Impact Of Slavery On African American Culture

Being enslaved was not an easy job for African Americans. African Americans survived slavery through their connection with their culture. They then went on to contribute to the economic and social development of the South and America. African Americans survived the institution of slavery and Africanized the American South. They helped free themselves by sticking together as a family, resisting, as well as wanting slavery to change. They freed themselves by 1865. They founded institutions, for example, black colleges, churches, banks, insurance companies, fraternities and sororities to uplift their race. “The process of enslavement was almost unbelievably painful and bewildering for the Africans. Completely cut off from their native land,

Detaching from slavery through their diverse cultural foundations allowed for them to be able to connect with other slaves and hold onto their humanity. The assembly among slaves kept the diversity between slave and master. After a long day of being beaten and working under extreme conditions slaves found a way to disconnect from their danger. They used songs to get through a tough work day out in the fields. By singing they would connect with other slaves and find a way to make a terrible situation better. At night telling folk tales, doing dances and praying were the main reason why slaves did not commit suicide or harm themselves. They used these cultural remedies to assist them through their hardships. African Americans contributed to the economic and social development of America by becoming the engine for white men’s plantations. Without the work of slavery whites would have to work in their own fields instead they decided to get slaves and have the slaves do their work for them with no payment just cruelty. “African Americans…influenced the development of white culture. As early as the seventeenth century, black musicians performed English ballads for white audiences in distinctively African American style…By the eighteenth century, slaves in these regions organized black election or coronation festivals that lasted several

Freedom papers legally stated that a slave was no longer attached to the slave owner. Free slaves had the ability and almost the same rights as white men. Free slaves were counted as three-fourths of a person when it was time to vote. African Americans were always looking for a way to become free from slavery. African Americans became free by using the underground railroad to move North away from the South. The Underground Railroad gave Africans the ability to run away from the distress of slavery. Becoming free allowed slaves to build their own institutions. They began building churches, schools and mutual aids. “In the antebellum decades, the black institutions that had appeared during the revolutionary era in urban areas of North, Upper South, and – to a lesser extent – the Deep South grew in strength, numbers, and variety. This was the result of growing black populations, the exertions of the African American elite, and the persistence of racial exclusion and segregation.” 6 African Americans in the Upper South had to endure hardships when earning a living. They built their own institutions for employment to be able to provide for their family. They created black churches to house schools and meeting for multiple organizations. Antislavery groups usually met within the churches to discuss ways they could stop slavery, they also used the churches as to harboring fugitive slaves. They created schools and