The church has been the most important social institution in the Black community. This means that the ideology of religious beliefs (particularly Christianity), the social organization of the church, and the community leadership of the minister have combined to represent the main organized social form of historical stability.

Religion is a set of ideas, ideological beliefs, in which the beginning of the world and all subsequent historical and social phenomena are the result of actions by one or more Supreme Beings (God, Allah, Jehovah, etc.), which exist outside of the material world. But the concrete historical conditions that Black people have faced, and still face in their day-to-day lives, call for changes in "the here and now." Thus, religion and the Black church have been historically confronted with a contradiction: to believe that "God helps those who help themselves" and to get fully involved in the struggle for Black liberation, or to wait for some "Supreme Being" to solve the problems that Black people face.

THE AFRICAN CONNECTION

The impact of African religious practices on Afro-American religion had been the subject of an intense debate. There are two schools of thought. E. Franklin Frazier and others argued that the manner in which Africans were captured and enslaved in Africa and slavery in the Americas practically stripped the slaves of their African social heritage, religion included. This was a deliberate process by the slave traders and slaveowners, who could more easily maintain control over culturally disoriented and dehumanized slaves. On the other hand, Lorenzo Turner, a Black linguist, and Melville Herskovitz, a white anthropologist, attempted to show that African survivals could be discovered in almost all aspects of Black life in the United States. Included among these survivals in religion, for example, were the "call and response" interaction between preacher, choir, and congregation; "shouting," which results from "possession" by the supernatural; and the practice of immersing the body in water (baptizing). All have been found in parts of Africa and in some Black churches in the United States.

Subsequent research has indicated that the brutal experiences of enslavement and the "middle passage" did not completely erase all of the African cultural heritage of Afro-Americans. Arthur Fauset, sociologist and student of Black urban religious movements, maintained:

Even Frazier admitted in The Negro Church in America: "Those slaves who were largely isolated from the whites engaged in religious practices that undoubtedly included some African Survivals."  However, he quickly added that "there was a determined effort on the part of whites to prevent any resurgence of African religion."  Always fearful of the possibility of slave revolts, whites even passed laws to prohibit African religious practices. These new conditions of slavery in the New World were significant factors in determining what would remain of this cultural heritage as Black people struggled for survival in the United States. Thus, the religious practices of Black people are best understood by looking at them in the concrete social context of the Afro-American experience in the United States as it has historically evolved.

THE SLAVE PERIOD

Although Frazier incorrectly argued that slaves suffered a total loss of African culture, he was the leading scholar recognizing the pivotal social role that the Black church has played in the Black experience since slavery. The slave trade represented a profound disruption in social life of the Black people. During slavery, the Christian religion to some extent provided a new and vitally necessary basis of social cohesion. It helped to create group solidarity and a structured social life among Black people.

While Quakers, Presbyterians, and Catholics were the first to try and recruit Blacks, it was mainly the Baptists and secondarily the Methodists that slaves responded to and joined. Several factors accounted for this:

1. Baptist and Methodist preachers were mainly uneducated and poor like the slaves, and their appeal appeared to be more genuine and inviting.

2. The emotionalism of Baptists and Methodists provided more of an outlet for the pent-up feelings and emotions of the oppressed slaves than did the more reserved practices of other denominations.

3. The decentralized political structure of the Baptist denomination, with each church operating as an autonomous unit under the leadership of a local preacher, gave more real involvement to the members and proved more appealing than the centralized structure of the Methodist Church.

In addition to providing social cohesion among slaves, religion was a bridge to the white world. House slaves and slavemasters often worshipped together, either in special sections of white churches or in special services in the slaveowner's house. Not only did religion provide slaves with a link to white society, but, as Frazier pointed out, it also "tended to break down barriers that isolated them morally from their white masters... Thus, despite the vast gulf in the status that separated master and slave, participation in the same religious services drew the Negroes out of their moral isolation in the white man's world."

