Slave+Culture

=Save Culture= By Madeline J.

They could care for their husbands within limits of their time and inclinations. It was not strange to see a women walking back from the fields after a long hard days work with a rake over her shoulder, a cotton bucket on her head, a pipe in her mouth and a baby in a sling on her back. To add to their work load they had to prepare meals for their families, put children to bed and sometimes sew with little sleep. It was not unlikely that women worked more then the men. A female would be the most valuable field hand and the most physically powerful individual on the plantation.
 * -Differences of Culture Between Women and Men-**
 * __Women__**
 * Women had two main jobs; they had to work as slaves and be a wife and mother. [[image:http://www.brandeis.edu/projects/fse/images/slav-us-motherchildpaint.jpg width="175" height="216" align="right"]]

__MEN__** The men went to go out and hunt the food that is put on the table. They took great pride in their family line and their hunting skills. Trapping took great skill which was passed on. For a boy to join the men in hunting was a great honor; it was like going into manhood. Fishing also helped provide for their families. The man was the power of the household. Women were called by their husbands name; even though men were thought of as being more important women did more work.

This is probably the the most commonly known form of songs in slave life. Messages were imbedded into songs that to a untrained ear would just sound like a nice field holler. The meanings of the songs were to tell about the underground railroad. The two most common types of coded spirituals were signal songs and map songs. A signal song would tell about an event that was going to happen; for example telling that there was going to be a breakout tonight. In a map song the lyrics contain landmarks and elements of map to direct people to a certain place. These songs aided in the escape of many slaves. **
 * -Slave Codes-

Spirituals gradually evolved into a variety of purposes to fight for freedom. Slaves sung for expression of democratic values, as a source of motivation and hope, as a form of protest and to sing coded songs to get across messages. Many songs include many different purposes and messages that serve different functions in different places and time.
 * -Spirituals-

In call and response songs traditional Africans focused on the unity of family and tribal identity. everyone was welcome to the tribal community circle where they danced and sung as one big group. This was then brought over to America with slaves and was adopted into slave culture.

The most important message in spirituals was to provide motivation and inspiration while slaves were struggling through a terrible life and a fight for freedom. Traditional stories of how their ancestors faced hardships and their bravery and courage were then translated into great songs that provided hope. Lots of their songs involved Moses because he led the Hebrews out of Egypt and slaves thought that would someday happen to them.

media type="youtube" key="N9Sq7V29xXQ" height="344" width="425" align="right" //Chorus://  ** Swing low, sweet chariot, Comin' for to carry me home; Swing low, sweet chariot, Comin' for to carry me home. I looked over Jordan, And WHAT did I see, Comin' for to carry me home, A band of angels comin' after me, Comin' for to carry me home. //Repeat chorus:// If you get there before I do, Comin' for to carry me home, Tell all my friends I'm comin' too, Comin' for to carry me home.

They believed in one higher god who created all things, but also believed in lesser gods. Slaves would pray to these lesser gods for certain things like rain, fertility and crops. They also believed that the lesser gods spirits were occupied by their ancestors. their purpose was to honor their ancestors and to give all power to the high god.
 * -Religion-**

Christianity became prominent when the slaves mixed their African beliefs with the Christian beliefs and made up what is called slave religion. There were different thoughts between slave owners; some thought that they should convert their slave to Christianity while other believed that it would cause too much trouble and that having the same religion might make slaves think that they are equal to whites.

In 1740 and the early 1800's this changed when minister thought that they should convert slaves to Christians. Now blacks started converting to christianity in great numbers. This was called the __Great Awakening__ where preachers emphasized conversion of heart and overjoyed body expressions; all it required was loyalty to Jesus. White preaches taught slaves to obey their masters and still thought that slaves were not equal. In the 1830's Gospel was brought into slave quarters and served as a social way to convert slaves.

Slaves identified themselves with the old testament where Hebrew slaves were liberated by God. They believed that God would soon liberate them. Now God was their high and only master; not their plantation owners.

Slaves had a thing called "invisible institution" where they would have secret religious meetings in the woods where they would prey, sing, preach, shout, and enjoy their free religious practice. " Slaves turned Christianity into their own terms. If their masters did not follow common Christian behavior then the slaves felt a great superiority over their masters. " (from Susel Perez)

A way of communicating secret messages was through quilts. Different patterns had different meanings and when sewn on quilts it helped slaves run away or to know when things were happening. Here are some patterns and what they meant to slaves
 * -Language-**

**Tumbling blocks-** The number of blocks represented how many days they had to pack before they left.


 * Monkey Wrench-** This symbol meant that slaves needed to get the tools necessary for their journey to freedom. For example something to build shelter with.

**Flying Geese-** this quilt pattern show geese migrating to Canada which means they are going north. It also told slaves the best season for escape.




 * Wagon Wheel-** This alerted slave to pack all things that would go in the wagon or things they could use to escape. This was a signal for the slaves to think about the essentials they needed for their trip.

When the slave trade began and Africans came all of the dance styles from various ethnic groups were brought together. Dance was part of their daily life back in Africa and they were not just going to let that part of their heritage die. Slaves kept dancing in their everyday life to connect to their county. Sadly many North American slave owners did not let slaves dance their traditional dances.
 * -Dance-**