Religion and the Enslaved

The Griot Circle of Maryland teaches field calls and spirituals on Harvest Day 2019.
The Griot Circle of Maryland teaches field calls and spirituals on Harvest Day 2019.

NPS/Tim Ervin

African Americans hosted their own religious services in the woods at Hampton and attended religious meetings with neighboring groups of free Blacks and enslaved persons. One laborer, Nick Toogood (1786-1879), was said to be a “spiritual leader” among the enslaved at Hampton and was known as a powerful hymn-singer. There is documentary evidence of burial grounds for the enslaved and later free Blacks on the original Ridgely properties, though the location of these sites remains unrecorded.

 
Historic black and white photo of the carriage house.
Hampton Carriage House (built c. 1850, image c. 1897), location of religious services led by Eliza Ridgely on the second floor.

NPS

The Ridgelys also had their own ways of promoting Christianity among Hampton’s enslaved community. Eliza Ridgely provided church services in the attic of the Hampton carriage house, under the direction of a white minister, Rev. Galbraith. She also held community gatherings, centered on weddings and funerals, in the great hall of the mansion. Her daughter Eliza, or “Didy,” recorded in her 1853 journal that she taught enslaved children Sunday School classes, which included learning the Lord’s Prayer and memorizing Bible verses.

For the Ridgelys, as well as other enslavers, setting the guidelines for religious practice seemed to mean that they shared a common humanity with enslaved persons, while also providing social control and demands for enslaved persons to take on their beliefs and behavior. For the enslaved, lessons of a shared religion gave them a language with which to compel the enslavers to behave as Christians and allow them to seek knowledge, both Biblical and otherwise.

During the Civil War, Ridgely family member Henry White recalled that enslaved children approached him for to learn to read (then not permitted) so that they could better prepare for the freedom they hoped was coming:

“I still remember the younger ones, who at that time were beginning to hear of freedom and the possibilities of education, coming to me at times privately with little primers, and asking me to explain the spelling of certain words, or the meaning of certain combinations of letters, which they could not understand; begging me at the same time not to let any of the elders know that they had done so, as it was one of the principles of slavery that they should not be taught to read or write.”

Enslavers’ attempts to provide Biblical instruction and institutionalize Christianity among the enslaved was, like so many other aspects of American slavery, a process of struggle and negotiation.

 
 

Learn More

  • African American man holding a wheelbarrow outside of the mansion
    Enslaved People

    Hampton was the second largest plantation in Maryland. Learn about the struggle, hardships, and lives of the enslaved.

  • Enslaved workers working on the plantation farm by the overseer's house and slave quarters.
    Slavery at Hampton

    From the colonial period through 1864, the Ridgelys enslaved over 500 people. Enslaved persons, from young children to the elderly

  • A drawing of people at nighttime on a dirt road
    Freedom Seekers

    Learn all about people that would seek their freedom from Hampton.

  • An artist's depiction of an overseer in the fields watching the enslaved. With a whip behind back.
    Forms of Control

    From physical to mental abuse for the youngest ages to the oldest. Learn about the harsh truths and forms of control.

  • Artist depiction of the iron making process.
    Gruesome
    Working Conditions

    Accounts of the working conditions of the forced labor iron works.

  • African American Woman, Nancy Davis, and little white girl Eliza Ridgely
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    People of Hampton

    Hundreds of people lived, worked, and were enslaved at Hampton coinciding America's development as a nation. Explore more of their stories.

  • Language Guide Words with Graphic of books and someone overcoming a struggle.
    Language Guide

    Words matter. The language we use matters. Please read through our Language Guide and Non-Negotiable Statements.

Last updated: May 30, 2024

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