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The Relationship Between Slavery And Christianity
The Relationship Between Slavery And Christianity
The importance of religion to slaves
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When we hear the word “redemption”, the first thing that comes into our mind is being saved, being free from either a bondage or anything. Everyone who is in bondage wants to be free, even the bible has the same meaning as to what redemption is which is being save from our sins. The word “redemption” has contextual meaning and is commonly referred to as being saved. In the 70s when people were being kidnapped, used and sold as slaves, what they all wanted was to redeem themselves, to be free from the pains, the sufferings they were going through and that is why Phillis Wheatly wrote her poems in order to help the other slaves be redeemed.. In the poem “On Being Brought from Africa to America” by Phillis Wheatly, she talks about her transitioning from Africa to America and how it helped her get to know that there is a God and a savior which she didn’t know …show more content…
about while she was in Africa. She also talks about how the whites see people of dark skin to be evil, and also people that they look down on. But she went ahead to also talk about religion, and how even the blacks can be saved and not only the Christians which I think she was referring to the whites because they were the ones that introduced her to Christianity. The word “redemption” in this poem doesn’t just mean being free from slavery, but also means being saved from sin, being able to get to know about God and Christianity.
Although this poem has lots of themes, I think “redemption” is the main theme because she is focusing on the freedom of other slaves. She uses the word “redemption” just to show how much she values religion and God. It’s like she wanted to become a prophet, someone that would use the message of God to redeem the slaves. She says “Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain, May be refined, and join the angelic train” (Wheatly 405). She was trying to say her main point in this quote by using her religious knowledge, she is trying to say that slaves can also be redeemed, she referred to the black people as Cain because the whites saw them as “evil” and Cain in the bible was marked evil by God for killing his brother out of jealousy. Because she doesn’t want them to look at the blacks that way, she then tells the white people that blacks can also be redeemed, polished, saved... and they can also join the angelic train and not stay marked
forever. In conclusion, as she got to know more about God and religion, she got to know that everyone can be redeemed regardless of their race. The whites brought Christianity to her and yet they still kept the slaves and saw them as evil, they were not practicing what they were preaching, because Christianity allows everyone to be saved, so their opinion on whether blacks are evil or not doesn’t matter because they were not in any position to make that judgement. Religion doesn’t matter, whether you are black or white doesn’t matter. Furthermore, in the last two lines of her poem, Wheatly tries to tell the Christians that if everyone is equal in God’s eyes, then the blacks shouldn’t be treated differently and should be saved too, so whether you are a slave or not, lost or not, you can be redeemed and be accepted by God and I think that was what this poem was all about.
Throughout the poem, “To the University of Cambridge, in New England”, Phyllis Wheatley suggest that she accepted the colonial idea of slavery, by first describing her captivity, even though this poem has a subversive double meaning that has sent an anti-slavery message. Wheatley’s choice of words indicates that her directed audience was educated at a sophisticated level because of the language chosen. Her audience was assumingly also familiar with the bible because of the religious references used. The bible was used as a reference because of its accessibility. Wheatley uses religious references to subversively warn her readers about slavery and its repercussions and to challenge her reader’s morals.
However, through rhetorical devices, Douglass demonstrates how slavery also had a degrading influence on slaveholders and thus shows its corrupting nature. Specifically, he contrasts the shift in Sophia Auld’s character through antithesis and metaphor after being exposed to slavery. Before Mrs. Auld’s corruption, Douglass described his master by claiming, “Her face was made of heavenly smiles, and her voice of tranquil music” (32). Through metaphor, Douglass makes her sound like an angel with “heavenly smiles.” Angels are commonly associated with pureness and therefore by making this metaphor Douglass associates Mrs. Auld as originally being pure. However, he then juxtaposes this idea when he claims she has received the “fatal poison of irresponsible power”(32) also known to him as being a slave master. He explains her new characteristics by stating, “That cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that voice, made of all sweet accord, changed to one of harsh and horrid discord; and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon”(32-33). Through metaphor and antithesis, Douglass shows how she shifts from being an angel to a demon. The metaphor associates Mrs. Auld with satan and the antithesis makes her list of changing features appear extensive. Through these rhetorical devices, Douglass is able to emphasize the abruptness of her change in character due to her experience around slavery. By explaining this personal experience in his narrative, Douglass shows to his audience the unexpected negatives of slavery and how it not only dehumanizes slaves, but masters as well. This most likely would have given Northern abolitionists stronger reasons to push for Douglass’s goal of
The theme throughout the two poems "A Black Man Talks of Reaping" and "From the Dark Tower" is the idea that African American live in an unjust
This whole poem is a thank you for being Black. The fact that we as a people have survived so much turmoil yet we can still stand up and say we are a beautiful people is powerful. He makes a reference when he says “Praise Be To: the Old Ones: Magi in pyramidal silence who made the JuJu in our blood outlast the Frankenstein of the west.”. In that line alone he calls the people of the west monsters that want to act like god yet when they see the mess they make they try to turn away from it or try to destroy it. While we are the geniuses that built the pyramids and helped Europe get out of their dark
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.
The poem also focuses on what life was like in the sixties. It tells of black freedom marches in the South how they effected one family. It told of how our peace officers reacted to marches with clubs, hoses, guns, and jail. They were fierce and wild and a black child would be no match for them. The mother refused to let her child march in the wild streets of Birmingham and sent her to the safest place that no harm would become of her daughter.
