Singing for Strength:
Enslaved Africans and Community Building in
the Transatlantic Slave Trade
by J. Hunter Moore
Barracoon, Sierra Leone, 1840’s
From Captive Passage: The Transatlantic Slave Trade…, Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002
Jamaican Instruments from Voyage to the Islands Madera by Sir Hans Sloane (1688)
Funeral in Annabon , 1841
Georgia Prayer Meeting, 1872
Cudjo Lewis (d. 1935) with great-granddaughters
Thesis
Enslaved Africans re-created community through singing,
helping them to resist the dehumanizing effects of
slavery
Main Points
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Singing was a constant feature of community life for
Africans
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Africans identified themselves through social networks
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Slavery destroyed existing networks, threatening identity
•
Enslaved Africans re-created communities and preserved
their identity through singing
First-Hand African Narratives
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Sibell (?)
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Olaudah Equiano Igbo land, Nigeria
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Ottobah Cugoano Gold Coast, Ghana
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Mahomma Gardo Baquaqua Benin, Upper Volta
(all recorded in 18th century)
European Observers
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Early Portuguese account (1445)
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Richard Jobson (1620) Gambia River
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Willem Bosman (1721) Gold Coast
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Mungo Park (1795) Gambia/Niger Rivers
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Thomas Bowdich (1816) Gold Coast
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Hugh Clapperton (1829) Oyo-Yoruba land
Slave Ship Accounts
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Ottomah Cugoano’s account, published in 1787
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Capt. William Snelgrave, 1713
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Mr. Town, 1768-69
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Mr. Janverin, 1767-72
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William Butterfield (Henry Schroeder), 1786-87
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George Pinckard, 1796
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Capt. Hugh Crow, early 1800’s
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Capt. Theodore Canot, 1830’s and 40’s
Celebrations, funerals, rebellions
Jamaica
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Ligon-1673
Sloane-1688, feast days
Leslie-funeral, 1740
Nugent-1801, Christmas celebration
Funeral rebellion plot-1816
Spanish Colonies-18th & early 19th century
• Dia De Reyes-Havana and Santo Domingo
• Florida-Laurel Grove-Christmas and crop festivals
Celebrations, funerals, rebellions
British North America and U.S
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Stono rebellion, 1739
North Carolina drownings, 1800
New Orleans funeral, 1819
New Orleans group celebration, 1831
Wildfire, 1860
Clotilda, 1860
Sea Islands, 1865