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Slave Family in the Antebellum South This color line was drawn in the XVII century, when first black slaves were brought to Virginia. Today many historians believe that the first Africans who came to North America in 1619 had an equal status with white servants. White and black servants had a lot in common. Moreover, black and white servants worked and often lived together, which resulted into creation of friendships and families. Such alliances between servants of different origins sometimes became against the interests of ruling elite; therefore, the laws that would separate servants were created. These laws discouraged interaction between people from different societies and backgrounds, which resulted into division of working class.
Such a situation was beneficial for elite, because it allowed it to exploit servants. However, it has negatively affected next generations. The color line has been drawn and the feelings of superiority and resentment started to exist between the groups. Historians believe that African servants in Virginian were considered as servants (just like write servants who came from Europe), but not as slaves. Nevertheless, even though they were considered to be servants, Africans were viewed as being different from whites. This created an unequal treatment, which eventually caused Africans to be slaves.
Along with it developed that special racial feeling sometimes it could be hatred, or contempt, or pity, or patronization, which together accompanied the inferior position of Africans in America for the next 350 years that combination of inferior status and derogatory is called racism. The Virginians needed desperately labor, because in the beginning of XVII century they grew and exported tobacco to Europe. Since growing tobacco was very profitable, the Virginians wanted to produce as much of it as possible. However, where would they find labor? White servants had not yet been brought over in sufficient quantity. It would not be profitable to pay people for working in agriculture.
Moreover, white servants did not come out of slavery they were coming to America to start new life. The Virginians could not force Indians to work for them since Indians were very tough, defiant and actually they were at home in the woods of Virginia. African slaves appeared to be the best way to meet the demand in labor. Soon it became natural to consider imported blacks as slaves despite the fact that the institution of slavery would not be regularized and legalized for several decades. Blacks were also helpless, which made their enslavement much easier. The whites lived in their own European culture, while the blacks had been torn from their land and culture, and were forced to live in the atmosphere where the heritage of language, dress, family relations, was bit by bit wiped out except for odd cases when blacks could hold on to by sheer persistence.
When we are trying to discuss rituals during slavery, it is important to note that a word ritual itself has a lot of connotations. Besides, since the legislation produced by white people never gave the slaves an opportunity to fully express themselves from the religious and cultural prospective, a lot of things the slaves were doing during their daily lives could actually be considered rituals - the songs they sang, their poetry, etc. Within the course of this paper, we will talk briefly about slavery and then elaborate on various things associated with the slave rituals: their religion, the songs and poetry, as well as the legislation that prevented slaves to fully realize their religious and cultural potential. The black experience of slavery in North America begins with the enforced transportation of thousands of Africans across the Atlantic to North America. The Africans were torn from their families and villages, marched to the coast, confined in Barracoons to await a passing ship, and then crammed below decks for upwards of two months.
This was the beginning of the dehumanization of the blacks that was continued once they reached North America, if they survived the journey. The blacks would then be auctioned and sold to the highest bidder. It is estimated that four hundred thousand Africans were shipped to North America between the years of 1619 and 1860. During the initial stages of this system until around 1660, the blacks that arrived did not have any tangible legal status, although they were always seen as inferior.
Gradually legislation was introduced that separated them from white servants and defined their status more clearly. Gradually more legislation was passed essentially defining the lives of the blacks. It became illegal in some states for blacks to have sexual relations with whites; it was also illegal for blacks to own property or any kind of gun or weapon. They were prohibited to give evidence against a white man in court, get married or be taught to read or write.
The legislation that was being introduced served to make it almost impossible for the slaves to preserve their African heritage as every aspect of their lives was dictated to them by the slave owners. The slaves were forced to adopt Christianity and disregard their own beliefs. Legislation was also introduced to prevent slaves congregating, except in church. This made it extremely difficult to retain their culture as the only place they could congregate was in a place dictated by the white slave owners and thus foreign to their culture.
The native languages of the blacks were also useless as they were forced to adopt the language of their owner. The slaves also came from different tribes originally and did not speak the same language. This illustrates that it was extremely difficult for slaves to retain something that was purely African. However, they were able to attain some kind of cultural identity by combining parts of their African heritage with the environment in which they now existed. It was through such devices as poetry and slave narratives that the slaves formed an identity for themselves. However, it was through music that the slaves secured themselves an identity and culture that would belong to them.
