river-meadows Uldrick
Heyn and his “chosen proper youngster,” his legally appointed aid,
watched faithfully all day long their neighbors’ cattle; and as honest
herdsmen earned well their sea-want and their handsel of butter,
dallying not in tavern, and drinking not of wine, as they were sternly
forbidden by the schepens, until when early dews were falling they
quit their meadow grasses mellow, for “at a quarter of an hour before
the sun goes down the cattle shall be delivered at the church.”
Thence the patient kine slowly wandered or were driven each to her
own home-stall, her protecting cow-shed.
In New Amsterdam the town’s cow-herd was Gabriel Carpsey; and
when his day’s work was done, he walked at sunset through the
narrow lanes and streets of the little settlement, sounding at each
dooryard Gabriel’s horn, a warning note of safe return and milking-
time.
Until mid-November did the morning cow-horn waken the burghers
and their vrouws at sunrise; and when with cold winter the horn lay
silent, they must have sorely missed their unfailing eye-opener.
Scarce had the last cow departed in the early morn from her
master’s dooryard, before there rose in the gray light from each vast-
throated chimney throughout the little town a faint line of pale,
wavering smoke blown up in increasing puffs with skilful bellows
from last night’s brands upon the hearth. And quickly the slender line
of smoke grew and grew to a great cloud over each steep-roofed
house, and soon with the smell of the burning brush and light pine
that were coaxing into hot flames the sturdy oak back and fore logs,
were borne forth also appetizing odors of breakfast to greet the early
morn, telling of each thrifty huys-vrouw who within the walls of her
cheerful kitchen was cooking a good solid Dutch breakfast for her
mann.
Cans of buttermilk or good beer, brewed perhaps by the patroon,
washed down this breakfast of suppawn and rye-bread and grated
cheese and sausage or head-cheese; beer there was in plenty, in
ankers, even in tuns, in every household. Soon mynheer filled his
long pipe with native tobacco, and departed with much deliberation
of movement; a sturdy, honest figure, of decent carriage, neatly and
soberly and warmly clad, with thrift and prosperity and contentment
showing in every curve of his too-well-rounded figure. Adown the
narrow street he paused to trade in peltries or lumber, if he were
middle-aged and well-to-do; and were he sturdy and young, he
threshed grain on the barn-floor, or ground corn at the windmill, or
felled wood on the hillside; or perchance, were he old or young, he
fished in the river all day long,—a truly dignified day’s work, meet for
any sober citizen, one requiring much judgment and skill and
reflection.
And as he fished, again he smoked, and ever he smoked. “The
Dutch are obstinate and incessant smokers,” chronicles the English
clergyman Wolley, Chaplain of Fort James, New York, in 1678,
“whose diet, especially of the boorish sort, being sallets and brawn
and very often picked buttermilk, require the use of that herb to keep
their phlegm from coagulating and curdling.” The word “boorish” was
not a term of reproach, nor was the frequent appellation “Dutch
bore,” over which some historians of the colony have seen fit to
make merry, both boor and bore meaning simply boer, or farmer.
“Knave meant once no more than lad; villain than peasant; a boor
was only a farmer; a varlet was but a serving-man; a churl but a
strong fellow.”
What fishing was to the goodman of the house, knitting was to the
goodwife,—a soothing, monotonous occupation, ever at hand, ever
welcome, ever useful. Why, the family could scarce be clothed in
comfort without these clicking needles! A goodly supply of well-knit,
carefully dyed stockings was the housekeeper’s pride; and well they
might be, for little were they hidden. The full knee-breeches of father
and son displayed above the buckled shoes a long expanse of
sturdy hosiery, and the short petticoats of mother and daughter did
not hide the scarlet clocks of their own making. From the moment
when the farmer gave the fleece of the sheep into the hands of his
women-kind, every step of its transformation into stockings (except
the knitting) was so tiresome and tedious that it is wearying even to
read of it,—cleaning, washing, dyeing, carding, greasing, rolling,
spinning, winding, rinsing, knotting,—truly might the light, tidy, easy
knitting seem a pastime.