In “On Being Brought From Africa To America” Phillis Wheatley speaks directly from her experience of coming to America, and how she became very religious on her arrival, so she uses her religious beliefs to explain how lucky she was to be in America and how she made a lot of achievements. Phillis Wheatley was a young black female poet, who started discovering her love for writing when she came to America, although it was illegal to educate black people she found a way to teach herself to read and write, even though a lot of people of her race were told that they weren’t good enough to deserve to be Christians and also to enjoy the advantage of being a citizen in America, Wheatley overcame these immense obstacles and she was so grateful for the chance to be a part of the Christian word and also to hear the word of Christianity, she was also very happy that she was brought to America where she has the opportunity to read and write. “Phillis” wasn’t her real name but her master named her that because the slave ship she boarded to come to America was named Phillis.
...is presented in a way that “blacks or whites can draw admonition from the subject” (1) . Another perspective from Revell is that the poem presents itself in terms of passionate personal regret. Revell believes that Dunbar felt guilty because he allowed himself to be bound to the “ plantation lifestyle” (1). The plantation life style internal anguish and agony the blacks went through as slaves. Some blacks have moved on from it, but some continue to use slavery as an excuse to not progress in life. It should be noted that Revell draws the most attention to the middle of the poem. The poem itself is masked because it never specifically says who its linked too, even though most would infer that it is linked to the black race. Revell concludes that Dunbar left aside the preconceived image of what it meant to be black in America, and spoke “only from his heart” (1) .
...e to the audience that the Bible adheres to the deserved emancipation and support of African-Americans, rather than enslavement and oppression. For example, Douglass preaches, “ A worship that can be conducted by persons who refuse to give shelter to the houseless, to give bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, and who enjoin obedience to a law forbidding these acts of mercy, is a curse, not a blessing to mankind. The Bible addresses all such persons as ‘scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, who pay tithe of mint, anise, and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith.” By using Matthew 23:23 to assert American Christians as righteously indignant, Douglass infers that if the White American people are truly Christian, they will obey the doctrines of The Bible and negate their duplicity by showing love and mercy to black people.
Among this race lived a man who, like his oppressors, refused to let that which was given to him by God be taken from him. This man was Frederick Douglass, a slave, an orator, an abolitionist author, but above all a human being. Douglass saw the destruction of his brothers and watched them let their spirit be broken and beaten by hypocrisy. Frederick Douglass began his Narrative as a broken man with nothing but hope that someday he may regain what belonged to him. He later uses his unbreakable spirit to gain his freedom and overcome impossible odds. Then finally, Douglass does not settle with gaining his own freedom but sets out to help others gain theirs as well and in the process becomes one of the most respected abolitionists of all time.
The quote in which the novel’s name is mentioned, “They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God”. This quote represents how even African Americans must look beyond race as it is so engrained into society that only in “darkness” can they see their future uninfluenced my racism
“Salvation”, by Langston Hughes, is an essay Hughes wrote about a time when he was thirteen where he went to church to become saved, only to end up not believing in Jesus. The essay brings up interesting points on religion, respect, and our culture. It’s a story of how adult and almost cult-like behavior can affect children and how it can teach children to falsely follow something they don’t believe in. The story within this essay takes place in his Auntie Reed’s church, where one night there was a big revival. According to Auntie Reed, “when you were saved you saw a light, and something happened to you inside” (Hughes 9). Except this would never truly be the case with young Langston. The story goes on tell that all the young children were
Unlike the earlier era, in which they had received freedom but it was so new to them, and they truly didn’t understand what it meant to be a free group, they began to move into a time period where they were finding their voice, and “finding their freedom”. Instead of writing about becoming free, and wanting freedom, they begin to act free. They begin to prove they were free by giving off confident in their culture and in their work. In her writing she has many different subsections where she rebuttals the ideas pushed onto the African American race. She proves the stereotypes wrong using the truth. The first example is, under the section titled “originality” she wrote, “it has been said so often that the negro is lacking in originality that has almost become a gospel. Outward signs seem to bear this out. But if one looks closely its falsity is immediately evident.” and , “So if we look at it squarely, the Negro is a very original being. While he lives and moves in the midst of a white civilian, everything that he touches is re-interpreted for his own use. He has modified the language, mode of food preparation, practice of medicine, and most certainly the religion of his new country, just as he adapted to suit himself the sheik haircut made famous by Rudolph Valentino.” this passage shows how much she believes in her race. She isn’t asking for anything from anyone. She doesn’t beg for respect, acceptance, or freedom, she is telling them to treat them like they are free. This passage really exemplifies the theme of accepting themselves and their culture during this time period. The African Americans were able to begin to stand up for themselves and up against the falsely acclaimed stereotypes that have been made against them. During this time period they were recreating the culture that had been taken away from them. They were finding their voice through
African-Americans utilized American Christianity as an embodiment of hope and comfort during a time of oppression. While they endured backbreaking labor and physical abuse from their overseers, they likely sought a spiritual experience characterized by movement and loud vocals such as when they were “seized by the spirit” for a positive physical ritual in their life. Additionally, God to them was an entity outside of the plantation that was rooting for them because he believed in universal human equality and the evils of slavery and abuse. For slaves, especially in the South, this encouragement was likely hard to come by. If this was the case, slaves believed that judgment would set things right and that hopefully they would not live their whole lives enslaved. However, the teachings that slaves were given during white sermons were fragmented and they knew it. Specifically, African-Americans acknowledged the emphasis on servitude expressed in white interpretations but the lack of passages related to their masters’ wrongdoings.
Power, and presence of sin for a price which has already been paid” (James 1971, 4/4). The root for redemption is redeem which is explained in both the Old and New Testament to be redeemed means to buy back the paying of a price; the removal of a bondage by the act of paying a price; to buy in a market and to take from a market (Pearlman 1981, 208). Redemption is also the restoration of a fellowship with God through Jesus Christ’s payment of the penalty for our sins by His death on the cross and the shedding of His blood (Pecota 2007, 349). When redemption is in the context of Romans 3:24, it means that Jesus paid the price for all that accept