It was from the work chants and the field hollers of the slaves who formed the basis for this music. The African slave had sung African chants and litanies in those American fields. His sons and daughters, and their children, began to use America as a reference. These chants and field hollers helped the slaves to retain some pride in them as they were used to express the injustice they felt, albeit in a secret manner.
The lyrics to some of these work songs were worded so the slave owner did not realize the protest or mockery in them. The music that evolved from these chants was 'blues' and it gave black Americans a voice; the blues came directly from slavery and like the work songs, protested against the conditions enforced on blacks. Before the Civil War, songs became a powerful form of communication and expression among the slaves. Things that the slaves could never speak aloud were sung in songs.
They used code words to help slaves escape and to pass information along to those slaves that were traveling the Underground Railroad. Songs of the Underground Railroad bring together songs that were filled with information essential for making the journey north. "Familiar spirituals like Wade in the Water reminded runaways to follow rivers and streams for safety, cover food and direction. The song Let us Break Bread Together was a call for a secret meeting or gathering, and Children Go Where I Shall Send Thee alerted the community to a certain number of slaves preparing to make an escape" One of the most famous songs that were sung by the slaves was Follow the Drinking Gourd. (Hazen, p. 152) This song is filled with code words that would help the slaves find their way through the strange territory they escaped through. The "drinking gourd" was a code for the Big Dipper and the North Star, which pointed their way to freedom.
Also, the song says, "The river bank would make a very good road. " (Hazen, p. 153) This informed slaves that the river was a good place to travel because it was hard to find the slaves in the water because the dogs couldn't find the escapees scent. Another part of the song says, "The dead trees will show you the way. " (Hazen, p. 167) The slaves knew this, because moss grew on the North side of the trees, and this helped them find their way if it was cloudy and they could not see the Big Dipper. Most of the situations and experiences Africans based their religion upon dealt with the geographical environment. Experiences such as earthquakes, thunderstorms, diseases, and major historical events have molded their religion. China Isizoh points out "African Traditional Religion has no sacred text, all the tenets of the religion are handed on orally." (Hazen, p. 170) One must be born into a particular African group to understand and follow the religion, due to the abundance of languages. Just as there was not a founder of African Traditional Religion, there has not been any change to the religion by reformers or missionaries.
Now the traditional religion is changing due to the change within the African people. Beliefs of African Religion are an essential part of their religion. African traditional beliefs are concerned with topics such as gods, spirits, and religious objects. African people believe in God, although how the belief in God originated is uncertain. What is known is the belief in God is very ancient in the African religious life. Dr.
Abraham Along describes God as "a relational being who is known through various levels of relationship with creation." (Hazen, p. 114) The African Traditional Religion believes that God is the ancestor of the human race, creator, and the father of all cosmic processes. There are numerous names that African's refer to God, depending on what country one is from. There are thousands of names that mean God, and this clearly demonstrates that Africans believe and have formulated ideas about God. Other than God, Africans believe in religious leaders, in particular medicine men, diviners, and priests. In many ways, these religious leaders are the embodiment of God among the faith and beliefs of the African people. Another important aspect of the African Religion is the presence of spirits.
Kwabena Oxford-Attach reports that "in the African world, spirits are everywhere-in persons, trees, rivers, animals, and even in automobiles and other personal effects." (Hazen, p. 219) African spirits communicate their wishes, demands, and prescriptions to the larger society through the priest. A traditional priest is able of satisfy the people through rituals. For religious practices, rituals are often performed through music, dance, and art. A lot of African music deals with religious practices allowing individuals to express their religious life and beliefs.
Singing and a variety of instruments, such as the drum, flute, and the whistle accompany religious rituals. The most common instrument is the drum, which can be found in many shapes and sizes. Overall, the black experience of slavery in North America is one of great suffering and an existence for the slaves which stifled hope. The slaves relied on a strong sense of family to give them comfort and also their religion which had evolved from the Christian religion initially forced upon them in to a distinctive style of their own. The slaves having been stripped of their identity and humanity managed to create a new cultural identity for themselves with the help of those rituals that they were allowed to perform. This is a sign of great strength and courage when you consider that: "The African's sole purpose in America was, for the most part, to provide the cheapest agricultural labor possible to procure. " (Hazen, 182) Bibliography: 1.
Hazen, Walter A. African American History. Grand Rapids, Mich. : Instructional Fair, TS Denison, 1998.
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