NHC Home  TeacherServe Divining America Getting Back To You African-American Religion |
 |
     |
Send us your queries and ideas.|
1. African-American Spirituals in the Slave Community Q. I am preparing a lesson on slave religion and would like to know where I might find a detailed explanation of how spirituals functioned in the slave community. Bill Chapel Hill, NC A. Dear Bill: Two books that provide an excellent discussion of the spirituals are Lawrence Levine's Black Culture and Black Consciousness (1977), pp. 30-55, and Albert J. Raboteau's Slave Religion (1978), pp. 243-66. Both authors argue that the spirituals were part of a religious expression that enslaved people used to transcend the narrow limits and dehumanizing effects of slavery. It was through the performance of the spirituals that the individual and the community experienced their God, a God who affirmed their humanity in ways whites did not, and a God who could set them free both spiritually and physically. Those "sacred songs," as Levine calls them, were also used as secret communication. That is not to say that all spirituals functioned as coded protest songs or as some sort of secret language. The structure of the spirituals and the way in which they were created and performed allowed for flexibility in their function and meaning. The primary function of the spirituals was as communal songs sung in a religious gathering, performed in a call-response pattern reminiscent of West African traditional religions. As Raboteau points out, 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-response structure of the singing, that individual's sorrow or joy became the community's sorrow or joy. 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, to tell their stories. Jesus was called upon to help the individual find God who would set them free "on the inside." It was while the person had been "touched on the inside" that slaves believed they came in intimate contact with God and the heroes of the Bible. That intimate, immediate relationship is present throughout the spirituals, with Jesus and the characters of the Old Testament presented not as some far off deities, but as friends and family members who helped the individual in his or her struggle. The spirituals, then, tell the story of a spiritual journey toward spiritual freedom, while encouraging those who had not yet found that freedom to "go on through to the promised land." That spiritual journey toward freedom dominates these songs, but the
concern for physical freedom is there as well. The most pervasive image in
the spirituals is that of the chosen people, for the slaves believed they
had been chosen by God just as the Israelites had. They also believed they
understood better than anyone what freedom truly meant in both a spiritual
and a physical sense. The Old Testament figures that the slaves used in
their songs experienced their deliverance in this world, and the slaves
believed God would deliver them from bondage in this world just as God had
delivered the people of Israel and all the Old Testament heroes. The slaves
believed that the same God that had granted them spiritual freedom would
someday loose the chains of slavery. The wonderful flexibility of the
spirituals allowed for that double meaning of freedom. For example,
Frederick Douglass claimed that the line "I am bound for Canaan" in one of
the songs he frequently sang meant he was going to the North, not just that
he would experience the freedom of the promised land in a spiritual sense.
For many blacks, particularly as the Civil War drew closer and physical
freedom become more likely, songs about the promised land took on a more
literal meaning, even though the more spiritual meaning remained. That
flexibility and multiplicity of meanings also allowed for slaves to use the
sacred songs as secret communication. Some, such as "Steal Away to Jesus,"
were used to call a secret meeting where the people could worship without
the supervision of whites.
The spirituals functioned in different ways, but most importantly, they
anchored the enslaved persons to a reality that allowed them to transcend
the harsh limits of slavery. They helped the slaves to carve out a space in
which they could live as human beings, loved and affirmed by a God and a
host of Biblical heroes, a space that allowed them to be human in
dehumanizing circumstances.
2. African-American Spirituals: Perspectives from African-American Historians Q. Dear Friends, Currently, I am completing a master’s degree course in religion in England. I have a deep interest in African-American history, in particular, the history and development of music in the African-American religion. Information regarding spirituals in African-American history is often scant and difficult to obtain. Material on gospel music, being more recent and well documented, is easier to obtain. However, much of the material available on gospel music, and the spirituals for that matter, is often from an Eurocentric perspective. Without the contribution of African-American historians, you can never hope to arrive at some degree of balance and impartiality. Would it be possible to enlist your help? I would greatly appreciate any
assistance you could give in terms of material (articles, etc.) and a
bibliography. Thanking you in advance for your assistance.
