African-American Religion: A Documentary History Project
Teaching Resources

Books for Purchase:

Joseph M. Murphy, Santería: African Spirits in America (Boston: Beacon, 1993)

William A. Christian, Jr., Local Religion in Sixteenth-Century Spain (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989)

Bernal Díaz del Castillo, The Conquest of New Spain (New York: Penguin, 1963)

Miguel León-Portilla, The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico (Boston: Beacon, 1992)

Richard Price, Alabi’s World (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990)

Also Recommended: Philip D. Curtin, The Rise and Fall of the Plantation Complex (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998)

Duplicated Materials Available for Purchase at the Religion Department Office:

Albert J. Raboteau and David W. Wills, Working Draft: African-American Religion: A Documentary History, Volumes One, Sections A and B, and Volume Two.

A packet of duplicated articles and chapters.

I. The Atlantic World, 1450–1808

January 28: The Idea of an Atlantic World

January 30: The Cast of Characters: The Europeans

Philip D. Curtin, The Rise and Fall of the Plantation Complex, chs. 1–5 (70 pp).

February 4: The Cast of Characters: The Africans

Benjamin C. Ray, “African Traditional Religion,” in Mircea Eliade, ed., Encyclopedia of Religion, vol. 1, pp. 60–69 (xerox).
John M. Janzen, “Kongo Religion,” in Mircea Eliade, ed., Encyclopedia of Religion, vol. 8, pp. 362–365 (xerox).
J. O. Hunwick, “Islam in West Africa, A.D. 1000–1800,” in J. F. Ade Ajayi and Ian Espie, eds., A Thousand Years of West African History, pp. 113–131 (xerox).

February 6: The Cast of Characters: The Native Americans

Stephen Glazier, “Caribbean Religions: Pre-Columbian Religions,” in Mircea Eliade, ed., Encyclopedia of Religion, vol. 3, pp. 81–90 (xerox).
Mary Miller and Karl Taube, The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya, pp. 9–35 (xerox).

II. A Contemporary Case Study: Santería

February 11: The Origins and History of Santería

Joseph Murphy, Santería, entire (purchase).

February 13: What do Santeros expect from their religion?

No additional readings.
Paper Due (3 pages)

III. Types of Religion: A Weberian Proposal

February 18: Max Weber

Max Weber, “The Social Psychology of the World Religions” (xerox).

IV. Iberian Catholicism in the Early Atlantic World

February 20: Iberian Catholicism I

William A. Christian, Jr., Local Religion in Sixteenth-Century Spain, chs. 1–3 (purchase).

February 25: Iberian Catholicism II

W. Christian, Jr., Local Religion, chs. 4–6.

V. Religious Encounters in the Early Atlantic World

February 27: The Atlantic World Begins

Albert J. Raboteau and David W. Wills, Working Draft: African-American Religion: A Documentary History, Volume One, Section A, “Religious Encounters in the Creation of the African-Iberian Atlantic: 1441–1518” (orange pages 1–18); “The Beginning of the Atlantic Slave Trade: Zurara’s Chronicle: 1441–48.” (In this and in comparable later assignments from this work, read both the introductory headnote—the yellow pages—and the text of the document—the white pages.)

March 4: The Mediterranean Context and the Creation of the Atlantic World

Raboteau and Wills, Working Draft, One-A, “Ethiopians at the Council of Florence: Deacon Peter’s Address,” “Things Unknown to Ptolemy: Poggio Bracciolini . . . ,” “The Glory of the Ethiopians: A Franciscan Account,” “Baptism and Slavery,” “Slavery as Misfortune,” “Slavery and Scholasticism,” “Prester John and the Center of the World: The Catalan World Map,” “Ethiopia and the Crown of Aragon,” “Moorish, Turkish, and Christian Slaves,” and “Founding an African-Iberian Christian Community.”

March 6: The Creation of the Atlantic World: West Africa

Raboteau and Wills, Working Draft, One-A, “Romanus Pontifex,” “Ca’da Mosto,” “Voyages of Diogo Gomes,” “Testamentary Letter of Prince Henry,” “Slavery and Piety in Portugal,” “Islam, the Portuguese, and the King of Sine,” and “Christianity in Kongo.”

