Unit 4 Take Home: Slavery And Family

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

a bond with one another. The family gave the members of the slave community a sense of belonging as they helped and cared for each other. For example, if someone just had a baby other slaves would help because they knew that they would be helped in their time of need. Although these families were not exactly your traditional slave family because of their large size, it allowed for stability within many households.
Another aspect of the family that was brought over from Africa into America was the practice of naming someone after others in the community.

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

slave.
Religion was another item that the slaves were able to take with them to America. Religion was one of the slave’s few “possessions” and many felt that if they were true to God, they might one day become free. In America, the slaves incorporated many aspects of African religion such as clapping and performing ringshout (a call and response style of dancing) with western traditions from Christianity. One example of how the slaves incorporated both Christian and African traditions was the responsorial style of preaching. This was a variation of ringshout because it had a minister and people listening and responding to the minister’s remarks and the preaching portion came from Christianity where people would sit in church and listen to the preacher. African Americans used religion as a force that would guide them through their journey as slaves and make slavery bearable in their lives.
In summation, African Americans were able to create a culture distinct from that of whites in America because African American slaves incorporated family and religion into their lives in a different way. The typical African American family consisted of a stable household with parents who were often other slaves in the community. The family also had the practice of naming someone after others in the community. These families came together in the community to practice a religion that incorporated African and Christian elements. In conclusion, the African Americans were able to form a new culture while in slavery that could not be compared to other cultures because they used slave communities to make new types of family and religion.