Religion played an important role for slaves in America in the 17 and 1800s. Slaves both young and old turned to religion for hope in their times of despair and darkness. Religion allowed slaves to think about something other than the horrors that they were encountering in the field or in the house of the plantation that they worked at. In early times of America and slavery in Spanish colonies, slaves could convert to Christianity and become freed from their bindings of slavery. Laws changed in the British colonies and slaves would not be freed if they converted, so they looked to their religion and their God to console them. One thing that slaves used most to boost their hopefulness was a type of song, called spirituals. The spirituals were songs that the slaves sang while they were working out in the fields. The slaves could not directly come out and say that they wanted to escape from their slave owners, so instead they would sing their songs. The songs had themes of hope, freedom, and an end to slavery, which symbolized the slaves’ hopes and dreams of freedom. Slaves would also pray in groups in hopes of an end to slavery. Slavery took away the personhood of African Americans in bondage. They were treated like animals: they were beat, barely fed, housed in rotting buildings, and not clothed adequately. Prayer and religion were ways that the slaves could cope with the hardships that they had to endure. Praying to a god gave them the sense of personhood that they had lost to their bondage as slaves. Slave owners took away the humanity of the slaves and the slaves got their feelings of truly being human back with prayers. Religion was what helped slaves dream of freedom, which eventually led to the end of slavery.
Religion played a key role in the lives of slaves because it not only took their mind off of the brutality of slavery, but created a sense of peace. Slaves brought their attention to God because they hoped for something better in the next life and it gave them courage to overcome to bitterness and hardship of white slave owners. The slave’s religion is the only possible thing they could call their own. Praying and worshiping God gave the slaves comfort and tranquility when living a life of cruelty amongst their suicidal thoughts. Slaves from all over were bound together by their God and commenced songs such as chants and spirituals of praise. Religion compensated for their hard life as slaves and their prayers were symbols of resistance. Spirituals were dramatic, which gave slaves strength, meaning, and hope. The brutality of slavery was too much to bear all alone and having faith in a God gave slaves the courage they needed to endure the repetitive whipping, screaming, and vulgar language. Slaves didn’t physically have anything to call their own, besides the tools their owner’s gave them to replenish the fields, but their religion was spiritually healing for their body and souls to encounter a new day of duties. The white slave owners treated their slaves like scraps and were seen as less than human and beat them to a pulp, just because they had a higher authority over them. A religion gave slaves back their rightful place in the world, such as seen as rightful human beings and that they had values, and skills that they could give to the world. It gave them hope and prosperity that there was a way out of slavery, which soon had spread ideas of abolishing slavery indefinitely. Praying to a god consoled the slaves as they slowly gave up on the world around them.
This website offered many interesting articles that showed the importance of religion for the slaves. For many, it was their only way of hope and the idea of freedom. I thought that the Character Study of Nat Turner was very intriguing. He was many of the slaves source of hope as he led them to believe that he was indeed a prophet sent by God and that he would help them get freedom. The irony I find in his story is that he preached about how slavery goes against Biblical teachings, but ultimately, he led a rebellion in which they mass murdered a bunch of white people; which killing is most definitely against Biblical teachings. What I did not realize was how big the whole “voodoo”/spiritualistic idea was for slaves. In the “Hidden Objects” part on the website, it showed how slaves used “spirit coins” to control spiritual forces. Also the “divining stick” is a very interesting idea as they would stick it into the sides of buildings to protect the spirits. Another item that was found at gravesites was metal crucifixes which is really neat because it shows how Christianity began to spread among the slaves and how even back then, having a crucifix in your possession was really important to Christians. I think that reading the history of religion of the slaves was really interesting because it showed how in the beginning, many were polytheistic and Islamic. In the beginning, they made music and dance a very important part of their religions which I figured make sense being music is very important to the religious African American communities, specifically Baptist churches, (which they talk about later in the article.) Eventually though, Christianity did become popular throughout the lives of slaves, but I did not realize for what reason and that reason being: freedom. Many slaves were promised freedom if they were to convert to Christianity. However, as this idea began to grow, the white slave owners became concerned and laws were made that said becoming a Christian did not guarantee freedom. As time went on, many slaves started leaning toward the developing religions of the Baptist and Methodist churches because they had a simple message that involved hope, which is what many slaves relied on. Ultimately, I think this article was really intriguing because a lot of people do not think about the personal beliefs and ideas of the slaves, especially religion. Very interesting to see how they went from going along with the religions that were around at the time to adapting sort of their other types of churches. Religion was one of a source of individuality as well as sense of hope for freedom which is why it played such an important role in their lives.
From the reading that was published on pbs.org religion played a huge part in the life of the average slave. For example, many religious relics were made by the slaves from the few things they could get for themselves. They found sticks and other materials from nature to make things to represent their devotion to their God. Most of the slaves help still to their traditional religion although some converted to Christianity by missionaries visiting the plantation. The ones who kept steady with their traditional faith kept the faith alive with stories and religious celebrations. Many slaves and slave owners although did not want missionaries to come. Religious ideals were also represented in the songs that the slaves would sing. Many people who converted to Christianity did it out of hope for freedom. When people did this they usually blended Christianity with their native African tradition, this combination of religion is called syncretism. The ones that converted to Christianity would have songs about Jesus. Most of these songs however had hidden meanings. They were used mainly as symbols for certain things, like when opportunities to escape came along. As slavery developed the northern slaves resorted to a more Christian view of religion while slaves in the south tended to stick to more of a African way of religious thinking. Some southern slaves even came to the point that voodoo was a sort of religion to them. This was only popular in places around Louisiana and in Haiti. In the early 1800’s as Protestant Evangelization began to rapidly increase so did the conversion of enslaved people. People in the north felt more comfortable converting slaves to Christianity to save themselves in the eyes of God. They felt the need to be spared because of the fact that they kept slaves.
