Traditional African Religion is Science

Specific problems are solved by common sense. General problems are solved by theory.


From Pattern of Thought in Africa and the West by Robin Horton

I suggest that in traditional Africa, relations between common sense and theory are essentially the same as in Europe. That is, common sense is the handier and more economic tool for coping with a wide range of circumstances in everyday life. Nevertheless, there are certain circumstances that can only be coped with in terms of wider casual vision than common sense provides. And in these circumstances there is a jump to theoretical thinking.... But it is only from the more recent studies of African cosmologies, where religious beliefs are shown in the context of the various everyday contingencies they are invoked to explain, that we have begun to see how traditional religious thought also operates by similar process of abstraction, analysis and reintegration. 

A Goal of Black Religious Studies and more?

From African American Religious Studies: An Interdisciplinary Anthology -- Edited by Gayraud S. Wilmore

"But what is ultimately desirable is what might be called a "second conversion experience" -- away from naive faith, unduly influenced by white evangelicalism appropriated during slavery--to a new persona grounded in mature learned reappropriation of faith in the "God of our weary years...of our silent tears...who has brought us thus far along the way." The liberating God of Africa and of Afro-America: this God alone is the source of the power that holds the entire system of faith and praxis together, with creative energies flowing back and forth between the student, the classroom and congregation; all within the context of a specific sociopolitical situation and analysis."

This is Gayraud Wilmore's vision for African American Religious studies, but I think it should be broaden to include African American religion as a whole.

1624 Christianized Blacks Granted Freedom

In Virginia, the baptism of Blacks conferred special privileges. Since Virginia was a royal colony, the laws of England generally governed the colony. English law declared that a slave who had been "christened or baptised" became "infranchised." Thus, John Phillip, a black "christened" man, could testify in general court against a white man. Philip was considered a free man because he had been baptized twelve years before in England. - from Black Saga by Charles M. Christian. 

As you can see giving up your native African religion to practice Christianity could be a path toward freedom. Once you were baptized or christened you now had a soul; whereas before, if you were Black, you didn't. Later on, of course, becoming Christian didn't make you free. Many slaveholders used the Bible as a justification for slavery.

Women in Traditional African Religion

This is a small snippet from a larger scholarly article. http://www.mamiwata.com/women.html

"With few exceptions African Societies have been described from a masculine perspective. However, a feminine perspective on women’s' roles in traditional religion can be richly illuminating .  This paper will therefore focus on the possibility of a feminine image of deity in African traditional religions and the functions of women, in a world which is fundamentally masculine." 

from

WOMEN IN AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGIONSby Kenneth Kojo AntiFaculty of EducationUniversity of Cape Coast

Cape Coast, Ghana, West Africa 

"All of us are interracial"

DNA study seeks origin of Appalachia’s Melungeons

Check out this article:

http://news.yahoo.com/dna-study-seeks-origin-appalachias-melungeons-201144041.html

Miles and Coltrane

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch9yMBDgqRU&feature=related

First Slave Revolt in Hispaniola

The first slave revolt in Hispaniola (the island of Haiti and Dominican Republic) occurred in 1522. Reports noted that approximately forty African slaves, apparently reacting to harsh laws passed to control them, killed their masters and escaped to the hills. Later, new legislation was passed to ensure that slaves were treated with more consideration." - Black Saga by Charles M. Christian

Lesson: Sometimes you have to fight for freedom.