By Kwaku Person-Lynn, Ph.D.

After attending a very beautiful, happy and loving American Afrikan wedding, there was a practice exercised during the ceremony that raises some questions. It seems that jumping the broom, after being pronounced husband and wife, has recently reached new popularity. Many attribute this to the ever-popular “Roots” television series by Alex Haley, further reinforced by the movie “The Best Man.”

On the surface it seems an innocent, fun, traditional thing to do. It is a way of bringing heritage, as many perceive, into the wedding ceremony. But as psychiatrist Dr. Frances Cress Welsing has stated many times, “We are surface addicted.” Looking deeper into issues or traditions to find their origins is not a common behavior and may cause many to continue doing something that may have had negative connotations in its inception.

It is almost like celebrating Juneteenth. Many celebrate it without having a clue what they are celebrating. When asking a college student what it meant, the reply was, “I don’t know. It’s just something black people do.”

 

Since most do not know the origin of jumping the broom, while there are questions if the origin can be found, we can at least look at what others who have looked into it have to say. One thing we do know, it was a practice heavily used during slavery. It signified the joining of a couple, simulating marriage, since religious and civil marriages were prohibited and outlawed during most of slavery. When researching this subject, some of the best sources to investigate are slave narratives, which recorded the lives of slaves in their own voice.

In her book, Jumping The Broom by Harriette Cole, one of the best books on the subject, Tempie Durham, in her slave language style, recounts the practice during her marriage ceremony (Marse means master). “After Uncle Edmond said de las' words over me an 'E xter, Marse George got to have his little fun. He say, ‘Come on, Exter, you an' Tempie got to jump over de broomstick backwards. You go to do dat to see which one gwine be boss of your househol'.’ Everbody come stan' roun' to watch. Marse George hold de broom 'bout a foot high off de floor. De one dat jump over it backwards an' never touch de handle gwine boss de house, an' if bofe of dem jump over widout touchin' it, dey ain't gwine be no bossin'; de jus' gwine be 'genial.”

A view that supports this account comes from Judith Hunter, owner of Jumping the Broom Bridal Shop in Columbia, Maryland. She says, “Broomstick ceremonies in this country began on pre-Civil War plantations whose owners prohibited Christian or civil weddings among slaves. The desire of couples to bond for life in a sanctified ceremony won out, however, as slaves created their own ceremonies, which included an eclectic mix of rituals from different African tribes. Tradition says that whoever jumps the highest will make the decisions in the family. If one doesn't jump, the other wears the pants.”

However, there are those who do not participate because they feel it is a continuance of a slave tradition. There are customs and traditions practiced today that started during slavery. People of Afrikan descent continue these practices without knowing that they came from slavery, and in some cases, were started by slave masters.

 

For instance, many people of Afrikan descent do not realize that most of the European names given to Afrikans during slavery was a way of identifying which plantation a slave belonged to. If the plantation owner’s last name was Smith, all of his slaves, especially those allowed off the plantation for various reasons, would have the same last name. We continue to give our children these slave-given European names, because people of Afrikan descent do not know their original names. Thus, beginning around the 1960s, parents and individuals who were aware of this began giving their children, and t hemselves, Afrikan names.

As far as jumping the broom, we are saddled with a slave tradition that was sanctioned by the slave master, since religious or legal marriages were not allowed. Not only that, the slave master had to give permission for a couple to do so. Ms. Cole cites this in her book, "With the master's permission, a couple was allowed to stand before witnesses, pledge their devotion to each other and finally jump over a broom, which would indicate their step into married life."

As people of Afrikan descent redefine their existence: customs, traditions and rituals that perpetuate any aspect of slavery must be investigated to determine if it is harmful. One individual, when asked about jumping the broom, stated “It’s a fun thing to do.” What are sometimes called continuing and retaining Afrikan traditions, may well be something started right on a slave plantation. Of course, serious research is required so as not to duplicate something we thought was part of Afrikan or American Afrikan heritage, no matter what movie it appeared in.

Kwaku Person-Lynn is the author of FIRST WORD Black Scholars Thinkers Warriors. E-mail address: DrKwaku@hotmail.com