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Slave Narratives and Religion

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Published: 12Apr2010
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From reading Slave Narratives it is easy to see that the primary thing slaves were concerned in was not their freedom, er say, but instead it was something non tangible. Slaves were interested in a way to help them survive the harsh conditions of slavery and while they thought that escape would be nice they knew it was a hard option. Instead they found a philosophical escape in Religion. In short, slaves were concerned with God and his ability to give them the relief they so desperately needed, the reasoning that would keep them sane, and the connection that would insure them they were just as human as the white man.

Religion offered many things to the slaves but the first and foremost thing that religion offered them was the thought of Salvation. As we see in Jupiter Hammon's poem, "An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ, with Penetential Cries," the idea of salvation is very comforting to a slave. Namely because a slave was a person put in a ungodly position. He was expected to live not for himself but for his master, he was treated like cattle, and he had no way out. A slave did not have the ability to leave slavery but he did have the ability to believe that their was a less physical means of escape, salvation. Hammon writes on this salvation in his poem saying, "Dear Jesus, we would fly to Thee, And leave off every Sin, Thy tender Mercy well agree; Salvation from our King," each stanza of the poem shows the reader the longing that Hammon has for Salvation, to be brought to heaven, to Jesus, and receive the rest that he really wants (5).

At the same time it can be seen in Slave literature how religion allows the slave to see a connection to their master's. As Phillis Wheatley shows in her poem, "On Being Brought from Africa to America," religion allowed the slaves to form a kind of connection or a similarity between themselves and their masters. This connection, of course, begins with god. In Phillis's poem she finishes by saying, "Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain, May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train"(8). This is saying that they will meet up in heaven because they are Christians just like their white masters.

This connection was important to slaves because it gave them a sense of power over their masters who threw their color around as if it was a deadly sin. Religion also offered one more important thing to the slave who was brought from Africa to America. It gave them an understanding, it gave them a reason for their masters buying them from their homeland and taking them to a country they were not familiar with. Religion, for a lot of slaves was an answer to a burning unfair question. As we see in Jupiter Hammon's poem, "An Address to Phillis Wheatly," a lot of slaves believed they were brought to America so they could learn about Christ, God, and the Christian religion.

In Hammon's poem it clearly says, "adore The wisdom of thy God. In bringing thee from distant shore, To learn His holy word" (1). This suggest that God had slaves brought to America so they can learn and be saved. This would be a very safe and nurturing thought to a people that was ripped from their homes. It is for these reasons that slaves became concerned primarily with religion. First it was a means of escape, it allowed them to believe that they would and could eventually be freed from the torment that slavery had brought them.

Second, it gave them a means of connection between their master and themselves. The fact that all Christians went to heaven if they were free of sin showed them that they and their masters were no different than one another and that any preconceived notion their masters used to make them believe otherwise was in fact, wrong. Lastly, it brought them an understanding, it allowed them to see and explain why they were brought to America in the first place and it did it in such a way that made them feel it had to be done for the greater good. Overall, it appears that the primary concern of slaves was religion because it offered them hope, reason, and an overall connection that kept them as human as their masters.

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