When slave religion came on the scene in the late eighteenth century, the evangelical movement was forever changed. The African Americans of this time had a rich emotional connection to their faith that was contagious to their white counterparts. This deeply rooted emotion focused on the placement and preparation that God had designed for every man. Slaves depicted Christ as a peacemaker savior that cared deeply for them. This faith allowed them to accept their current situations and become a group of levelheaded believers. The faith that evolved during this time period made a cultural impact that is still seen today. World-renowned poet, Jupiter Hammon, was born into a family of slaves. A farmer in New York owned Jupiter and several generations of his family. His mother, fortunately, could read and write and she passed her skills onto Jupiter. Jupiter wrote many poems about his life of slavery. He wrote about the struggles he went through and his strong Christian faith. In 1760 he became the first African American published writer in America. Today his poems give us insight to see how African American faith evolved into what it is today, and how their circumstances shaped their beliefs. Jupiter Hammons most famous poem, The Kind Master and The Dutiful Servant, is a dialogue between a master and his slave. In the conversation, the servant shows an utmost respect for his master and seems delighted to serve him. The master and the servant as they share thoughts of the Lord and his second coming. As they exchange back and forth, it becomes clear that they are in agreement about the glorious afterlife that is in store for all that believe in God. They also share that they will pray for each other. This politeness and shared fa... ... middle of paper ... ...hing “bad” happened they found a way to rejoice in the suffering. The Puritan believers were selfish with sharing their faith. A plantation missionary stated that sharing the gospel to slaves would “promote our own mortality and religion.” However the gospel and religion the masters shared with their slaves did not remain the same. The slaves were able to apply their faith to their lives, their work, and their future. The faith the slaves possessed was rich in emotion and free from preexisting regulations. In this class we focus on the many faces and interoperations of Christ that change with the seasons of history. The slave faith represented in Jupiter Hammon’s poem shows a high level of integrity and selfless, personal application of faith. The emotion and need for Christ the slaves had during this time created a new realm of relationship in the evangelical era.
It can be assumed that Christianity shaped slave culture in several ways such as developing a common bond among slaves. At the some time, it could also be argued that slavery altered Christianity in various ways including the formation of Methodist and Baptist denominations. However, these were not the only manners in which both cultures had an effect on each other. Black converts dramatically increased the number of Christians in the New World. The ideas instilled in slaves by Christianity gave some slaves thoughts of rebellion and influenced African-American music and dance. Not to mention the church was a major supporter of the proslavery argument which conveyed slavery as a positive thing during the antebellum period of the United States.
Jupiter Hammon was a distinct minority in the African-American community and was the first black to write and publish poetry. His personality was profoundly religious and conservative, unlike other slaves. Hammon studied the bible and preached to slaves—while teaching the sublimation of spiritual freedom for physical freedom. During 1786, New York City, Hammon addressed members of the African Society—asking slaves to submit themselves to their masters. Hammon conce...
After the slave trades had ended in the United States the numbers of slaves continue to grow. The slaves where reproducing and birthing new slaves that happen to be Americans. According to a Maffly-Kipp (2001) because the number of slaves from Africa had decrease it gave room for a transformation of their culture styles and roots to blend with their religious practices such as enthusiastic singing, clapping, dancing, and being possessed with the holy spirit. Many white members of society felt threaten by the existence of black religious groups African Americans built a strong faith in God and found safety in their places of worship. Society was not always willing to accept the idea of Christian slaves. As one slave recounted "the white folks would come in when the colored people would have prayer meeting, and whip every one of them. Most of them thought that when colored people were praying it was against them” (McMickle 2002). Despite of that many African Americans organized their own invisible institution in the slave quarters. They used signals, songs, and messages not discernible to whites. These organizations where called hush harbors. Many b...
Religion is often something people turn to during times of difficulty. During the times of enslavement, Christianity was a double edged sword. The Angela Davis edition of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, illustrate how religion, mainly Christianity, was immensely complex and moved from one extreme to the other. When preaching Christianity to the slaves, slaveholders emphasized the Bible’s passages teaching obedience and pacifism. Thus, slaveholders used religion to justify their brutal actions and condone slavery. Douglass and Jacobs demonstrate the moral contradiction between slavery and Christianity, thereby illustrating that slaves must be able to alienate themselves from
The slaves went along with the demands of the slave owner’s ideals of paternalism and in return were able to manipulate the system to create their own culture within the plantation, therefore using accommodation as a tool of resistance and revolting. Many slave owners often saw religion as a form of “social control” and feared those without religion. While the masters believed they were in control, the slaves used Christianity as a sense of hope, community and equality. The slaves combined Christianity and African traditions, and emphasized the ideal of “the irrepressible affirmation of life” meaning they never let the world around them affect their joy in life. This helped many slaves get through life, create their own identity, and deal with the life they were given. The slaves molded their beliefs, therefore creating a religion of resistance and defiance. The strong unity of religion brought the slave community closer, therefore aiding them in the creation of culture, family life and traditions on the
Slavery was a dominant part of the political and social arenas of 1800’s America. However, it was not homogenous as it divided America into two distinct groups: those who supported it and those who did not. Traditionally, the states in the north had been anti-slavery while the states in the south had been pro-slavery. Southern life and economy depended on slavery and therefore staunchly supported the continued legal status of slavery. The northern states on the other hand recognized the inhumane nature of slavery and campaigned to establish equality for all citizens. In order to establish solid reasoning for their stance, both pro-slave and anti-slave groups turned to theological inspiration for their actions. The Bible inspired both pro-slavery advocates and anti-slavery abolitionists alike. Religion was used in order to justify slavery and also to condemn it.