Slavemasters, however, deliberately used religion to reinforce slavery. First, they passed laws which overruled the view of many Christians that only a heathen could be enslaved and that once baptized a slave was free. Second, the bible was used to teach slaves a submissive orientation and a "divine, God-given" justification for their condition as slaves. Slaves were the "cursed children of Ham" and destined always to be oppressed workers - "Hewers of wood and drawers of water."  If slaves accepted their lot and were obedient, hardworking, and truthful, they would be rewarded in heaven, the world after death. Third, slavemasters used religion to further social distinctions between "house slaves" (who were more assimilated and shared the religious practices, beliefs, and interests of the master) and the "field slaves" (who remained more African in orientation). It was always in the slavemaster's interest to keep slaves divided as much as possible. Because preachers functioned with the blessings of the master, they often became a useful tool of social control.

Since plantation owners did not allow organization to develop openly among the slaves, an underground church - what E. Franklin Frazier calls "the invisible institution" - emerged. There, the religious practices of the slaves flourished beyond the watchful eyes of the slaveowner and overseers. An ex-slave wrote describing a typical underground church:

In the underground church, preachers usually were called to their positions by some religious experience that indicated they were God's chosen leaders. Preachers, however, were always ultimately under the control of whites. Thus, under slavery there was never really an independent Black church, except those established by free Blacks.

Slavery also defined the status of free Blacks. In white churches, even free Blacks were denied equality and continually were subjected to racist abuse. In 1787, Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, faced with vicious discrimination in Philadelphia, led a group of Black people in establishing the first Black denomination - the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). Others followed in their footsteps and formed independent Black churches, most notably the African Methodist Episcopal Church Zion (AMEZ). The AME and AMEZ churches today are two of the largest Black denominations, performing missionary work, in Africa, Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

Resistance was a central aspect of the church during slavery. Slave spirituals spoke of the fight against slavery. As the theologian James Cone pointed out:

The "sweet chariot" that would "swing low" referred to the underground railroad, a clandestine escape route for slaves organized by Harriet Tubman and others and supported by Black churches in the South and North.  Men like Nat Turner, Gabriel Prosser, and Denmark Vesey were either inspired by biblical passages or used their roles and skills as preachers to organize armed resistance against the institution of slavery. It is therefore not surprising that Black churches and Black preachers were declared illegal by the laws of many states after the slave revolts of the early 1800s.

THE RURAL PERIOD

Social Stability

The moral life of captured Africans was disrupted and subjected to the economic dictates of slavery. Thus, family life, moral values, religious beliefs, and social practices were corrupted and negated. The Black church in the post-Civil War period helped to foster a new sense of community and to evolve a system of beliefs and values that sustained the development of stable families, social practices, and moral values. Charles S. Johnson, in his 1934 study of the Black rural church, summarized its role as a social institution:

Almost a decade later, he wrote:

Table 23
 FIVE MAJOR BLACK DENOMINATIONS

Denomination	Number of Members	Number of Churches	Number of Pastors	Sunday School Members
National Baptist Convention, USA	5,000,000	26,000	27,500	2,407,000
National Baptist Convention of America	2,668,000	11,398	7,598	2,500,000
AME Church	1,166,000	5,878	5,878	363,432
AME Zion Church	770,000	4,082	2,400	199,250
CME Church	444,493	2,523	1,792	115,424

Source: John P. Davis, ed. The American Negro Reference Book, 1966, p. 402.

Economic Cooperation

Black people pooled their meager resources to build their own churches after slavery. "Mutual aid societies" and "sickness and burial societies" also emerged. These early efforts at capital accumulation also helped to lay the basis for church-supported businesses, newspapers, banks, and insurance companies.

Education

The first independent Black schools were established by Black preachers while the Civil War was still being fought. Immediately after the war, millions of dollars were raised to support Black education through church suppliers and programs. Black church-supported colleges were also a response to the need of Black churches for an educated ministry, though many Black people other than ministers were trained.

Arena of Political Life

During Reconstruction, Black preachers became important elected and appointed political leaders. After the Hayes-Tilden sellout forced Black people out of politics, the Black church became the most available center for Black political activity. Here, individual preachers could struggle for power, and the masses could voice their choice for leadership through voting, committee work, and holding various church offices.

