Blue Glass Bead-Fort Mose, FL (3D)
Archaeologists found this glass bead at Fort Mose, the first Free Black community in Spanish Florida territory. The original site was located two miles north of St. Augustine and positioned to defend against British attacks, which it succumbed to in 1740. Archaeologists recently excavated the second building of the fort built occupied between 1752-1763.
Blue is the most consistently represented bead color at African American sites in the Southeast United States, especially those associated with the colonial and antebellum periods. There is debate over the exact significance and purpose of blue beads in African American communities. However, their presence at archaeological sites indicates a shared cultural significance or practice.
In rural African American culture, blue was often associated with protection from evil spirits, personal harm, or illness. There is even reason to believe that the cultural significance of the color blue in enslaved communities had an African origin. For example, enslaved Islamic and Christian peoples from Africa believed in the power of blue beads to ward off “the evil eye.”
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