Whenever people are treated badly and unfair, family and religion are often more important. People in slavery in America turned to these bedrock social benefits to live better and more fulfilling lives.
Well, in terms of family, they had their children often ripped away to be sold, or killed if they were scrawny. The men could expect their wives to be forced to be sex slaves and breeders, and they themselves would be too busy with working to death to hold on to any semplance of religion.
If you are asking about American slaves, religion served a dual purpose. On the one hand, the white slaveowners, who were for the most part members of the Protestant religion, forced the slaves to accept Christianity. But since the slaves were kept illiterate, they had no way of knowing what the Bible said about slavery. Slaveowners wanted them to believe that blacks were inferior, and that this was according to the Bible (this is a myth-- slavery is indeed mentioned in both the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and the New Testament, but it was not decided by race. A person became a slave if he or she were captured in a war, and in some cases, the word "slave" was closer to an indentured servant, someone too poor and too unskilled to survive, who had entered into a relationship with a "master" that would, theoretically, end one day).
So, the version of Christianity promoted to the slaves was one that encouraged acceptance of their servitude and their inferiority, with the promise that God and Jesus would reward their faithfulness after they died. Slaves were also encouraged to accept being beaten and to see their suffering as punishment for their sinful nature. Again, the reward would come in Heaven after death. This version of religion actually seems to have proved somewhat comforting to the slaves-- they felt that God did see their suffering, and that He would one day set them free to live in His kingdom; many so-called "Negro spirituals," songs written and sung by the slaves, included this view.
But there was also another version of religion-- the religion practiced by many of the abolitionists. As they saw it, Christianity (and Judaism, since there were some Jewish abolitionists too, although most were from the Quaker denomination of Christianity) called upon believers to free the captive, and demanded that believers bring justice to the world, which meant putting an end to the brutal conditions under which the slaves lived. Many former slaves also embraced this activist version of Christianity, where they worked to bring an end to slavery and promote equality, since the Bible says that we are all equal in the sight of God. It cannot be overstated how deeply these abolitionists believed in that version of religion-- a version that does not allow for standing idly by when someone is being mistreated.
It hurts the African Americans.
Not usually, but some did most family were freed after the dad bought their freedom
By taking them to the Underground Railroad to make them run away
To provide some measure of stability in their lives, enslave African Americans established a network of relatives and friends, who made up their extended family. I know is to much! :)
They had extended families to take care of them since they were separated from their real ones. They also held on to all there traditions.
Religion was a second refuge for slaves
It has not been established that African-Americans dopreserve their family heritage more than other American groups.
It provided comfort and hope that they could make it through the hard times also that they felt it could improve their spirits of getting away from the slave owners free and clear
Life was mostly very bad for enslaved African Americans. They worked from sun up to sun down. Many were beaten daily with whips and the women were raped.
The African Americans felt terrible. They were sad and angry because they missed their families. The African Americans knew that they would never be able to see their family again.
They are still called African Americns because they have a history of African Americans in their family, even though they have never been to Africa.
Their family was the only people they could trust and the only people who understood what they were going through. Religion gave them hope.