Religion

By: Kimberly Sambol-Tosco

During the early eighteenth century Anglican miss

attempting to bring Christianity to slaves in the S
often found themselves butting up against not on
masters, but also resistant slaves. An unquestion
the acceptance of Christianity among slaves was
continue to adhere as much as possible to the rel
and rituals of their African ancestors. Missionaries
South were especially displeased with slave reten
practices such as polygamy
and what they called
idolatrous dancing. In fact,
Frederick de Wit's Map of Africa, ca. even blacks who embraced
1688. Library of Congress, Geography Christianity in America did
and Map Division. not completely abandon Old
World religion. Instead, they
At the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade, African religious engaged in syncretism,
beliefs and practices were numerous and varied. In addition to a blending Christian influences
wide variety of polytheistic religions, a significant portion of the with traditional African rites
continent had for centuries fallen under Islamic influence. Despite and beliefs. 
this diversity, there were some common threads across cultural Symbols and objects, such as
groups. For instance, West African societies, the largest source crosses, were conflated with
for American slaves, shared a belief in a Supreme Creator, a chief charms carried by Africans to Button inscribed wit
deity among lesser gods, to whom they prayed and made ward off evil spirits. Christ symbol. Levi Jordan
sacrifices. Through laws and customs honoring the gods, the was interpreted as a healer Brazoria, Texas. Co
ancestors of one's people, and the elderly, West Africans sought a similar to the priests of Kenneth Brown.
harmonious balance between the natural and spiritual worlds. Africa. In the New World,
Further, they made music and dance vital components of their fusions of African spirituality
worship practices. Enslaved men and women kept the rites, and Christianity led to distinct new practices amo
rituals, and cosmologies of Africa alive in America through populations, including voodoo or vodun in Haiti an
stories, healing arts, song, and other forms of cultural expression, Louisiana. Although African religious influences w
creating a spiritual space apart from the white European world. important among Northern blacks, exposure to O
religions was more intense in the South, where th
Africans and African descendents working in the early modern black population was greater.
Atlantic commercial system were exposed to the world of
European Christianity as early as the fifteenth century, when
Portuguese missionaries came to the coasts of Africa. Some
slaves, therefore, brought Christian beliefs with them when they
were thrust into slavery. Others converted in America. During the
seventeenth century blacks in the Dutch New Netherlands and
Spanish Florida baptized their children and were married by the
church. In part, this participation in the dominant European
religion reflected (and helped to bring about) a colonial society in
which blacks were more fully integrated and enjoyed greater
rights than later generations of slaves would. 

"Doop-Boeck" -- BAPTISMS FROM
1639 TO 1697 IN THE REFORMED
DUTCH CHURCH, New York. Archives
of the Collegiate Church of the City of Virginia passed a law
New York.
Other colonies passed similar laws during the seventeenth and
early eighteenth centuries.
However, slaves also saw
conversion to Christianity as a
road to freedom. In the early
years of settlement, for
instance, fugitive slaves from
South Carolina, headed for
Florida, where the Spanish
Crown promised them
freedom as a reward for
conversion. Slaveholders in
the British North American
colonies became increasingly
fearful that Christianization of
slaves would lead to demands
for emancipation. In 1667
declaring that conversion did
not change the status of a
person from slave to free.