March 11: The Creation of the Atlantic World: Columbus, the Caribbean, and Islam

Raboteau and Wills, Working Draft, One-B, “Columbus and the Westward Expansion of the Atlantic World,” “Inter Caetera: Alexander VI,” “Askia Muhammad and Islam in Songhay,” “Al-Maghili Advises Askia Muhammad on Islam in Songhay,” and “Planisphere of Juan de la Cosa.”

March 13: The Question of Enslavement: Canarians, Indians, Ladinos, Bozales

Raboteau and Wills, Working Draft, One-B, “Conquest, Christianization, and Enslavement in the Canaries,” “Ferdinand and Isabella Limit the Export of Slaves . . . ,” “Legend of the Founding of the Chapel of Nuestra Señora de Altagracia,” “‘Because They Are Obdurate in Their Evil and Idolatrous Course’: Isabella Authorizes the Enslavement of Cannibal Indians,” “‘Those People Live Like Beasts’: A Scottish Scholastic Defends Christian Conquests in the Atlantic World,” “Fray Antonio Montesinos Attacks Indian Slavery,” “The Requirement,” “Memorial of Fray Bernardino de Manzanedo,” “Letters of Licenciado Zuazo,” and “Charles V Authorizes the Importation of Four Thousand Slaves.”
Raboteau and Wills, Working Draft, Two, “Royal Decree Restricting Importation of Ladinos.”
Paper Due (5–6 pages)

VI. Religious Encounters in West Africa

March 25: Mbemba Nzinga /Afonso I, His Kin, and Christianity in Kongo

George Balandier, “The Christian King,” in Daily Life in the Kingdom of Kongo, pp. 42–63 (xerox).
Raboteau and Wills, Working Draft, One-B, “‘This Is a King for Whom We Have Great Affection’: The Portuguese Agenda in Kongo,” “‘A Deed Worthy of Perpetual Remembrance’: Afonso I Addresses the Lords of His Kingdom on His Victory, St. James, and the Kongo Coat of Arms,” “‘Fernão de Melo Has Sought to Destroy Us’: Afonso I Writes to Manuel I,” “‘Not a Man But an Angel': Rui de Aguiar Writes to Manuel I on the Piety of Afonso I,” “Henrique of Kongo Becomes Bishop of Utica,” and “Ordaining ‘Ethiopians, Indians, and Africans’: Leo X’s Exponi Nobis.”
Raboteau and Wills, Working Draft, Two, “Letter of Afonso I to João III,” “Letter of Afonso I to João III” (second letter), “João III Letter to Afonso,” “Clement VII and the Slaves of Bishop Henrique,” “Regulations for the Chief of the Factory at São Tomé,” “Afonso’s Nephew a Student in Portugal,” “Nuncio of Lisbon to the Pope’s Secretary of State,” “A New Pope Encourages and Exhorts Afonso I,” “Afonso’s Embassy to Pope Paul III,” and “Manuel, Afonso’s Brother, Requests Funds for Commemorative Masses.”

March 27: Kongo Traditional Religion

Wyatt MacGaffey, Religion and Society in Central Africa, pp. 42–89 (xerox).

April 1: Afonso I, His Contemporaries, and His Successors

John Thornton, “The Development of an African Catholic Church in the Kingdom of Kongo, 1491–1750,” Journal of African History 25 (1984): 147–167 (xerox).
Raboteau and Wills, Working Draft, Two, “The Oba of Benin Rejects Christianity,” “Portuguese Pilot on a Royal Funeral in Benin,” “Gregory XIII, Trent, and Marriage in Kongo,” “A Carmelite Mission to Kongo,” “Lopes/Pigafeta,” and “Creating of the Diocese of Kongo.”

VII. Religious Encounters in the Caribbean and Mexico

April 8: The Conquest of Mexico I

Bernal Díaz del Castillo, The Conquest of New Spain, pp. 57–106, 189–247, 255–256, 276–302 (purchase)

April 10: The Conquest of Mexico II

Miguel León-Portilla, The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico, expanded and updated edition, pp. xxv–xlviii, 1–126 (purchase).

