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ABSTRACT
The essay retrieves the complex and at times contradictory encounters of Moravian missionaries, a Protestant group from Saxony, with enslaved Africans. For my investigation, I will single out both groups’ contact in the early eighteenth-century Danish West Indies and Dutch Suriname. I claim that, in their mission-related contacts during this specific period, both groups would receive glimpses of secular possibilities for future societies which eventually would help bring changes to their own specific secular settings. For the enslaved Africans, it implied an insistence on freedom from the misanthropic institution of New World slavery; for the Germans, it implied a maturing of progressive ideas in regard to the still existing secular estates system. This could happen only because these first missionaries often operated with means that were not part of any official mission directives. I will demonstrate this with three aspects: the missionaries’ approach to literacy for the enslaved, their encouragement of the enslaved to verbal and even legal protest, and, probably the most empowering tool, their invalidation of white people’s assumed God-given superiority in the eyes of black people. The nexus of these three aspects very likely contributed to each group’s vision of a society-to-come, which, in turn, must have led more to an ideological insistence on the human right to freedom with all its different implications than has been noted so far in scholarship.
Acknowledgements
Some of the material in this essay has appeared previously in “Black Caribbean Empowerment and Early Eighteenth-Century Moravian Missions Documents.” Slavery & Abolition 36, no. 2 (June 2015): 319–334.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Heike Raphael-Hernandez is Associate Professor in American Studies at the University of Würzburg, Germany. In 2009, she was a Visiting Professor in the African Diaspora Studies Department at UC Berkeley where she taught courses on Black Europe. She is the editor of Blackening Europe: The African American Presence (Routledge, 2004), AfroAsian Encounters: Culture, History, Politics (co-edited with Shannon Steen, NYU Press, 2006), and Migrating the Black Body: The African Diaspora and Visual Culture (co-edited with Leigh Raiford, University of Washington Press, 2017). She is author of The Utopian Aesthetics of Three African American Women (Toni Morrison, Gloria Naylor, Julie Dash): The Principle of Hope (Edwin Mellen Press, 2008) and Fear, Desire, and the Stranger Next Door: Global South Immigration in American Film (University of Washington Press, forthcoming). Together with Cheryl Finley and Leigh Raiford, she was awarded an American Council of Learned Societies Collaborative Research Fellowship for 2015–2017 for their joined research project “Visualizing Travel, Gendering the African Diaspora.”
Notes
1 Beckles, “Caribbean Anti-Slavery,” 869.
2 Brown, “Social Death,” 1248.
3 Ibid., 1245.
4 For further information, see Gagliardo, Germany, 1600–1790.
5 Sheehan, German History, 1770–1866, 97.
6 Despite their radical theology of equality, at no time in their history were Moravian communities themselves free of the secular constraints of their immediate surroundings. This fact led them to some questionable decisions throughout their history. For example, during their initial contact with slavery, Moravian leaders back in Herrnhut, Saxony struggled with the concept of slavery, but realizing that any protests would endanger their mission, they made it official church doctrine to settle for the division between physical slavery on earth and spiritual slavery in eternity. Throughout the centuries, Moravian leadership has always stressed political neutrality and has encouraged members to be as politically uninvolved as possible in order to not endanger their missionary work – a dangerous and ambivalent attitude that was also observed during the Third Reich and the era of the German Democratic Republic. Concerning their attitudes toward slavery, for example, the World Council of the Moravian Church issued an official apology only as late as 1996 for several problematic attitudes they held during the era of slavery, including buying and owning slaves themselves without subsequently granting them freedom. For a detailed discussion of Moravian initial struggle with slavery, their changing attitudes over time, and changing biblical justifications, see Sensbach, Rebecca's Revival; Faull, “Self-Encounters.”
7 For detailed information about Bloch's theory of the not yet, see Raphael-Hernandez, Utopian Aesthetics, 13–32.
8 For a detailed overview of the Moravians’ international missionary activities throughout their history, see Beck, Brüder in vielen Völkern and Mettele, Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine. Unfortunately, both works have not been translated into English.
