Black Couples May want To Reconsider Jumping the Broom When Getting Married

A tradition from slavery

Decades ago when a black couple decided to get married, it would be said that they were going to “jump the broom.” I heard this often but did not give much thought to it. Today it’s for African American couples to jump over a broom to seal the deal after a wedding ceremony. There was even a movie that was titled Jumping the Broom.

Those who continue this practice probably heard it was something their ancestors did, and they desire to carry on the tradition. If any of these young men and women knew the facts related to this custom, they might have second thoughts about participating.

Jumping the broom came to America with slaves from Ghana and other African nations as a tradition. In some situations the broom was waved over the heads of the newlyweds to ward off evil spirits. During slavery, the masters appeased their”property” by allowing slaves to go through the motions of a marriage ceremony and jumping the broom but these unions were never legal.

Jumping the broom was not legal

Not only was this practice not legal, but the couples were never even registered. In the book Jubilee, by Margaret Walker, the main character a slave girl named Vyry has a conversation with her master about marrying the father of her unborn child. Her master is angry because her baby daddy is a free Negro and by Georgia law, if Vyry wed him both she and her baby would be free.

The master, John Dutton, would lose two slaves (Vyry and her unborn child) and he did not want that to happen. Africans enslaved in this nation had no rights and were owned by the men who held the deeds to the plantations. Sadly they believed they were truly married by jumping over a broom and had children, but their owners still held the right to tear the families apart by selling them.

Ignorant of the law

Slave owners allowed the slaves to jump the broom to give them the impression that they had a legitimate wedding ceremony, but in actuality, they did not. Many couples found this out when spouses or children were sold to other slave owners and sent to different plantations.

African Americans did not begin to have legal weddings in this nation until after the Civil War.As long as black married couples lived in slavery, their unions meant nothing except producing more slaves.

Jumping the broom today

Another issue with jumping the broom is that many modern-day Christian pastors tell their congregations to have nothing to do with the ‘heathen” rituals that were brought over from Africa. This is a sensitive subject and everyone will view it all differently. Some couples will continue the practice despite how it was abused during slavery and the fact that their religious leaders may be against it.

In 2011 a film was made titled Jumping the Broom that made a lot of money. I wonder had they researched the practice if this movie would still have been produced. However you the reader feel about jumping over a broom during a wedding ceremony it’s always best to know the truth about situations.

When facts are made available you can make an informed decision on the choices you must deal with. I recall my grandmother saying engaged couples were about to jump the broom but never thought to ask her why this was said. When I first heard it was the way for slaves to marry I never thought about it.

Ignorance of the past is not bliss

When I was in the fifth grade, the teacher, Ms. Margaret Thompson explained jumping the broom as though it were a joke the plantation owners were playing on their ignorant unsuspecting slaves, because they knew in the eyes of the law these unions were not legal. I did not retain this memory of the practice and it only came back while writing this article.

I think of Roots, reading Vyry’s story and think of how my teacher explained it, and wonder why such a thing would be celebrated. Surely anyone who understood the origin would not want to have such a ritual as part of their wedding ceremony, or would they?

The bottom line is that the plantation owners knew this practice was not legal but did not care. They only wanted the slaves producing children to add to their workforce.