Resilience is defined as the ability to adapt well in the face of adversity and to recover from difficult experiences. One cannot fully understand the resilience of the enslaved without an awareness of the cosmology of African Traditional Religion.

African Traditional Religion is not a religious doctrine, but a lived experience. The practice of African Traditional Religion is diverse based upon ethnic group, language, and customs; however, there is a core belief in the Creator, deities that mediate between the Creator and humans, and the spirits of the ancestors that guide and protect, as well as spirits as elements of nature that influence lives.

There is a unified spiritual totality, no separation of the physical and spiritual realms. The human body and material objects can connect with the Creator, deities, and ancestors. Spiritual embodiment or an active relationship with the spirit world is the core of African Traditional Religion. Spirituality is integrated into and influences all facets of human life.

Faith was the most powerful virtue held by the enslaved African. Faith shaped their lives. Faith was belief, confidence, and a sense of trust that assured the presence and power of the Creator, the divine deities, and ancestors. Faith provided the strength, hope, courage, determination, endurance, and sense of peace. Faith was the embodiment of Spirit and the active, ongoing spiritual faculty of the enslaved; a belief, trust, and expectation of fulfillment that there could be triumph over all challenges and that enslavement would end one day.

The faith of the enslaved produced patience. Patience in the enslaved, grounded in spiritual understanding, was a quiet strength that provided perseverance over the daily hardships of enslavement and grounded them with a sense of peace. Patience was the ability to remain calm in the worst of times of challenge, delays, and frustration. The enslaved needed the power of patience to wait for the Christmas holidays when they would get to see a loved one living on another plantation, or finally, no more delays in plans to run away.

Faith produced hope, a positive outlook held by the enslaved that lifted their spirits despite the brutality and inhumanity they experienced daily. The ancestral connection was a vital element of hope for the enslaved. The power and connection to the ancestors were an unknown and selectively concealed aspect in the lives of the enslaved. The ancestral connection provided crucial advice and wisdom when needed by the enslaved. In dreams, in moments of quiet meditation, or during a ritual involving dance, the ancestor would speak to the enslaved and provide the answers to the questions and advice needed by the enslaved.

Love, considered a spiritual force among the enslaved, was a powerful source of emotional support, strength, and interconnection within the community. Love was a core virtue within biological families and families created within the community. When a parent was sold, the children became part of the community family, and the parent could trust that they would be loved and cared for by a special grandmother. Love was demonstrated through mutual support, providing protection, and the knowledge that the community was one. The collective love found in the enslaved community was critical to a sense of security, protection, and well-being.

Imagination, the capacity for innovative thinking and creative expression, was the character of the enslaved. Imagination made it possible for the enslaved to adapt to their brutal circumstances. It served as a tool for innovation and a way to make life more bearable. The enslaved creativity included braiding the hair in certain ways as a map for runaways, as well as secret symbols in quilts. The enslaved created ways to engage in mischief without being caught, such as poisoning the master’s food just enough to make him sick, but not to kill him, knowing that his death would impact the community, as sales and separation of families.

Enslaved women found ways to prevent pregnancy and the breeding of slaves, which denied masters more economic benefits. The use of Christian images to connect with African deities is a prime example of the creativity of the enslaved. Finally, the enslaved even created a way to make what was meant to dehumanize them, the lowest part of the pig, bowels, and feet, into delicacies of chitterlings and pickled pig feet.

Despite being forbidden to practice their religion, use their true names, or speak their languages, the enslaved Africans refused to give up their identity or culture. The oral tradition of storytelling, as well as proverbs and folklore, provided memories of their empires, as well as the agricultural and other contributions Africans made to civilization. The best example of the power of memories is the tradition of African culture being practiced in at least fifty Maroon communities that existed at the beginning of the Civil War.

Resilience during enslavement was derived from the African spirit. The enslaved, through their faith, hope, love, imagination, and power of traditional culture, provided a guide for future generations. If the enslaved could “find a way out of no way,” a virtue still revered by the descendants of the enslaved.

The savagery, brutality, and inhumanity of enslavement could not diminish the strength, resolve, and humanity of the enslaved. Their resilience passed down through generations is evidence of their agency. Four human virtues: faith, hope, love, and joy, provided the core roots of their resilience.