9 For a short, but solid overview of the Moravian missionary history's first years in the Danish West Indies, see Richards, “Moravian Missions,” 55–74.
10 For more details, see Kröger, Dober.
11 For a very detailed account of the Moravian missionaries’ first years in the Danish West Indies written by one of their contemporaries, see Oldendorp, Historie. Oldendorp's original manuscript was published only in 2002, albeit in German, and is now an important source for scholars of Moravian and of Caribbean history, alongside the other material in the archives. The shortened form of his work was published in 1777, see Geschichte der Mission der evangelischen Brüder. For an English translation see History of the Mission of the Evangelical Brethren.
12 For a good overview of the Moravian presence in Suriname, see Staehelin, Brüdergemeine in Suriname.
13 According to Hoogbergen's research, a total of 300,000 to 325,000 Africans were sold to planters in Suriname between 1667 and 1826; in 1740, the percentage of slaves born in Africa was 90%; by 1760, Suriname listed 591 plantations, about 50,000 Africans, but only 3000 Europeans. See Hoogbergen, “Marronage in Suriname,” 167–168. For an account of the exceptional brutality of Suriname's plantation society, see Stedman, A Five Years Expedition.
14 Hoogbergen, “Marronage in Suriname,” 168. Hoogbergen estimates that a half percent of the entire slave population fled each year.
15 For more details, see Staehelin, Brüdergemeine in Suriname.
16 Sensbach, “Slavery, Race, Global Fellowship”; Lampe, Mission or Submission; Frey, Water from the Rock; Frey and Wood, Come Shouting to Zion.
17 Sensbach, “Slavery, Race, Global Fellowship,” 225.
18 Raphael-Hernandez, Utopian Aesthetics, 29.
19 Ibid., 25.
20 See Sensbach, Rebecca's Revival.
21 See material in folders for MissWI 152, MissWI 153, MAB, and MissSur 14, MAB; the two examples are MissWI 153.1, MAB, and MissWI 153.2, MAB.
22 The German original reads: “bitten gar sehr herzlich die Gemeine zu grüßen” (MissWI 160.4, MAB).
23 Br. Ronners Kinder Diarium von St. Thomas, 1752–1759: “unsere lieben schwarzen Schwestern auf Peter de Winth Plantage” (MissWI 119.2, MAB).
24 St. Croix, 1755 (MissWI 163.7, MAB); see also Johann Böhner, 3 June 1755 (MissWI 163.4, MA); and Matthäus Kremser, 6 January 1758 (MissWI 163.9, MAB).
25 Raboteau, “Blood,” 24.
26 See, for example, UA R.6.A.a.No74.2-5, Unitäts-Archiv, Herrnhut, Germany.
27 The German original reads:
Ich habe [?] wilden Sclaven nun in seinem 8ten oder 9ten Jahren ordentlich angenommen, ihn in der christlichen Religion gehörig erziehen und unterweisen, auch neben herrschaftlicher Bedienung das Schneider Handwerk erlernen lassen, ingleichen ihn zur heili. Tauffe befördert und überhaupt alles dasjenige 13 Jahre hindurch sowohl allhier als anderwärts an ihm gethan und erweisen lassen, was man nur irgend von Herrschaften, Eltern und Vormündern bey einem Leibeigenen und Pflegebefohlenen erwarten kann. Der Unterhalt und Verpflegung dieses armen Menschen kommt mir in diesen 13 Jahren weit über 1000 f. [?] zu stehen und seine dagegen geleisteten Dienste sind vor nichts zu rechnen. Aus diesem angeführten wenigen ergiebet sich von selbsten, dass ich nebst Gott ohnstreitig das alleinige Recht zu dem Besitz und Gebrauch dieses Menschen habe, auch in der ganzten Welt niemand gefunden worden mag, der außer mir einigen Anspruch an denselben machen kann. (UA R.6.A.a.No74.4, Unitäts-Archiv, Herrnhut, Germany; my translation)
28 See, for example, Oldendorp's reports on the early years, 1732–1736, in Oldendorp, Historie.
29 Leonard Dober in a letter to the Countess zu Stolberg-Wernigerode: The German original reads: “freye Taffel auf Jahr und Tag anbot, welches letztere ich mit Danck abschlug, weil mir die worte unendlich im Gemüth lagen: damit man nicht sage der habe Abraham reich gemacht” (UA, R.15.B.a.1.III.2, Unitäts-Archiv, Herrnhut, Germany).
