Wikipedia

Black church

(Redirected from Black Protestantism)
This article is about the collection of Black Christian congregations in the US. For the Transylvanian Saxon cathedral in Brașov, see Biserica Neagră. For the church in Dublin, see St Mary's, Dublin (chapel of ease).

The Black Church (sometimes termed Black Christianity or African American Christianity) is the faith and body of Christian denominations and congregations in the United States that predominantly minister to, and are also led by African Americans,[1] as well as these churches' collective traditions and members.

Bethel AME Church in Palatka, Florida.

Black churches primarily arose in the 19th century, during a time when race-based slavery and racial segregation were both commonly practiced in the United States. Blacks generally searched for an area where they could independently express their faith, find leadership, and escape from inferior treatment in White dominated churches

In many African American houses, the concept of "the Church" is often seen as being synonymous with the congregation of people who gather to worship, rather than the physical building where the service is held. This distinction reflects a deep cultural emphasis on community and shared spiritual experience.[2] For African Americans, "the Church" is a dynamic, living body of believers whose collective faith and fellowship are central, regardless of the physical space.[3][4] This difference highlights the unique cultural and historical significance that the African American community places on the act of gathering and the people themselves, rather than the location.[5]

The number of Black churches in the United States is substantial. According to the Pew Research Center, there are approximately 25,000 Black churches across the country, encompassing a wide range of denominations and independent congregations (Pew Research Center, 2021)[6]

A majority of African American congregations are affiliated with Protestant denominations, such as the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), or the National Baptist Convention and related churches, some of them are affiliated with predominantly white Protestant denominations such as the United Church of Christ (which developed from the Congregational Church of New England), integrated denominations such as the Church of God, others are independent congregations.[7][8] There are also Black Catholic churches.[9]

In many major cities, Black and predominantly white churches often exist within close proximity to each other, however, they remain segregated by race, a division which was shaped by deep historical, cultural, and social factors, including racism. During the eras of slavery and segregation, African Americans were largely excluded from white churches, which often upheld racial hierarchies and discrimination.[10] This exclusion led to the creation of Black churches, which became vital spaces for community support, activism, and spiritual freedom.[11][12]

Even after formal segregation ended, white churches frequently resisted integration, preferring to maintain homogenous congregations. The legacy of this form of racism continues to influence the separation of Black and white churches today, because white churches have historically failed to adequately address racial injustice, and as a result, many Black congregants have searched for worship environments where their cultural and spiritual needs are met without prejudice.[13] Despite some efforts at integration, racism, in both the past and the present, remains a significant factor in the ongoing divide between Black and white congregations.

There are also cultural differences that influence how Black and white congregants who are members of the same denomination practice their religion. One example would be in Baptist congregations, and three key ways in which they practice their faith differently are:

  1. Worship Style: Black Baptist churches tend to have more expressive and emotive worship services, often characterized by call-and-response preaching, gospel music, and dynamic participation from the congregation. White Baptist services are often more structured, with a greater focus on hymns, sermons, and quieter forms of worship.[11][14]
  2. Sermon Focus: In Black Baptist churches, sermons often emphasize themes of liberation, justice, and survival, reflecting the historical and ongoing struggles of African Americans.[15] White Baptist sermons typically focus more on individual salvation, personal morality, and traditional doctrinal teachings.[16]
  3. Role of the Church in Community: Black Baptist churches often play a central role in social activism and community leadership, addressing racial and economic justice issues. White Baptist churches may be more focused on spiritual development and personal faith, with less emphasis on direct social or political engagement within the community.[17]

In communities where black and white people worshiped together in the South shortly after the American Civil War, the persecution of African Americans was less severe. Yet, freed blacks most often established congregations and church facilities separate from their white neighbors, who were often their former owners. In the Roman Catholic Church, the rising tide of segregation eventually resulted in segregated parishes across the South, even in places where segregation had not previously been the norm.[18]

These new black churches created communities and worship practices that were culturally distinct from other churches, including forms of Christian worship that were derived from African spiritual traditions, such as call and response. These churches also became the centers of communities, serving as training grounds for community leaders, and serving as school sites, taking up social welfare functions such as providing money and essential services to the indigent, and establishing orphanages and prison ministries. As a result, black churches were particularly important during the Civil Rights movement.[19][20][21]

First Black Churches & Congregations

edit

Most of the first black congregations and churches which were formed before 1800 were founded by freed black people—for example, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Springfield Baptist Church (Augusta, Georgia); Petersburg, Virginia; and Savannah, Georgia.[22] The oldest black Baptist church in Kentucky, and third oldest black Baptist church in the United States, the First African Baptist Church, was founded about 1790 by the slave Peter Durrett.[23] The oldest black Catholic church, St Augustine in New Orleans, was founded by free blacks in 1841. However, black religious orders such as the Oblate Sisters of Providence in Baltimore have existed since the 1820s.

