The Development of African American Culture - Essay Example

The Development of African American Culture before the Civil War (Religion) Data of Introduction The American African culture gets also termed as the black culture. There is myriad contribution that the United States. The classical identity of the African-American gets rooted in the historical experience affiliated with the African-American people. Scholars from different scopes of life explain what the African-American culture considers. Ideally, some of the common elements of culture include religion, kinship and family relations among other essential parameters of life. The Africans in American must have borrowed most of the cultural and religious practices from the domineering western Africa1. In the pre-war era, myriad dynamic changes got experienced in the bid that most of the religious practices changed as from one aspect to the other. This gets historically retrieved from the acts between the 18th and 19th century. Most importantly, the African-American religion changed dramatically2. In relations to the changes experienced in the religion, there were overwhelming convictions that were indispensable. This essay aims at exploring and describing the development of African-American culture in the means of worship3. Initially, the Africans blended their detailed religious practices with the European American elements or worship. This is because their rituals were rather complex and unsuitable to the North American environment. For instance, practices by the African Americans that could have had the basis of ancestral worship and spirit possession were greatly underpinned by the Native Americans and the European Americans4. Some of the common traits of worship that would have proven hard to change in the African American culture included the call-response form of preaching. It shows the might of the African Americans in terms of faith; however, all these practices form the starting point of the American Revolution. Of course, it involves the already settling African Americans5. African-Americans were initiated and accepted in the society as slaves. The pre-American revolution sessions get depicted to have accommodated most of the slaves out of the Christianity helm. That is; very few of the slaves got the chance to engage in Christian practices. The steering factor of this kind of societal structure was because the holders of plantations in which the slaves worked stopped them. According to the Native and European American, granting the blacks the rights of worship could have fostered equality amongst them. Accordingly, the Gramsci notion of hegemony commenced its domineering even towards the beliefs of the African Americans6. The major aim of incorporating such a philosophical utterances was to ensure that there remained a reliable gap between the two distinct races. Ideally, the fear was oriented and realistic. Most of the wars against the slavery and inequalities must have fostered the three slave rebellions in the United States. First, the level of freedom got expounded as a result of the rebellions. The first great awakening that took the course between the years 1720 and 1740 elevated the rate at which the African Americans joined the evangelical churches such as the Methodist, the Presbyterian and the Baptist churches. This act got shortly followed by the Second Awakening that took place in the years (1790-1815). This is the basis of the African American Protestantism. According to history, the development of the religious culture in the United States and amongst the African Americans was dominated by the commencement of the evangelical churches. Leaders amongst the African Americans increased in number7. One of the religious believes amongst the Christians is that one has to get baptized. That is; they have to receive the act of emersion into water for them to show a sign of purity. The African Americans did not, however, enjoy complete autonomy in the form of religious worship in the United States. This was so, especially during the antebellum period. Accordingly, the great levels of independence got experienced amongst the African Americans in terms of worship8 .Accordingly, the formation of the strong religious congregations got initiated at this time. One of the facilitators of the African slaves’ perceptions affiliated with the emergence of the Methodist. The creation of this entity is dated in the year 1845. The initiation of the Baptist, for example, created some resemblance of merging African cults and the religious practices.9 Most of the arts that the African Americans adopted were affiliated with the rituals practices in the African cultures. In the commencement periods, the African Americans did not have ample worship freedom. Accordingly, the Africans opted to take their worship practices to the caves. That is; they formed independent religious congregations. This was during the antebellum periods. Different scholars happen to debate on the issue of slave congregation of the 1758 which occurred near the Mecklenburg, Virginia and the Silver Bluff Church all situated in South Carolina. The establishment of these independent shrines of worship rooted between the years 1787 and 1792.10 This was a straight form of response towards the white’s religious discriminatory practices. For example, one of the new churches to get established included the northern Baptist churches and the Joy Street Baptist church situated in Boston. This establishment happens in the year 1805. 