Except
for the Society of Friends, all religious
groups in America supported slavery. In the South black people were
not usually allowed to attend church services. Those churches that
did accept them would segregate them from white worshipers.
One of the main reasons why masters did not want their slaves to become
Christians involved the Bible. They feared that slaves might interpret
the teachings of Jesus Christ as being in favour of equality. This
was one of the main reasons why most plantation
owners did what they could to stop their slaves from learning
to read.
Slaves were also forbidden from continuing with
African religious rituals. Drums were also banned as overseers
worried that they would be used to send messages. They were particularly
concerned that they would be used to signal a slave uprising.
Black people in the North were much more likely to attend church services.
In 1794 Richard Allen founded the first
church for black people in Philadelphia. Two years later Peter
Williams, a wealthy tobacco merchant who felt unwelcome in the local
Methodist Church, established a similar
church in New York.
In 1816 a group of churchmen led by Richard
Allen formed the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Allen became
the church's first bishop.
African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia
(1)
William
Wells Brown, Narrative of William W. Brown, A Fugitive Slave
(1847)
Slaveholders
hide themselves behind the church. A more praying, preaching, psalm-singing
people cannot be found than the slaveholders at the south. The religion
of the south is referred to every day, to prove that slaveholders
are good, pious men. But with all their pretensions, and all the aid
which they get from the northern church, they cannot succeed in deceiving
the Christian portion of the world. Their child-robbing, man-stealing,
woman-whipping, chain-forging, marriage-destroying, slave-manufacturing,
man-slaying religion, will not be received as genuine; and the people
of the free states cannot expect to live in union with slaveholders,
without becoming contaminated with slavery.
The
American slave-trader, with the constitution in his hat and his license
in his pocket, marches his gang of chained men and women under the
very eaves of the nation's capitol. And this, too, in a country professing
to be the freest nation in the world. They profess to be democrats,
republicans, and to believe in the natural equality of men; that they
are "all created with certain inalienable rights, among which
are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." They call themselves
a Christian nation; they rob three millions of their countrymen of
their liberties, and then talk of their piety, their democracy, and
their love of liberty.
(2)
Harriet
Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861)
A clergyman who goes to the south, for the first time, has usually
some feeling, however vague, that slavery is wrong. The slaveholder
suspects this, and plays his game accordingly. He makes himself as
agreeable as possible; talks on theology, and other kindred topics.
The southerner invites him to talk with these slaves. He asks them
if they want to be free, and they say, "O, no, massa." This
is sufficient to satisfy him. He comes home to publish a "South-Side
View of Slavery," and to complain of the exaggerations of abolitionists.
He assures people that he has been to the south, and seen slavery
for himself; that it is a beautiful "patriarchal institution;"
that the slaves don't want their freedom; that they have hallelujah
meetings, and other religious privileges.
What does he know of the half-starved wretches
toiling from dawn till dark on the plantations? of mothers shrieking
for their children, torn from their arms by slave traders? of young
girls dragged down into moral filth? of pools of blood around the
whipping post? of hounds trained to tear human flesh? of men screwed
into cotton gins to die? The slaveholder showed him none of these
things, and the slaves dared not tell of them if he had asked them.
(3)
Moses
Roper, Adventures and Escape of Moses Roper (1838)
There
are several circumstances which occurred on this estate while I was
there, relative to other slaves, which it may be interesting to mention.
Hardly a day ever passed without some one being flogged. To one of
his female slaves he had given a dose of castor oil and salts together,
as much as she could take; he then got a box, about six feet by two
and a half, and one and a half feet deep; he put this slave under
the box, and made the men fetch as many stones as they could get,
and put them on the top of it; under this she was made to stay all
night. I believe, that if he had given this slave one, he had given
her three thousand lashes. Mr. Gooch was a member of a Baptist church.
His slaves, thinking him a very bad sample of what a professing Christian
ought to be, would not join the connection he belonged to, thinking
they must be a very bad set of people; there were many of them members
of the Methodist church. On Sunday, the slaves can only go to church
at the will of their master, when he gives them a pass for the time
they are to be out. If they are found by the patrol after the time
to which their pass extends, they are severely flogged.