I enjoyed the way that you talked about the way that African Americans blended their culture with the christian religion. That idea was very though provoking to me because it made me wonder if these cultures have been carried on today. Overall, well done.
The religion of African American slaves played a major role in their everyday life. This can be seen in the way that they kept their traditions alive while enslaved. They would keep their tradition going through various practices; this can be seen from when the article states, “stories, healing arts, song, and other forms of cultural expression” (1). One way that Africans expressed their religion is seen through idolatrous dancing. Even though this was looked down upon by christian missionaries, they still did it anyway because of the way that their religion meant so much to them. Although some Africans turned away from their native religion, they did not completely abandon the traditions that they had, and they would sometimes carry over these traditions from their old religion. One example of this is seen in the way that they would wear charms to get rid of evil spirits rather than wear a cross like most christians. They would also use religion as a way to rebel and carry hidden messages. These rebellious and hidden messages were usually sung with religious hymns and lyrics. They would also use these messages to encode the escape of slaves as well. Religion also helped slaves in their everyday lives. They did this through the way that they helped African Americans escape slavery and helped them as mediators in their everyday life as well. This religious aid also helped provide refuge from oppression and the hassles from everyday life. This can be seen in the way that they provided some aid to African Americans who were struggling. This ended up making religion the utmost importance to the African Americans of the time. The church also gave them some security in a dangerous world that was extremely oppressive towards them, and at the same time allowed them to preserve their cultures and ideas for years to come as well.
Religion played a huge role in the lives of slaves. They put everything they had in their faith, many even found ways to symbolize it through relics. The religions that many slaves believed in was native to where they had come from, however, some converted to Christianity. Another reason that religion played such a huge role was because it was not something they were told to do. Slaves had almost no freedom and had to always do what their masters said. This was not the case for religion, slaves were allowed to choose what they believed in and it was a get away from everything that they dealt with in everyday life. The white slave owners were far less than kind to the slaves and in being as brutal as they were, the slaves needed something to look to for hope and strength. Religion is what they looked to and it did give them what they lacked, religion was the rock on which many depended on to keep going each and every day. Even though they had the choice to decide which religion they wanted, they did not always have the freedom to express it any way that they chose. Because of this the most common type of worship was through song. These songs were known as spirituals and these spirituals were sung very often by almost all slaves. Along with using religion to individualize themselves and take their minds off of slavery itself, slaves used it to hope for change. They were tired of being treated like they were not human, not being fed, and living in places that many people would not dare go. They looked to God to give them strength to get through it and to hope for change. Religion was such a huge part of their lives and it brought the slaves comfort and hope that the future would bring a good change.
The role that religion played in the lives of slaves was very important. It gave them hope to get through their horrible and dark lives. It was a way for them to take their minds away from reality and find peace and content in God. Slaves had nothing to look forward to, so they looked to God for hope of escape or hope of a better life after death. The importance of religion to slaves is clearly shown through the items they used to worship. They used whatever simple items they could find to create relics and religious tools. This shows how important worship was to them. They didn’t need fancy things or big buildings to worship in, they just used whatever they could find. Not all slaves were christian, and many of them opposed christian missionaries and wanted to keep their traditional beliefs from Africa. They did this because they wanted to separate from the whites and have something as their own. The first widespread conversion of slaves came with the religion of Protestant evangelicalism. The Baptist and Methodist religions also began to affect a large number of slaves. Slave religions began to be condemned after the actions of Nat Turner and Denmark Vessey who carried out religiously motivated slave uprisings. This led to many black churches in the south being banned for fear of uprisings being plotted. Churches in the north still carried on as usual. Nat Turner who was a ig source of hope for slaves, was believed by his fellow slaves to be a prophet sent by God. He staged a rebellion killing around sixty whites because he had seen signs from God telling him to. He was later executed for this action, but stands as an example of how influential religion was in slave life.
Religion played a huge role in the lives of African American slaves during the 1700 and 1800’s. Slaves looked unto religion to get relief from their painful day-to-day activities. Many slaves melted their native style religions with a basic form of christianity to form a religion that they truly believed in. This happened when the slaves were given the choice to convert when they first moved to their new homes in the colonies; if they decided to convert they would be freed from slavery, but this soon changed in the British colonies. The slaves also made many types of relics to help them pray and stay true to what they know, they wanted to create something that kept their will pushing and for some it ended up working. It helped them for letting their slave master break them and make the slaves forget what should actually matter. During the slaves darkest times they sang spirituals to lift their spirits and to give them a sort of hopefulness that they had been lacking in the previous time as slaves. The songs were mostly based off of the themes of hope and freedom, the one thing that every slave dreamed of. They carried a sort of dramatic tone which added on to the strength that the poor slaves received. Even after all of this struggle that each slave went through to decide what they believed in with all of their heart most ended up going to christianity and believing it’s teachings with all of their hearts. Religion helped slaves to earn their human rights back, it showed the their slave owners that they are just as much of a human as anybody else in the world. Religion gave slaves a hope that some had lost and helped show that they were just as human as white men.
Religion played many roles in slaves lives. There were many religions that the slaves went to and the religion was spread out throughout the slave culture. The slaves started learning and believing in their religion while they were slaves because it took their mind off of their slave work and gave them something else to talk about and it gave their inner soul a sense of freedom. Even though, most slaves went against their owners to practice slavery they always found a way to fit it into their daily life. As shown on the information source there were many religious related and spiritual items found in a slave farm from the 1700s and 1800s. A couple things that stood out to me were the skeleton of a calf offering, a metal crucifix that was in the cemetery and a rosary in a praise house. These objects show the spiritual beliefs and offerings of their religion. they believed in sacrificing animals as offerings to god and they believed in Jesus as shown by their crucifixes and rosaries. These African heritages were just starting their religious practices in the 1700s and 1800s. There was a major region of the Islamic religion in Africa, that the slaves practiced. Many slaves were also exposed to christianity which was also a major religion in West Africa for slaves. The slaves would gather into groups and create songs and dances for their religious culture and practices to celebrate. Most of the Christianity came from Europe which came from explorers that passed the religious views into Africa and the slaves caught the ideas and began practicing them. Many slaves saw Christianity as a road to freedom and that caused a lot more slaves to convert to Christianity to have a chance of being set free by God the father. Slaves loved religion in various ways, but there was one main reason and it was because it made them feel free.