A. Paul, I would begin with these two books, Lawrence Levine's Black Culture and Black Consciousness: Afro-American Folk Thought from Slavery to Freedom (Oxford University Press, 1977) and Albert J. Raboteau’s Slave Religion: The "Invisible Institution" in the Antebellum South (Oxford University Press, 1978). Early on, some historians claimed the spirituals developed from white folk music. George Pullen Jackson's White Spirituals in the Southern Upland: The Story of the Fasola Folk, Their Songs, Singings, and "Buckwheat Notes" (The University of North Carolina Press, 1933) is a good example of that line of argument. Books such as John Lovell's Black Song: The Forge and the Flame: The Story of How the Afro-American Spiritual Was Hammered Out (Macmillan, 1972) and Miles Mark Fisher's Negro Slave Songs in the United States (Citadel Press, 1978; orig. publ. Cornell University Press, 1953) counter that argument by demonstrating that black spirituals were not simply black copies of white folk music. There are any number of interpretive essays about the spirituals. Perhaps the most famous is James Cone's The Spirituals and the Blues (Seabury Press, 1972). While his interpretation is interesting, what you might find most helpful is an early chapter that briefly discusses the history of scholarship concerning the spirituals. One book that I found quite interesting, which I don't often see on bibliographies, is Maud Cuney-Hare's Negro Musicians and Their Music, originally published in 1936 and republished in 1996 by Prentice Hall as part of the African American Women Writers project. The author digs up some interesting historical nuggets and tries to tie African-American music back to Africa in some interesting ways. Good Luck.
3. African-American Lullabies Q. I am writing a historical novel about slavery for young adults. It is titled Send One Angel Down, and since most of the chapters center themselves around black spirituals, I want to name each chapter according to the songs. The book title comes from a wonderful angel song, “If You Can’t Come, Send One Angel Down.” In my research, I have found many angel songs, and I find that the spirituals expressed what needs to be said on a deep emotional level. Now I am searching for a born day song to celebrate a birth or to sing to a baby. I’ve already used a traditional lullaby: “Hushaby, don’t you cry. Go to sleep, little baby. And when you wake, you shall have a cake . . .” Do you know of any other songs (titles and/or lines) or sources where I might find one? I am particularly interested in songs that originated on plantations. I’d appreciate any information you can
send.
A. Dear Virginia, You might look up “What Month Was Jesus Born In?” There is at least one sound recording of it in the Southern Folklife Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Check the Collection’s Boggs/Patterson “Index of Selected Folk Recordings” for lullabies included in the 500 albums of field recordings; you can request cassette copies of the song performances and photocopies of any notes with the albums. You might check The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore. Volume 3 has a section of lullabies, and the melodies for these songs are contained in Volume 5. You might also check Step it Down by Bessie Jones and Bess Lomax Hawes,
a collection of African-American children’s game songs from the sea
islands off the Carolina or Georgia coast (old plantation country). Its
bibliography would also probably include books with African-American
lullabies.
4. African-American Male Church Leaders Q. I am looking at the role of African-American men in the faith community. Where might I find a discussion of these leaders for the 19th and 20th centuries? Thank you, Rev. Crabbe A. Rev. Crabbe, You may be asking about male church leaders (clergy) or churchgoers. If it is the former, there is no one definitive source. Still, the best single source on the 19th and early 20th centuries is Carter G. Woodson, The History of the Negro Church (3rd edition, 1985, originally published in 1921), which discusses different religious and educational leaders. And there are denominational histories for many different African-American denominations that do the same, e.g., Carol George's study of Richard Allen, one of the founders of the AME church, Segregated Sabbaths: Richard Allen and the Emergence of Independent Black Churches, 1760-1840 (1973). However, there is no one book that covers all of that territory. Laurie Maffly-Kipp Associate Professor of Religious Studies University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
5. African-American Slaves and Christianity Q. Did the slaves convert to Christianity as a means of getting through the hardships of life or was Christianity forced on them by their owners in order to keep more control over them? Jacob A. Jacob, This is one of the most hotly debated questions in African-American religious history, and the answer is both. Some slaves certainly became Christians voluntarily, either because it helped them endure hardships and gave them reason for hope, or because membership offered other benefits. And yes, some owners did feel that Christian slaves would be more obedient (although this didn't turn out to be true) and therefore encouraged conversion. But of course, forced conversion only worked to a point: you may be able to force someone to attend church, but you can't regulate their thoughts and feelings. So ultimately, owners failed at this. 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. As you can see, it was a complicated situation with no one answer to your question!
