Burial, Mourning, and Death Practices Among African Americans in the American South 1848-1877
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Category
Social Sciences/Humanities
Abstract/Artist Statement
The discussion of death and death practices within the humanities discipline is crucial to our understanding of what it means to be human, grief, and historical injustices. Historical discussions of death practices help illuminate the changing values of society. Between 1848 and 1877 death was a prominent part of people’s lives, in no small part because of the American Civil War, but also because of the institution of slavery. Death practices were much different during this period than today and understanding how people historically treated the dead helps us to better understand the people themselves. Pieced together from memoirs, plantation ledgers, African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church records, and newspapers is the study of burial, mourning, and death practices among African Americans in the American South 1848-1877 with the intention of exemplifying agency within these practices, contrasting these practices from Antebellum to Postbellum, and detailing both how these practices were influenced by enslavement and emancipation as well as how these practices influenced Southern culture more generally.
The Antebellum and Postbellum South experienced rapid change between the years 1848 and 1877. Perhaps most prominent among those changes was the emancipation of approximately four million enslaved Black people. Impacted by emancipation was the burial of the dead. It is important to understand that the ways in which enslaved and free Black people mourned and buried their dead could be tools of resistance. Holding funerals even when it was dangerous to do so, maintaining watch over the dead, and expressive displays of grief, enslaved and free Black people carved out their own practices distinct from white people. Through critique of white Christians, songs of mourning, and traditional West African burial customs Black people took back control of their narrative and resisted white supremacy. In the midst of sorrow, slavery, and unprecedented change Black people were able to validate their own humanity when the white South would not.
This study seeks to illuminate customs that were born out of necessity and represented self-affirmations of humanity in the face of violent white supremacy. Furthermore, this study is relevant because many of the funeral and religious customs that Black people practiced during this time period persist today. The origins of these burial customs are firmly rooted in West Africa, representing an unbroken link from past to present. When studies of Reconstruction, enslavement, and the Civil War era discuss death it is often a discussion of scale and brutality. The heart of this study is its assertion of the presence of humanity and agency within death and mourning.
Mentor Name
Tobin Shearer
Burial, Mourning, and Death Practices Among African Americans in the American South 1848-1877
UC 330
The discussion of death and death practices within the humanities discipline is crucial to our understanding of what it means to be human, grief, and historical injustices. Historical discussions of death practices help illuminate the changing values of society. Between 1848 and 1877 death was a prominent part of people’s lives, in no small part because of the American Civil War, but also because of the institution of slavery. Death practices were much different during this period than today and understanding how people historically treated the dead helps us to better understand the people themselves. Pieced together from memoirs, plantation ledgers, African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church records, and newspapers is the study of burial, mourning, and death practices among African Americans in the American South 1848-1877 with the intention of exemplifying agency within these practices, contrasting these practices from Antebellum to Postbellum, and detailing both how these practices were influenced by enslavement and emancipation as well as how these practices influenced Southern culture more generally.
The Antebellum and Postbellum South experienced rapid change between the years 1848 and 1877. Perhaps most prominent among those changes was the emancipation of approximately four million enslaved Black people. Impacted by emancipation was the burial of the dead. It is important to understand that the ways in which enslaved and free Black people mourned and buried their dead could be tools of resistance. Holding funerals even when it was dangerous to do so, maintaining watch over the dead, and expressive displays of grief, enslaved and free Black people carved out their own practices distinct from white people. Through critique of white Christians, songs of mourning, and traditional West African burial customs Black people took back control of their narrative and resisted white supremacy. In the midst of sorrow, slavery, and unprecedented change Black people were able to validate their own humanity when the white South would not.
This study seeks to illuminate customs that were born out of necessity and represented self-affirmations of humanity in the face of violent white supremacy. Furthermore, this study is relevant because many of the funeral and religious customs that Black people practiced during this time period persist today. The origins of these burial customs are firmly rooted in West Africa, representing an unbroken link from past to present. When studies of Reconstruction, enslavement, and the Civil War era discuss death it is often a discussion of scale and brutality. The heart of this study is its assertion of the presence of humanity and agency within death and mourning.