Hofstede, 2005). Assessments of communal values across race and ethnicity reveal that African Americans hold stronger communal values compared to European Americans (Belgrave & Allison, 2006; Constantine, Gainor, Ahluwalia, & Berkel, 2003). Obasi, Flores, and James-Myers (2009) find that, compared to European Americans, African Americans score higher in communalism based on scales that measure communal vs individualistic values.
In his study of college-aged African American males, Dancy (2012) found strong collectivist values among his participants. Swaidan, Rawwas, and Vitell (2008) studied values among African Americans ←18 | 19→and found African Americans possessing strong collectivist values, with male participants scoring higher in collectivism than females. Collectivist societies tend to form family ties with non-biologically related individuals who are socially integrated into the group. A good example of this is the African American tradition of extended family or fictive kinship in which non-biologically related individuals function like a family and are treated and referred to as such.
African American culture places emphasis on both collectivism and individuality (Allen & Boykin, 1992). But there is a difference between individualism and individuality. Individuality, which is highly valued in African American culture, refers to personal uniqueness. Individualism refers to placing the needs and desires of the individual over those of the group. Individuality is essential to collective identity (White & Cones, 1999). Majors and Billson (1992) explain that in different African cultures with a general leaning toward communalism, a compatible emphasis on expressive individualism or individuality does exist.
Spirituality
Spirituality is the belief in and expression of a sacred force in the universe, independent of any particular doctrine (Belgrave & Allison, 2006; Meraviglia, 1999). According to Jones (1991a), within African philosophy, it appears as a belief in non-material creation, and a force that resides in all beings, things, places/times, and modalities. Thus, all elements of the universe are believed to be interrelated. More than a preordained set of practices, spirituality in many pre-colonial African traditions was integrated into daily individual and communal life (Belgrave & Allison, 2006).
Religion is a set of beliefs and practices that help people assign meaning to life and nurture their relationship to spiritual force(s) (Belgrave & Allison, 2006). Because religion often involves a set of rituals and practices, many people express their spirituality through religion. Spirituality and religion are important to the health of the Black community because they are both associated with increased self-esteem and decreased drug and alcohol use, and levels of stress (Belgrave & Allison, 2006). Religion is community-focused, observable, formal, behavior-oriented, authoritarian, and driven by doctrine. Spirituality is more individual-focused, less visible and formal, more emotion-oriented, inwardly directed, less authoritarian, and less doctrine driven (Cook, 2010). However, the legacy of African and African American spirituality and religion does not fit within these dichotomous sets of characteristics (Cook, 2010).
African Spiritual Heritage During Enslavement
Many pre-colonial African cultures adopted a socio-spiritual view of human beingness. During slavery, Black people continued their traditions of traditional African spiritualists and healers. Enslaved African people’s understandings of health and healing were influenced by their African origins (Thornton, 1991). Although, it must be noted that some African people had converted to Christianity before the European “slave trade,” like those from the Kongo Kingdom who had adopted Christianity as early as 1491. Many others arrived having already adopted Islam. The majority arrived with traditional African spiritual traditions, whether or not they were already Christians or Muslims.
Yet others continued their traditional African spiritual traditions outside of the presence and knowledge of Whites. During slavery, some Black people practiced Santeria, Candomble, Voodoo/Vodun, Ifa and other traditions, and many continue today. Many individuals practiced these traditions simultaneously with Christianity and Islam. Most religious ceremonies during slavery were closely monitored by Whites. However, some enslaved Blacks would sneak away under the cover of night to meet and practice their religion in their own style and manner. The relief and satisfaction received from the religious ceremonies was worth the risk of being caught by “slave patrols” (Booker, 2000). Black Christian preachers delivered sermons and presided over baptisms, weddings, and funerals. They also ←19 | 20→delivered sermons outside the presence of Whites and served as advisors to Blacks, and as mediators between them and their enslavers (Roberts, 1989).
The Sacred Worldview
According to S. Floyd-Thomas, J. Floyd-Thomas, Duncan, Ray, and Westfield (2007), the Black theological tradition emerges from the Black sacred worldview comprised of three sources: sacred inheritance, experience, and scripture. Sacred inheritance refers to the African carryovers—religious wisdom, cultural norms, and practices that continue to manifest in African diasporic cultures throughout the Western hemisphere. Experience refers to racial oppression that Black people in the New World have lived with from slavery to segregation, cultural and economic racism, and so on. These negative aspects to life in the New World have positioned questions of mercy and justice at the center of African American theological interpretations (S. Floyd-Thomas et al., 2007). Scripture is the third and last source of the Black sacred worldview, and it refers to the unique ways in which Black people have engaged and interpreted scripture—ways that “validated both their humanity and their quest for freedom” (p. 79). The intersection of these three elements produces the sacred worldview that gives shape to the diversity and commonality in African American religion and culture.
Black Religious Style as Continuation of African Cultural Styles
The resulting Black church tradition included dance, emotional and physical expressiveness, as Black Americans created and improvised sermons and songs with messages of hope and freedom (Roberts, 1989). As Clarke-Hine and Jenkins (1999) explain, “Black Americans grafted Christianity onto African practices and beliefs, and the Black church became an amalgamation of traditional African religions, Islam, and European Christianity” (Clarke-Hine & Jenkins, 1999, p. 25). However, the Black church developed different characteristics compared to its pre-colonial African spiritual predecessors. For example, the church tradition developed the added quality of overtly focusing on the struggle for freedom and liberation from oppression (Becker, 1972). Enslaved Black Islamic communities engaged in resistance by maintaining their names, writing in Arabic, and continuing to practice their religion (Turner, 2004). Black people related to the African roots of major religions such as the Ethiopian roots of Christianity (Akbar, 1991).
A large majority of contemporary African Americans consider themselves religious or spiritual (Chatters, Taylor, Bullard, & Jackson, 2008). Taylor, Chatters, and Jayakody (1996) found that 80% of Blacks (compared to 51% of Whites) felt that religious beliefs were important. They are also more likely to report spending time in places of worship, report having religious beliefs, and use religion to cope with stressful events (Taylor et al., 1996). African American males have been found to hold spiritual beliefs at higher levels than White males (White & Cones, 1999). Moreover, African American males often associate the meaning of manhood with spirituality (Arrington, 2014). In fact, the majority of different pre-colonial African manhood ceremonies were spiritual in nature (Black, 1997). Even common Black male traditions, such as mourning celebrations, must be understood in the context of their spirituality (Exhibit 1.1).
Most Black males report that they pray or meditate daily. Merida & Washington Post Company (WPC) (2007) noted that two-thirds of Black men reported praying at least once per day, significantly more than White males. According to a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation-Harvard poll, 41% of the Black men who participated in the survey attended church at least once per week and 51% considered themselves born-again Christians.
Black men have practiced Islam since their arrival in the American colonies. There are approximately 1.5 million Black Muslims in the U.S. today (Merida & Washington Post Company, 2007).