(4)
Austin
Steward, Twenty-Two Years a Slave (1857)
Some
have attempted to apologize for the enslaving of the Negro, by saying
that they are inferior to the Anglo-Saxon race in every respect. This
charge I deny; it is utterly false. Does not the Bible inform us that
"God hath created of one blood all the nations of the earth?"
And certainly in stature and physical force the colored man is quite
equal to his white brother, and in many
instances his superior; but were it otherwise, I can not see why the
more favored class should enslave the other. True, God has given to
the African a darker complexion than to his white brother: still,
each have the same desires and aspirations. The food required for
the sustenance of one is equally necessary for the other. Naturally
or physically, they alike require to be warmed by the cheerful fire,
when chilled by our northern winter's breath; and alike they welcome
the cool spring and the delightful shade of summer. Hence, I have
come to the conclusion that God created all men free and equal, and
placed them upon this earth to do good and benefit each other, and
that war and slavery should be banished from the face of the earth.
(5)
Walter
Hawkins escaped from slavery in Maryland and joined the African
Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. He recorded these events
in his book, From Slavery to Bishopric (1891)
One
can well imagine the feelings of this young man, who had never seen
such a large number of his race congregated into one town or city
as freed men. However, the old preacher Proctor, in whose house he
found a refuge, and who introduced him to his elder brother, kept
him for a few weeks, feeding both his mind and body. Such was the
old man's intense love to Christ and devotion to charitable works
that, whoever came in his company, was made to feel a like affection
for One whom the ages have been slow to comprehend. Before the end
of the second week Hawkins felt that old Proctor's influence was irresistible;
at last, while listening to one of his sermons, the young man became
penitent, and threw in his lot with the Christians, and resolved that
"this people shall be my people, and their God shall be my God".
As a slave, his religion was mere emotionalism, which served to break
the monotony of the cruel scourge of slavery. But as a freed man he
had an opportunity of reflecting upon the character of Christ, which
had been clouded by the moral degradation which pervaded all rank
of the society from whence he had made his escape. In that society
vice reigned, yet it was believed to be under the special protection
of Christianity - we mean the vice of breeding slaves and encouraging
drunkenness and the like.
(6)
Francis
Fredric was helped by a Quaker to
escape from his plantation in Kentucky. He wrote about it in his book
Fifty Years of Slavery (1863)
Since
my first attempt to escape I was so uniformly treated badly, that
my life would have been insupportable if I had not been soothed
by the kind words of the good abolitionist planter who had first conveyed
to me a true knowledge of religion. I had been flogged, and went one
day to show him the state in which I was. He asked me what I wanted
him to do. I said, "To get me away to Canada."
He sat for full twenty minutes thoughtfully, and
at last said, "Now, if I promise to take you away out of all
this, you must not mention a word to any one. Don't breathe a syllable
to your mother or sisters, or it will be betrayed." Oh, how my
heart jumped for joy at this promise. I felt new life come into me.
Visions of happiness flitted before my mind. And then I thought before
the next day he might change his mind, and I was miserable again.
I solemnly assured him I would say nothing to any one. "Come
to me," he said, "on the Friday night about ten or eleven
o'clock; I will wait till you come. Don't bring any clothes with you
except those you have on. But bring any money you can get." I
said I would obey him in every respect.
I went home and passed an anxious day. I walked
out to my poor old mother's hut, and saw her and my sisters. How I
longed to tell them, and bid them farewell. I hesitated several times
when I thought I should never see them more. I turned back again and
again to look at my mother. I knew she would be flogged, old as she
was, for my escaping. I could foresee how my master would stand over
her with the lash to extort from her my hiding-place. I was her only
son left. How she would suffer torture on my account, and be distressed
that I had left her for ever until we should meet hereafter in heaven
I hoped.
At length I walked rapidly away, as if to leave
my thoughts behind me, and arrived at my kind benefactor's house a
little after eleven o'clock. He said but little, and seemed restless.
He took some rugs and laid them at the bottom of the waggon, and covered
me with some more. Soon we were on our way to Maysville, which was
about twenty miles from his house. The horses trotted on rapidly,
and I lay overjoyed at my chance of escape. When we stopped at Maysville,
I remained for some time perfectly quiet, listening to every sound.
