Rites of Passage

Life changes and transitions are normally marked by ceremonies and rituals, or rites of passage. Dennis O'Neil referred to these transitions as "life crises," and listed among them "birth, the onset of puberty, marriage, life-threatening illness or injury, and finally death" (O'Neil 2007). Modern cultures often also mark passage for events such as graduation from school, divorce, and career retirement. Although O'Neil's definition fits many cultures and peoples, it does not accurately describe the rites of passage experienced by slaves in America from the onset of slavery to emancipation in the nineteenth century.

The Belgian anthropologist Arnold van Gennep (1873–1857) remarked that rites of passage are "intentionally ritualized ceremonies [that] help individuals making the transition, as well as their relatives and friends, pass through an emotionally charged, tense time" (O'Neil 2007). For slaves during the early stages of U.S. slavery, this definition applied only partially. Their rites of passage were certainly emotionally charged and traumatic, but there was no celebration. One rite of passage for early slaves was their introduction to the West African slave trade. The initial capturing, selling, and forced voyage of these slaves across the ocean in cramped, inhumane conditions was a nightmarish initiation into a life of slavery; it was the "birth" into their new lives of bondage. For many, this Middle Passage was too much to bear, and many slaves chose not to make this horrifying passage into a life of servitude.

As for those who survived the Middle Passage, perhaps reasoning that conditions would improve once land was reached, their rites of passage were not typical either. Moreover, once enough slaves were brought to America to sustain the ugly business of slavery, and as more slaves were encouraged to have children in order to strengthen the labor force on plantations, the Middle Passage became less frequent. The birth of children into slavery brought about new and numerous rites of passage.

Although childhood is often considered a special time, if it was special for a slave child, it was because the mother made it so. The parents—particularly the mother, because the father was often the plantation's master or a slave who was sold off to another plantation—were responsible for looking out for the child's well-being and for providing any happiness that might be achieved under such circumstances. Nevertheless, children's bonds with their parents were often severed at an early age by slave owners, who sought to maintain psychological control over their chattel. Frederick Douglass remarked of his passage from infancy to child slave:

My mother and I were separated when I was but an infant—before I knew her as my mother. It is a common custom … to part children from their mothers at a very early age. Frequently, before the child has reached its twelfth month, its mother is taken from it, and hired out on some farm a considerable distance off, and the child is placed under the care of an old woman, too old for field labor. (Douglass [1845] 1997, p. 310)

Such separation hindered the child's bond with his or her mother. In cases where children were born to a slave who had been impregnated by her master, the slave was often sold off at the request of the plantation's mistress.

A slave child's life was never easy, and his or her formative years were colored by dread and fear and weighed down by the ever-present knowledge of being a slave. Although some slave children were cared for by infirm slaves while the child's parent(s) were out in the field or working in the master's house, many children were not afforded such an opportunity. Many were strapped to their mothers' backs while the mothers worked in the fields; others were placed on pallets at the end of crop rows, kept in view of their mothers. Others, as soon as they were physically capable, were given chores and had to assume the duties of a slave, just like the adults. For slaves, youth was lost once they were physically mature enough for labor. If a child survived early age, he or she was set to work on the plantation, for no child was spared labor, whether it was in the fields or in the house.

Both males and females suffered physical brutality at the hands of the masters, but often the females suffered sexual abuse as well. This was a dreaded passage into womanhood. Harriet Jacobs describes the fear in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861). When confronted with the choice of securing her freedom or succumbing to the sexual advances of a man who would buy her freedom, Linda, shackled by guilt and shame, expresses the dilemma female slaves often faced:

You never knew what it is to be a slave; to be entirely unprotected by law or customs; to have the laws reduce you to the condition of chattel, entirely subject to the will of another. You never exhausted your ingenuity in avoiding the snares, and eluding the power of a hated tyrant; you never shuddered at the sound of his footsteps, and trembled within hearing of his voice. I know I did wrong. No one can feel it more sensibly than I do. The painful and humiliating memory will haunt me to my dying day. Still, in looking back, calmly, on the events of my life, I feel that the slave woman ought not to be judged by the same standard as others. (Jacobs [1861] 1997, p. 220)

Female slaves, no matter how virtuous they attempted to remain, always knew they were considered property and stood a chance of being raped and perhaps impregnated; their bodies simply were not theirs to govern. Such were the rites of passage into womanhood for many female slaves.

Beyond the milestones of abuse that marked a slave's indoctrination into adulthood, small milestones that are often taken for granted were neglected in a slave's life. For example, because records either were not kept or were carelessly tended to, birthdays were not celebrated as many slaves did not know their actual date of birth. Although birthdays are occasions for celebration for most people, slaves usually did not celebrate being brought into a life of bondage. Frederick Douglass remarked on this phenomenon:

By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant. I do not remember to have ever met a slave who could tell of his birthday. They seldom come nearer to it than planting-time, harvest-time, cherry-time, spring-time, or fall-time. (Douglass [1845] 1997, p. 310)

Although many slave owners did not recognize marriages between two slaves, many slaves formed familial units. These relationships created a small amount of stability and contentment for slaves, and for many slaves, the establishment of a family became another milestone in their lives. Nevertheless, the comfort found in these relationships was fleeting because slaves lived in fear that one or more members of the family would be sold to another plantation.

With these relationships and the bearing of children came one of the ultimate rites of passage. If a slave had a decent master, she was indeed lucky; she was even luckier if that master allowed her to pursue extra, moneymaking jobs outside of her regular duties. For example, some slaves completed all their labor during the day, then baked when night came and sold their products the next morning, only to go to work again. Many times, children helped their mothers or fathers with such duties. Masters often made it a condition that if slaves earned money, they would clothe their own children. As the slaves worked for money, they bought extra food and the clothes they needed in order to survive. Still, they often put aside money in order to buy their freedom or the freedom of their children. This goal kept the slaves motivated, and it also allowed them to feel hope in the face of oppression—someday they could be free if they worked hard enough. This freedom became the ultimate goal of many slaves. The act of saving money to buy one's freedom became a rite of passage, just as the eventual purchase of one's freedom did. Extra, moneymaking work became a symbol of hope, and slave children came to understand extra tasks as part of admittance into adulthood.

Rites of passage for slaves simply cannot be described with complete accuracy because few records were kept. Often, from birth to death, a slave's life was monotonous, and few days varied—though this depended on the slave's master and region. Beyond the physical work, there was the learning of field songs, traditions, and oral histories. Although most slaves' lives are not well documented, their life transitions are certainly apparent; these were not, however, the joyous celebrations that marked others' passages from one stage of life to the next.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Written by Himself, [1845]. Reprinted in The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, ed. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Nellie Y. McKay. New York: W. W. Norton, 1997.

Jacobs, Harriet. "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl." [1861]. In The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, ed. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Nellie Y. McKay. New York: W. W. Norton, 1997.

O'Neil, Dennis. "Rites of Passage." Process of Socialization. 2007. Available from http://anthro.palomar.edu/social/soc_4.htm.

                                   Gwendolyn N. Hale