Speaker 1: But for now it is time for the Way Black
Speaker 1: History Fact.
Speaker 2: So today's Way Black History Fact is sponsored by Underground
Speaker 2: Beach Club.
Speaker 1: From the Streets to the Beach.
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Speaker 2: All right, I'm gonna say that normally, what I try
Speaker 2: to do on this show is I try to research
Speaker 2: everything and make sure that I have verifiable sources and
Speaker 2: that the sources decided in those verifiable sources are also verifiable.
Speaker 2: I have to say that that is not true of this,
Speaker 2: but I suspect there's a reason. It feels very true
Speaker 2: in all the sources that I found that were credible
Speaker 2: kind of had a similar position.
Speaker 1: But you'll see what I mean.
Speaker 2: And you'll see why this would naturally be hidden, And
Speaker 2: I think that this would inspire a lot of conversation
Speaker 2: moving forward. All right, this comes from Black Youth Project
Speaker 2: dot com.
Speaker 1: The writer is Shirandaj Brown.
Speaker 2: Seems like every year I learned some new factoid about
Speaker 2: how plantations operated during this live the time of chattel
Speaker 2: slavery of African peoples in the Americas, I inevitably come
Speaker 2: across another unfortunate piece of knowledge that I wish I
Speaker 2: never had to know. At the same time, I always
Speaker 2: understand how it's of vital importance that these things be remembered,
Speaker 2: because white supremacy is always in the business of forgetting
Speaker 2: and deals exclusively in lies. This week I learned about
Speaker 2: laughing barrels, and slaved Africans were not allowed to laugh
Speaker 2: on some plantations, and so, in an active defiance and
Speaker 2: as a mode of survival, they often stuffed their heads
Speaker 2: into barrels in order to laugh out of sight and
Speaker 2: out of earshot of enslavers.
Speaker 1: This apparently is.
Speaker 2: Where we get the term barrel of laughs. After quite
Speaker 2: a bit of research, I am still unsure of whether
Speaker 2: or not this is a myth, but I will proceed
Speaker 2: here with the understanding of laughing barrels as a literal
Speaker 2: rather than as literal rather than figurative, which is more
Speaker 2: or less the same conclusion that I come. All right, now,
Speaker 2: here's what I discovered, Ramses. Okay, so now we know
Speaker 2: that some slaves are not permitted to laugh when on
Speaker 2: the plantation. It was forbidden for slaves to laugh as
Speaker 2: they worked, presumably because the masters were afraid that if
Speaker 2: it ever turned into laughter at them, the whole system
Speaker 2: might start to crumble. The masters viewed slaves laughing as
Speaker 2: a form of disrespect to them. Some plantation owners had
Speaker 2: barrels set up on the plantation. When a slave hurt
Speaker 2: something funny, they would run up to one of these
Speaker 2: barrels in order to laugh. Of course, laughter is part
Speaker 2: of the human experience, however, dire but slaves in these
Speaker 2: circumstances were wise to keep things to a brief chuckle
Speaker 2: as they worked. However, the laughter was too great, but
Speaker 2: they couldn't contain themselves. Those slaves would find a barrel
Speaker 2: and that standing around and under the pretext of looking
Speaker 2: for something, to reach down into it as far as
Speaker 2: they could and let their laughter ring out where nobody
Speaker 2: could hear them. The barrel sometimes contained water, which would
Speaker 2: help with the noise. All right, I'm gonna go back
Speaker 2: to Shiranda, She says, we need more reminders that our
Speaker 2: enslaved ancestors felt more than just anguish, because they were
Speaker 2: fully human. Our people found ways to laugh even when
Speaker 2: it was dangerous for them to do so. I liked
Speaker 2: to think about how they might have giggled, how their
Speaker 2: bodies might have quaked with their forbidden laughter, shaking until
Speaker 2: their abs were sore and tears were in their eyes.
Speaker 2: I think about this and it's a reminder that they
Speaker 2: also felt lust. They kissed, they made love to feel
Speaker 2: the pleasure of touching closeness. And they also played with
Speaker 2: little children, bounced happy babies on their knees, saying songs,
Speaker 2: told stories, and shared intimate moments of braiding each other's hair.
Speaker 2: They loved and showed love in whatever ways they could,
Speaker 2: stealing seconds of togetherness and amusement that they were never
Speaker 2: supposed to have. The reason why this is important is
Speaker 2: because sometimes when a group of black people, young black
Speaker 2: people in particular, say something funny, they'll all kind of
Speaker 2: double over and laugh, and then they'll scatter while doubled over,
Speaker 2: And it's reminiscent of the image that this paints in
Speaker 2: my mind. You know, when someone says something funny, you
Speaker 2: kind of duccinly start laughing and you kind of take
Speaker 2: off running through that little bit of scatter. So this
Speaker 2: kind of reminded me of a barrel laugh, and I
Speaker 2: felt like there might be some CONNECTI
Speaker 1: Tissue there are with the epigenetics we're about to talk
Speaker 1: about