Welcome to Alabama
African American Marriages


Marriage Queries



 

Compiled by Sandra Denise Johnson & the many compilers
whose email addresses are listed with the entries below
To submit entries, PLEASE follow the instructions below:

Please send me your Alabama AfAm marriages. No living persons please.
Please do not send me requests for lookups;
I do not have such resources.
This site is for you to submit information about marriages
that took place in Alabama and to make connections with others.

The copyright remains with the original submitter.
You may use the information for your own personal use
 
 



African-American Marriage Tradition
"Jumping the Broom"

The most common tradition is 'jumping the broom', a ritual originating from
the Deep South during the American Civil War when slave weddings were not
permitted and so an alternative commitment ceremony had to be found. The
broom is placed on the floor and the couple jumps over it. But what does it
signify? Well, there seem to be various explanations ranging from a jump
from singledom into matrimony, following an African tribal marriage ritual
of placing sticks on the ground representing the couple's new home or it
could just be sweeping away the old and welcoming the new. (The broom has
long held significant meaning for the various Africans, symbolizing the
start of homemaking for the newlywed couple. In Southern Africa, the day
after the wedding, a kgatla bird assisted the other women in the family in
sweeping the courtyard, indicating her dutiful willingness to help her
in-laws with housework till the newlyweds could move to their new home.)
Some African- American couples today are choosing to include this symbolic
rite in their wedding ceremony, directly before the recession. A nice touch
is to fill a basket with ribbon pieces for guests to tie around the broom
before you begin.
In Ghana, an Asante male interested in a woman must 'knock on the door' so
his mother and maternal uncle visit the girl's family and propose marriage
Cowrie shells are believed to encourage fertility and so include them in a
necklace or to trim your gowns and headpieces.
At the reception or outside the ceremony, pour a little wine on the ground
as a libation to the gods.


 Send Alabama AA Marriages to :  TRUDY BLACK
 

Alabama AfAm Marriages submitted by County


Autauga
Baldwin
Barbour
Bibb
Blount
Bullock
Butler
Calhoun
Chambers
Cherokee
Chilton
Choctaw
Clarke
Clay
Cleburne
Coffee
Colbert
Conecuh
Coosa
Covington
Crenshaw
Cullman
Dale
Dallas
DeKalb
Elmore
Escambia
Etowah
Fayette
Franklin
Geneva
Greene
Hale
Henry
Houston
Jackson
Jefferson
Lamar
Lauderdale
Lawrence
Lee
Limestone
Lowndes
Macon
Madison
Marengo
Marion
Marshall
Mobile
Monroe
Montgomery
Morgan
Perry
Pickens
Pike
Randolph
Russell
St. Clair
Shelby
Sumter
Talladega
Tallapoosa
Tuscaloosa
Walker
Washington
Wilcox
Winston
Unknown County