Casey Joseph- Reaction Paper 2

Casey Joseph

Professor McKinney

Reaction Paper 2

October 16, 2014

African-American slaves in the 1800’s began to shift their faith towards Christianity for answers. In the beginning, slaves did not seek answers through faith on their own, but were rather forced to attend church with masters. Clergymen and slave owners paved the foundation out of “clear concern for the salvation of their slaves” ¹. It was not long before the slaves searched for parallel situations in the biblical narratives that mirrored their own lives. African-American slaves sought for the same type of oppression that they were faced with in the slave era. Not before long, they unveiled accounts of God saving the Israelites from slavery and bondage. Slaves found salvation from the words of the Lord. “The story of the emergence African-American Christianity is a story of an emergent African-American culture as well as of residual African cultures, a story of innovation as well as of tradition, a story of change as well as of community” ². Paul Johnson explains that the creativity did not commence in America. The African culture was carried on the ships and into the plantations of the American South, finally thriving in invisible institutions. The liberation for the oppressed African-American slaves stemmed from both the African culture and the hope provided through Christianity.  

Clergymen ran missions across the South attempting to convince slave masters to convert their slaves to Christians. Reverend Charles Colcock James addressed the slave masters by telling them it would increase production and create “a greater subordination” ³. Francis Le Jau, an Anglican minister, made slaves declare this before letting them be baptized, “You declare in the Presence of God and before the Congregation that you do not ask for the holy baptism out of any design to ffree yourself from the Duty and Obedience you owe to your Master while you live, but merely for the good of Your Soul…” ^4. This however, did not lead to the education of slaves regarding the whole realm of faith, but rather just small components of the Old Testament. Slave masters reinforced the idea of being passive by reciting simple stories about servants being submissive to their kings. These slave masters took advantage of their selectively-educated slaves. The words of the Lord were being conjured and twisted to keep the economy thriving in the low country.  At the 1834 South Carolina legislative debate, Whitemarsh Seabrook noted, “that anyone who wanted slaves to read the entire bible belonged in ‘a room in the lunatic asylum’” ⁵.With these notions, the slave owners kept a sharp eye on the slaves and the preacher’s sermons. 

The actions of slave masters did not keep the slaves from educating themselves. York writes, “Them think all slaves dumb ‘cause we can’t cipher, but they be surprised how many words we pick up Just standing ‘round like trees in a room full a ‘edjacated’ men” ⁶. Slaves would read over the shoulders of whites and learn from standing around while the whites talked to each other. A runaway slave or one that is lucky, they would be able to read from the Bible. May African Americans that became familiar with the biblical narratives were free northerners or a select few in the south. Slaves found liberation stories in both the Old and New Testament. Exodus, a story about God emancipating the Israelites from bondage, led many slaves to Christianity and to greater faith in the Lord. They identified what wonders God can work when the oppressed are in these situations. The one story in Exodus that the slave masters did not want to get to the slaves found its way into the their invisible institutions. In this particular story, God intervened to help the oppressed by taking them to the promise land ⁷. African-American slaves became modern Israelites by taking advantage of any attempt to get free, as God’s will ⁸. 

While this may seem to be the answer to the slave’s oppression, they branded a culture into their actions and rebellions. Slaves knew that God was going to intervene when necessary. Therefore, they knew to continue to hide and pray. Africans set up invisible institutions to preach and share the word. Slaves would find places to meet early in the morning or late at night to operate their church in secrecy. They used the Exodus narrative to write an alternative to what they were taught by slave owners. Not only did they share the word, but they too uplifted spirits of other slaves across the low country. The culture of the Africans began to shape their liberation. Slaves joined in singing and shouting to express their oppression and relieve the stress of their daily challenges. Africans would use these songs and shouts for not only communities, but also as a distraction. The end goal, however, was to earn their freedom from oppression. Slaves would express themselves through songs and poems creating spiritual analogies for their journey. Slaves would not step too far out of line, because slave masters still had the upper hand, they would take small shots at the slave owners. York writes, “Then I say, ‘No sir, but it plenty deep,’ an snort like the horse them think I am. Then we all laughs an by an by they forget who got the last lick” ⁹.

Some of the Christian slaves also evangelized the Word in violence. Nat Turner’s Rebellion in the 1830’s killed fifty white southerners. He claimed that God spoke to him and told him to free the slaves. Another example of a Christian slaves rebellion was Denmark Vesey. “According to Charleston’s official account of the Vesey plot ‘among the conspirators a majority of them belonged to the African Church,’ a recently formed Methodist church described as ‘composed wholly of persons of color and almost entirely of blacks’” ¹⁰.  David Walker did not show violence, but wrote an appeal to scourge the American south ¹¹. He writes that all of Thomas Jefferson’s justifications were ‘stupid’ and that slaves in Athens, Greece were trained in their positions. He claims that the slaves have a moral obligation to free themselves ¹². Slaves believed that if they called upon God, God would save the slaves. Freedom must be achieved no matter what according to the words of David Walker. 

There is no question that the slaves were oppressed during the slave era. African slaves were forced into commodities when boarding the slave ships in Africa. They remained commodities in America until slaves became unified and grasped the vast context of their culture. Culture makes a human who he or she is, and in turn terminates commodification for the slaves. This was the beginning of their liberation to becoming free. Culture set a precedent for all Africans to find and use to gain unity. Whether it was singing, shouting, or stomping, slaves found solace in these rituals that were cultivated from their home, then used them to bring slavery to an end. Rebellious acts or small attacks on the white people rattled the power of slavery and led to the abolishment of slavery. Culture liberated slaves from their oppression and led them to their freedom.