Slavery as an integral part of African American lives, sharing the same significance as it had in African villages. At the beginning of the slave trade in the America’s, African people practiced a wide variety of polytheistic religions. They believed in the power of religious music, dance, rituals, and charms to give good health or ward away evil. The slaves that were brought over to the colonies strived to keep their traditions alive. Missionaries converted some African Americans to Christianity in Africa, while others were converted once they arrived in America. Even after converting to Christianity, many slaves continued to incorporate traditions from their ancestors in Africa. Conversion also brought the promise for freedom from many slaves because it integrated them more fully into society, and were even offered freedom for converting in some colonial areas. This led to many slave owners rebelling against the conversion of slaves because it could lead to demand for emancipation. These fears drove many colonies to create laws barring African Americans gaining freedom from slavery through Christianity. Praise and worship through spirituals sung out on the fields of plantations gave hope to enslaved people while not directly saying that they desired freedom. Religion became a shelter for many from the harsh, demoralizing, and brutal treatment they received from some slave owners. African Americans created small charms for hope and strength out of metal scraps, cloth, and other materials. They incorporated Christian symbols with those from Africa to create a distinct form of worship through dance, song, and rituals. Churches became the center of community life for slaves, giving praise to God while discussing problems. Some slave owners saw religion as a way to control the social lives of their slaves; others welcomed ministers with genuine religious motives to conversion. The converting of Christianity of many slaves brought about desires for freedom and gave inspiration for several slave revolts. The church also became a point of social progress to many freedmen and freedwomen after the civil war, giving aid to those who needed it in newly formed communities.
The role that religion played in the lives of slaves was that it was comfort and joy when they were in their darkest times. The Africans brought their beliefs and rituals with them which they still expressed through song and art. The bringing over of their faith was one way that they got to keep from their free life at home. Some of the slaves brought Christian influences but others brought Islamic. These religions spread throughout the whole continent of Europe. The slaves viewed Christ as a healer and they carried crosses to cast off evil. My reactions to this religion conversion is that the culture that the slaves had from Africa is the reasons why today that we have African influence influence. I think it is very cool that the slaves kept their beliefs and tried to stay true to their roots. I think it must of been really hard for all the slaves to come together and practice what they still all believe. This did happen though, in slave communities. Some slaves became leaders and preached against slavery in front of many slaves. Slaves who were involved in this worship were often executed. The slave holders in the communities did not want the slaves to be preaching against slavery and causing revolts. The slaves were not able to express what they believed because they were under the owning of someone else. This would cause them to revolt even more. Religion, for slaves was something that they brought with them from Africa but was not something that they could express within their slave families. My reactions to this is that the slaves had strict rules and their freedom of religion was not granted. The slaves were taken away from their rituals, freedoms, and beliefs which showed even more of a reason for them being “enslaved.” The slaves were confronted by hard decisions on whether to be free and be converted or to keep their beliefs and stand up for them. This showed that the slaves were not given equal rights when they came over from Africa.
Religion played a key role in the lives of slaves during the 17 and 1800s. Many slaves had different religious views but they all brought them together in one way: they were able to use religion to escape the terrors of being a slave. Many slaves used their religion as a gateway to freedom. Slaves converted to Christianity because they believed if they did, it would help them be free. For example, slaves from South Carolina would escape to Florida and were told that if they converted to christianity, the Spanish Crown would give them freedom for their conversion. This showed how willing slaves were to change their beliefs for freedom. Also, many slaves just used religion as a way to keep their mind off things. It was a way for them to feel more at home. Slaves were able to be free with their religion, and it was one thing that they were not told they had to have or believe in. It was theirs, and that was a large part in many slaves having different religions. Religion served as their freedom. Slaves knew that they would not be free anytime soon. Religion was something for them to rely on. It held them up and gave them freedom during their lives of being slaves. The religions of African American slaves was also very diverse. Slaves would incorporate the ideas of Christianity and their original beliefs and symbols. They would do things such as viewing African priests as healers, much as Jesus Christ was. Overall, I think that religion was one of the most important things an African American slave could have during this time. It was something that they could call their own, and could not be told whether or not to believe in it or not. It was their support for living the terrors of being a slave.
Religion played a very important role in the lives of slaves. For the slaves, religion was one of the only things they could keep with them. Religion would also be a tough thing to take away because many parts of it you can’t see. The slaveholders actually allowed the slaves to practice their religion. By being able to pray and practice their beliefs it allowed them to keep part of their culture from Africa alive. Early on when Europeans were exploring Africa in the early 15th to 18th centuries, Africans were exposed to Christianity. They ended up blending parts of Christianity with their own native religion. This new blended religion was passed on to what slaves what have been following. There was no church for the slaves. They were left to their own rituals and ceremonies. Nat Turner was an important man to many people. He was believed to be a prophet sent by God. He heard voices that he thought were divine messages. One of the messages he interpreted was a call to fight back against whites. He led a group of armed slaves to fight a large number of white slave holders. Many slaves and slaveholders were killed. Not that all slaves believed or were this extreme with their practices of faith, but this is one example of a slave that had religion apart of his life. The slaves also used their religion as a way of believing and staying positive. Singing, dancing, and shouting to God could give them hope that someday everything will change for the better. This is similar to what people in todays world will do. Most people when faced with a tough situation or challenge will pray for help to stay strong and get through it. Overall, religion was very important to the slaves and the way they lived their lives.
