Slave culture and its historical significance

Slave Culture

The trans-Atlantic slave trade shackled together persons from disparate cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Forced contact and communion, pervasive physical and psychological abuse, and systematic disenfranchisement became the soil in which a unique subculture would be born. Slave subcultures in the United States were also diverse, depending on geography, the nature of the plantation work, the prevailing political and social landscape of the slave owner culture, and factors like gender and ethnic backgrounds of the slaves. Presence and type of religion in the community also impacted the evolution of slave culture. Common factors that link disparate slave subcultures include religion, music, crafts, food, social norms, and political philosophies. In spite of the tremendous variations in theme and tone of slave cultures, such as those in Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, or the Carolinas, there did emerge some consistencies that draw attention to commonalities. The forced bondage of slavery created the means by which vibrant African-American cultures emerged and flourished.

Language is one of the most significant features of slave cultures, and denotes the similarities and differences between different slave cultures. One of the most cohesive and historically intact slave cultures in the United States is that of the Carolinas, particularly the Gullah or Geechee people. The Gullah/Geechee culture has assimilated less with American mainstream society than have African-Americans who have migrated from the South after Reconstruction and especially after the Second World War (Chen & Kermeliotis, 2012). The Gullah/Geechee consider and refer to themselves as a "nation" of people. As benchmarks of any culture, there is a distinct Gullah dialect, an English-based Creole, and Gullah food is likewise unique (Chen & Kermeliotis, 2012). Linguists have traced the origins of Gullah to Fante, Ga, Kikongo, Kimbundu, Mandinka, Twi, Ewe, Ibo and Yorba, testimony to the diversity of backgrounds from which the slaves had come from in Africa ("African Diaspora," n.d.). Just as Gullah language blended African languages with English, the Creole of other slave cultures evolved as African languages blended with other European languages like French, as well as with Native American languages like Cherokee ("African Diaspora," n.d.).

Geography influenced the character of slave culture partly due to the fact that some areas imported new slaves directly from Africa more frequently than others. In areas with expansive territories and abundant opportunities for cash crops, like the Deep South, new slaves from Africa were continually refilling the labor market. This meant that African traditions were kept alive more readily than if there were a moratorium on new importations ("African Diaspora," n.d.). The Chesapeake region also had a thriving slave labor market, which is why the slave culture thrived there and required the importation of new slaves. Frequent new slave purchases, coupled with relative geographic isolation, meant that some slave cultures evolved intact and withstood the test of time after Reconstruction. The design of objects of art and musical instruments was especially prolific in areas with the highest concentrations of slaves, like the Deep South (Sambol-Tosco, 2004). Higher concentrations of slaves also enabled the emergence of subversive discourse and the evolution of a distinct slave political philosophy that could aid in the organization of revolts.

In the Gullah strongholds on the islands off the coast of South Carolina, presence of African traditions that have faded from the African-American mainstream remain strong. Folktales, music, literature, arts, and worldview among Gullah draws from ancestry traced back to West Africa, primarily to what is now Sierra Leone and its neighbors. Although the Gullah people trace their ancestries to diverse linguistic and ethnic tribes in Africa, the course of centuries of history and the common bond of slavery have resulted in a definite Gullah culture.

Literature, art, and music were integral to the formation and maintenance of slave culture. Folktales were shared, among the disparate peoples of Africa who had been yoked together in bondage. Folktales were more than mere entertainment; there were important political and social dimensions to folktales, too. Folktales "not only gave slaves a chance to create alternate realities in which they could experience revenge and other forbidden impulses, but they also imparted practical knowledge and survival and coping strategies to listeners," (Sambol-Tosco, 2004). Likewise, music was a common bond and means by which to foster camaraderie among people who would have spoken different languages and have been from completely different tribes. The creation of rugs and other items allowed slaves to remember their heritage, even when markers of their culture were strictly forbidden.

As a method of social control, slaves were separated from those who spoke their languages, who were from their tribe, and especially who were from their families. Tearing families apart demoralized slaves and made them more docile and powerless against the system. Moreover, the politics of disenfranchisement ensured that slaves working in isolation of their kin would be less able to organize revolts. Bereft of their culture, language, religion, art, and music, it was assumed slaves would contribute the maximum amount of labor to the system. However, slaves managed to find ways to forge new social ties among themselves to overcome the scourge of oppression. Thus, slave folktales, literature, narratives, songs, foods, drinks, dances, arts, and crafts were amalgamations of different ethnic tribes. Proverbs and games were also features of slave culture ("Slave Culture," n.d.). The differences between the indigenous African cultures faded and blended into the African-American melting pot. Themes common among African folklore traditions that were relevant to the experience of bondage included the motif of the trickster and the other metaphors related to treachery, deceit, and "endless wandering and restlessness," Stuckey, 2013, p. 3). With symbols from literature to guide their spirits and souls, and assuage the mental and physical pain suffered each and every day, the slave would have been able to transcend the conditions of their bondage and rise up in faith and hope.