After slavery in the United States was abolished, segregationist attitudes towards blacks and whites worshiping together were not as predominant in the North as compared to the South.[dubious – discuss]

After the American Civil War, many white Protestant ministers moved to the South to establish churches where both Black and white congregants could worship together.[24][25] However, these efforts were often met with resistance, particularly from white Southerners who opposed racial integration. Despite these initial efforts toward inclusive worship, most integrated churches did not survive long due to racial tensions, societal segregation, and differing cultural and religious practices.[26] Over time, the Black Church emerged as a vital and independent institution for African Americans, offering not only spiritual sustenance but also a space for community organization and social activism, distinct from the predominantly white congregations.

In Wesleyan Holiness denominations such as the Church of God, the belief that "interracial worship was a sign of the true Church" was taught, with both whites and blacks ministering regularly in Church of God congregations, which invited people of all races to worship there.[7] In some parts of the country, such as New Orleans, black and white Catholics had worshiped together for almost 150 years before the American Civil War—albeit without full equality and primarily under French and Spanish rule.

Attacks by the Ku Klux Klan or other whites opposed to such efforts thwarted those attempts and even prevented Black or African Americans from worshiping in the same buildings as whites.

The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was responsible for numerous acts of violence and intimidation, including bombings of churches, particularly during the Civil Rights Movement. Notable incidents include:

  1. The 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing (1963): This bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, resulted in the deaths of four African American girls: Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley. It was one of the most infamous attacks by the KKK and highlighted their violent opposition to desegregation.
  2. The 1964-1965 Church Bombings: The KKK was involved in a series of bombings targeting African American churches across the South during this period. The exact number of bombings is difficult to pinpoint, but several churches were attacked, and there were numerous injuries and some deaths.
  3. The 1950s and 1960s: Throughout this era, there were numerous bombings and attacks on churches, often coordinated by the KKK, as part of their broader campaign of terror against civil rights activities and African American communities.

History of The Black Church during each Era of American History

edit

A generally accepted timeline for the African American experience in the USA with approximate years for each period

edit
 
African American Baptist Church, Silver Hill Plantation, Georgetown County, South Carolina
  1. Colonial: 1619–1776
    • This period begins with the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in Virginia and ends with the Declaration of Independence.
  2. Antebellum: 1776–1861
    • From the American Revolution to the start of the Civil War, this period includes the growth of slavery and early abolitionist movements.
  3. Civil War: 1861–1865
    • The period of the American Civil War, including the emancipation of enslaved people.
  4. Reconstruction: 1865–1877
    • The era following the Civil War, focusing on rebuilding the South and various attempts at integrating formerly enslaved people into society.
  5. Jim Crow: 1877–1965
    • The period characterized by racial segregation and disenfranchisement, beginning with the end of Reconstruction and ending with the start of the Civil Rights Movement.
  6. Civil Rights: 1954–1968
    • This era includes major legislative and social efforts to end racial segregation and discrimination, beginning with Brown v. Board of Education and ending with the passage of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act.
  7. Current: 1968–present
    • The ongoing period after the Civil Rights Movement, encompassing continued struggles for equality and justice, including contemporary social and political issues

Slavery

edit
See also: Slavery in the United States

The Church during the era of chattel slavery

edit

During the era of slavery in the United States, many slave owners strategically used Black churches and Black preachers to propagate messages of obedience, submission, and compliance among enslaved people. This was part of a larger system of control that sought to use religion as a tool to maintain the institution of slavery.[27][28][29]

Select Parts of the Holy Bible for the use of the Negro Slaves, sometimes referred to as the Slave Bible,[30] was created in the British West Indies and is an abbreviated version of the Bible specifically made for teaching a pro-slavery version of Christianity to enslaved people.[31] Slave owners often introduced Christianity to enslaved Africans, selectively emphasizing biblical teachings that they believed justified slavery and encouraged submission to masters. Scriptures such as Eph 6:5 ("Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear...") and Col 3:22 were frequently cited to reinforce the idea that slavery was divinely sanctioned.[32][33]

There is evidence of Christian practice and "specific dedicated places for worship[pers]" called praise houses from before the first organized black denominations.[34]

