African American Christianity During Slavery, Research Paper Example

Slavery traces its origins back to the earliest times in written history, whereby a living human being was considered to be a property of another human being, legally. This property can be bought or sold, is not allowed to escape and is not paid wages for the works he renders to his master/owner. The world at present has abolished this cruel practice in the modern century, and Mauritania was the last country in the world to have abolished slavery law in 1981. However, a curious reader would be interested in investigating about the history of slavery and the perspectives of the social life that surrounded the slaves. This study aims to enlighten the history of slavery, the indigenous culture brought in by the slaves, their oral heritage and some aspects of their daily life.

The Caribbean is said to be the most concentrated place of African slave descendants after Africa. It took about five centuries for the transfer of African people and culture to take place in the Caribbean. In the 20^th century, many countries who had broadly abolished the slavery adapted themselves to various forms of the African culture and their identity. Today, nearly every Caribbean country can be found with the traces of African culture in them. Movies, doctors, teachers, singers, and many more people from every walk of life can found to be Europeans as well as the Africans. (Miers and Roberts, 2006)

Before the European contest took place, the region was vastly populated with various people of indigenous localities. In 1492, with the advent of powerful explorers to these areas, the natives started to move. With the rising genocide, many were killed while many managed to survive and flee to the mountains beyond the European control. (Bales, 2005)

This sudden decline of the indigenous African lead to the import of African slaves into the Caribbean culture. The history witnessed Atlantic Slave Trade to bring about 11 million Africans to the Americas. Also, 40% of them were brought into the Caribbean hence influencing upon the area’s culture, population and living styles. Despite the fact the trade continued for centuries, the African indigenous population was immediately able to influence the Caribbean population with its descendants. A new term, Afro-Caribbean people came into being, and this ethnic group became dominant in the region. (Miers and Roberts, 2006)

America is said to be widely influenced by the African culture that was brought in by the slaves and passed through generations. Although the original sources may have been lost by the African people with the time that passed, yet the African Oral Culture has preserved their heritage in some way. The heritage provided spiritual, emotional as well as physical connection to the African heritage, and it is believed by scholars and researchers were the foundation stone for Africans to identify their very own identity. (Bales, 2005)

The Africans had been brought in America as slaves. Those who are considered a property rather than human beings and no respect is given as towards their culture, likes or dislikes, etc. The Africans were deprived of their cultural identity and freedom. Crawford has discussed an African slave as not a family member but an exact state that allowed no freedom… supposed a hereditary procedure in which the children of slaves were slaves themselves” (Jordan, 2003). The Africans had no future options rather than serving the white people. However, despite all the levels of inferiority that were placed upon them, the Africans managed to keep on with their traditions and customs as much as they could. It must be noted, that physically, although the Africans had accepted slavery, yet their minds had not accepted to be the captives of white ‘Americans’ and hence, they preferred to keep their traditions alive as much as possible. In this way, the African slaves sustained a sense of community by the cultural expressions of musical practice. The music was means of life in the African culture, and they regarded it by improvising both songs as well as dance. There are three points, mentioned by Crawford, that exist in every African music:

• Oral transmission: this refers to the songs that are being sung in African cultures and without which, any African sitting is said to be incomplete.
• Physical movement: meaning the dance and steps that the Africans are famous for, up till now.
• Responsorial practice: The audience, who give full response to singings and dances.

This musical culture was unfamiliar to the westerners who were more rigid and formal in their music practices such as tango dances and opera. The American culture was more dominated by either straight song with silent audience, or formally conducted dances without any songs. However, the African culture included all the three in one go, which greatly influenced the Caribbean mind. Today, dancing, response by the crowd and singing in American bars, clubs and pubs are all visible influences of the African cultures over the Americas. (Miers and Roberts, 2006)

