My maternal great grandparents were enslaved people in Mississippi. According to U.S. census records, my grandfather was born in either 1884 or 1885. My grandmother was born shortly afterwards. I don’t know anything about my paternal great grandparents. It is believed they were also slaves. Their son, my grandfather, married my grandmother, a woman of Native American heritage. I was not able to locate a record of their families. I was told my great grandparents and thousands of others were taken from their African homeland and brought to America. Like most black people, I don’t know the city or country of their birth. I struggled to understand how humans could be so cruel to other humans. We were taught limited information in history classes. It’s possible our teachers didn’t know our history, or if they did, our history didn’t meet the requirements of the European school curriculum. Outside of the school and home environments, I remember hearing that our African ancestors were uncivilized people. This is the story that was told to many black people but I didn’t believe it. This version of the story was often told by people who wanted to keep black people oppressed.
I frequently write of the treasures in my parents’ footlocker. One such treasure was the book, The Negro Pilgrimage in America, by C.L. Lincoln. According to Lincoln, most of the slaves sold came from West Africa. Over eight hundred indigenous languages are spoken in the continent of Africa. Some of our American black folklore and storytelling has its roots in this oral tradition. African life consists of beautiful music and dancing. African music is complex in scale and rhythm, with arrangements featuring responsive choral patterns. Drums and wood wind instruments are widely used. West Africans are also known for their original sculpture. Wood and stone carvings and bronze and ivory work of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have a strong influence on modern Western art. Africans also developed a highly intricate system of metal work.
According to an article written by Anthony Chlorazzi, “The spirituality of Africa,” he interviewed Jacob Olupona, professor of indigenous African religion at Harvard Divinity School and professor of African and African-American studies. This article was published in the Harvard Gazette. Professor Olupona was quoted as saying, “Indigenous African religion refers to the beliefs of the African people before Islamic and Christian colonization. It was informed by their ethnic identities. As an example, the Yoruba religion came from southwestern Nigeria, the Zulu religion in southern Africa, and the Igbo religion in southeastern Nigeria.” Professor Olupona explained “For many Africans, religion can never be separated from other aspects of one’s culture, society, or environment.” This interesting and thought provoking article was an eye opener for me and led me to inquire further.
I learned about the Songhay Empire by reading Lincoln’s book. The Songhay Empire (also called Songhai) was located in Western Africa, south of the Sahara Desert and along the Niger River. The capital city was Gao. This empire was one of the greatest empires in all of Africa. It was organized according to the caste system. The emperor and his family were at the pinnacle of the system. Next in line were government officials. Common citizens were below government officials. Indentured slaves were below the common citizens. They were often prisoners of war and were traded for goods and services. After serving their time, they could be freed and become citizens but couldn’t join the elite. The European idea of slavery was foreign to Africa. Europeans believed in chattel slavery.
Songhay was one of the greatest empires of West Africa. One of the first ones was Ghana. One of the African kings of Ghana was Tunkamenin. He increased trade, especially salt, within the empire. Under his rule, Ghana ensured the safety of the trade routes to North America to the Nile Valley. He was not a Muslim but permitted the Muslim traders to establish a small Muslim town convenient to Gao.
Mali was the successor to Ghani and had even greater wealth and power. It developed from Kangaba, once a vassal state of Ghani. Its leader, Mansa Musa, ascended the throne in 1312 and made Mali one of the largest empires in the world. Musa expanded his rule over cities like Timbuktu (an important city of learning). Musa later embraced Islam and in 1324, made a pilgrimage to Mecca. He was one of the most powerful and richest kings and brought back scholars, architects, and scientists to enhance his court and advance his empire.
The King who established Songhay as a great empire was a ruthless king named Sunni Ali. He had a daring plan to capture Mali. After conquering Timbuktu, he wanted to conquer other cities. He made Songhay the dominate empire in West Africa but it was always filled with violence. In 1492, he disappeared. It is not clear what happened to him.
Lincoln wrote that there was always a strong native religion in West Africa. By the early 1400’s Islam had become a powerful religious and political economic force. By 1492, Songhay had already conquered most of West Africa. Gao started out as fishing and trading center. After three hundred years, Gao was wealthy enough to attract the attention of Mansa Musa, the great king of Mali. He sent his generals to subdue it without success. Reluctantly, Songhay accepted the religion of Islam and through her conquests, helped spread it over much of West Africa.