6. Watch Meetings in African-American Religion Q. I'm trying to find information on how and when "watch meetings" got started in black churches. These meetings are held on New Year's Eve around 10 p.m. and carry over into New Year's Day. It is a way of thanking God for all he has done for us and also for allowing us to see the coming of the New Year. It is a practice that I've known about all my life but never knew how it got started. Thanks, Ruby A. Dear Ruby, Watch meetings are typically held either Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve, depending on where you are. They are a time for prayer and watching for the new season. Included in this is an element of watching and hoping for the conversion of others to the gospel message. They often include a meal at dawn to end the meeting.
No one I discussed your question with knew with any certainty about their origins. Participants will trace them back to slave times, but there is no historical evidence that I know of to back this up. But in South Carolina, Georgia, and some other southern regions, they have deep roots in black church traditions.
7. African-American Religious Ethics in the Antebellum South Q. I am a seminary student and very interested in the area of 19th-century church history, specifically African-American religious ethics in the South during the first half of the 19th century. If you could offer any more information on publications on this subject, I would surely appreciate it.
I thank you for the information that I downloaded from the TeacherServe web site. A. Dear Shawn: These titles should give you a good starting point. 1. Sylvia Frey and Betty Wood, Come Shouting to Zion: African American Protestantism in the American South and British Caribbean to 1830, Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1998. 2. Some of the essays in Albert J. Raboteau, A Fire in the Bones: Reflections on African-American Religious History, Beacon Press, 1995. 3. Gayraud Wilmore, Black Religion and Black Radicalism: An Interpretation of the Religious History of African Americans, 3rd ed., Orbis Books, 1998. 4. Timothy Fulop and Albert J. Raboteau, African-American Religion: Interpretive Essays in History and Culture, Routledge, 1997. Best wishes, Laurie Maffly-Kipp Associate Professor of Religious Studies University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
8. Islam and African-American Slaves Q. I am a university student and was struck the other day by the thought of the Islamic faith in American slavery. I was hoping you might be willing to suggest some reading material. With thanks and abundant curiosity, Zarah A. Dear Zarah: Yes, it is interesting to think of slaves and Islam! I was not taught that either. There is some modest amount of scholarly literature on this. I would begin with Allan D. Austin, African Muslims in Antebellum America (Routledge, 1997). For a more confusing but ultimately helpful bibliography, see Michael A. Koszegi and J. Gordon Melton, eds., Islam in North America: A Sourcebook (Garland, 1992). Good luck!
9. Islam and African Americans Today Q. Hello. I am an education student, studying to be a teacher. The Islam religion seems so interesting to me and enlightening. I'm bothered, though, by the African-American version. It doesn't make sense to me, if one reads the foundations of the religion, how the African-American version became anti-white. Are these versions accepted in the Asian, African, and European nations? What exactly happened and has it separated the Muslims? An always learning student, Charlotte A. Dear Charlotte: You suggest in your recent e-mail that you are "bothered" by "the African-American version" of Islam. In particular, you say you are troubled by the "anti-white" impulse in that tradition. And you wonder how other Muslims view this. This is an important, and common, question. Let me offer two responses. First, from the perspective of most members of the Nation of Islam—the smaller Islamic movement that usually is charged with "anti-white" sentiments—it is the wider American society that is racist and that should be condemned. To put it differently, there must be some reason that the story about the origin of whites as the mistake of a black scientist has seemed compelling to African-American followers since the 1930s. For those followers, the behavior of whites around them in the segregated South and the racist North seemed to confirm the Nation of Islam's traditional teaching that whites were "devils." Second, let me offer a response that is common among other Muslims in the U.S. and elsewhere.
They point out that the Nation of Islam represents only a small proportion of the African-American Muslim population. Most Muslims of African descent in the U.S. reject the principles
of the Nation of Islam as racist—and not in keeping with the tradition of Islam. On the latter
point, most Muslims proudly note that their tradition has stood for racial equality. In fact, racial equality might be a more central principle in Islam than in any other religious tradition. So, from this perspective, racist teachings are neither representative of the vast majority of African-American (or worldwide) Muslims nor in accord with the moral teachings of Islam.
Getting Back to You
|
TeacherServe Home Page
National Humanities Center Home Page
Revised: October 2000
nationalhumanitiescenter.org