At last I heard a gentleman's voice, saying, "Where is he? where
is he?" and then he put in his hand and felt me. I started, but
my benefactor told me it was all right, it was a friend. "This
gentleman," he added, "will take care of you; you must go
to his house." I got out of the waggon and shook my deliverer
by the hand with a very, very grateful heart, you may be sure; for
I knew the risk he had run on my account.
He wished me every success, and committed me to
his friend, whom I accompanied to his house, and was received with
the utmost kindness by his wife, who asked me if I was a Christian
man. I answered yes. She took me up into a garret and brought me some
food. Her little daughters shook hands with me. She spoke of the curse
of slavery to the land. "I am an abolitionist," she said,
"although in a slaveholding country. The work of the Lord will
not go on as long as slavery is carried on here." Every possible
attention was paid to me to soothe my troubled mind. The following
night the gentleman and his son left the house about ten o'clock.
A little after twelve o'clock the gentleman returned, and said he
had got a boat and I was to go with him. His lady bid me farewell,
and told me to put my trust in the Lord, in whose hands my friends
were, and asked me to remember them in my prayers, since they had
hazarded everything for me, and, if discovered, they would be cruelly
treated. I was soon rowed across the river, which is about a mile
wide in that place.
The son remained with me in the skiff whilst his
father went to a neighbouring village to bring some one to take charge
of me. After some time, he brought a friend, who told me never to
mention the name of any one who had helped me. He took me to his house
outside the town, where I had some refreshment, and remained about
half-an-hour. A waggon came up, and I was stowed away, and driven
about twenty miles that night, being well guarded by eight or ten
young men with revolvers.
It would do any real Christian man good to see
the enthusiasm and determination of these young Abolitionists. Their
whole heart and soul are in the work. A dozen such men would have
defied a hundred slaveholders. From having seen over and over again
slaves dragged back chained through their country, and having heard
the tales of horrible treatment of the poor hopeless captives, some
having been flogged to death, others burnt alive, with their heads
downwards, over a slow fire, others covered with tar and set on fire,
these noble, courageous, self-sacrificing men have been so wrought
upon, that they are heroes of the highest stamp, and I verily believe
they would willingly lay down their lives rather than allow one fugitive
slave to be taken from them.
(7)
Mary
Prince , The History of Mary Prince,
A West Indian Slave (1831)
The Moravian ladies (Mrs.
Richter, Mrs. Olufsen, and Mrs. Sauter) taught me to read in the class;
and I got on very fast. In this class there were all sorts of people,
old and young, grey headed folks and children; but most of them were
free people. After we had done spelling, we tried to read in the Bible.
After the reading was over, the missionary gave out a hymn for us
to sing. I dearly loved to go to the church, it was so solemn. I never
knew rightly that I had much sin till I went there. When I found out
that I was a great sinner, I was very sorely grieved, and very much
frightened. I used to pray God to pardon my sins for Christ's sake,
and forgive me for every thing I had done amiss; and when I went home
to my work, I always thought about what I had heard from the missionaries,
and wished to be good that I might go to heaven.
(8)
James
Pennington, The
Fugitive Blacksmith (1859)
Neither my master or any other master,
within my acquaintance, made any provisions for the religious instruction
of his
slaves. They were not worked on the Sabbath. One of the "boys"
was required to stay at home and "feed," that is, take care
of the stock, every Sabbath; the rest went to see their friends. Those
men whose families were on other plantations usually spent the Sabbath
with them; some would lie about at home and rest themselves.
When it was pleasant weather
my master would ride "into town" to church, but I never
knew him to say a word to one of us about going to church, or about
our obligations to God, or a future state. But there were a number
of pious slaves in our neighborhood, and several of these my master
owned; one of these was an exhorter. He was not connected with a religious
body, but used to speak every Sabbath in some part of the neighborhood.
When slaves died, their remains were usually consigned to the grave
without any ceremony; but this old gentleman, wherever he heard of
a slave having been buried in that way, would send notice from plantation
to plantation, calling the slaves together at the grave on the Sabbath,
where he'd sing, pray, and exhort. I have known him to go ten or fifteen
miles voluntarily to attend these services. He could not read, and
I never heard him refer to any Scripture, and state and discourse
upon any fundamental doctrine of the gospel; but he knew a number
of "spiritual songs by heart," of these he would give two
lines at a time very exact, set and lead the tune himself; he would
pray with great fervor, and his exhortations were amongst the most
impressive I have heard.
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