... from the depredations of slavery. This cultural vitality also spread into and incorporated European cultural developments. The most important areas of this cultural legacy are those of art, medicine, music/dance, religion, beliefs, folktales and language. During colonialism, Africans were taught that their cultures were less evolved as Western cultures. Africans were forced to learn European languages, history and ... from Africa in creating music such as drums, shak-shak rattles and calabash gourds fitted with twine or horsehair strings13. European instruments were then integrated in th...

• Word Count: 2280
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... used proverbs to express the cruelty in their master's character and practice without him knowing. The black folk cries, hollers, and shouts are also an important part of the African and African American culture and tradition. In 1963, folklorist Harold Courlander, described a folk cry her heard at night while traveling through the Nigerian countryside. After one Nigerian let out an ... The folk cries were also a means by which the slaves would send warnings to other slaves of an approaching master or overseer. The slaves also performed the "ring shout", a holy dance, as a way of commu...

• Word Count: 1214
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... , ways of religious worship, and traditions that are with the American culture to this day. Montgomery 2 Storytelling/folklore The African tradition of professional entertainment dates back to ancient times. Storytelling, music, and dance have all played a central role in African culture, because they help preserve history and religious and social customs. Traditional drama in Africa combines storytelling, songs, and dances ... at worship, work, and play tapping all their moods" (Owens, 171). For entertainment slaves made musical instruments with carved motifs that resembled African strin...

• Word Count: 2002
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... The audience is active and essential to the music. The music does not exist without significant involvement of work, dance, song or clapping of hands. This essay will focus on cultural themes in Jamaica's colonial history, which contributed to the retention of African forms of musical expression. The goal is to learn something about the process of change itself, a fact of ... on family. This will be accomplished by reviewing several themes such as slavery, resistance and rebellion, religion, and preservation as they pertain to a distinctly African heritage resplendent in early Jamaican ...

• Word Count: 1965
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... societies with varying religious beliefs slaves from West and Central Africa shared common characteristics. An Obeah, male or female was an important person in African society, the Obeah was able to ward of evil, expressing community values they articulated themselves through rituals that any whites watching found difficult to ... doctrine remained unknown and incomprehensible (Walvin 2001;p161)". During these years" black and white mixed, with both attending the same churches. LEISURE (MUSIC AND DANCE) "Slaves often sang when at work in the fields or factory, measuring out via songs the...

• Word Count: 2095
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... to offset the debilitating effects of the Middle Passage. Officers, usually boatswains, mates, and surgeons, were armed with whips such as the cat-o'-nine-tails and forced the African captives to dance. The crew's power was enforced through such torture devices as thumbscrews and iron collars. There were several tubs in each compartment below deck in which slaves could relieve ... past, historians have argued that Africans were a low-cost labor alternative to scarce Indian labor (scarce, because most Indian populations were destroyed by disease) or expensive European labor. African skin...

• Word Count: 5818
• Approx Pages: 23
• Grade Level: Undergraduate