11. Could we attribute these religious dynamic changes to the wars that occurred in the latter history of United States? This is one of the most vibrant aspects that the history can try to establish. The developed churches where the African Americans worshiped incorporated the traditional practices such as preaching styles. That is; detailed communications using a response form of structure got passed on to the religious practices. Ideally, the most important thing about cultural diversity is that it creates differentiated ideology about issues. The African Americans established this issue by deploying their African culture into religious practices. The only difference that exists is that the two apply difference cultures. However, the faith basis is rather the same12. Preservation of the African religions in the northern parts of America proved to be the most complex issues ever. The African Americans who were still slaves faced harsh treatments that could not facilitate any form of religious dynamism. In addition, the white man intended on alleviating the non-Christian or heathen practices from the societies. Other aspects that got depleted during this era included the music rhythms, the songs of movement.13. However, some of the ancestral and spiritual forms of religious efficacy employed the Christian virtues to remain valid. For instance, the most dominant universal center of worship got centered on the catholic forms of rituals. These rituals related to the African-based religious moves. Perfect examples that allowed reforms of new religions amongst the Africans included the Vaudois in Haiti and Santeria in Cuba. However, the African culture in religious perspectives got completely depleted in the Northern America. This was so, especially in the era before the civil war. Not all the Africans were slaves, especially in the 19th century. However, the domineering aspect of the slave trade ended at around the year 1810. Accordingly, the population of the slaves, African Americans, multiplied. Concurrently, the preservation and transmission of the African religious practices got transmitted. That is what the current times gets referred to the actual African Americans.14 Incorporation of these religious practices elevated the rate at which the awakenings or what got termed as revivalism. By the revivalism, we find that the Africans converted to Anglican and other evangelical denominations. The profound modes of worship articulated to these denominations promoted the idea of equality of the people amongst the people. The religious believes promoted an idea of peace and hope amongst the Christians. The Christianity form of religion intensively adopted the forms of African modes of worship. For instance, the worship patterns were common. In addition, worship in these denominations incorporated clapping, dancing, singing and spiritual possession.15 Accordingly, the African culture of worship felt quite welcome and adaptable. The enthusiasm indicated in this form of worship fell under the pressure of the whites. Their intention was showing dominance and intolerance to the level of freedom that the African American slaves acquired. One of the aspects that the Christians did not adore about the beliefs in the whites’ churches was hierarchical worship. That is; they formed the idea that there ought to be obedience of one superior being amongst them. According to the African Americans believes, that form of belief and practice incorporated the increased level mockery in worship. It was not easily endorsable by the Africans culture. These forms of disintegrations facilitated the increased level of African American reorganization into other invisible religious institutions. They incorporated their basis African rhythms in their forms of worship. That is; there were blending and mixing of the African forms of worship with the evangelical forms of worship.16 This could get articulated as the upgrade of the African religious practices into adoptable ones. However, the fact remains that the African culture sustained amicable significance. Accordingly, these believe commenced becoming stronger and stronger by the day. This facilitated the formation of the black American churches in the northern and southern regions effectively. Both African and American forms of cultural beliefs got incorporated into the church practices. By the 1816, the African churches combined both evangelical, as well as, the African modes of worship.17 The level of cultural consciousness amongst the African Americans was outstanding. This means that the African culture got developed in accordance to the changing religious status. Most of the cultural practices got merged. That is; the African and evangelical practices merged to form an acceptable form of worship. Conclusion The African culture is the most basic culture that the African Americans could have to refer. Accordingly, there essentiality to continue or incorporate some of the practices into the religious believes was paramount. Since the 17th century, different cultural transformations took place. 18 Accordingly, the adopting or rhyming of the African practices with those of the Native Americans and Europeans ought to have created a basic platform for each of these cultures. Accordingly, the struggle to retain and develop the African American culture was successful. The formation of blacks’ independent churches was one of the signs that the culture was underway and still strong in the modern form of worship. Bibliography UH - Digital History. "Digital History." Last modified 2014. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraID=5&smtID=2. Maffly-Kipp, L. "African American Christianity, Pt. I: To the Civil War, The Nineteenth Century, Divining America: Religion in American History, TeacherServe, National Humanities Center." National Humanities Center - Welcome to the National Humanities Center. Last modified 2005. http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nineteen/nkeyinfo/aareligion.htm. Swatos, W. H. "Content Pages of the Encyclopedia of Religion and Social Science." Hartford Institute for Religion Research. Last modified 2014. http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ency/african.htm. Bayly, Christopher Alan. The birth of the modern world, 1780-1914: global connections and comparisons. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004. Levine, Lawrence W. Black culture and black consciousness: Afro-American folk thought from slavery to freedom. Oxford University Press, 2008. Fearon, James D., Kimuli Kasara, and David D. Laitin. "Ethnic minority rule and civil war onset." American Political Science Review 101, no. 01 (2003): 187-193. Read More