The Songhay Empire was a slave-trade based civilization and the economy of the state depended on the states trade with foreign empires. Mali and Songhay thrived mostly on their gold trade through the Sahara Desert. The city of Timbuktu became an important city of education and trade. The Songhay Empire lasted from 1464 until 1591. It was divided into five provinces each led by a governor. They were all Muslims. The Songhay culture was a blend of traditional West African beliefs and the religion of Islam. The slave trade was part of the Songhay Empire. Enslaved people were usually captives of war and used to transport goods across the Sahara Desert to Morocco and the Middle East. Enslaved people were also sold to Europeans and taken to Europe and the Americas. If a prisoner of war had already converted to Islam before being captured, they could not be sold as slaves.
In 1861, the colony of Nigeria was established after the Fulani tribe was defeated by the British. Eventually the Africans unique traditions, art forms, political systems and religions were lost because of European colonial expansion. Africa became a prime source for slave labor to fill the demands of settlement in the New World. African unique culture and customs couldn’t withstand the corroding effects of European colonial expansion. Europeans made contact with political kingdoms on the west coast of Africa and the kingdom supplied them with slaves. Previously, these coastal regions had engaged in periodic wars with inland people and prisoners were taken on a large scale. Europeans gained control of the coast and Africans lost their gold. They were tricked and given items in trade that had lesser value.
Lincoln cleared up the misconceptions about how slaves were brought to the New World from Africa. According to him, Europeans made contact with political kingdoms in West Africa and these kingdoms supplied them with slaves. These coastal empires had long engaged with wars with the inland people and were weaker in political and military organizations. Some prisoners were taken but prior to European contact, there is no evidence that the sale of people to be used as slaves was an established practice.
Slave wars started when Europeans began to buy slaves for commercial purposes and held them in bondage. What had once been limited political warfare became and organized system of raids inland to capture the native population to sell on the coast to European traders.
In the late 1700’s, large numbers of people were taken from the more highly developed nations of West Africa. These captured people were desired for their highly skilled labor potential. Many more were captured from the remote interior villages. When grouping slaves for sale or for work, the slave masters ignored cultural or linguistic differences. The enslaved people sense of personal identity was shattered. The achievements of Africans were obscured to slavery. It was difficult for black Americans to relate positivity to our ancestral land. The African family was destroyed by slavery but some culture survived. In some areas, enslaved people retained some elements of African religion and incorporated them into Christian rituals and practice. In general, the North American enslaved people were so violently severed from their past that black Americans have retained few cultural links from our homeland.
Lincoln wrote “One of the great tragedies of the slave system in America was its effect on slave families. Marriage among slaves was not recognized by law and stable relationships discouraged because they interfered with the availability of slaves for sale or procreation.”
After arriving on American soil in 1619, English law provided that people who had been baptized became enfranchised. America was a proclaimed Christian land. If enslaved people were not Christians, this was used to justify slavery. Conversion to Christianity was the first step many enslaved people took to hopefully gain their freedom. In 1667, Virginia repealed this statue. New laws provided that all bondsmen coming to Virginia by sea shall be slaves for life and those who came by land were to serve a period of apprenticeship. By 1782, more than 260,000 black people were enslaved in Virginia.
After arriving in North America, some remnants of African culture survived. Many black mothers retained a West African tradition of naming their children. Many enslaved children born along Georgia and South Carolina coasts were named for the time of their birth. In some areas, enslaved people retained certain elements of their African religion and incorporated them into Christian rituals and practices.
Some scholars say race esteem is the foundation for self-esteem. The feeling of self-esteem and identity promotes patriotism which is a key to social orientation and development. Black people learned a fragmented and European history. Learning about black history should be embraced by all people and should never stop.
Francie Mae. January 14, 2021.
References
Chlorazzi, Anthony. “The spirituality of Africa.” The Harvard Gazette. October 6, 2015. Website. Accessed January 12, 2021.
C.Eric Lincoln. November 1967. The Negro Pilgrimage In America. Bantam Pathfinder Books.