The original religion of the African People was animism, which is the worshipping of the spirits. Animists believe that all things have a spirit or soul, including animals, plants, rivers, mountains, stars, the moon, and the sun. Each being is considered a spirit that can offer help or harm to humans. Thus, spirits must either be worshiped or appeased. Animists offer sacrifices, prayers, dances, or other forms of devotions to these spirits in hopes of blessing upon areas of life (crops, health, fertility, etc.) or for protection from harm. The majority of native Africans followed this religion as they found order, peace, and happiness in respecting all aspects of the envi
ronment and their world. This changed, however, with the beginning of the slave trade.
As millions of Africans were stolen from their home and shipped across the sea, they found themselves in America. In America many steps were taken by white slave owners to weaken their captives. They were looking for a way to best control the African people and they learned that religion could do that. First they had to break the enslaved people’s tie with their own African religion in order to make room for Christianity. This was accomplished using a few different techniques. White masters separated slaves that spoke the same tribal languages so that they couldn’t communicate with each other. This prevented community praying, a large practice within African culture. Furthermore, dividing the families of the prisoners gave the owners more control, but also broke down the spirit of the enslaved, as they believed wholeheartedly in worshipping together, according to academia.edu in a study on the role of religion in Africa. With their family units broken, their African beliefs were broken, too, making them more willing to accepting another religion. Additionally, the constant work required didn’t leave the slaves with time for their own practices. Slave owners made a point of finding more work to be done at times when they thought their African captives might be gathering for spiritual rituals.
As they broke down the spirits of the enslaved people, white owners began introducing Christianity as a means of further controlling and enforcing rules over the Africans. They enticed them with promises of heaven, ensuring that all suffering during life would pay off after death when god would accept you into his magical kingdom. This gave some enslaved black people hope for the future and some gained a sense of passivity. Converting slaves to Christianity was an effective means to gaining control over them because the Africans wanted to be accepted into heaven and were willing to follow the master’s rules to get there.