Black preachers emerged as the personification of the cohesiveness and national unity of Black people. They were leaders in all phases of community life. They motivated Black people to build schools and to contribute to denominational colleges; they encouraged homeownership and even helped some to become homeowners; they provided leadership in civic activities; and they often served as the main link between the Black community and white officials.

During the slave and rural periods, Blacks were molded into an Afro-American nation. As the main social institution during these periods, the Black church reflected the contradictions inherent in the Black experience. On the one hand it was a progressive institution insofar as it served as a motivating force behind liberation struggles. On the other hand, it was a conservative force that encouraged people to accept their condition as a means of dealing with their oppression.

While Black churches were centers of resistance throughout much of the slave period and early rural period, many churches became quite conservative in the rural areas. Writing on the rural church in 1941, Charles S. Johnson declared:

Based on his study of Black rural church people, he concluded in Shadow of the Plantation:

Benjamin Mays, in his 1938 study, referred to these attitudes as "traditional, compensatory ideas," which were reflected in sermons, prayers, and church school literature after 1914.  Describing these ideas, he maintained:

Though Black people in the northern urban areas may have been receiving different messages, the masses in the rural areas were being given a hefty dose of otherworldly ideas to compensate for their tribulations.

As conservative as the church may have been in the rural period, it did play a very important role in the development of the Afro-American nation. As a social institution, it was the backbone of the Black community. In addition, the church was the basis for the collective expression of Afro-American national development in the area of economic life. This was especially the case since imperialism and racism stunted the development of a Black bourgeoisie. The political life of the Black community emanated from the rural church. The pivotal role of the church in Afro-American national development is the basis for the continued key role of the church among Black people.

THE URBAN PERIOD

Migration, urbanization, and proletarianization had a profound impact on the institutional life of Black people. The Black church, the center of social life in the rural South, was not immediately available to meet the needs resulting from the new, cold, and impersonal life in the city. In response to this new environment and the transformation of the Black experience from rural to urban and from farm to factory, the Black church was also transformed in several significant ways.

Secularization

The Black churches added more social programs to deal with the conditions of Black people "on this side of Jordan." More importantly, many churches and ministers became actively involved in the struggle for Black liberation. They joined the struggles for jobs and housing and fought against lynching.

Storefront Churches 

In order to compete with the large and varied institutions which characterized urban life, many Black churches became large impersonal bureaucracies. Many churchgoers, especially the newly-arrived migrants from the South, desired a more intimate church experience and joined one of the many smaller churches housed in rented stores or houses. Many southern preachers even followed their members North as they migrated and set up shop in their new communities.

Writing in the 1940s, Vattel Daniel described these new urban churches:

Storefront churches were historically necessary responses to the inadequacy of established denominations in meeting the spiritual needs felt by Black people from the South in the urban industrial environment.

Black Religious Cults

Storefront churches usually maintained traditional beliefs and practices, Black religious cults abandoned conventional beliefs about God and about Black people. Two kinds of cults stand out: 1) the "holiness" cults, and 2) the salvation" cults.

The "holiness" cults seek to restore a purer form of Christianity through the sanctification (or Purification) of their members. Father Divine's Peace Mission Movement and Daddy Grace's United House Of Prayer for All People are examples of this type of cult.

The beliefs and practices of the United House of Prayer for All People were described by Arthur Fauset in 1944:

In general, these holiness cults were characterized by a religious frenzy called "shouting" or "getting happy" and prohibitions on alcohol, gambling, and the like.

The "salvation" cults seek salvation through escape from being identified as Christian. They develop a mark of distinction by rooting their beliefs and practices in a religious tradition (often Islam) that is not common to Black people in the United States. The Moorish Science Temple of America, founded by Timothy Drew around 1913, is an example of a salvation cult. Its origin and practices were outlined by Fauset:

Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam, established years later, is another example of a salvation sect.

