Christianity and Africans in 18th Century Europe

          The period of 1600 through 1800 in Europe demonstrated an era that was characterized by an achievement of the African slave trade and subsequently, a growing awareness of the moral iniquities of the market. The abolition movement, developed by the nonconformist religious factions that existed in eighteenth century England, induced an opening of consciousness surrounding race relations toward Africans residing in Europe that were heavily subjected to the exploitations of slavery. The connection between Christianity and social status was an attempt to enforce homogeneity and control while also allowing for the creation of a black consciousness and movement toward racial and religious tolerance that would uphold the high moral legitimacy of the state.

            In the article Questioning Slavery, Walvin accounts for the dramatic realization of the slave trade that proliferated the presence of Africans in Europe. The use and value placed upon African labor in the previous century had been considered rudimentary, even superfluous.  However, with the establishment of colonies and the cultivation of the New World, “here, then, was a form of…production and…investment which seemed to yield prosperity and well being in all directions”.[1] Capitalist interests in the slave market produced an influx of Africans, not only in the New World, but also in Europe.  Thus, a new age and perspective of African slavery was born. The model of the slavery established in the Iberian Peninsula is reinforced in writings by Olaudah Equiano, whose experiences reflect the successes of religious conversion as an apparatus to cultural assimilation.  By choosing to conform to the expectations and standards of the Christian doctrine through various customs and traditions such as marriage, dress, infrastructure, and cookery, Equiano argues that “the benefits of such a mode of living are obvious…[and are] felt by [Africans] in the general healthiness of the people…[in which] deformity is indeed unknown amongst us”.[2]  Thus, conversion and adherence, prompted by Christian ideals, promoted a sense of achievement and order within the European communities in which Africans resided.  This Protestant perspective allowed Equiano not only to experience flexibility in his social status, but also view his daily conduct and behaviors through a more intimate and purposeful spiritual filter, one that imposed the transition of self-image from commodity to communality.

            An opening of the Black Atlantic consciousness called into question one’s cultural identity and this new approach to nationalism stimulated dramatic psychological revelations that are described by Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina in Mobility in Chains. Gerzina argues that the concepts of origin and “home”,  or one’s national identity was virtually destroyed by the displacement and forced institution of Africans into European society brought about by slave trade. Because Africans could not conform on the basis of their physical appearance and ethnicity, they then “felt the need to address the difficulties of reconciling their beliefs and actions as slaves with those of Christianity as it was professed and practiced by whites”. [3]

The period between 1600 and 1800 most notably resulted in the abolition movement. This development was heavily pursued by religious factions, namely the Quakers, Methodists, Baptists, and Protestants, that held the same perspective on communal and spiritual accessibility. As more and more Africans adopted Christianity, the officials of the high order Anglican Church were forced to reconsider the implications of capitalist slave markets upon their political legitimacy and religious authority. Slavery no longer existed within the confines of race due to the prolific spread of Christianity among an enslaved population of Africans.  As discussed by Boulle and Peabody, this generated political discourse within European governments who were confronted with the conflict between the legality of slavery and the principles and constructs of the Christian doctrine.  While there is no doubt that the movement toward the abolition of slavery began in this time period, the origins of the movement are less evident.

The opposing articles written by Christopher Leslie Brown and Nicholas Hudson seek to identify the leaders who organized the campaign against slavery in Europe during the eighteenth century. Brown argues that religious factions, such as the Quakers and Protestants, spurred abolition into action on the basis that slavery was a “spiritual abomination” and gives credit to these various religious divisions that achieved the social and legal and reformations that eradicated slavery within Europe. He contends that the history of antislavery would have been invariably different “if [the abolitionist movement] had not been accompanied by much broader movements for spiritual revival within certain Protestant communities…”.[4]  Hudson, however, argues that socially conservative Anglicans were the driving force behind the elimination of slave trade in the later half of the eighteenth century.  It was leftist scholars whom first questioned the morality of slavery and it was Anglican conservatives who took an abolitionist stance and initiated the petitions and campaigns against slavery.[5]

           While the derivation of the abolition movement in Europe remains inconclusive, there is no doubt that Christianity played a crucial role in the reformation of the social and political attitudes toward Africans and slavery. It was primarily upon Christian ideals and values that the oppression and exploitation of Africans was renounced and reformed. Most importantly, the period between 1600 and 1800 made an aperture in the racial psyche of European society that allowed for the Age of Reason and Enlightenment to prevail and the concepts of liberty, freedom and individual power to be manifested.

---

[1] James Walvin, "FORGING THE LINK: Europe, Africa and the Americas" in James Walvin, Questioning Slavery (London, UK: Routledge, 1996):4.

[2] Olaudah Equiano, Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Or Gustavus Vassa, The African (New York: Random House, 2004):12.

[3] Gretchen Holbrook Garzina, "Freedom of Movement in the Early Black Atlantic," South Atlantic Quarterly, 100:1 (Winter 2001):43.

[4] Christopher Leslie Brown, “Christianity and the campaign against slavery and the slave trade,” The Cambridge History of Christianity, 7, (Cambridge Histories Online 2008):519.

[5] Nicholas Hudson, "’Britons Never Will be Slaves:’ National Myth, Conservatism, and the Beginnings of British Antislavery,” Eighteenth-Century Studies, 34, no. 4 (Summer 2001):562.

Bibliography 

Brown, Christopher Leslie, “Christianity and the campaign against slavery and the slave trade,” The Cambridge History of Christianity, 7, (Cambridge Histories Online 2008):519.

Equiano, Olaudah, Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Or Gustavus Vassa, The African (New York: Random House, 2004):12.

Garzina, Gretchen Holbrook,"Freedom of Movement in the Early Black Atlantic," South Atlantic Quarterly, 100:1 (Winter 2001):43.

Hudson, Nicholas, "’Britons Never Will be Slaves:’ National Myth, Conservatism, and the Beginnings of British Antislavery,” Eighteenth-Century Studies, 34, no. 4 (Summer 2001):562.

  

Walvin, James, "FORGING THE LINK: Europe, Africa and the Americas" in James Walvin, Questioning Slavery (London, UK: Routledge, 1996):4.