Short Essay 3

Thousands upon thousands of Africans were taken from their homeland during the slave trade.  They were forced into cultures that they were unfamiliar with and others that they had been in frequent contact with.  To cope with this change, Africans created a Creole culture, which was a mix between their African descent and their new American surroundings.  Some Creole cultures focused more on the African culture than others; they were Creoles first- Americans second.  African sailors accepted more of the European and American culture as their own, they were Americans first and Creoles second.  According to W. Jeffrey Bolster in “Black Jacks: African American Seamen in the Age of Sail” Africans, free and slave, created a culture of  “Americanism” because of the unique opportunities they were given.

Bolster argues that the reason African sailors created a different Creole culture than other Africans was due to the unique opportunities they were given.  African sailors whether free or slaves were given many of the same opportunities as white sailors.  If a slave were skilled enough to pilot a ship he would be given the task.  “Skilled slaves” would develop “a sense of self-worth from handling people as well as vessels” especially if those they were commanding were free blacks (Bolster, 136).  Slaves who worked on the land were not able to build skills to better themselves as slave sailors did and that made sailors unique.

Black sailors were also given the opportunity to travel to many different places and come in contact with other cultures.  This not only increased their knowledge of the world, but it gave them a sense of freedom.  While other slaves were confined to the plantation on which they worked, sailors were given “considerable amounts of time without white supervision; substantial freedom of movement; and an independent income” (Bolster, 135).  The income that they earned was sometimes saved and used in order for a slave to buy his freedom.  Plantation slaves and others who worked on the land were rarely able to gain an income to purchase their freedom.

The “black Atlantic maritime tradition” as Bolster called it, allowed blacks to create a new culture based on their African heritage and the American culture they were in constant contact with (Bolster, 62).  The different lifestyle that black sailors became accustomed to was the main reason that they considered themselves Americans first and African Creoles second.  While they did create a new culture just as other Africans in other parts of the Americas did, sailor’s sense of freedom that they were given made them unique from other Africans.  Bolster argued that “a somewhat independent existence could be created within the bounds of slavery” (Bolster, 133).

Slave sailors were different from other slaves also because they were able to “develop skills, promote self-discipline, inculcate responsibility, [and] take pleasure from a job well done” (Bolster, 136).  While black sailors may have distrusted whites “they also learned that their white shipmates would frequently disregard conventional racial etiquette” (Bolster, 101).  African sailors were given unique opportunities to be treated like many whites.  As one man put it “in the presence of the sailor, the Negro feels as a man” (Bolster, 101).  Bolster had many arguments as to why African sailors were different than other Africans in America, but the unique opportunities that they were given such as freedom of movement and travel and the ability to pilot ships allowed African sailors to create their own Creole culture.

Short Essay 2

African slaves were forced into societies with cultures that were very different from their own.  When they were forced to leave their homes and were taken to the Americas many of them took much of their cultural identities with them.  Some slaves still managed to maintain some of their beliefs and practices by passing on knowledge to their children.  Over time many Africans had become devout Christians and Catholics, they began to speak Spanish or other European languages, and they adopted many European practices.  In order to maintain a sense of their heritage slaves modified their beliefs and cultural practices to suite their new surroundings (Thornton, 209-210). 

            The Catholic Church was very strict in their beliefs and anything that strayed from that was considered to be of the Devil (McKnight & Garofalo, 174).  It was not uncommon for an Afro-Latino, free or slave, to be accused of witchcraft or sorcery because they would continue to practice their pagan beliefs.  Many Africans and would use “a variety of charms, talismans, and rituals to bring themselves luck and to protect themselves from various maladies” (McKnight & Garofalo, 176).  This practice was brought with them from Africa, but the Church saw it as a threat and as idolatrous and therefore it was a crime.

One woman who continued to follow African practices was tried and convicted of witchcraft.  She was a baptized Catholic, but her beliefs were somewhat modified because of the knowledge she had of her African culture.  Paula de Eguiluz was tried three times for witchcraft; in 1624, 1632, and 1636 (McKnight & Garofalo, 175-177).  She was accused of killing an infant, disappearing without a trace, selling potions, and numerous other acts.  Paula de Eguiluz had done nothing wrong, in fact her explanations for each and every one of her accusations were very logical.  The baby was going to die anyway because its belly was swollen and all she did was wrap the baby up with some herbs, yet she was accused of sucking “the life out of her through her naval” (McKnight & Garofalo, 183).  She was also accused of disappearing and landing on a rocky area without getting hurt.  Her explanation for that was that she jumped out a window and landed in the water which is why she was unharmed.  Another accusation was that she had taken bones from a grave to grind up and give to her master to help him get better.  She said she was told to grind up the bones with some orange peel and rosemary and give to her master to remedy a fever, but she did not because her master would not let her. The simple acts of putting herbs on a dying baby and wanting to help her master get better caused her to be accused of witchcraft.  She had done nothing wrong except to follow pagan practices. 

Thornton argued that Africans brought their individual cultures over to the Americas and due to the European influence that they encountered cultures were modified (Thornton, 206). This becomes evident when looking at the trials of Paula de Eguiluz.  She was baptized as a Catholic and appears to believe in the Christian doctrine, yet her actions show that she still maintained some of her African culture.  She continued to use herbal remedies for healing and spells and even tried to give Christian purposes to them to satisfy the Church, but they were not satisfied (McKnight & Garofalo, 177).  Unfortunately Paula de Eguiluz was unable to practice and maintain her cultural practices without scrutiny, but it is evident that African culture did not disappear once Africans were brought to the Americas.