The Color of Spirits: Investigating Haint Blue in the American Lowcountry

The following text is the abstract of my Master’s Thesis in Historic Preservation from Columbia University. In short, I studied Haint Blue. My thesis was awarded both the Honor Award for Outstanding Thesis in Historic Preservation from Columbia and the Cleo & James Marston Fitch Grant from the organization Preservation Alumni. If you’d like access to the full document, please contact me. I’m happy to share it with you. Some key images are below:

  • Tabby Cabin #2, Ossabaw Island, Georgia
  • Tabby Cabin #2 Floor Plan with Labels for Paint Samples, Ossabaw Island, Georgia
  • Interior Wall of Tabby Cabin #2, Ossabaw Island, Georgia
  • Rear Door of Tabby Cabin #2, Ossabaw Island, Georgia
  • Paint Stratigraphy from Tabby Cabin #2, Ossabaw Island, Georgia

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Abstract

“Haint Blue” is believed to be a spiritually protective, or apotropaic, architectural finish said to have been initially created using indigo. The tradition of Haint Blue includes painting specific architectural elements, such as door frames and window frames, in varying shades of light blues, greens, and deep indigo-like shades. The color and its placement are believed to deter malicious spirits, known as “Haints,” from a building’s vulnerable areas. Such coatings are directly associated with the Gullah Geechee people of the American Sea Islands, who descended from enslaved African people. Despite Haint Blue’s assumed history beginning with the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the color’s story is rarely mentioned in historic writings, academic texts, and scholarly studies. Neither a succinct nor an elaborate history of Haint Blue exists.

The following thesis studies the history, myth, and composition of Haint Blue paint in the American Lowcountry, investigating the color’s origins in Africa and its development in the American Sea Islands; the research walks through all existing descriptions of Haint Blue in literature, discovering when it became a well-known term in the 1970s.

Along with understanding the paint’s spiritual significance, the thesis conducts a novel scientific study of Haint Blue, working to debunk the centuries-old assumption that the color was originally made with indigo. The study determines that Haint Blue’s initial pigments were synthetic ultramarine and Prussian blue, not indigo.

Ultimately, this thesis indicates the importance of studying architectural finishes, which preserve the histories and humanities of people who have too long been erased and excluded from historic and architectural narratives.

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Key Words

  • Geographic Areas
    • Africa
    • United States – Sea Islands
  • Subjects
    • Historic Preservation
    • Architecture – Preservation
    • Color in Architecture
    • Paint
    • Blue
    • Indigo
    • Ultramarine
    • Prussian blue
    • Color – Psychological aspects
    • Gullah Geechee people
    • Finishes and finishing

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Read More Here.