African American Spirituality

Throughout history, spirituality has consistently been used to further the control one has over their circumstances. Whether it be attempting to banish demons thought to cause disease or praying for victory in times of war, the sociological trend of humans relying on spirituality when attempting to overcome their struggles is ubiquitous. This especially held true for both Native Americans (natives) and enslaved African Americans, as an immense reliance on plants intersected with spirituality at the foundation of their healing methods and perspectives on health. Furthermore, both of these groups heavily relied on their traditional healing methods as a means of resisting the dehumanization which arose from their oppression; natives used them
to survive, and blacks used them to combat the objectification which accompanied slavery. Native Americans and enslaved African American possessed an immense knowledge of plants which facilitated their healing practices. Native doctors combatted a diverse array of afflictions in their people, such as “arthritis, wounds, and snakebites,” with their comprehensive understanding of plants.1 Similarly, black health practitioners on the plantation relied primarily on the plants within the forests and wetlands surrounding their plantations, like “scurry root, red shank root, and bull tongue root,” as medicinal resources.2 Therefore, at the heart of the medicinal practices for both of these groups was a reliance on plants, which manifested in their utilization and understanding of the wilderness around them. These plants as well as general health and healing were interpreted by Indians and African Americans through a spiritual lens.
Natives, while gathering plants and preparing or administering cures, “performed special rituals such as smoking and offering prayers” to show respect for the supernatural power they believed to be present in plants. They even viewed their own healers as mystical, as it was believed that they possessed a spiritual “special gift of power” which gave them the unique ability to effectively perform healing rituals.3 Likewise, African American healers in slave communities viewed all aspects of health as interweaving with spirituality. Black healers--for example--built their reputation by proclaiming that they held a “reliance on God” when doctoring others and believed conjuring was a potential cause of disease or affliction which had to be fought with the assistance of “conjure doctors,” who combated these afflictions with similar mysticism.4 Therefore, it can be concluded that for both of these groups, spirituality played a significant role in the ways they perceived and addressed healing and
health. These healing methods were an essential tool for Native Americans who were battling vicious disease, and subsequently European colonization. When Europeans arrived to America, they brought with them numerous diseases which natives had not been exposed to, such as “bubonic plague, Smallpox, and measles.” Because natives were not exposed to these diseases, they had “no opportunity to build up immunological resistance” to them. Consequently, when these diseases infiltrated the collective Native American population, population numbers dropped drastically. As a result, tribes were obliterated, and the natives who remained were weakened in their ability to defend themselves, in turn “setting the stage” for them losing land to white colonists.5
Therefore, traditional healing within this troubling time played a simple yet instrumental role in fighting the dehumanization which accompanied European disease: keeping natives alive. Natives used their healing methods to fight for their right to life as well as their people’s right to life. As, for Europeans who regarded the disease they brought to America to be a necessary byproduct of their colonial ambitions, natives’ entitlement to be free from disease and continue to live was not a strong enough concern. In turn, the simple aim to continue existing which underlied healing practices was in itself an attempt to combat dehumanization from whites. African American slaves also found a useful tool for resisting dehumanization in their traditional healing methods, as these methods countered the objectifying nature of slave health care from whites. For slaves, all aspects of health care from white practitioners were bitingly impersonal, as “the medicine of white slaveholders … was deeply implicated in southern legal and economic institutions, which translated slave health into slave-holder wealth.”6 In this way, they were regarded as property, and their health was treated with similar importance to that of livestock. To resist the belittling treatment which accompanied treatment from white doctors, slaves turned to healers within their community for medical assistance. These healers were perceived as more trustworthy than white practitioners because they cared for the health of slaves on a personal level; without any ulterior motives related to “the maintenance of productive and reproductive labor.”7
The healing of black healers also proved to be a humanizing force in itself due to its deep roots in spirituality.
Because their healing placed an emphasis on the relationships between an individual and their “broadly defined community of living kin and neighbors, ancestors, and spirits” when evaluating his or her health, it assured slaves that they were part of a sacred network of individuals.8 This narrative directly contrasted with the disparaging treatment that they received from whites, as it asserted a deeper meaning to the individual’s life experiences. In turn, they were assured of their humanity by their healing practices, despite slavery adamantly denying it to them.
Ultimately, Native Americans and African American slaves both saw the herbal and spiritual aspects of healing to be thoroughly intertwined with one another. Additionally, their traditional healing practices were an essential tool for combatting the dehumanization which accompanied the genocide and objectification faced by Native and African Americans, respectfully. Therefore, their healing practices were inherently political, as they were an essential tool for challenging the authority whites held over their
lives.