Evangelical Baptist and Methodist preachers traveled throughout the South in the Great Awakening of the late 18th century. They appealed directly to slaves, and a few thousand slaves converted. Black individuals found opportunities to have active roles in new congregations, especially in the Baptist Church, where slaves were appointed as leaders and preachers. (They were excluded from such roles in the Anglican or Episcopal Church.) As they listened to readings, slaves developed their own interpretations of the Scriptures and found inspiration in stories of deliverance, such as the Exodus out of Egypt. Nat Turner, an enslaved Baptist preacher, was inspired to armed rebellion against slavery, in an uprising that killed about 50 white people in Virginia.[35]

Both free blacks and the more numerous slaves participated in the earliest black Baptist congregations founded near Petersburg, Virginia, Savannah, Georgia, and Lexington, Kentucky, before 1800. The slaves Peter Durrett and his wife founded the First African Church (now known as First African Baptist Church) in Lexington, Kentucky about 1790.[36] The church's trustees purchased its first property in 1815. The congregation numbered about 290 by the time of Durrett's death in 1823.[36]

The First African Baptist Church had its beginnings in 1817 when John Mason Peck and the former enslaved John Berry Meachum began holding church services for African Americans in St. Louis.[37] Meachum founded the First African Baptist Church in 1827. It was the first African-American church west of the Mississippi River. Although there were ordinances preventing blacks from assembling, the congregation grew from 14 people at its founding to 220 people by 1829. Two hundred of the parishioners were slaves, who could only travel to the church and attend services with the permission of their owners.[38]

Following slave revolts in the early 19th century, including Nat Turner's Rebellion in 1831, Virginia passed a law requiring black congregations to meet only in the presence of a white minister. Other states similarly restricted exclusively black churches or the assembly of blacks in large groups unsupervised by whites. Nevertheless, the black Baptist congregations in the cities grew rapidly and their members numbered several hundred each before the Civil War (see next section). While mostly led by free blacks, most of their members were slaves.

 
African American churches during slavery were held in secret locations called hush harbors.[39]

In plantation areas, slaves organized underground churches and hidden religious meetings, the "invisible church", where slaves were free to mix Evangelical Christianity with African beliefs and African rhythms. With the time, many incorporated Wesleyan Methodist hymns, gospel songs, and spirituals.[40] The underground churches provided psychological refuge from the white world. The spirituals gave the church members a secret way to communicate and, in some cases, to plan a rebellion.

Slaves also learned about Christianity by attending services led by a white preacher or supervised by a white person. Slaveholders often held prayer meetings at their plantations. In the South until the Great Awakening, most slaveholders were Anglican if they practiced any Christianity. Although in the early years of the First Great Awakening, Methodist and Baptist preachers argued for manumission of slaves and abolition, by the early decades of the 19th century, they often had found ways to support the institution. In settings where whites supervised worship and prayer, they used Bible stories that reinforced people's keeping to their places in society, urging slaves to be loyal and to obey their masters. In the 19th century, Methodist and Baptist chapels were founded among many of the smaller communities and common planters.[41]

During the early decades of the 19th century, they used stories such as the Curse of Ham to justify slavery to themselves.[41] They promoted the idea that loyal and hard-working slaves would be rewarded in the afterlife. Sometimes slaves established their own Sabbath schools to talk about the Scriptures.[citation needed] Slaves who were literate tried to teach others to read, as Frederick Douglass did while still enslaved as a young man in Maryland.

 
"Wade in the water." A postcard of a river baptism in New Bern, North Carolina, around 1900.

Free blacks

edit

Free blacks in both northern and southern cities formed their own congregations and churches before the end of the 18th century. They organized independent black congregations and churches[42] to practice religion apart from white oversight.[43] Along with white churches opposed to slavery, free blacks in Philadelphia provided aid and comfort to slaves who escaped and helped all new arrivals adjust to city life.[44]

In 1787 in Philadelphia, the black church was born out of protest and revolutionary reaction to racism. Resenting being relegated to a segregated gallery at St. George's Methodist Church, Methodist preachers Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, and other black members, left the church and formed the Free African Society. It was at first non-denominational and provided mutual aid to the free black community. Over time, Jones began to lead Episcopal services there. He led most of its members to create the African Church, in the Episcopal tradition. (Butler 2000, DuBois 1866).[citation needed]

In the fall of 1792, several black leaders attending services at St. George's Methodist Church and had recently helped to expand the church. The black churchgoers were told to sit upstairs in the new gallery. When they mistakenly sat in an area not designated for blacks, they were forcibly removed from the seats they had helped build. According to Allen, "...we all went out of the church in one body, and they were no longer plagued by us". While he and Jones led different denominations, they continued to work closely together and with the black community in Philadelphia.... It was accepted as a parish and on July 17, 1794, became the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas. In 1804 Jones was the first black priest ordained in the Episcopal Church. (Butler 2000, DuBois 1866).

