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Station 4

Station 4. Exhibits 1 to 5. Station 4/Exhibit 1: Slave Society and Culture Informational Text.

laurence-lemaitre
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Station 4

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  1. Station 4 Exhibits 1 to 5

  2. Station 4/Exhibit 1: Slave Society and Culture Informational Text • The slave family. While without legal standing, slave marriages were accepted by most planters because they believed marriage made slaves easier to control and less likely to run away. The marriage ceremony itself might have consisted of a man and woman “ jumping the broom,” a custom that affirmed their commitment to each other before the slave community; a formal wedding in the main house with the planter and his family; or just a simple agreement from the owner. A planter or farmer's acceptance of marriage did not mean, however, that he respected the institution. Selling wives away from husbands or children from parents was common. Slave children who were sent to another plantation would be taken in by a family belonging to their new owner. • Slave religion and culture. In much the same way they viewed slave marriage, planters also saw religion as a means of controlling their slaves, and they encouraged it. Slaves, in a prayer house built on the plantation or at services in their master's nearby church, heard time and again a simple sermon—obey your master and do not steal or lie. But the slaves also developed their own religion, often an amalgam of evangelical Christianity and West-African beliefs and practices, and it was the source of a very different message. At services held secretly during the evening in the slave quarters or nearby woods, prayers, songs, and sermons focused on ultimate deliverance from bondage. Not at all surprising was the emphasis on Moses, the “promised land,” and the Israelites' release from Egypt in both slave religion and song. • Music, particularly what became known as the “Negro spiritual,” was an important part of slave culture. It seemed to southern whites that slaves sang all the time, and many Southern planters argued that this showed slaves were happy and content with their lot. They evidently ignored the songs' lyrics about the burden of backbreaking labor; sorrow over the breakup of families; and hope for the end to slavery, either in the hereafter or sooner, if escape to the North could be arranged. Often, slave spirituals were sang by slaves wishing to communicate important messages about escape. The song “Wade in the Water”, for instance, was sung by Harriet Tubman, who would walk along the path of the underground Railroad to warn escapees that slave hunters and dogs were looking for them and to hide in the water to erase their scent.

  3. Station 4/Exhibit 2:Slave Narratives about Education and Religion I have no education. I can neither read nor write. As a slave I was not allowed to have books. On Sundays I would go into the woods and gather ginseng which I would sell to the doctors for from 10¢ to 15¢ a pound and with this money I would buy a book that was called the Blue Back Speller. Our master would not allow us to have any books and when we were lucky enough to own a book we would have to keep it hid, for if our master would find us with a book he would whip us and take the book from us. After receiving three severe whippings I gave up and never again tried for any learning, and to this day I can neither read not write. George Thompson, enslaved in Kentucky We slips off and have prayer but daren’t ’low [allow] the white folks know it and sometimes we hums ’ligious songs low like when we’sworkin’. It was our way of prayin’ to be free, but the white folks didn’t know it. Millie Ann Smith, enslaved in Texas

  4. Station 4/Exhibit 3: Slave Society and Culture: Slave Spiritual—use with audio/headphones Wade in the Water-Slave Spiritual • (Chorus)Wade in the water.Wade in the water, children.Wade in the water.God's gonna trouble the water. • Well, who are these children all dressed in red?God's a-gonna trouble the waterMust be the children that Moses ledGod's a-gonna trouble the water. • Chorus • Who's that young girl dressed in white Wade in the Water Must be the Children of Israelites God's gonna trouble the Water. • Chorus • Jordan's water is chilly and cold.God's gonna trouble the water.It chills the body, but not the soul.God's gonna trouble the water. • Chorus • If you get there before I do.God's gonna trouble the water.Tell all of my friends I'm coming too.God's gonna trouble the water. • Chorus http://testaae.greenwood.com/aae-files/ResourceFiles/PQ752/media/wadeinthewater.mp3

  5. Station 4/Exhibit 4: Slave Society and Culture: Extended slave family in front of a cabin

  6. Station 4: Slave Society and CultureExhibit 5: Slaves in front of their cabin

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