Abstract
Albert J. Raboteau in his work, Slave Religion, points out that our slave parents risked floggings to attend forbidden secret gatherings to worship God. Sometimes these meetings lasted long into the night, and at these meetings the slaves poured out their pain, sufferings, and needs to each other and to God. Raboteau goes on to point out that these secret meetings were so important because they provided the slave community an opportunity to fashion its self-image as well as to help others as individuals to shape their self-image. The development of this self-image was contextual and evolved as they reflected on their own experiences, communal symbols, values and stories picked up from their African past and the Bible. In short, they risked their lives in order that they could discover for themselves who they were, where they were going, and how they were going to get there. This task could not be undertaken under the direct supervision of the slave master, however. It had to take place in secret, unhindered by meddling interruptions calling for conformity to the slave master’s specifications.