Slave Culture

Paper Summary:

This paper shows that despite the terrible conditions under which American slaves were forced to live, they were in many ways successful in establishing stable slave communities. They were also successful in maintaining their sense of wholeness, both as individuals and as members of their original cultures, by depending on what culture they could transport with themselves ? mostly in the form of stories, songs, music and dance. The paper shows how these slaves relied on a sense of family (often based not on consanguineal or not only on consanguineal bonds but also affinal ones), as well as religion, often the adopted Christianity of blacks in the New World.

From the Paper:

"Slave religions usually had a supreme being and a host of lesser spirits - some brought from Africa, some borrowed from the indigenous people of the New World, others created entirely anew in response to local conditions (Young 91). The ability of religion to be such a source of strength for so many slaves was the result in large part from the fact that there were no firm boundaries between the secular and the sacred, which infused all things and activities. At least initially African slaves universally believed that posthumously they would return to their lands and rejoin their friends: This was no doubt of some comfort to those enslaved and taken so very far from home (Young 94)."

More papers on Slave Culture:

• Essay # 5837 : "Slave Culture"
• Essay # 15639 : "The Slave Community" by John Blasingame"
• Essay # 73445 : "Slave Rebellion"

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