For slaves, religion had one of the most important roles in their lives. For starters, it was something that would be very difficult for their owners to take away, unlike many other objects, such as any sort of belonging. Their religion is something that could be hidden; by only showing faith through silent prayer, but it could also be expressed more openly through song. These songs, or spirituals, would often times have a deeper meaning and hidden meaning along with helping the slaves try to have a little bit of a better time and helping them get their minds off of the task the=at they were forced to do. The meaning was mainly to tell of an escape route that was present and what to follow so the slaves could reach freedom. Another way that religion was important is that it was something that the slaves could use to keep them strong. During that time, the slaves were constantly facing hardships that are way beyond what the usual person would experience. The religion, and knowing that they had some sort of comfort, was something that could make the slaves strong and keep them going when they could have just given up. Having religion also gave the slaves a chance at freedom if they converted to Christianity, but that was changed later on so it didn’t really make that great of an impact, but it did allow for Christianity to spread throughout the slaves. All in all, religion was one of the greatest aspects in a slave’s life. Not only did it allow for the slaves to have a bit of strength, courage, and comfort from knowing that their religion would always be there for them, it also gave them an opportunity for freedom and to spread messages around through song.
I learned that slaves held on to religion very tightly. As you probably know, slaves were in a very tough situation and had nothing to call their own. Slaves had no possessions, no family, and just flat out horrible life styles if that is what you would call it. So what these slaves did have to call their own was their faith and religion. This was something that was nearly impossible for anyone to take away from these people which is one of the reasons as to what made it so special. These slaves were able to practice and live out their religions through silent prayer being the safest method. A very popular way though to put their religious faith into practice was through song. This was another way to share something with the other slaves and have something they can connect with each other with. Sometimes hidden within these songs were escape codes and routes passed along to the other slaves on how to escape a plantation or territory. Religion most of all though gave these slaves hope and strength, these attributes are something that could not be taken away from them. Religion to the slaves was a chance to escape mentally their horrible lives and reach for something higher, it gave them hope that things would get better, and the strength to push through and get there.
This website offers good information on the important role that religion played in slaves’ lives. Religions and their key beliefs were interchanged as slaves were sold and people traveled around. Some slaves were even able to gain their freedom by converting to Christianity but after a while the government did not allow this. Religion became very important to slaves, especially when they were facing extreme hardships and poor conditions like not having enough food or proper clothing for the weather. Religion started to become the slaves' hope. When they were working they would pray and sing spirituals about gaining freedom and ending slavery. Focusing on praying while working would help to the distract the slaves from their horrible realities. Believing in Heaven was also something for slaves to help motivate themselves as it gave them something to look forward to as their lives were extremely hard. Nat Turner, known as a prophet, helped to further the development of religion among slaves. He openly preached that slavery was wrong. This was surprising as African Americans often feared what their master would do if they knew that they wanted to leave. He also led a rebellion in which sixty whites were killed. He served as a major influence for African Americans. I did not realize that voodoo was popular throughout African Americans. I assumed that a majority of slaves just converted to Christianity and maintained some elements of African religious beliefs. African Americans were able to find some peace within religious beliefs and worshiping and therefore religion played an important role in their lives’.
This website taught a lot about the religion of African Slaves as it relates to Christianity in the United States. A lot of valuable information is given, including first hand accounts by the slaves themselves. African American religion at the time was primarily a mixture between African spiritual religions and christianity. Most people were christian at the time, however many Africans did not want to let go of their traditional customs and ways of life. This website gave information on multiple different subjects of the religion of slaves which proved valuable in informing the reader thoroughly in a short amount of time. I found it interesting the different ways in which white people would treat their slaves as far as religion. It seems that in some places white people encouraged their slaves to be religious and to attend church while others believed that if slaver pursued christianity that they would be more likely to pursue emancipation from slavery. For other slave holders, they wanted nothing to do with their slaves and their slaves wanted nothing to do with christianity, instead they chose to practice traditional African customs and denied whatever christianity was thrown at them. The website gave great information also on the artifacts which were found at some places where slaves lived. Most of the artifacts recovered were ones which were used to ward off some kind of evil which i find interesting as this was probably thought to help them escape the brutality of the white man. Overall this was a very informative resource and captures religion for enslaved people in what seems like a very true and factual light.
Slavery way a common practice in the United States of America until 1865, when it was abolished due to the helpful works of Abraham Lincoln. During the time that people were held as slaves in the United States, they held religion close to them. Slaves used songs and various physical objects to worship their religions. Most slaves followed the religion of Christianity, since it was practiced by their slave owners. In some plantations, slaves mixed their African religions with the Christian religion. Some of the artifacts that were typically used in slave plantations by slaves include small religious medals that represent the hand of God (these medals were believed to ward off evil), metal crucifixes, crosses on string or rope, grave markers (to represent the revival and rejuvenation of life), blue glass beads to scare away the “evil eye”, iron kettles to keep the evil spirits away (since metal was believed to work in that way), conjure bottles that held herbal treatments for physical or mental illnesses, animals for sacrifice, spirit coins, and shells that represented their ancestors. African Slaves, like Christians, believed in one creator. African slaves urged to create a harmonious spiritual world and a harmonious natural world by using artifacts such as listed above, giving elders power in the community, honoring gods, honoring ancestors, making sacrifices of animals, and practicing traditional rituals. African slaves made it a priority to communicate their religion. Music helped African slaves carry messages throughout the plantation without a slave owner picking up on the non-christian beliefs. Since the African slaves pushed so hard to keep their rituals alive, the majority of African American people today practice some type of religion in America.