April 15: Human Sacrifice and the Morality of Conquest

Gustavo Gutiérrez, Las Casas: In Search of the Poor of Jesus Christ, pp. 166–189 (xerox).
Bartolomé de las Casas, In Defense of the Indians, trans. Stafford Poole, pp. 185–194, 212–239 (xerox).
Davíd Carrasco, “Human Sacrifice: Aztec Rites,” in Mircea Eliade, ed., Encyclopedia of Religion, vol. 6, pp. 518–522 (xerox).
Yólotl González Torres, “Huitzilopochtli,” in Davíd Carrasco, ed., Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures, vol. 2, pp. 21–23 (xerox).
Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex, book 3, pp. 1–9; book 2, pp. 27–28, 141–150 (xerox).

April 17: Mesoamerican / Aztec Religion

Davíd Carrasco, “Aztec Religion,” in Mircea Eliade, ed., Encyclopedia of Religion, vol. 2, pp. 23–29 (xerox).
Alfredo López Austin, “Cosmovision,” in Davíd Carrasco, ed., Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures, vol. 1, pp. 268–274 (xerox).

April 22: The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico?: I

Robert Ricard, The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico, pp. 15–38 (xerox).
Georges Baudot, “Toribio de Benavente Motolinía,” in Davíd Carrasco, ed., Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures, vol. 2, pp. 347–348 (xerox).
Toribio de Benavente, Motolonia’s History of the Indians of New Spain, Francis Borgia Steck, ed. and trans. 87–167, 180–219 (xerox).
Raboteau and Wills, Working Draft, Two, “Catechizing Blacks and Indians in Guatemala,” “Hospital for Mulattos in Mexico,” “Christian Instruction for Mulattos in Mexico,” “Descripción del Arzobispado de México,” “Viceroy Urges Outlawing of Black Confraternities in Mexico,” “The Jesuit Mission and Blacks in Mexico.”

April 24: The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico?: II

J. Jorge Klor de Alva, “Spiritual Conflict and Accommodation in New Spain: A Typology of Aztec Responses to Christianity,” in George A. Collier, Renato I. Rosaldo, and John D. Wirth, eds., The Inca and Aztec States 1400–1800, pp. 345–366 (xerox).
Doris Heyden, “Diego Durán,” in Davíd Carrasco, ed., Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures, vol. 1, pp. 345–346 (xerox).
Diego Durán, Book of the Gods and Rites and the Ancient Calendar, ed. and trans. Fernando Horcasitas and Doris Heyden, pp. 383–404 (xerox).
Colin Palmer, Slaves of the White God, pp. 145–166 (xerox).
Fernando Cervantes, “The Devil and the Saints in the Conquest of Mexico,” History Today 44, no. 4 (April 1994): 38–44.
Stanley Brandes, “Sugar, Colonialism, and Death: On the Origins of Mexico’s Day of the Dead,” Comparative Studies in Society and History 39, no. 2 (April 1997): 270–299.
Paper Due (7–8 pages)

VIII: Encounter and Resistance: Maroon Communities in Early Spanish America

April 29: Black Conquistadors and Counter-Conquistadors in Spanish America

Matthew Restall, “Black Conquistadors: Armed Africans in Early Spanish America,” Americas 57, no. 2 (October 2000): 171–205 (xerox).
Raboteau and Wills, Working Draft, Two, “Black Slaves Revolt in Mexico,” “Miguel: Black King in Venezuela,” “Piety and Resistance Among Panamanian Blacks,” “Regarding the Blacks of Portobello,” and “Panamanian Maroons.”

IX: A Comparative Case: Saramaka and Moravians in Eighteenth-Century Suriname

May 1: Saramaka and Moravians I

Richard Price, Alabi’s World, prologue, chs. 1–3 (purchase).

May 6: Saramaka and Moravians II

Price, Alabi’s World, chs. 4–7.

May 8: Saramaka and Moravians III

Price, Alabi’s World, ch. 8 and epilogue.

May 17: Final Paper Due (5–6 pages)