Since Yemaya's worship followed the slaves from Africa, She is known by quite a few different names. A few of them are Mother of Fishes, The Ocean Mother, Mother of All, Holy Queen Sea, Mama Watta, Mother of Dreams and Secrets, Stella Maris which means star of the sea, Yeye Omo Eja, Iamanga, Ymoga, Balianne, Yemanja, Imanje and Yemanja Afodo. All of the different names appear to connect Her to the water. In Africa She is the Yoruban Orisha, which means Goddess of the living ocean. According to what I've read, She is the reason that we have the water we have. The river Ogun is particularly sacred to Her. Moving on to the aspects of life, Yemaya is the Goddess of the Ocean and since it is believed that life emerged from the ocean, Yemaya is the creator of life. When you look closer at what depth of the waters that Yemaya, we see that She controls the surface. Much of the life in the ocean is close to the surface. Not all the living things of the ocean need to be near the surface, but the most memorable animals that I can think of need to come to the surface for air. Even if t...
Women slaves were subject to unusually cruel treatment such as rape and mental abuse from their master’s, their unique experience must have been different from the experience men slaves had. While it is no secret that the horrors of the institution of slavery were terrible and unimaginable; those same horrors were no big deal for southern plantation owners. Many engaged in cruelty towards their slaves. Some slave owners took particular interest in their young female slaves. Once caught in the grips of a master’s desire it would have been next to impossible to escape. In terms of actual escape from a plantation most women slaves had no reason to travel and consequentially had no knowledge of the land. Women slaves had the most unfortunate of situations; there were no laws that would protect them against rape or any injustices. Often the slave that became the object of the master’s desires would also become a victim of the mistress of the household. Jealousy played a detrimental role in the dynamic the enslaved women were placed within. Regardless of how the slave felt she could have done little to nothing to ease her suffering.
As a struggling country, America’s south discovered slavery as a way to gain financial stability. Except, slavery grew into much more than a need for money. It became a social thing and also a controversial topic among politicians, especially with the emergence of abolitionism. Even after slavery, it became a great learning opportunity to ensure that it never happens again.
During a most dark and dismal time in our nations history, we find that the Africans who endured horrible circumstances during slavery, found ways of peace and hope in their religious beliefs. During slavery, Africans where able to survive unbearable conditions by focusing on their spirituality.
was a better life awaiting them. "The Spirit of the Lord allowed black slaves to
The nationality of the antebellum slave is difficult to define. The original slaves were of African descent, and so, one could argue that the great continent of Africa is the source of their nationality. However, even if this were the case, this provision only encompasses the first generation of Africans bound by American slavery. Well, what about the slaves that were born in America? If one were to consider the principle definition of nationality: “the status of belonging to a particular nation, whether by birth or naturalization,” then the slaves born in America would be American, but are they (Nationality)? Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” oration sheds light on this ambiguous subject. Throughout Douglass’ address, he concentrates on the erroneous ideals of the American people, and struggles to prove the worth of the slaves. Considering Douglass’ dogged determination to authenticate the value of these slaves, as well as the overall temperament of the speech, I surmise that the slaves of America were devoid of nationality.
This is the account of an ex-slave by the name of William Barker who now resides in Bethany, AL. He is approximately 95 years old and lives in a little shack with a plot of land. He has worked for some local townsfolk doing some grounds keeping and gardening since he was freed when he was 20. But for the most part, Barker keeps to himself. He has no wife and no children. He is only 5 foot 4 and may weigh about 145 lbs. As a slave he worked as a gardner, and later learned to cook, but soon thereafter was freed. Gardening is all he seems to know. However, he seems very proficient at hunting. He says that is the only way he keep alive, living off what God gives him from the land and water. He was son to Frances William and Eliza William. His father died in the war. Because of his size and ability to cook, William Barker did not go to war. His mammy died within weeks of being free due to starvation. Here is his account
The 1600’s were a time of expansion in the new world. Unfortunately the development of this area led slavery to be the main source of labor. As history teaches us slavery was used extensively in the new world. The main areas of concern of this paper are how slavery in the Caribbean carried over its practice in the American South. The slave system was implemented in the Caribbean on a larger scale before the South implemented their system. The slave plantations of the Caribbean served as a learning platform for the slavery system in the south. The development of Caribbean slave laws, slave revolts, transfer of information on this practice to the South and the South’s implementation of these slave laws, and the slave issues in check.
