The Holy Land of Matrimony: The Complex Legacy of the Broomstick Wedding in American History

The 1976 publication of Alex Haley’s Roots: The Saga of an American Family forced Americans to reckon with the experiences of black people in the United States. Haley’s novel was a historical fiction depicting his ancestral history, beginning with his eighteenth-century West African forebears and concluding in the late twentieth century. Roots vividly illuminated the African experience in America and unveiled a distinct narrative that drifted away from the traditional Anglo-American histories. Haley personified this experience through his initial protagonist, Kunta Kinte, a character who both physically and psychologically attempts to resist the system that forcibly took him from his homeland and placed him in chains. Despite Kunta’s fortitude in refusing to denounce his Muslim Mandinka heritage, he begrudgingly engages cultural traditions associated with enslaved Americans, including the popular wedding tradition “jumping the broom.” Initially, this ritual “seemed ridiculous to Kunta for such a solemn occasion,” but he reluctantly joins his American-born bride Bell in a wedding ceremony conducted in the slave quarters.¹ Following the blessing bestowed upon them by an elderly slave named “Aunt Sukey,” they jumped the broomstick “into de holy lan’ of matrimony” surrounded by festive slaves and an approving master.² Though he held reservations, Kunta’s participation in the ritual signified his gradual transition from “African” to “African American” cultural identity.

Whereas Kunta apprehensively embraced slave marital rites, his grandson “Chicken George” willingly performed the custom at his own wedding in the nineteenth century. This suggests that the broomstick tradition continued across generations of servitude and became an integral component of slave wedding traditions.³ Serving as symbols for African American readers, the genealogical connection between Kunta Kinte and Chicken George was critical for black Americans seeking cultural links to their own enslaved ancestors, compelling them to grapple with a history many felt was otherwise hidden from them. Haley’s depiction of slaves’ cultural resilience encouraged his audience to consider how slavery molded the unique cultural developments of black America. Inspired by Roots’ vivid description, the ceremony became a focal point in defining African American heritage among readers and viewers of the televised miniseries. Haley essentially reintroduced the popular slave custom to the descendant community and provided a blueprint for those seeking to perform it in the twentieth century. Consequently, many African Americans embraced the “heritage wedding” concept, in which traditional Christian ceremonies included Afrocentric elements for those seeking to pay homage to their ancestors in Africa and America. The ceremony dignified their ancestors’ struggles to marry under a system that disrespected their familial ties. Similar to the slave wedding in Roots, couples leaped over a broom after the ministerial blessings and the final salutation of the bride and groom, ultimately “jumping” into domestic life surrounded by witnesses.

The broomstick ritual’s sudden popularization in the late twentieth century prompts some compelling questions: why did it take over a century for African Americans to re-embrace a custom that many believed was universally practiced by their ancestors? Why did the practice fall out of use after the Civil War? Where does the ritual originate? Past scholarship typically portrays Haley’s work as a pivot point in African American cultural development, pointing to the increased inclusion of jumping the broomstick as an appendage to modern wedding ceremonies after Roots’ release.⁴ Indeed, including this enigmatic custom appears more than coincidental, but past scholarship failed to consider the transcultural connotations of the broomstick wedding in the century between slavery’s demise in 1865 and Roots’ popularity in the mid-1970s. Despite its cross-racial, multicultural roots, the broomstick wedding’s post-Roots revival reoriented how Americans envisioned its position in American history. Many assume the custom is unique to the black community and its cultural ownership is exclusive to African Americans. These authors generally overlook that Americans of various racial backgrounds utilized broomstick traditions that survived in modified form throughout the nineteenth century and into the twentieth.⁵ By tracing the broomstick wedding’s appeal to both black and white Americans, this article shows how it exemplifies the...