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Homegoing
Feb 03, 2021
Home-going is a traditional African American, Christian funeral practice, it’s long legacy, dates to slavery. During slavery, captives were not allowed to gather to perform any kind of ritual for burying the dead because slave owners were afraid their slaves would incite a riot against them. In 1680, colonial legislators asserted that “the frequent meetings of considerable numbers of Negro slaves under the pretense of…burials is judged dangerous.” And moved to institute a strict pass and patrol system. Laws provided additional clues to mortuary practices and reveal Europeans’ attempt to shape and to control African customs. A 1722 law, for instance, suggests that New York Africans buried their dead at night, a practice that likely reflected the difficulty of finding time during the day to engage in sacred practices. In any case, night burials with their attending “mummeries and outcries” alarmed owners who feared that the potential for conspiracy existed (New York City Common Council 1905:3:296). Hence, the council passed a 1722 law to regulate the burial of “all Negroes and Indian Slaves that shall die within this corporation on the south side of the Fresh Water,” restricting burials to daylight hours (New York City Common Council 1905:3:296).4 A 1731 amendment to the 1722 law conveyed an even more intense fear of conspiracy:
"For the preventing of great numbers of slaves assembling and meeting together at their Funerals, under pretext whereof they have great opportunities of plotting and confederating together to do mischief, as well as neglecting their Masters Services it was ordered that, if more than twelve slaves assembled at a slave funeral, those present were to be whipped at the discretion of the Mayor, Recorder or one of the Alderman except the 12 slaves admitted by the owner of the dead slave, the gravedigger and the corpse bearers." [New York City Common Council 1905: 4:86–88].
The law forbade the use of “pawls” (palls) and pallbearers at the funerals of enslaved people, possibly because the cloth might be used to hide objects employed for insurrectionary purposes (New York City Common Council 1905:4:86–88). It is no surprise that white New Yorkers sought to control the African population, even in death. In their mortuary practices, New York Africans exhibited unity and humanity; both challenged the legitimacy of slavery and threatened to undermine its very existence.
Even though, it was deemed dangerous for them to hold funerals, some slave owners encouraged their slaves funerals by providing time off from work, some would not let nobody be buried until they had been dead twenty-four hours, and some did provide a respite in the afternoon so that slaves might bury the deceased. However, on the other hand, other plantations did not give them time to mourn, slaves were required to work during the burials of their parents and were required to do other harsh acts to the deceased, instead of burying the deceased. Attacks were also made towards specific African funeral rites, such as the use of African drums to announce funerals and forbidding to sing at slave’s wakes.
During the late 18th century until the start of the America Civil war, this period within the Southern parts of the United States is known as Antebellum South (pre-civil war period). Most of the South where the plantations were largest, and the slaves most numerous, they were very fond of burying their dead at night, and as near midnight as possible. This connection of slave funerals with possible insurrection also gave rise to eighteenth century New York City law, which forbade night funerals and limited attendance to ten at slave wakes.
Therefore, the careful scrutiny of slave funerals continued into the national period and was sharpened in 1800 by Gabriel’s Rebellion near Richmond, which arose in part out of a meeting held at a funeral ceremony. It was custom among the captives to look at death as freedom from the harsh oppression they endured. So, celebration became a reason to gather and rejoice for the deceased’s soul because they also believed that the soul would return back to Africa. From this arrived the word Home-going.
Reference:
Historical Perspectives of the African Burial Ground: New York Blacks and the Diaspora
Editor: Edna Greene Medford
JOURNAL ARTICLE
The Massachusetts Review Vol. 22, No. 1 (Spring, 1981)
Home-going
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"An Old-time Midnight Slave Funeral," Hamilton Pierson, 1881, p. 284
Illustration by Michael Colbert, 2004
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