30 Lawatsch's letter to Leonard Dober, August 5, 1765: The German original reads: “Es hat ihm auch unser Gouverneur gesagt, daß sie's wollten allhier beim Hofe anbringen, daß sie ein gewißes vor die Brüder zu ihrem Unterhalt unter den Frey Negern ausmachen möchten, aber wir beide tragen deswegen Bedenken, denn dadurch machten wir uns verbindlich zu thun, wie sie's gerne haben wollten, so bald wir was von ihnen nehmen, es ist uns genug, wenn wir die Freiheit haben, das Evangelium unter ihnen zu predigen.” See Staehelin, Brüdergemeine in Suriname, 11.
31 Patterson, Social Death, 44.
32 The following excerpt from Dober's diarium can serve as example for the claim of rudimentary literacy; the text does not follow any conventional requirements for German spelling rules: The German original reads: “Sankt Thomas den 16. Aprill 1733 Gieng bruder Nitschman an bort. Den 17. Früh gieng das Schief unter Seegel. Zu abent besucht ich die Anna und Aberham” (UA, R.15.B.a.2.b.2, Unitäts-Archiv, Herrnhut, Germany).
33 Richards, “Moravian Missions,” 56.
34 Uttendörfer, Missionsinstruktionen Zinzendorfs, 9.
35 Douglass, Narrative, 40.
36 For a detailed overview of Moravian activities concerning literacy and the enslaved population in the West Indies, see Hall, Slave Society.
37 Oldendorp, Historie, 166.
38 Ibid., 166, 177, 185, 187, 210.
39 Suriname, Diarium, 1 March 1768: The German original reads: “[ … ] keine Spur von der Arbeit des Geistes Gottes an den Herzen der Neger gewahr werden können [ … ] Vater brachte seinen Sohn zu mir und bat angelegentlich denselben schreiben und lesen zu lehren.” See Staehelin, Brüdergemeine in Suriname, 82.
40 Quoted in Hall, Slave Society, 112.
41 Oldendorp, Historie, 856. Beckles points out an additional use of slave passes. According to his research, it was indeed common for slaves to write their own passes, thus offering an opportunity for escape to run-away slaves who could use these counterfeit passes to travel to neighboring islands. Once there, they could reinvent themselves as freedmen in such port towns as Charlotte Amalie in St. Thomas, which had a large community of free black people; see Beckles, “Persistent Rebels,” 1011.
42 MissWI 152.7, MAB.
43 In October of 1738, Zinzendorf wrote a list of 48 instructions to all missionaries; he considered this list necessary because he had observed mistakes and obstacles in the respective mission fields that, according to him, might potentially endanger the success of the heathen missions. It included even such peculiarities as a ban on becoming homesick (instruction #37). For the complete list, see Kröger, Dober, 77–82.
44 In regard to the observation that the early, lower class Moravian missionaries encouraged enslaved people to use the legal system as a method to resist, the research by German historian Eckhart Hellmuth allows claiming that a maturing political consciousness with a transatlantic inspiration could indeed have taken place. In his scholarship on eighteenth-century Saxony, Hellmuth specifically focuses on the lower classes’ political consciousness which, according to him, was detectable in their growing awareness of a political culture's possibilities such as the use of the legal system. Most importantly for my thesis, he illustrates that while the late eighteenth century was significant for the actual political process, the lower classes of earlier decades were “definitely participating in shaping such consciousness.” See Hellmuth, “Eighteenth-Century Germany,” 134.