How can the particularly monstrous slave owners who possess such a despicable stance towards slaves portray themselves to be fully devoted Christians? In this interpretation, Frederick Douglass attempts to address the issues between slavery and Christianity that he had to undergo during his era as a slave. He reveals how the slaveholders during that time span aimed to make a connection by linking the two in order to justify their misbehavior and wickedness towards slaves. Their behavior was undeniable to him and he was repulsed by the way they had no courtesy for the truth of religion. This made him interrogate his faith and judgment in Christianity an insufficient number of times.
Moreover, many owners later came to feel that Christianity may actually have encouraged rebellion (all those stories of Moses and the Israelites in Egypt, after all, talked about the liberation of the slaves), and so they began to discourage Christian missionaries from preaching to the slaves. African Americans have taken their own spiritual, religious journey. God was looked upon as a source of peace and encouragement. The community of enslave Africans were able to use religion and spirituality as a way of overcoming the mental anguish of slavery on a daily basis. To a slave, religion was the most important aspect of their life. Nothing could come between their relationship with god. It was their rock, the only reason why they could wake up in the morning, the only way that they endured this most turbulent time in our history.
In their quarters, slaves expressed themselves with some what more freedom from white slave owners. Religion provided a feel of similar freedom and also gave slaves mental support. By attending church, slaves created a Christianity that emphasized salvation for every race, including slaves.
The primary function of the Negro spirituals was to serve as communal song in a religious gathering, performed in a call and response pattern reminiscent of West African traditional religious practices. During these ceremonies, one person would begin to create a song by singing about his or her own sorrow or joy. That individual experience was brought to the community and through the call and response structure of the singing, that individual’s sorrow or joy became the sorrow or joy of the community. In this way, the spiritual became truly affirming, for it provided communal support for individual experiences. Slaves used the characters of the bible, particularly the Old Testament,...
Research Paper Slave Resistance Through Culture When slaves were brought from Africa to the United States, they were stripped of their human rights and forced into a life of oppression. The conditions of harsh labor led them to resort to different forms of resistance to help them cope with the reality of the situation. One of the ways the slaves found resistance was through their culture. Culture helped the slaves stay resilient because it was all they managed to hold on to after they had been removed from their home in Africa and were forced to develop in their new home.
African Americans practice a various number of religions, Christianity is by far the most popular. Up to the present day religiosity has always been a coping behavior among African Americans. The majority of them found peace and hope in their spirituals during slavery. Throughout one of the most dark times in our nations history, religion has played a big roll for African Americans. They created ways of expressing African meanings and values through the form of songs and stories. Due to their enslavement they established and passed down their own practices, religious services, and religious socialization.
To further understand the role of the owners’ inference and belief in civilising the slaves, this section will explore the role of religion in developing the slave community. The religion of Christianity was regarded by the whites as the religion of the civilised. For this reason, slaves had to be indoctrinated into Christianity. This conversion began in the second half of the eighteenth century and was a prominent element of the lives of Antebellum slaves. Yet, this created a problem for slaveholders. The problem was that the religion which they were trying to promote, stressed on equality of all, and to treat others how you would like to be treated. Therefore, a solution was that the slaves heard selective teachings of Christianity, the theology of which focused on obedience in life, and salvation in the afterlife. Obedience to masters while on Earth will result in the rewards in heavens. Christianity is an umbrella religion, with many variants under
Slave-owners forced a perverse form of Christianity, one that condoned slavery, upon slaves. According to this false Christianity the enslavement of “black Africans is justified because they are the descendants of Ham, one of Noah's sons; in one Biblical story, Noah cursed Ham's descendants to be slaves” (Tolson 272). Slavery was further validated by the numerous examples of it within the bible. It was reasoned that these examples were confirmation that God condoned slavery. Douglass’s master...
This essay will attempt to answer four questions that will give us a better understanding of what the slaves themselves thought about the peculiar institution of slavery. The four questions being: 1) How did slaves feel about their masters and /or mistresses? 2) How did slaves feel about their work? Their families? Their religion? 3) How did they feel about freedom? 4) How did slaves feel about themselves?