History has been written through the lenses of powerful white men. In most accounts the information gained and written is from a biased outlook with a great deal of speculation, and often altered from its true form. As author Kelly states in his book Race Rebels, too many scholars distort and omit the private side of African Americans’ social and cultural history (Kelly). Westerners had a common notion that Africans who were enslaved lost all their cultural ties and tradition due to the traumatic experiences during the transatlantic voyage; this idea was coined by Robert Park and is called tabula rasa. It is considers a “blank slate” a loss of heritage, culture and beliefs for the slaves. Comparatively, there is a prevailing ideology that enslaved
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Despite nana Peazant wanting to maintain the old African tradition, viewers see the character Viola returns from the main land, and has developed Christianity. Religion is valuable to her and she insists the rest of her family go to the mainland with her to join Christianity while leaving the old customs behind. Readings from authors Levine, Faust, and Stevenson further illustrate the significance of spirituality in slave lives. Aunt Rebecca and the slaves at Hammond’s plantation defy the norms of obedience for the love of religion. In Black Culture and Black Consciousness by Lawrence W. Levine he says “ Postbellum verified evidence of slave religious meeting … which continually threatened to transform observers into participants,” meaning after the antebellum, slaves still continued practicing their religion. There were many conversions to Christianity by the time of the Civil War ended (Levin, 1978). Through the deeply woven fabric of American history, enslaved Africans held onto their …show more content…
Slaves adopted Christianity and would worship in congregations with other slave communities in plantations. Slave songs were used for were a time to enact hope when there was not any. Levine describes the differentiation of black and white songs and how black songs incorporated their beliefs into their sacred songs (Levine, 1980). Finally, The Goophered Grapevine folklore characters such as Aunt Peggy the black conjure woman is one of the characters in Uncle Julius stories written by Charles Chesnutt. She takes the center stage and challenges the stigma of women being docile, but instead embodied strength and power and has control over something the white plantation owner wants. As many other folklore stories readers are able to recognize there were used a mechanism to cope with hostile environment. Levine notes that folklore “Offered slaves a source of power and knowledge alternative to those existing within the world of master class,” meaning that folklore provided assurance, hope and diversion from the daily lives they lived in. The folklore offered a sense of power for a better life and in no shape was an act of rebellion to tell folklore that gave them superiority over their master depending on the characters. Act of such creativity was a way many slaves were able to endure the lives they
Despite nana Peazant wanting to maintain the old African tradition, viewers see the character Viola returns from the main land, and has developed Christianity. Religion is valuable to her and she insists the rest of her family go to the mainland with her to join Christianity while leaving the old customs behind. Readings from authors Levine, Faust, and Stevenson further illustrate the significance of spirituality in slave lives. Aunt Rebecca and the slaves at Hammond’s plantation defy the norms of obedience for the love of religion. In Black Culture and Black Consciousness by Lawrence W. Levine he says “ Postbellum verified evidence of slave religious meeting … which continually threatened to transform observers into participants,” meaning after the antebellum, slaves still continued practicing their religion. There were many conversions to Christianity by the time of the Civil War ended (Levin, 1978). Through the deeply woven fabric of American history, enslaved Africans held onto their …show more content…
Slaves adopted Christianity and would worship in congregations with other slave communities in plantations. Slave songs were used for were a time to enact hope when there was not any. Levine describes the differentiation of black and white songs and how black songs incorporated their beliefs into their sacred songs (Levine, 1980). Finally, The Goophered Grapevine folklore characters such as Aunt Peggy the black conjure woman is one of the characters in Uncle Julius stories written by Charles Chesnutt. She takes the center stage and challenges the stigma of women being docile, but instead embodied strength and power and has control over something the white plantation owner wants. As many other folklore stories readers are able to recognize there were used a mechanism to cope with hostile environment. Levine notes that folklore “Offered slaves a source of power and knowledge alternative to those existing within the world of master class,” meaning that folklore provided assurance, hope and diversion from the daily lives they lived in. The folklore offered a sense of power for a better life and in no shape was an act of rebellion to tell folklore that gave them superiority over their master depending on the characters. Act of such creativity was a way many slaves were able to endure the lives they