Question

Be very specific and very narrow. For example, the US Civil War is too broad, while the Gettysburg Battle is appropriately narrow. You can select a person, an event, a cultural phenomenon, an invention, etc. For example, you might write on the religion or musical traditions of enslaved persons or the influence of the Caribbean Islands on slavery in the South. You could also choose to do a biography, such as a study of Hamilton, Franklin, Jefferson, Sojourner Truth, or Frederick Douglas. The invention of the cotton gin, steam power, the railroad, and the McCormick reaper are good examples of inventions you might discuss in your final project. Submit a brief summary of your topic for approval that adheres to the following format:

Paragraph 1: State your topic (person, place, thing or event that happened before 1870) and explain why you’ve selected this topic.

Paragraphs 2–3: Write two paragraphs describing the historic period during which your topic arises.

Paragraph 4: Explain why your topic is of interest to the larger study of history.

Answer 1

Influence of Slavery on African-American Religions

The topic selected is 'African-American religions from the early 15th century and how slavery has affected it'. The topic is set in America and is largely based on the African-American community. It deals with how they have held onto their religious beliefs in spite of the gruesome conditions they were subject to. This topic interested me because it made me think - how religion could be a powerful factor in uniting people and giving comfort in times of turmoil.

The movement of African people to the New world, began in the early 15th century. At that point in time, they have already evolved and settled into their own religion. Most of them were oriented in such a way that their religions reflected their families or the tribe that they belonged to. Even Islam was a major influence and had been around from the early times, prior to the enslavement of the African people and continued its influence well into the 19th century. But, by the 16th-century Catholicism had rooted itself in Africa and missionaries had started giving out regular masses among groups of tribes.

At that point in time in history, Catholicism had it's own unique and creative ways of converting people to Christianity. People who followed the African religions could only try to preserve theirs with the occasional religious sessions involving discourses, songs and general benefits of following their own tribal homegrown religion. This led them to preserve their religion well into the 19th century. But, by the time they were enslaved, the slaved people had started following the religion of their masters - Christianity. Some African people mixed the beliefs of their own religion with Catholicism and followed their own version of it. One of these is the 'Haiti' also called the voodoo religion (or) cult. Not all African slaves were able to hold on or mix their beliefs with the master's religion and most of them had converted to Christianity by the late 19th century. In fact, the skinning, limb amputation, random throwing of people into the sea, rapes, tortures, and beatings all contributed people to let go of the religion that they followed.

This topic, I believe is of very large significance. The fact that people could not hold on to something very personal - such as religions, shows how gruesome the concept of slavery had been. It shows that it is very difficult to hold it together when you are being humiliated and treated less than an animal. It shows that slavery under any circumstances, no matter how good for the development of the resources - should be abolished and remain so - in any form. This piece forms the crux of a larger part of history involving the evolution of religions due to slavery.