Customs
   and Traditions of Slaves 
   
   
African Americans
   kept their traditions in cooking, smithing, woodcarving,
   storytelling, and gospel singing. Many of the African traditions
   were kept alive by placing symbols such as the snake in smithed
   gates and window frames. The carvings were very detailed and had
   relevance to the woodcarver's family or friends. The songs that
   were made up in the fields to pass the workday developed into a
   new type of music, gospel. Gospel music combined the two themes of
   freedom and salvation. 

   
   
 

   
   
African culture
   and customs mixed with the restrictions of southern plantation
   life made the slave's funeral a very unique ceremony. After a
   slave died a carpenter would make a coffin, while the body is laid
   on a cooling board. Slaves sit up all night guarding the body from
   prowling animals, often singing and praying all through the night.
   The funeral was held at night, because the slaves had to work all
   day. In many slave cemeteries, the bodies were buried east-west,
   with their heads to the west-their eyes facing Africa.
   

   
   
 

   
   
Most slave houses
   were very small. With one room and possibly a loft above, they
   typically measured twelve by sixteen or twenty feet. Usually,
   there was a wooden chimney lined with clay and a dirt floor. There
   would normally be one window with wooden shudders instead of
   glass.

   
   
 

   
   
Even though
   slavery was abolished in our country, some of the traditions still
   live today such as the cooking and the music. 

   
   
 

   
   
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