| Witch Doctors- Christian Missionaries | ||
|---|---|---|
| This clip is not available for streaming at this time. Please contact WPA. | Tape Master: | |
| Catalog #: | 443635 | |
| Clip Number: | 443635-1 | |
| Orginal Film: | 762-4 | |
| Timecode: | ||
| Location: | Africa (perhaps South Africa) | |
| Year Shot: | 1948 (Estimated Year) | |
| Audio: | No | |
| Color: | Yes | |
| Headings: | EDUCATION & SCHOOLS: Religion LOCATIONS/AFRICA: Misc RELIGION: Christianity, Protestant RELIGION: Missionaries RELIGION: Traditional Spirituality | |
| Description: | ON PREVIEW CASSETTE # 210021 Witch doctors - Christian missionaries Almost all of this seems to be staged. 1940s or 1950s? African man wearing some face paint and an animal hide draped around his head and shoulders looks up toward the sky. (This could almost pass for him seeing a flying saucer, but that's probably not what was being depicted.) Same man is lying outdoors next to a fire with a pot of something on it. He gets up, picks up something and tastes it. The same man exits door of house (hut), looks up in the air, seems to talk to something in the air. He acts (poorly) frightened. Kneels, clasps his hands in fear and/or prayer. Perhaps this is supposed to be a conversion experience? An African boy exits home, begins chopping wood, wears himself out after a few seconds and goes to get a drink. Another child comes up and talks to him, and he turns and goes inside. Several takes of this. African man wearing elaborate mask looks around. A woman and her children sit; the man wearing the skins walks by and they leap up in fear and flee him. The boy gets a drink of water from pot outside his house. Then he's sitting holding a bird; he lets the bird go and rubs his stomach dramatically. Not sure if he's supposed to be sick, or in a trance, or under a spell, or what. He falls to the ground. Shot of boy lying on the ground; perhaps he's supposed to act dead but he blinks and moves his eyes at times. The man from the beginning (who wears face paint and animal skins) reads aloud from a book; this is probably the Holy Bible. In front of a brick home, a Caucasian man wearing plaid shirt teaches some African men theology (it seems). The white man sits inside at a desk, writing with an old pen (the kind that uses an inkwell). We see that he's written, "I'm Anchored in Jesus. Nangula Wanga Ndi Jesu." A woman brings him a cup of tea. More shots of the white Christian missionary teaching African men in various settings. One illustration he uses (labeled in an African language) might be showing the fruit of the Spirit, with Christ ruling the heart. An African convert preaches enthusiastically to an outdoor crowd. Two white men and a group of African men enter a building, some carrying Bibles. Scenes of a man leading a group of people in an outdoor teaching of some sort (Sunday school?). A group of African men and women walk along path, wearing suits, skirts, etc. Whitbank Bible School, says a sign. (Witbank is a location in South Africa, so maybe that's where this is taking place.) Black man teaches Bible to others, outdoors. At an outdoor outreach (evangelism), a white man speaks, then a black man; the crowd around is black African people. There's a speaker set up on top of a car to project sound to the crowd. Meanwhile, an older man kneels beside the boy from earlier who's still playing dead. | |
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