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

Enslaved Africans re-created community through singing, helping them to resist the dehumanizing effects of slavery Thesis

Singing was a constant feature of community life for Africans Africans identified themselves through social networks Slavery destroyed existing networks, threatening identity Enslaved Africans re-created communities and preserved their identity through singing Main Points

First-Hand African Narratives Sibell (?) Olaudah Equiano Igbo land, Nigeria Ottobah Cugoano Gold Coast, Ghana Mahomma Gardo Baquaqua Benin, Upper Volta (all recorded in 18 th century)

European Observers Early Portuguese account (1445) Richard Jobson (1620) Gambia River Willem Bosman (1721) Gold Coast Mungo Park (1795) Gambia/Niger Rivers Thomas Bowdich (1816) Gold Coast Hugh Clapperton (1829) Oyo-Yoruba land

Slave Ship Accounts Ottomah Cugoano’s account, published in 1787 Capt. William Snelgrave, 1713 Mr. Town, Mr. Janverin, William Butterfield (Henry Schroeder), George Pinckard, 1796 Capt. Hugh Crow, early 1800’s Capt. Theodore Canot, 1830’s and 40’s

Celebrations, funerals, rebellions Jamaica Ligon-1673 Sloane-1688, feast days Leslie-funeral, 1740 Nugent-1801, Christmas celebration Funeral rebellion plot-1816 Spanish Colonies-18 th & early 19 th century Dia De Reyes-Havana and Santo Domingo Florida-Laurel Grove-Christmas and crop festivals

Celebrations, funerals, rebellions British North America and U.S Stono rebellion, 1739 North Carolina drownings, 1800 New Orleans funeral, 1819 New Orleans group celebration, 1831 Wildfire, 1860 Clotilda, 1860 Sea Islands, 1865