The persistence of African religious practices despite slavery proves that ties to Africa remain throughout the diaspora.

It is more difficult to measure and evaluate the persistence of African culture elsewhere, especially in the United States, outside the core areas of New Orleans and the Sea Islands. In many “pocket areas” in the southern states and in cities and towns through the United States, remnants of African culture abound: in language patterns and vocabulary, in literature, in techniques of storytelling, in folktales such as Breb Rabbit and Tar Baby, in music and dance forms, singing, and rhythm, in foods, and in ways of eating certain foods. The extended-family concept and respect for elders in many rural areas were African transplants. Africanisms are of course most prevalent among black southerners because the South was the heart of the slavery system in the United States. These people took their traditions outside the South once they migrated. The most dominant and intact African survival in the black diaspora has proved to be the religion voodoo. The survival of African religious and magical systems is directly linked to their importance in everyday life. In addition, their ability to accommodate and be associated with various facets of other established religions strengthened their chances of survival. Ancient deities in the African pantheon were often given Catholic saints’ names. The most tenacious African religious retentions in the United States are found where Catholicism has been particularly strong, including New Orleans. By appealing to traditional deities and mystical forces, the slaves were able to keep alive their link with Africa. During the early stages of slavery the link was reinforced by voodoo priests and root doctors who continued to be represented among the newly arrived slaves. The priests in particular led the crusade for the survival of their religious practices by identifying African deities with Catholic saints in Haiti and Brazil. And African concepts of good and evil found counterparts in the Christians’ belief in heaven and hell and Christ and Satan. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the root doctors have been more visible in practicing their craft than the priests. From its beginning, voodoo encompassed certain elements such as divination, manipulation, and herbalism that gave it the appearance of a magical rather than a religious system. In the early days of slavery, magic was often the strongest element because of the suppression of voodoo as a religion by the authorities and slave owners. These antivoodooists managed to limit the number of voodoo meetings among slaves, but they found it impossible to stop the making of voodoo and hoodoo objects in the slaves’ cabins. (Hoodoo is the negative component of voodoo.) Magic helped the slaves to cope with their daily situations, to win the affection of the ones they desired, to cause harm to their enemies, and to feel protected from harm themselves. Its main value was and continues to be psychological. Magic is intimately related to voodoo, as it is to most religions, but is not its essence. Voodoo contains some elements of magic, and magic receives much of its strength from the voodoo deities and rituals. African religious and magical systems also survived because of the organizational role they played in slave revolts throughout the New World but particularly in Haiti and Brazil. Revolutionary protest appears to have been engraved in voodoo upon its arrival in the Americas. Revolts in the early period of slavery were largely the work of African priests and medicine men. In conducting insurrectional meetings disguised as religious ceremonies, voodoo leaders often promised the gods’ support for any rebellion the slaves decided to engage in. The assurance of supernatural support to both leaders and followers and the priests’ promise that the ancestors were aiding the struggle for freedom gave the slaves the necessary inspiration, courage, and determination. Various charms, gris-gris, potions, and small parcels containing bits of paper, bones, or potions hung around the necks of the fighting men provided protection and good luck by warding off bullets. The slave insurrection in New York in 1712 was led by a conjurer who convinced the fighters they were invulnerable. A leader in the 1822 insurrection in North Carolina, “Gullah Jack,” also was a conjurer and root doctor; his charms, chiefly of animal claws, were designed to make the insurrectionists invulnerable. Voodoo priests also helped suicide victims by telling them what to do to ensure their return after death to their homeland in Africa.