From this week’s reading, Higginson’s writing on slave, or negro, spirituals really sparked my attention. His commentary on what he thought the slaves we singing about actually made me laugh. Most of the songs have suicidal references or some indication that they wanted to die. I just don’t understand how Higginson thought, from the song Room in There, “my mudder” was related to Romandar. I searched for Romandar’s meaning and only found that it was associated with creativity. The only logical explanation for his lack of knowledge is that mudder was a creative dialect of the word mother because I’m pretty positive that’s what the slaves were saying. The one song that I wish had a more suitable explanation is Hail Mary. This song is very meaningful because of the line “to help me bear de cross.” I want to know more about what they meant. Was the cross reference to slavery in general or just their sorrows? Why were they calling up to Mary? I also wish Higginson expressed each song origins. That would’ve helped me process the reasoning behind some of the sayings. Higginson’s idea of formalizing the songs together was incredible; I just wish the execution was more relative and true to the meaning and experiences of slaves.

As I was reading Jupiter Hammon’s “An Address to the Negroes in the State of New York,” I began to feel as if I was reading work by Booker T.  Washington. Hammon’s ideas of slaves obeying their masters are critically what Washington stood for. Washington urged slaves to accept discrimination and focus on improving their education rather than their political status. Hammon urged slaves to be grateful for the situation they were in, making the accusation that it was God’s will. How are men’s vacuous, intolerant ways doings of God? I understand the concept of what Hammon was trying to illustrate, but the manner in which it was proclaimed was an offense to God; the same goes for Washington. The idea that slaves obeying the masters to eventually make them feel wrong is a long stretch that has no guarantee of occurring. The fault with the demeanor of both Washington and Hammon is that it empowered the white population to continue mistreating enslaved individuals and did not take the feelings of slaves into consideration.  I personally was disgusted and appalled by the writing of Jupiter Hammon, as I was when I first learned about Booker T. Washington.

In Harvey’s work, there is a section that speaks on Yoruba, which is a tribe in western Nigeria. The tribe spoke in tongues to appease various deities. This makes me wonder whether the modern-day practice of speaking in tongues was derived from this Nigerian practice. I watched videos on YouTube of native Yoruba tribesmen speaking in tongues, and it is verbatim how Christians now speak in tongue. The Yoruba language could be mistaken for tongues; it’s that close in style. In my opinion, the only logical reasoning behind the similarities is that the Yoruba tribe’s practice was spread during slavery.

A video of Yoruba tribesmen speaking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYHmDRpFgCI

Additionally, the work includes the idea of fetishes being a major part of African religions. Gods used their powers to manipulate material fetishes. Africans used their fetishes to ward off evil. Fetishes, now, have a negative connotation. Currently, if you have a fetish, you are deemed as a nymphomaniac or have a psychological problem. Also, fetishes are viewed as being demonic in many current practices of Christianity. Accordingly, based on Christian beliefs, having a fetish is the devil’s way of interfering in your life. I find it interesting how fetishes made a 360 switch, and I wonder how people who originated from the African ideas handled it. Was the discrimination of fetishes sudden or did it gradually happen over time due to the expansion of psychological knowledge?

DISCLAIMER: All of the assumptions I made were based on the fact that Harvey’s work is the history of African American Christianity. My focus was geared towards comparing modern-day Christianity, within my level of knowledge and exposure, to the African traditions that were written, in hopes of creating a Venn Diagram type of post.