Religion played an important role for slaves in America in the 17 and 1800s. Slaves both young and old turned to religion for hope in their times of despair and darkness. Religion allowed slaves to think about something other than the horrors that they were encountering in the field or in the house of the plantation that they worked at. In early times of America and slavery in Spanish colonies, slaves could convert to Christianity and become freed from their bindings of slavery. Laws changed in the British colonies and slaves would not be freed if they converted, so they looked to their religion and their God to console them. One thing that slaves used most to boost their hopefulness was a type of song, called spirituals. The spirituals were songs that the slaves sang while they were working out in the fields. The slaves could not directly come out and say that they wanted to escape from their slave owners, so instead they would sing their songs. The songs had themes of hope, freedom, and an end to slavery, which symbolized the slaves’ hopes and dreams of freedom. Slaves would also pray in groups in hopes of an end to slavery. Slavery took away the personhood of African Americans in bondage. They were treated like animals: they were beat, barely fed, housed in rotting buildings, and not clothed adequately. Prayer and religion were ways that the slaves could cope with the hardships that they had to endure. Praying to a god gave them the sense of personhood that they had lost to their bondage as slaves. Slave owners took away the humanity of the slaves and the slaves got their feelings of truly being human back with prayers. Religion was what helped slaves dream of freedom, which eventually led to the end of slavery.
ReplyDeleteReligion played a key role in the lives of slaves because it not only took their mind off of the brutality of slavery, but created a sense of peace. Slaves brought their attention to God because they hoped for something better in the next life and it gave them courage to overcome to bitterness and hardship of white slave owners. The slave’s religion is the only possible thing they could call their own. Praying and worshiping God gave the slaves comfort and tranquility when living a life of cruelty amongst their suicidal thoughts. Slaves from all over were bound together by their God and commenced songs such as chants and spirituals of praise. Religion compensated for their hard life as slaves and their prayers were symbols of resistance. Spirituals were dramatic, which gave slaves strength, meaning, and hope. The brutality of slavery was too much to bear all alone and having faith in a God gave slaves the courage they needed to endure the repetitive whipping, screaming, and vulgar language. Slaves didn’t physically have anything to call their own, besides the tools their owner’s gave them to replenish the fields, but their religion was spiritually healing for their body and souls to encounter a new day of duties. The white slave owners treated their slaves like scraps and were seen as less than human and beat them to a pulp, just because they had a higher authority over them. A religion gave slaves back their rightful place in the world, such as seen as rightful human beings and that they had values, and skills that they could give to the world. It gave them hope and prosperity that there was a way out of slavery, which soon had spread ideas of abolishing slavery indefinitely. Praying to a god consoled the slaves as they slowly gave up on the world around them.
ReplyDeleteThis website offered many interesting articles that showed the importance of religion for the slaves. For many, it was their only way of hope and the idea of freedom. I thought that the Character Study of Nat Turner was very intriguing. He was many of the slaves source of hope as he led them to believe that he was indeed a prophet sent by God and that he would help them get freedom. The irony I find in his story is that he preached about how slavery goes against Biblical teachings, but ultimately, he led a rebellion in which they mass murdered a bunch of white people; which killing is most definitely against Biblical teachings. What I did not realize was how big the whole “voodoo”/spiritualistic idea was for slaves. In the “Hidden Objects” part on the website, it showed how slaves used “spirit coins” to control spiritual forces. Also the “divining stick” is a very interesting idea as they would stick it into the sides of buildings to protect the spirits. Another item that was found at gravesites was metal crucifixes which is really neat because it shows how Christianity began to spread among the slaves and how even back then, having a crucifix in your possession was really important to Christians. I think that reading the history of religion of the slaves was really interesting because it showed how in the beginning, many were polytheistic and Islamic. In the beginning, they made music and dance a very important part of their religions which I figured make sense being music is very important to the religious African American communities, specifically Baptist churches, (which they talk about later in the article.) Eventually though, Christianity did become popular throughout the lives of slaves, but I did not realize for what reason and that reason being: freedom. Many slaves were promised freedom if they were to convert to Christianity. However, as this idea began to grow, the white slave owners became concerned and laws were made that said becoming a Christian did not guarantee freedom. As time went on, many slaves started leaning toward the developing religions of the Baptist and Methodist churches because they had a simple message that involved hope, which is what many slaves relied on. Ultimately, I think this article was really intriguing because a lot of people do not think about the personal beliefs and ideas of the slaves, especially religion. Very interesting to see how they went from going along with the religions that were around at the time to adapting sort of their other types of churches. Religion was one of a source of individuality as well as sense of hope for freedom which is why it played such an important role in their lives.
ReplyDeleteFrom the reading that was published on pbs.org religion played a huge part in the life of the average slave. For example, many religious relics were made by the slaves from the few things they could get for themselves. They found sticks and other materials from nature to make things to represent their devotion to their God. Most of the slaves help still to their traditional religion although some converted to Christianity by missionaries visiting the plantation. The ones who kept steady with their traditional faith kept the faith alive with stories and religious celebrations. Many slaves and slave owners although did not want missionaries to come. Religious ideals were also represented in the songs that the slaves would sing. Many people who converted to Christianity did it out of hope for freedom. When people did this they usually blended Christianity with their native African tradition, this combination of religion is called syncretism. The ones that converted to Christianity would have songs about Jesus. Most of these songs however had hidden meanings. They were used mainly as symbols for certain things, like when opportunities to escape came along. As slavery developed the northern slaves resorted to a more Christian view of religion while slaves in the south tended to stick to more of a African way of religious thinking. Some southern slaves even came to the point that voodoo was a sort of religion to them. This was only popular in places around Louisiana and in Haiti. In the early 1800’s as Protestant Evangelization began to rapidly increase so did the conversion of enslaved people. People in the north felt more comfortable converting slaves to Christianity to save themselves in the eyes of God. They felt the need to be spared because of the fact that they kept slaves.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the way that you talked about the way that African Americans blended their culture with the christian religion. That idea was very though provoking to me because it made me wonder if these cultures have been carried on today. Overall, well done.