Slavery is a condition defined as one human being owning another human. Ancient history shows the Greeks, Romans and Mayans accepted slavery. Later continental Europeans became involved in slavery, importing slaves from Africa to the New World. During this time over eleven million African slaves were taken from their homeland as part of the transatlantic slave trade. Eventually the American Civil War led to slaves freedom due to the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, which was signed by President Abraham Lincoln. Nearly a century passed before slavery became undeniably eradicated due to the mistreatment and displacement of newly freed slaves even though it legally ended on 6 December 1865.
As a child in elementary and high school, I was taught that President Abraham Lincoln was the reason that African slaves were freed from slavery. My teachers did not provide much more information than that. For an African American student, I should have received further historical information than that about my ancestors. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity or desire to research slavery on my own until college. And with my eagerness and thirst for more answers concerning my African American history, I set out to console my spirit, knowledge, and self-awareness of my ancestors’ history. I received the answers that my brain, mind, and soul need. Although Abraham Lincoln signed the 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution, courageous African American slaves were the real heroes and motivation of the movement.
The development of slavery in the Americas began as early as 1500, after the arrival of the Spanish, and first centered around the Caribbean. However, a lucrative triangle trading system between England, Africa and North America greatly increased the slave trade during the 1600’s (Foner, 38). At the time, slavery was driven by market forces, and largely defined by geographical necessity. Landowners had large plantations, located in areas with small populations and did not have access to the cheap labor necessary to cultivate lucrative crops like tobacco and sugar. They needed slaves to economically survive and prosper. Later, in the American colonies of the south, the entire economic and social structure
Yemaya is the spirit of maternity, mother of all wealth, rules over witches, and is comparable in Catholicism to the Virgin Regla. Her real name is Yey Omo Eja, or Mother of Fish, which comes from the idea that life begins in the sea, and that developing babies are like fish. Similar to the oceans and the rivers, she has mysterious depths, but at the same time she exhibits nurturing maternal qualities. Her colors are blue and white, and she is sometimes referred to the spirit of mercy because of her loyalty to her children.
I come to conclude slavery is the product of humanfs avarice, conceit and selfish. Because of the benefit, we can destroy a personfs life without feeling any guilty. It is really disappointed and disgusted to look back the history of slavery. It let me see the evil part of human being. But I think it is right to do so. It is a good lesson for us, because it tells us that we should learn from the past, in order to prevent it from happening again. It also reminds us everyone should have been treated equally no matter what their race, creed, or color are. Today, freedom and equality are weakening day by day. The African American story is still replaying on every part of the world, not only between black and white people, but people of many different nationalities. Stories will never end, until equality is created in the heart of each person.
“As I stare through the floor of an unknown vessel into an everlasting sea of clouds I ponder on what I had did to be in this situation or would I ever reunite with my family or will the gentleman beside me make it through the night.” The realization that slavery caused many families, lives, and individuals to be destroyed is gruesome. Through the memoir of Olaudah Equiano, the first-person accounts of the treatment of enslaved and free Africans is revealed, which helps him in the battle against African enslavement.
...thing but the continual torrent of concepts across the page. The turgid stream of blood coursing through my veins made of water is magic. The birth canal for original life, the place where land meets water is magic. The potential for life wherever there is water is magic. The feeling of being connected to everything through water is magic. The best memories in life can surface because water is magic. This only ripples the surface for some of the ways water is magic. My ten minutes of water watching brings to me a lifetimes reverie, and it represents one sentence of one page of my thirty-two year tome. The ultimate magic of water is that it is an billion year book, it tells an endless story, and provokes an endless bubbling of insight.
Author Clare Johnson starts the review of the literature by explaining to the reader that when she was in middle and high school, the only areas of black history that she was taught was about captives running away from the harsh and inhumane treatment of their oppressors while working in the fields. She also explains to the reader that her none of her educators or any of the other literatures that she read in junior or high school ever discussed or even briefly introduced various approaches of resistance to enslavement that were done by both genders of slaves who were being held captive. It was not uncommon for black women slaves to commit murder against their white captors. Women have also been found to figure prominently in such events as