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What Are African American Cultural Beliefs

Decent Essays

Introduction: o African American spirituals are very important part of American history for both cultural and musical aspects.  1997 - Congress passes resolution declaring African American spirituals a “National Treasure.” o Important topics to discuss are:  Slave trade and U.S. History  Spirituals  Lyrics and Stories  Composers  H. T. Burleigh – specific aid in blending cultural deficits  Jon Cruz’ idea of “Ethnosympathy”  And other various composers and their contributions History: • Pre 1400’s: o Slavery existed in Europe  Disappeared from Northern Europe around 11th and 12th  Century  Continued through Southern/Eastern Europe and Mediterranean  “Chattel Slaver” • Slaves are a commodity to be bought and sold, rather than being …show more content…

o First actual shipment of slaves are sent from Northern South America in the year 1499 • Carribean: o Becomes established o Columbus's son, Diego Cólon, becomes governor of the new Spanish empire in the Carribean. He soon complains that Native American slaves do not work hard enough. • True African Slave Trade: o January 22, 1510 marks the start of the systematic transportation of African slaves to the New World: King Ferdinand of Spain authorises a shipment of 50 African slaves to be sent to Santo Domingo. • Migration into U.S.: o October 1562 John Hawkins of Plymouth becomes the first English sailor that we know about to have obtained African slaves - approximately 300 of them in Sierra Leone - for sale in the West Indies. Hawkins traded the slaves illegally with Spanish colonies, but the trip was profitable and others followed. These contributed to increasing tensions between England and Spain. (As well as initiating the English slave trade, Hawkins also introduced both the potato and tobacco to England.) o In the early 17th century, European settlers in North America turned to African slaves as a cheaper, more plentiful labor source than indentured servants (who were mostly poorer …show more content…

o Between 1774 and 1804, all of the northern states abolished slavery o From the 1830s to the 1860s, a movement to abolish slavery in America gained strength in the northern United States, led by free blacks such as Frederick Douglass and white supporters such as William Lloyd Garrison • Revolutionary War: • Within three months after Abraham Lincoln is elected President, seven southern states had seceded to form the Confederate States of America • four more would follow after the Civil War (1861-65) began • Five days after the bloody Union victory at Antietam in September 1862, Lincoln issued a preliminary emancipation proclamation, and on January 1, 1863, he made it official that “slaves within any State, or designated part of a State…in rebellion,…shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” Spirituality: • Disconnect from original beliefs: o Forced to leave behind religious beliefs from Africa.  Punished (sometimes by death) if caught practicing. • Adoption of owners beliefs: o As late as 1800, a vast majority of slaves had not been

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