DeleteThe religion of African American slaves played a major role in their everyday life. This can be seen in the way that they kept their traditions alive while enslaved. They would keep their tradition going through various practices; this can be seen from when the article states, “stories, healing arts, song, and other forms of cultural expression” (1). One way that Africans expressed their religion is seen through idolatrous dancing. Even though this was looked down upon by christian missionaries, they still did it anyway because of the way that their religion meant so much to them. Although some Africans turned away from their native religion, they did not completely abandon the traditions that they had, and they would sometimes carry over these traditions from their old religion. One example of this is seen in the way that they would wear charms to get rid of evil spirits rather than wear a cross like most christians. They would also use religion as a way to rebel and carry hidden messages. These rebellious and hidden messages were usually sung with religious hymns and lyrics. They would also use these messages to encode the escape of slaves as well. Religion also helped slaves in their everyday lives. They did this through the way that they helped African Americans escape slavery and helped them as mediators in their everyday life as well. This religious aid also helped provide refuge from oppression and the hassles from everyday life. This can be seen in the way that they provided some aid to African Americans who were struggling. This ended up making religion the utmost importance to the African Americans of the time. The church also gave them some security in a dangerous world that was extremely oppressive towards them, and at the same time allowed them to preserve their cultures and ideas for years to come as well.
ReplyDeleteReligion played a huge role in the lives of slaves. They put everything they had in their faith, many even found ways to symbolize it through relics. The religions that many slaves believed in was native to where they had come from, however, some converted to Christianity. Another reason that religion played such a huge role was because it was not something they were told to do. Slaves had almost no freedom and had to always do what their masters said. This was not the case for religion, slaves were allowed to choose what they believed in and it was a get away from everything that they dealt with in everyday life. The white slave owners were far less than kind to the slaves and in being as brutal as they were, the slaves needed something to look to for hope and strength. Religion is what they looked to and it did give them what they lacked, religion was the rock on which many depended on to keep going each and every day. Even though they had the choice to decide which religion they wanted, they did not always have the freedom to express it any way that they chose. Because of this the most common type of worship was through song. These songs were known as spirituals and these spirituals were sung very often by almost all slaves. Along with using religion to individualize themselves and take their minds off of slavery itself, slaves used it to hope for change. They were tired of being treated like they were not human, not being fed, and living in places that many people would not dare go. They looked to God to give them strength to get through it and to hope for change. Religion was such a huge part of their lives and it brought the slaves comfort and hope that the future would bring a good change.
ReplyDeleteThe role that religion played in the lives of slaves was very important. It gave them hope to get through their horrible and dark lives. It was a way for them to take their minds away from reality and find peace and content in God. Slaves had nothing to look forward to, so they looked to God for hope of escape or hope of a better life after death. The importance of religion to slaves is clearly shown through the items they used to worship. They used whatever simple items they could find to create relics and religious tools. This shows how important worship was to them. They didn’t need fancy things or big buildings to worship in, they just used whatever they could find. Not all slaves were christian, and many of them opposed christian missionaries and wanted to keep their traditional beliefs from Africa. They did this because they wanted to separate from the whites and have something as their own. The first widespread conversion of slaves came with the religion of Protestant evangelicalism. The Baptist and Methodist religions also began to affect a large number of slaves. Slave religions began to be condemned after the actions of Nat Turner and Denmark Vessey who carried out religiously motivated slave uprisings. This led to many black churches in the south being banned for fear of uprisings being plotted. Churches in the north still carried on as usual. Nat Turner who was a ig source of hope for slaves, was believed by his fellow slaves to be a prophet sent by God. He staged a rebellion killing around sixty whites because he had seen signs from God telling him to. He was later executed for this action, but stands as an example of how influential religion was in slave life.
ReplyDeleteReligion played a huge role in the lives of African American slaves during the 1700 and 1800’s. Slaves looked unto religion to get relief from their painful day-to-day activities. Many slaves melted their native style religions with a basic form of christianity to form a religion that they truly believed in. This happened when the slaves were given the choice to convert when they first moved to their new homes in the colonies; if they decided to convert they would be freed from slavery, but this soon changed in the British colonies. The slaves also made many types of relics to help them pray and stay true to what they know, they wanted to create something that kept their will pushing and for some it ended up working. It helped them for letting their slave master break them and make the slaves forget what should actually matter. During the slaves darkest times they sang spirituals to lift their spirits and to give them a sort of hopefulness that they had been lacking in the previous time as slaves. The songs were mostly based off of the themes of hope and freedom, the one thing that every slave dreamed of. They carried a sort of dramatic tone which added on to the strength that the poor slaves received. Even after all of this struggle that each slave went through to decide what they believed in with all of their heart most ended up going to christianity and believing it’s teachings with all of their hearts. Religion helped slaves to earn their human rights back, it showed the their slave owners that they are just as much of a human as anybody else in the world. Religion gave slaves a hope that some had lost and helped show that they were just as human as white men.
ReplyDeleteReligion played many roles in slaves lives. There were many religions that the slaves went to and the religion was spread out throughout the slave culture. The slaves started learning and believing in their religion while they were slaves because it took their mind off of their slave work and gave them something else to talk about and it gave their inner soul a sense of freedom. Even though, most slaves went against their owners to practice slavery they always found a way to fit it into their daily life. As shown on the information source there were many religious related and spiritual items found in a slave farm from the 1700s and 1800s. A couple things that stood out to me were the skeleton of a calf offering, a metal crucifix that was in the cemetery and a rosary in a praise house. These objects show the spiritual beliefs and offerings of their religion. they believed in sacrificing animals as offerings to god and they believed in Jesus as shown by their crucifixes and rosaries. These African heritages were just starting their religious practices in the 1700s and 1800s. There was a major region of the Islamic religion in Africa, that the slaves practiced. Many slaves were also exposed to christianity which was also a major religion in West Africa for slaves. The slaves would gather into groups and create songs and dances for their religious culture and practices to celebrate. Most of the Christianity came from Europe which came from explorers that passed the religious views into Africa and the slaves caught the ideas and began practicing them. Many slaves saw Christianity as a road to freedom and that caused a lot more slaves to convert to Christianity to have a chance of being set free by God the father. Slaves loved religion in various ways, but there was one main reason and it was because it made them feel free.
