Transatlantic slave trade
Religion has lived to be an important aspect and part of many people across the globe. Many religions are in existence today and they celebrate their faith in different ways many of which are impacted by the social and cultural practices of the communities around them (Pluralism Project. 2020). Among the Africans before the transatlantic slave trade, their religion was based on oral traditions and as such, it was passed from one generation to the other through the word of mouth. The traditional religious practices were not religious principles, rather, they were forms of cultural identity that would be passed through tales, stories and myths. In the traditional African religion, the moral order is key in every society, and ancestors are a primary element of the major events such as initiations, deaths, weddings and births. As such they offer offerings to the ancestors to honor them in the form of sheep, cows, or chicken which would bring blessings into the gathering (SAHO. 2020). The traditional African religion recognizes the presence of a supreme being which is God, but they do not communicate to him directly. Rather, they trust their ancestors to intercede on their behalf. They are said to consider themselves not worthy of direct communications to the Supreme Being. They have special times in which they call the Supreme Being such as during calamities, during epidemics or when faced with great hardships.
During the transatlantic slave trade, the Africans are said to have brought with them the rich variety of the traditional African religion. Some of these included respect for their ancestors and their powers to intercede for them, healing practices, ecstatic dance and song, rituals of naming and rites such as initiation, and folk tales. These are some of the practices that were transformed when the Africans were introduced to Christianity.
During the slavery period, it was difficult for the Africans to continue with their traditional religious practices due to separation from communities, deaths, being forced into Christianity and being overworked (Pluralism Project. 2020). Although some of the practices died, some, found their way into the African American traditional religious practices. Dance is one of the aspects that found new developments from traditional African religious practices to African American traditional practices. It was a part of the life of the Africans and also on special occasions. A good example is the ring shout and get down which were the worship of the early black Christians and which was believed to be a development of the ecstatic dance traditions of the Africans. Another example is the call-and-response rhythm which was used by the blacks when they were preaching, doing gospel music and hymnody and it was believed to have developed from the West African styles of songs.
Before the kickoff of the transatlantic slave trade, Islam had found its way to West Africa and during the slavery period, the Muslim had a difficult time in the foreign land for they were forced into Christianity, while others were besieged f their religious practices through gross inconvenience with an example of the case of the protestant American mainland (Pluralism Project. 2020). However, Islam found its way after slavery in the form of controversial movements among the African American community. Some of the movements include the Moorish science temple of America and some of the leaders involved in the controversies include Malcolm X. The practices that survived slavery included fasting, praying, reading of the Quran and dietary practices. An example of a slave Muslim was Bilalia Fula.
Studies show that various rituals such as animal sacrifices, healing practices went on for some time in America, but they transformed as Christianity was introduced. Some other practices like the sacrifice of animals to the ancestors continue but the practice is not largely practiced.