Thursday, July 22, 2010

Random Appropriation of the Day! (Daufuski Korean Oysters)


Chrissy, one of my Twitter followers, came across this can of Korean Oysters while shopping at her local grocery store (I believe in Alabama?). From what I can gather with a quick google search, Dafuskie (with an "e") Island in South Carolina used to be a big oyster producing area. But this website gives us this additional piece of Dafuskie trivia:

Indian pottery found on the island is among the oldest of its kind in North America, dating back more than 9,000 years.  Their history on the island ended in the early 18th century, after a battle with English soldiers in 1715. After the sand ran red with Indian blood, the southern tip of the island was given the moniker Bloody Point, a name it carries to this day.
Horrible.  How would you like to live in "Bloody Point" knowing that is the history of your home? That's a whole post in itself.

Back to the oysters. These are, today, produced in Korea, but I found some images of early ads, from the 1950's:
(image source)

If they are referencing the Daufuskie-Indian connection, they might want to look into traditional regalia of South Carolina, cause I'm about 100% positive they didn't wear plains headdresses. In addition, I don't think the proper way to memorialize slaughtering all of your island's Native inhabitants is to put them on a can of oysters. But that's just my opinion.

(Thanks Chrissy!)