Culture and Landscape

Landscape has the power to evoke the history and meaning of a place, including the cultural identity of the American landscape. The American cultural landscape was constructed by the politics of American slavery, and later decorated by the customs, traditions, and ideology of Plessy vs. Ferguson's separate but equal statute. The legalized segregation of the twentieth century aided in the removal of the African-American population from the public, forcing them to congregate into same race neighborhoods. Boundaries effectively controlled the African-American population's political, social, and productive space.

In understanding African-American cultural identity, one must understand the social conditions of their past. Most African slaves were taken from the West Coast, where communal emphasis was strong. The American "shotgun house strengthened this sense of community. The consecutively lined rooms encouraged familial interaction. Further, the porch of this house served as a liaison, fostering community activity. Though the "shotgun" produces a strong sense of community, it is much more powerful when there are many of these houses, creating a sense of collective identity, blurring the borders between self, family, and community.

The majority of slaves were taken from West Africa and tended to reinforce not only the communal emphasis, but also the architectural buildings that supported this life style. A prime example of this communal supportive architecture is Mulberry Plantation in South Carolina, with its steeply pitched roofs mimicking exactly the houses of West Africa in that time.

The emancipation of the slaves gave the emancipated, African Americans the option to choose where and how they would live. However, the living space of African Americans was restricted to certain areas, forcing African-Americans and Whites to live apart, with properties often having limited access to roads. These properties thus became largely invisible to the public. With their traditions and way of life tagging along, this separation was not entirely dissatisfying. The possession of these areas often fostered the sense of belonging and control of many African-Americans communities. The interconnectedness of this community fostered a strong sense of belonging, leading to many gatherings and parties in the yards of neighbors and family. These gatherings allowed both the young and old to share experiences, "weaving new cultural narratives with the old", and thus sustaining the history and future of African-Americans (Barton, Craig E, 2001).

Memories tied to space and land form the adhesive that keeps African-American culture thriving. "When a group is introduced into a part of space it transforms it to it's image, but at the same time, it yields and adapts itself to certain material things which resist it." (Barton, Craig E, 2001). Through these memories education, music, and food ways, are retained and modified. Through assessment of the landscape we can see the interconnectedness of "culture and circumstance, of past and future, of individual and the collective, of the everyday and existential".