ReplyDeleteSlavery as an integral part of African American lives, sharing the same significance as it had in African villages. At the beginning of the slave trade in the America’s, African people practiced a wide variety of polytheistic religions. They believed in the power of religious music, dance, rituals, and charms to give good health or ward away evil. The slaves that were brought over to the colonies strived to keep their traditions alive. Missionaries converted some African Americans to Christianity in Africa, while others were converted once they arrived in America. Even after converting to Christianity, many slaves continued to incorporate traditions from their ancestors in Africa. Conversion also brought the promise for freedom from many slaves because it integrated them more fully into society, and were even offered freedom for converting in some colonial areas. This led to many slave owners rebelling against the conversion of slaves because it could lead to demand for emancipation. These fears drove many colonies to create laws barring African Americans gaining freedom from slavery through Christianity. Praise and worship through spirituals sung out on the fields of plantations gave hope to enslaved people while not directly saying that they desired freedom. Religion became a shelter for many from the harsh, demoralizing, and brutal treatment they received from some slave owners. African Americans created small charms for hope and strength out of metal scraps, cloth, and other materials. They incorporated Christian symbols with those from Africa to create a distinct form of worship through dance, song, and rituals. Churches became the center of community life for slaves, giving praise to God while discussing problems. Some slave owners saw religion as a way to control the social lives of their slaves; others welcomed ministers with genuine religious motives to conversion. The converting of Christianity of many slaves brought about desires for freedom and gave inspiration for several slave revolts. The church also became a point of social progress to many freedmen and freedwomen after the civil war, giving aid to those who needed it in newly formed communities.
ReplyDeleteThe role that religion played in the lives of slaves was that it was comfort and joy when they were in their darkest times. The Africans brought their beliefs and rituals with them which they still expressed through song and art. The bringing over of their faith was one way that they got to keep from their free life at home. Some of the slaves brought Christian influences but others brought Islamic. These religions spread throughout the whole continent of Europe. The slaves viewed Christ as a healer and they carried crosses to cast off evil. My reactions to this religion conversion is that the culture that the slaves had from Africa is the reasons why today that we have African influence influence. I think it is very cool that the slaves kept their beliefs and tried to stay true to their roots. I think it must of been really hard for all the slaves to come together and practice what they still all believe. This did happen though, in slave communities. Some slaves became leaders and preached against slavery in front of many slaves. Slaves who were involved in this worship were often executed. The slave holders in the communities did not want the slaves to be preaching against slavery and causing revolts. The slaves were not able to express what they believed because they were under the owning of someone else. This would cause them to revolt even more. Religion, for slaves was something that they brought with them from Africa but was not something that they could express within their slave families. My reactions to this is that the slaves had strict rules and their freedom of religion was not granted. The slaves were taken away from their rituals, freedoms, and beliefs which showed even more of a reason for them being “enslaved.” The slaves were confronted by hard decisions on whether to be free and be converted or to keep their beliefs and stand up for them. This showed that the slaves were not given equal rights when they came over from Africa.
ReplyDeleteReligion played a key role in the lives of slaves during the 17 and 1800s. Many slaves had different religious views but they all brought them together in one way: they were able to use religion to escape the terrors of being a slave. Many slaves used their religion as a gateway to freedom. Slaves converted to Christianity because they believed if they did, it would help them be free. For example, slaves from South Carolina would escape to Florida and were told that if they converted to christianity, the Spanish Crown would give them freedom for their conversion. This showed how willing slaves were to change their beliefs for freedom. Also, many slaves just used religion as a way to keep their mind off things. It was a way for them to feel more at home. Slaves were able to be free with their religion, and it was one thing that they were not told they had to have or believe in. It was theirs, and that was a large part in many slaves having different religions. Religion served as their freedom. Slaves knew that they would not be free anytime soon. Religion was something for them to rely on. It held them up and gave them freedom during their lives of being slaves. The religions of African American slaves was also very diverse. Slaves would incorporate the ideas of Christianity and their original beliefs and symbols. They would do things such as viewing African priests as healers, much as Jesus Christ was. Overall, I think that religion was one of the most important things an African American slave could have during this time. It was something that they could call their own, and could not be told whether or not to believe in it or not. It was their support for living the terrors of being a slave.
ReplyDeleteReligion played a very important role in the lives of slaves. For the slaves, religion was one of the only things they could keep with them. Religion would also be a tough thing to take away because many parts of it you can’t see. The slaveholders actually allowed the slaves to practice their religion. By being able to pray and practice their beliefs it allowed them to keep part of their culture from Africa alive. Early on when Europeans were exploring Africa in the early 15th to 18th centuries, Africans were exposed to Christianity. They ended up blending parts of Christianity with their own native religion. This new blended religion was passed on to what slaves what have been following. There was no church for the slaves. They were left to their own rituals and ceremonies. Nat Turner was an important man to many people. He was believed to be a prophet sent by God. He heard voices that he thought were divine messages. One of the messages he interpreted was a call to fight back against whites. He led a group of armed slaves to fight a large number of white slave holders. Many slaves and slaveholders were killed. Not that all slaves believed or were this extreme with their practices of faith, but this is one example of a slave that had religion apart of his life. The slaves also used their religion as a way of believing and staying positive. Singing, dancing, and shouting to God could give them hope that someday everything will change for the better. This is similar to what people in todays world will do. Most people when faced with a tough situation or challenge will pray for help to stay strong and get through it. Overall, religion was very important to the slaves and the way they lived their lives.
