During the period of slavery, enslaved Africans were used as labours on the British Caribbean
plantations.These Africans were captured and brought to the “New World” (discovered by
Spanish explorers and Christopher Columbus.)and forced into a system of servitude.However,
this research will prove that the enslaved Africans did not give up their culture after leaving
Africa, while on the plantations.
Harsh treatment of slaves by the planter, often forced slaves to resort to their various forms of
resistance in order to keep their culture forms alive.Even when the planters made the slaves life
extremely difficult, the slaves still managed to retain as much of their culture.
Cultural forms practised by African slaves on the plantations included music and dance, religion,
medicine, language, food, skills, customs, and dress.
Religion
The Africans practiced Shango, Kumina,and Pocomania on the plantation on different
islands.They practice spirit worship and spirit possession,they would go to an obeah man who
would provide charms and promises of protection to the slaves.There was a mixture of African
and European religion such as voodoo in Haiti, shangoism in Trinidad, Santeria in Cuba,
pocomania/revivalism in Jamaica.
Medicine
They would use a lot of herbs to cure many of their diseases, these were prescribed by either
the bush doctor, obeah man or myla men and women on the estate.
Language
Many dialects and languages were spoken by the Africans amongst each other therefore it was
not easy for them to communicate.So the slaves evolved a common language creole made up
of French and spanish elements and patois made up of english and african elements.These
forms of dialects or languages were passed down from generation words such as (patois words:
pickney,nyam, and greo).
Food
The consumption of ground provisions like yam, black-eyed peas, potato, dasheen, banana,
ackee(came from west africa) and plantain all came from the African cuisine. Some of the
cooked food made were jerk chicken, callaloo, coconut rundown, fritters. The cooking method of
jerking meat was derived from their culture.
This is an example of fu fu serve with stew
Music/Dance
Africans dance and sang at nights and on the weekends to entertain themselves, when they
were working they sang call and response songs in the fields and any work they did. It was their
way of communicating without the planters noticing what they were saying in the songs.They
sang and danced at celebrations such as Christmas, crop over, and at funerals and at their
worship services, which they held in secret.
They used drums, rattles made from the gourds filled with small stones or seeds, flute, banjos,
mouth violins, tambourines, and xylophones produce their music.Dancers sometimes tied rattles
to their legs and wrists, while the onlookers clapped their hands rhythmically as they sang
along.The planters generally disliked the slaves music because they felt that the music was
noisy.
Clothing
The African enslaved were given either two suits of clothing per year or the equivalent yards of
osnaburg. The slaves clothing was usually very rough and inadequate. Men commonly had only
two trousers and two or three shirts to last the year. The female slaves had a similar number of
dresses in dull colors. These clothes were often made from osnaburg (commonly called Negro
cloth). Osnaburg is a heavy course cotton of the kind used today in feed sacks or drapes. Male
and female children wore only a shirt until they were grown, then they started wearing clothes.
Women wore tie heads with was a piece of cloth wrapped around the head.
A specimen of male enslaved
A sample of osnaburg
