12 Atlantic African, American, and European Backgrounds to Contact, Commerce, and Enslavementgeographical placement, many of these populations ended
up working on plantations or as domestic servants in the
United States.
Th is phenomenon is typically referred to as the Atlan-
tic slave trade. It also marks the beginning of the African
Diaspora in the Americas. Th ese people, who were separated
from everything they knew (in terms of family members,
linguistic groups, and cultural norms), managed to preserve
their traditions in their new and unknown environments.
Th is is how the African Diaspora was formed. Members of
the Diaspora kept alive the religions, languages, and stories
that served as portals to their existence in Africa. Gradually,
many of these African practices would inform the cultural
elements (culinary, musical, and otherwise) that comprise
Creole and African American cultures.
When discussing the African Diaspora, the term “cul-
tures” must be used in the plural form. Due to the diver-
sity of peoples coming from Africa as well as the regional
specifi cities of the areas in which they ended up in the New
World, myriad cultures developed. Each possessed a unique
combination of religious, linguistic, and social elements.
In addition, each had a diff erent economic and political
relationship to slavery as an institution. Slavery practices
also infl uenced where the most members of the African
Diaspora were placed. Regions that were known for planta-
tion farming, such as the Deep South, typically had more
slave communities than certain Northern states. Th erefore,
there was greater diversity among the African populations
in the South (due to the greater number of imported slave
labor) than in the North (where the same or similar cultural
populations tended to procreate, thus passing on cultural
traditions from one generation to another).
Even though each diasporic culture had its specifi c
norms, one similarity to be found throughout many is the
way in which Christianity was used to preserve certain
African religions. As counterintuitive as this may sound,
members of the Diaspora used Christianity as a disguise for
their own beliefs. Th roughout the slave trade, many slaves
were evangelized and forced to be baptized by their owners.
Th is was done primarily as a means of controlling them. As
a result, these baptized members of the Diaspora commin-
gled their African beliefs with the tenets of Christianity and
created their own theologies and belief systems. Members
of the Diaspora especially identifi ed with the more mystical
(or even magical) parts of Christianity. Th us, they found
Christianity to be conducive to their African belief systemsNew York City. Researchers involved in the African Burial
Ground Project recognized almost immediately the Afri-
can continuities that existed, refl ected in the various orna-
ments, engravings, jewelry, beads, coins, coffi ns, and other
artifacts uncovered at the site.
Th e skeletal remains of enslaved Africans discovered at
the African Burial Ground site provide important cultural
evidences, but also points to the brutality that the enslaved
were forced to endure in New York. Th e skeletal remains of
a young adult woman, burial #25, discovered October 16,
1991, signifi ed the frequent inhumane and brutal physical
treatment regularly enacted upon the enslaved. Th e musket
ball resting in her rib cage furnished a horrifi c example of
the abuse that many enslaved men, women, and children
encountered in New York. Th e African Burial Ground pro-
vides a constant reminder of the strength and resiliency
of African peoples during the colonial era, and inspires a
greater interest in further exploring the contributions and
impact of enslaved populations on American society.
See also: Africanisms; Grave Decorations
Talitha L. LeFlouriaBibliography
Blakey, Michael L., and Lesley M. Rankin Hill, eds. Th e New York
African Burial Ground: Skeletal Biology Final Report, Vol-
ume I. Washington, D.C.: Th e African Burial Ground Project,
Howard University, for U.S. General Services Administra-
tion, 2004.
Hansen, Joyce, and Gary McGowan. Breaking Ground, Breaking
Silence: Th e Story of New York’s African Burial Ground. New
York: Henry Holt, 1998.
Medford, Edna Greene, ed. Th e New York African Burial Ground
History Final Report. Washington, D.C.: Th e African Burial
Ground Project, Howard University, for U.S. General Ser-
vices Administration, 2004.
Wilder, Craig Steven. In the Company of Black Men: Th e African
Infl uence on African American Culture in New York City. New
York: New York University Press, 2001.
African Diaspora
Over the span of nearly four centuries, more than 4 million
Africans were taken from their homelands and brought
to North America, South America, and the Caribbean Is-
lands. Africans were taken from various regions of Africa,
but mostly from coastal areas. Th e Guinean coast is home
to the Bantu and the Mande cultures. By virtue of their