ReplyDeleteFor slaves, religion had one of the most important roles in their lives. For starters, it was something that would be very difficult for their owners to take away, unlike many other objects, such as any sort of belonging. Their religion is something that could be hidden; by only showing faith through silent prayer, but it could also be expressed more openly through song. These songs, or spirituals, would often times have a deeper meaning and hidden meaning along with helping the slaves try to have a little bit of a better time and helping them get their minds off of the task the=at they were forced to do. The meaning was mainly to tell of an escape route that was present and what to follow so the slaves could reach freedom. Another way that religion was important is that it was something that the slaves could use to keep them strong. During that time, the slaves were constantly facing hardships that are way beyond what the usual person would experience. The religion, and knowing that they had some sort of comfort, was something that could make the slaves strong and keep them going when they could have just given up. Having religion also gave the slaves a chance at freedom if they converted to Christianity, but that was changed later on so it didn’t really make that great of an impact, but it did allow for Christianity to spread throughout the slaves. All in all, religion was one of the greatest aspects in a slave’s life. Not only did it allow for the slaves to have a bit of strength, courage, and comfort from knowing that their religion would always be there for them, it also gave them an opportunity for freedom and to spread messages around through song.
ReplyDeleteI learned that slaves held on to religion very tightly. As you probably know, slaves were in a very tough situation and had nothing to call their own. Slaves had no possessions, no family, and just flat out horrible life styles if that is what you would call it. So what these slaves did have to call their own was their faith and religion. This was something that was nearly impossible for anyone to take away from these people which is one of the reasons as to what made it so special. These slaves were able to practice and live out their religions through silent prayer being the safest method. A very popular way though to put their religious faith into practice was through song. This was another way to share something with the other slaves and have something they can connect with each other with. Sometimes hidden within these songs were escape codes and routes passed along to the other slaves on how to escape a plantation or territory. Religion most of all though gave these slaves hope and strength, these attributes are something that could not be taken away from them. Religion to the slaves was a chance to escape mentally their horrible lives and reach for something higher, it gave them hope that things would get better, and the strength to push through and get there.
ReplyDeleteThis website offers good information on the important role that religion played in slaves’ lives. Religions and their key beliefs were interchanged as slaves were sold and people traveled around. Some slaves were even able to gain their freedom by converting to Christianity but after a while the government did not allow this. Religion became very important to slaves, especially when they were facing extreme hardships and poor conditions like not having enough food or proper clothing for the weather. Religion started to become the slaves' hope. When they were working they would pray and sing spirituals about gaining freedom and ending slavery. Focusing on praying while working would help to the distract the slaves from their horrible realities. Believing in Heaven was also something for slaves to help motivate themselves as it gave them something to look forward to as their lives were extremely hard. Nat Turner, known as a prophet, helped to further the development of religion among slaves. He openly preached that slavery was wrong. This was surprising as African Americans often feared what their master would do if they knew that they wanted to leave. He also led a rebellion in which sixty whites were killed. He served as a major influence for African Americans. I did not realize that voodoo was popular throughout African Americans. I assumed that a majority of slaves just converted to Christianity and maintained some elements of African religious beliefs. African Americans were able to find some peace within religious beliefs and worshiping and therefore religion played an important role in their lives’.
ReplyDeleteThis website taught a lot about the religion of African Slaves as it relates to Christianity in the United States. A lot of valuable information is given, including first hand accounts by the slaves themselves. African American religion at the time was primarily a mixture between African spiritual religions and christianity. Most people were christian at the time, however many Africans did not want to let go of their traditional customs and ways of life. This website gave information on multiple different subjects of the religion of slaves which proved valuable in informing the reader thoroughly in a short amount of time. I found it interesting the different ways in which white people would treat their slaves as far as religion. It seems that in some places white people encouraged their slaves to be religious and to attend church while others believed that if slaver pursued christianity that they would be more likely to pursue emancipation from slavery. For other slave holders, they wanted nothing to do with their slaves and their slaves wanted nothing to do with christianity, instead they chose to practice traditional African customs and denied whatever christianity was thrown at them. The website gave great information also on the artifacts which were found at some places where slaves lived. Most of the artifacts recovered were ones which were used to ward off some kind of evil which i find interesting as this was probably thought to help them escape the brutality of the white man. Overall this was a very informative resource and captures religion for enslaved people in what seems like a very true and factual light.
ReplyDeleteSlavery way a common practice in the United States of America until 1865, when it was abolished due to the helpful works of Abraham Lincoln. During the time that people were held as slaves in the United States, they held religion close to them. Slaves used songs and various physical objects to worship their religions. Most slaves followed the religion of Christianity, since it was practiced by their slave owners. In some plantations, slaves mixed their African religions with the Christian religion. Some of the artifacts that were typically used in slave plantations by slaves include small religious medals that represent the hand of God (these medals were believed to ward off evil), metal crucifixes, crosses on string or rope, grave markers (to represent the revival and rejuvenation of life), blue glass beads to scare away the “evil eye”, iron kettles to keep the evil spirits away (since metal was believed to work in that way), conjure bottles that held herbal treatments for physical or mental illnesses, animals for sacrifice, spirit coins, and shells that represented their ancestors. African Slaves, like Christians, believed in one creator. African slaves urged to create a harmonious spiritual world and a harmonious natural world by using artifacts such as listed above, giving elders power in the community, honoring gods, honoring ancestors, making sacrifices of animals, and practicing traditional rituals. African slaves made it a priority to communicate their religion. Music helped African slaves carry messages throughout the plantation without a slave owner picking up on the non-christian beliefs. Since the African slaves pushed so hard to keep their rituals alive, the majority of African American people today practice some type of religion in America.
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