From 1821 to 1860 around three hundred and fifty thousand slaves were brought in Cuba. Among these, the Yoruba was a prominent group of African slaves. The ethnic group originally belonged to Nigeria and consisted a number of sub-groups in it. There social structure was divided into different kingdoms and they practiced complex religious values (Bales, 2005). The Yoruba believed in a number of gods and goddesses, denominated by Orishas. The Yoruba people were taken to Cuba first to be put to work there. The slave workers here used to reunite after they had worked on their fields, and use to maintain and sustain their cultures by worshipping their God. With the advent of 20^th century, the Yoruba had succeeded many Spanish followers. However, the Church was against these practices as its aim was to promote Christianity rather than other religions. Spanish Catholics went to reprimand and forced the slaves to accept Christianity. However, the Yoruba’s maintained their beliefs and used to hide their gods and pretended that they were worshipping the Catholic beliefs. (Bales, 2005)

The Yoruba’s used to conduct their own ceremonies which they pretended as for their entertainment. This included their traditional music and dances. However, they used to recite the praises of their own gods in these ceremonies and sometimes used to take out their deities to worship them. Since their worship included dances and music, the Spanish Catholics at first took no notice. However, after some time when they came to know that these ceremonies were in fact a way of worshipping by the of the slave’s gods, they soon placed restrictions on them. The slaves then devised another plan of worshipping their lords. (Jordan, 2003)

Here, they pretended to be complete Christians and offer their praises for different saints. However, they attributed each saint to one of their gods, and thus aimed to achieve their objective of worshipping and praising their gods. Although, this practice continued for about a decade, it became known to the Spanish again, who imposed restrictions from then on. Historians quote a large number of slaves who had accepted Christianity in their life. There have been a lot of tribes who adhered to the principles of Christianity and accepted the religion (Miers and Roberts, 2006). However, the Europeans had made an excuse for making the Africans their slaves. The Europeans’ excuse had been that they had made the Africans slave so that they could convert them to Christianity. However, when slavery turned into a trade itself, this excuse was replaced by a new that slavery earned money and value. This was indeed true. The slaves were not only used for housekeeping purposes. Rather, the sugar revolution in Europe is attributed to the hard work of slaves who worked on the fields to plant, reap and harvest sugar cane. The Portuguese had discovered more fertile land in the West Indies and Brazil and hence diverted a large amount of slaves to this region. The vast fields were then planted by acres of sugar cane and this lead to the sugar revolution. Then, in Spain, the Europeans discovered mines of gold, silver and other valuable minerals and a large amount of slaves was also taken there. The Spanish Governor is in fact reported to have complained about the Africans’ inability to break those rocks that had gold in them. (Bales, 2005)

The Bible has taught to mankind that disobedience to God causes slavery be it in physical form or mental. It also regards personal liberty as application of the Scriptures. As a community applies the wisdom of the scriptures, freedom is more likely to spread with in them. The bible says that it takes time for a nation to change and amend its mentality (Miers and Roberts, 2006). However, if goes on disobeying the God, then it remains enslaved with the time. While, if it implies the teaching of Scriptures, than with a gradual time being, it starts to heal towards freedom. The types of slavery allowed by the Law of Moses are as follows:

• Voluntary Slavery
• Voluntary Permanent Slavery
• Criminals
• Pagans or those who rejected their beliefs

However, involuntary servitude was and is forbidden by Bible. The USA after the civil war made profound attempts to abolish bribery and make it dead from its routes.

Africans now form a majority of population in the United States as well as other European countries. Gone are the days when Africans used to be regarded as lives unworthy of notice. The Africans are no longer slaves now, and they are now given an importance in the society. The Africans also found themselves a charismatic leader in the form of Nelson Mandela whose legend is famous up till now. Nelson Mandela spent 11 years of his life in prison for the punishment for speaking for the rights of black people. Nelson Mandela was the last person during the African slavery that raised voice against the inhumane attitude of the slaves’ masters. This motivated the African slaves who in turn went against the government to ask for their rights. (Jordan, 2003)

The USA has witnessed some very cruel distinctions between the black and white where by their children went to different schools, lived in different areas and even ate and worked at different places. However, now the American population has realized that they are a basic part of their community and the American community is hollow without them.

Bibliography

Bales, Kevin, Understanding global slavery: A reader, California, University of California Press, 2005.

Miers, Suzzane; and Roberts Richard, The end of slavery in Africa, Madison, University of Wisconsin, 2006.

Jordan, Winthrop, Slavery and the American South, Mississippi, University of Mississippi, 2003-2004. Torrm James, Slavery, Greenhaven Press, 2003.