When the average American thinks of Black History Month and the purpose of it most of us automatically focus our attention on the Civil Rights Movement and the leaders that emerged during that era. Although that period was certainly a notable for Americans of African descent it gives only a small glimpse at the beautiful portrait of the landscape of “black” history.
From the early arrival of African slaves, through the Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the Great Depression, the Civil Rights era, and into the 21st century our faith has shaped and molded our culture. In observance of Black History Month, Sisters of the Faith will pay homage to the many notable but, seldom recognized, men and women that contributed to the unshakable connections between our faith and our moral values.
One of the most common misconceptions about Christianity was that it turned Africans into servile slaves. A more accurate reading suggests that Africans accepted and incorporated aspects of Christianity that were in keeping with their traditional belief systems. Others withstood centuries of slavery and missionary influence to practice traditional beliefs that thrived despite great attempts by the respective authorities to stamp them out.
Christian scriptures were used as part of a process to enslave and dehumanize Africans and for these Christians the Church must work to end the legacies of slavery and the racism that still continues to blight church and society.
The Africans who embraced Christianity identified closely with the Bible’s view of freedom, equality and justice and especially drew parallels between their own situation and the Hebrew people in the Book of Exodus. Indeed, such was the potency of this Old Testament story that many clergymen were instructed to avoid it in their Bible lessons. However, for the Africans it demonstrated that God was on the side of the oppressed and would send a Moses to free them. It was ironic that for Africans, the Americas (the USA in particular) represented the Biblical Egypt or Babylon – a place from which to escape – while for persecuted European Christians it was the Promised Land.
Olaudah Equiano composed the first-ever slave autobiography as a freed slave living in England. His autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Written by Himself, became a best-seller both in England and America, and fueled the beginnings of an anti-slavery movement. Equiano tells the story of his life from boyhood onwards; he was born in an Ibo village in western Africa, sold into slavery to another village, moved to yet another village as a slave, and finally captured and sold to European slavers. His narrative is one of the few that discusses the difference between American and African forms of slavery. His autobiography discusses the religious practices of western Africans, compares these practices to Christianity and Judaism, and also narrates his trials as a slave in Africa. The book is best-known for its description of the inhumane “middle passage” to America, which killed perhaps 50% of those who were captured by or sold to European slavers. Equiano eventually ended up in the West Indies, a region characterized by particular savagery on the part of slave-owners. While a slave, he learned the trade of merchant sea-faring, traveling up and down the coast of America. On the side, he was able to raise enough money to buy his freedom. He moved to England, married, and had children. In 1789, he published The Interesting Narrative of the Live of Olaudah Equiano, Written by Himself.
Since English Common Law suggested that Christians could not be slaves Equiano chose to convert to Christianity. Equiano was baptized a Christian in London at St. Margaret’s Church in 1759. In his Narrative, he explains that a female relation of his master often told him that he could not go to Heaven unless he was Baptized. He asked this woman, Miss Guerin, to have him baptized, and she convinced his master to do so. She then went on to teach Equiano to read and instructed him on the principles of Christianity Six years later, he heard the famous preacher of the Great Awakening, George Whitefield, preach in Savannah.
Equiano traveled to Nicaragua in 1775 as a Christian missionary. He was accompanying a man named Dr. Irving who wanted to establish a plantation on the Mosquito Coast. Equiano sought to Christianize the Indian population there.
Back in England, Equiano became an active abolitionist. He lectured against the cruelty of British slave owners. He spoke out against the English slave trade. He worked to resettle freed slaves.
By 1789, the year he published his autobiography, Olaudah Equiano was a well-known abolitionist.
Ten years after his death in 1797, the English slave trade was finally abolished.
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