Unit 4 Take Home: Slavery And Family

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Rahul Jain Period 11 APUSH Unit 4 Take Home Essay 11/28/15 Despite the hardships of slavery, many African Americans were able to create a distinct culture as a part of large plantations with communities of many slaves. In these communities, two of the major ways that African Americans in slavery created a distinct culture was through family and religion. The African American family for most consisted of stable households and parents who were other slaves in the community raising the children. Another aspect of family consisted of the practice of naming someone after others in the community. Finally, African Americans were able to practice their religion which had Christian and African elements in it. African American family and religion combined allowed for a unique culture to be created apart from that of whites in America during the time of slavery. The concept of family was brought over from the original slaves into America and like in Africa, family played an enormous role in bringing together the communities of slaves. Family brought together the slaves because it gave them a way to interact with each other. It took people who had been separated from their biological families and allowed them to create …show more content…

This practice allowed for the continuation of the family over generations. Often times, newborn children would be given names after parents or even grandparents so that the name would not be lost even if the family was split apart through a slave auction. These names were also given because the name that their white master gave them could have been derogatory and degrading and the other slaves gave out a nickname that was better suited. Overall, names gave the slaves a sense of individuality and it was something that they could proudly say was theirs to keep as a

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