45 Zander, letter, 27 December 1742: The German original reads:
es ist hier ein gantz besonderer ort mit finsterniß bedecket, u. ist Jammerns würtig. [ … ] den wir haben die fernsten Näger Plantagen [ … ] wir besuchen sie itzo fleißig und sehn was unser liebes lamm [ … ] andere fangen an u. glaubens das wir sie lieb haben den ihr verderben ist hier so groß, dass kein Näger einem weißen menschen traut, sondern immer denkt, wer weiß, waß mir der blanke mensch thun wirt. (MissSur 17.1, MAB)
46 Suriname, Diarium, May 1768: The German original reads:
[Geerke] ist in seinem gemüth auf's reich werden aus und aus der Idee tractiert er auch die Sclaven unmenschlich, um seine Zwecke zu erreichen. Seine neger haben ihn auch allhier bei der Obrigkeit verklagt und sich auf Br. Forkel berufen, dass er selbst aus Mitleid vor sie gebeten habe und so hat Br. F. hier vorm Fiscal erscheinen müssen und da fragte ihn dieser, ob er vor sie gebeten habe. F. gab zur Antwort: ja, es thäte ihm ein jeder schlag wehe, wenn die Neger geschlagen würden, den er wäre noch neu im Lande und hätte die Neger lieb, sie wären doch auch Menschen, die den Heiland sein Blut gekostet haben. (see Staehelin, Brüdergemeine in Suriname, 58)
47 Lawatsch's letter to Leonard Dober, 17 August 1765, from the mission station of Saron: The German original reads:
Das miserable Ding, das unter sie gebracht worden, die Wegläufer von Negern zu fangen (vor einen solchen bekommen sie vom Fiscal 40 fl., wenn sie ihn bringen) oder wenn er sich nicht gefangen giebt, tod zu machen, wenn man das könnte abbringen, wäre mir wohl lieb … Man muss sich aber in Acht nehmen, daß es nicht so aussieht, als verböte man es ihnen, denn wenn so was vor unsre Obrigkeit käme, bekämen wir deswegen die größte Ungelegenheit und wo nicht gar das Exilium. (see Staehelin, Brüdergemeine in Suriname, 14 (my translation))
48 The German original reads: “Wißt ihrs denn gewiß, ob ihr über die Nacht Versammlungen halten solt? Wird euch nicht alles in die Schuhe gegoßen werden, wenn in der That ein Nachtaufstand entstehen sollte?” (MissWI 129.5, MAB; my translation).
49 The German original reads: “Michlers Kinder-Diarium hat mich sehr erfreut. Ich sehe, dass er fleißig ist, und dass die Kinder mit ihm vertraulich sind” (MissWI 129.20, MAB; my translation).
50 MissWI 129.20, MAB; MissWI 129.22, MAB.
51 The German original reads:
Br. Michler gedenket unter andren Dingen der Klagen der Neger über die Härte ihrer Herrn. Dabei ist grosse Behutsamkeit nöthig, u. Paulus sagt zur Antwort: ihr Knechte seyd gehorsam eurem Herrn, nicht allein den gütigen u. geleiden [?], sondern auch den wunderlichen. (MissWI 129.22, MAB; my translation)
52 MissWI 129.22, MAB.
53 See, for example, Leonard Dober and David Nitschmann, Diarium, St. Thomas, Januarius 1733: “wir sagten ihm aber daß die nicht Christo sondern dem Teuffel angehörten.” See Kröger, Dober, 49. See also Ibid., 53, 55, 56, 59.
54 Diarium, St. Thomas, 30 March 1737 (UA R15. Ba10, Unitäts-Archiv Herrnhut, Germany).
55 See, for example, Lamur, “Slave Religion,” 714–721.
56 For further details about the Moravian active involvement in slavery, see, for example, Sensbach, A Separate Canaan; Lamur, “Slave Religion”; Hüsgen, Mission und Sklaverei.