Generally, cults and sects reflect Black people's dissatisfaction with their exploitation and oppression as well as their genuine desire to seek a way out of these conditions. People will try anything, regardless of how slim the possibilities of success are, to alleviate oppressive conditions.

THE CONTEMPORARY SITUATION

The last two decades have revealed several trends in Black religion. Black people have become more differentiated - socially, culturally, and economically. Black religious practices likewise have become more varied. Religion has generally become less important among Black people. This is because the church has had to compete with other institutions and activities. It is also because of the historical and continuing failure of the church to deliver Black people from the valley of exploitation and oppression to the mountaintop of freedom and liberation.

Two contradictory forces have shaped the recent activity of the Black church. One, the struggle for Black liberation since 1954 has had a great impact. As the masses of Black people got more involved in struggle, so too did the Black church. Black preachers got up off their knees and into the streets - if for no other reason than to keep up with their constituency and to save their jobs. Two, the rise of the new Black middle class has greatly influenced the church. This new middle class has more of an interest in business, politics, and securing government appointments and grants. Therefore, it is often solely interested in the organized power of the Black church to achieve these aims.

All of the important ideological forces in the Black liberation movement over the past few years have had an impact on the Black church. Writing on the role of religion in liberation struggles, Gary Marx observed in the 1960s: 

The work of Martin Luther King, Jr. and others clearly represented the latter strand, the "social gospel" tradition. This has also been referred to as Black liberation theology.

Reverend King addressed his fellow clergy who were critical of protest activities in his letter from a Birmingham jail in 1963:

Indeed, many churches did become involved in issues of social justice and were active in the Civil Rights Movement.

Later in the 1960s, some preachers advocated Black power. The National Committee of Negro Churchmen declared in 1966:

Others (e.g., Reverend Albert Cleage in Detroit and the Black Christian Nationalist Movement) incorporated nationalist and pan-Africanist practices and beliefs. Anti-imperialist consciousness also surfaced with the opposition of many ministers to the war in Vietnam, in their protest against the role of U.S. imperialism in exploiting and oppressing people of Africa, and in their support for the African liberation struggles.

While some churches currently are involved in the struggle for Black liberation, many more are pulling Black people from the struggle and more into religious fanaticism, escapism, and a "wait and God will take care of everything" mentality. The Black church continues to make contributions to the freedom struggle. Today, however, it falls far short of the decisive contributions it made during slavery and even during the recent period of the civil rights struggles. Thus, the Black church comes closer to repeating the role that E. Franklin Frazier described some twenty years ago in The Negro Church in America: "[T]he Negro church and Negro religion cast a shadow over the entire intellectual life of Negroes and have been responsible for the so-called backwardness of American Negroes."

Given the worsening social conditions of Black people in the United States, the role of such an influential institution as the Black church must be strongly criticized. The solution to this dilemma is clear if we study and correctly understand the lessons of Black people's struggles in the 1950s and 1960s. We must reclaim the Black church for the struggle and rekindle its fighting heritage. The Black church must "get up off its knees and back into the streets" with the same fighting spirit with which the masses of Black people have historically fought for freedom and justice. In short, to use the language of the Church itself, "heaven," if it comes, will not come without a successful struggle for freedom and liberation for Black people right here on "earth."

KEY CONCEPTS

STUDY QUESTIONS

1. In what ways did the Christian religion help the slaves? Help the slavemasters?

2. How did the Black church serve as the central institution in the Black community during the rural period?

3. How did urbanization transform Black religious practices?

4. What are the main themes of Black liberation theology?

SUPPLEMENTARY  READINGS

1. James H. Cone, For My People: Black Theology and the Black Church. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1984.

2. Philip S. Foner, ed., Black Socialist Preacher. San Francisco: Synthesis Publications, 1983.

3. Albert J. Raboteau, Slave Religion: The Invisible Institution in the Antebellum South. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978.

4. George E. Simpson, Black Religions in the New World. New York: Columbia University Press, 1978.

5. Cornel West, Prophesy Deliverance!: An Afro-American Revolutionary Christianity. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1982.