The endless round of “domesticall kind of drudgeries that women
are put to,” as Howell says, would prove a very full list when made
out from the life of one of these colonial housewives. It seems to us,
of modern labor-saved and drudgery-void days, a truly overwhelming
list; but the Dutch huys-vrouw did not stagger under the burden, nor
shrink from it, nor, indeed, did she deem any of her daily work
drudgery. The sense of thrift, of plenty, of capability, of satisfaction,
was so strong as to overcome the distaste to the labor of production.
She had as a recreation, a delight, the care of
a trim, stiff little garden, which often graced the narrow front
dooryard; a garden perhaps of a single flower-bed surrounded by
aromatic herbs for medicinal and culinary use, but homelike and
beloved as such gardens ever are, and specially beloved as such
gardens are by the Dutch. Many were the tulip bulbs and
“coronation” pink roots that had been brought or sent over from
Holland, and were affectionately cherished as reminders of the far-
away Fatherland. The enthusiastic traveller Van der Donck wrote
that by 1653 Netherlanders had already blooming in their American
garden-borders “white and red roses, stock roses, cornelian roses,
eglantine, jenoffelins, gillyflowers, different varieties of fine tulips,
crown-imperials, white lilies, anemones, bare-dames, violets,
marigolds, summer-sots, clove-trees.” Garden-flowers of native
growth were “sunflowers, red and yellow lilies, morning-stars, bell-
flowers, red and white and yellow maritoffles.” I do not know what all
these “flower-gentles” were, but surely it was no dull array of
blossoms; nor were their glories dimmed because they opened ever
by the side of the homely cabbages and lettuce, the humble
cucumbers and beans, that were equally beloved and tended by the
garden-maker.
And the housewife had her beloved and homelike poultry. Flocks
of snowy geese went waddling slowly down the town streets,
seeking the water-side; giving rich promise of fat holiday dinners and
plumper and more plentiful feather-beds; comfortable and thriving
looking as geese always are, and ever indicative of prosperous,
thrifty homes, they comported well with the pipe-smoking burgher
and his knitting huys-vrouw and their homelike dwelling.
There was one element of beauty and picturesqueness which
idealized the little town and gave it an added element of life,—
And the blanketed squaw felt in her savage breast the spirit of that
home, and gently nursed her swaddled pappoose; and the silent
Wilden, ever smoking, listened to the Dutch huys-moeder, who,
undressing little Hybertje and Jan and Goosje for their long night’s
sleep, sang to them the nursery song of the Hollanders, of the
Fatherland:—
“Trip a troup a tronjes,
De vaarken in de boonjes,
De koejes in de klaver,
De paarden in de haver,
De kalver in de lang gras,
De eenjes in de water plas,
So groot myn klein poppetje was.”
Then the warming-pan was filled with hot coals, and thrust warily
between the ice-cold sheets of the children’s beds, and perhaps they
were given a drink of mulled cider or simmering beer; and scarcely
were they sleeping in their warm flannel cosyntjes, or night-caps with
long capes, when the curfew rang out from the church belfry. It was
eight o’clock,—’t Is tijdt te bedde te gaen. The housewife carefully
covered “the dull red brands with ashes over” for the fire of the
morrow, and went to bed. The “tap-toes” sounded from the fort, and
every house was silent.
And as the honest mynheer and his good vrouw slept warmly in
their fireside alcove, and softly between their great feather-beds, so
they also slept serenely; for they were not left unprotected from
marauding Indian or Christian, nor unwatched by the ever-thoughtful
town authorities. Through the little town marched boldly every night a
sturdy kloppermann, or rattle-watch, with strong staff and brass-
bound hourglass and lighted lanthorn; and, best of all, he bore a
large klopper, or rattle, which he shook loudly and reassuringly at
each door all through the dark hours of the night, “from nine o’clock
to break of the day,” to warn both housekeepers and thieves that he
was near at hand; and as was bidden by the worshipful schepens,
he called out what o’clock, and what weather;—and thus guarded, let
us leave them sleeping, these honest Dutch home-folk, as they have
now slept for centuries in death, waiting to hear called out to them
with clear voice “at break of the day” from another world, “A fair
morning, and all’s well.”
CHAPTER II
EDUCATION AND CHILD-LIFE
“Do not put your hope in simple water alone, ’twere better
never to be born.
But behold something more in baptism, for that will prevent
your getting lost.
How Christ’s precious blood cleanses me of my sins,
And now I may live through His spirit and be cleansed of my
vile wounds.”