 
Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church Philadelphia PA

Richard Allen, a Methodist preacher, wanted to continue with the Methodist tradition. He built a congregation and founded the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). By July 29, 1794, they also had a building ready for their worship. The church adopted the slogan: "To Seek for Ourselves." In recognition of his leadership and preaching, in 1799 Bishop Francis Asbury ordained Allen as a Methodist minister. Allen and the AME Church were active in antislavery campaigns, fought racism in the North, and promoted education, starting schools for black children.

Finding that other black congregations in the region were also seeking independence from white control, in 1816 Allen organized a new denomination, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first fully independent black denomination. He was elected its first bishop in 1816. While he and Jones led different denominations, they continued to work closely together and with the black community in Philadelphia. Soon thereafter, Allen. Jones, and others began soliciting funds, again with the help of Rush. Their appeals met with resistance from white church leaders, many of whom had been supportive of the black community, but disapproved of a separate black church.

Petersburg, Virginia had two of the oldest black congregations in the country, both organized before 1800 as a result of the Great Awakening: First Baptist Church (1774) and Gillfield Baptist Church (1797). Each congregation moved from rural areas into Petersburg into their own buildings in the early 19th century. Their two black Baptist congregations were the first of that denomination in the city and they grew rapidly.[22][45][46]

In Savannah, Georgia, a black Baptist congregation was organized by 1777, by George Liele. A former slave, he had been converted by ordained Baptist minister Matthew Moore. His early preaching was encouraged by his master, Henry Sharp. Sharp, a Baptist deacon and Loyalist, freed Liele before the American Revolutionary War began. Liele had been preaching to slaves on plantations, but made his way to Savannah, where he organized a congregation.[47] After 1782, when Liele left the city with the British, Andrew Bryan led what became known as the First African Baptist Church. By 1800 the church had 700 members, and by 1830 it had grown to more than 2400 members. Soon it generated two new black congregations in the city.[48]

Before 1850, First African Baptist in Lexington, Kentucky grew to 1,820 members, making it the largest congregation in that state. This was under its second pastor, Rev. London Ferrill, a free black,[23] and occurred as Lexington was expanding rapidly as a city. First African Baptist was admitted to the Elkhorn Baptist Association in 1824, where it came somewhat under oversight of white congregations. In 1841, Saint Augustine Catholic Church was established by the Creole community of New Orleans. This church is the oldest black Catholic parish in the United States. In 1856, First African Baptist built a large Italianate church, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.[49] By 1861 the congregation numbered 2,223 members.[50]

Free Black communities in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and New York helped freedom seekers escape from slavery. Black Churches were stops on the Underground Railroad, and Black communities in the North hid freedom seekers in their churches and homes. Historian Cheryl Janifer Laroche explained in her book, Free Black Communities and the Underground Railroad The Geography of Resistance that: "Blacks, enslaved and free, operated as the main actors in the central drama that was the Underground Railroad."[51]

Reconstruction

edit
See also: Reconstruction era
 
Outside of a black church in Little Rock, Arkansas, 1935.
 
Church goers in Heard County, Georgia, 1941.

After emancipation, Northern churches founded by free blacks, as well as those of predominantly white denominations, sent missions to the South to minister to newly freed slaves, including to teach them to read and write. For instance, Bishop Daniel Payne of the AME Church returned to Charleston, South Carolina in April 1865 with nine missionaries. He organized committees, associations and teachers to reach freedmen throughout the countryside. In the first year after the war, the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church gained 50,000 congregants.[52]

By the end of Reconstruction, AME congregations existed from Florida to Texas. Their missioners and preachers had brought more than 250,000 new adherents into the church. While it had a northern base, the church was heavily influenced by this growth in the South and incorporation of many members who had different practices and traditions.[53] Similarly, within the first decade, the independent AME Zion church, founded in New York, also gained tens of thousands of Southern members. These two independent black denominations attracted the most new members in the South.[54]

In 1870 in Jackson, Tennessee, with support from white colleagues of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, more than 40 black Southern ministers, all freedmen and former slaves, met to establish the Southern-based Colored Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church (now Christian Methodist Episcopal Church), founded as an independent branch of Methodism. They took their mostly black congregations with them. They adopted the Methodist Doctrine and elected their first two bishops, William H. Miles of Kentucky and Richard H. Vanderhorst of South Carolina.[54][55] Within three years, from a base of about 40,000, they had grown to 67,000 members, and more than ten times that many in 50 years.[56]

The Church of God, with its beginnings in 1881, held that "interracial worship was a sign of the true Church", with both whites and blacks ministering regularly in Church of God congregations, which invited people of all races to worship there.[7] Those who were entirely sanctified testified that they were "saved, sanctified, and prejudice removed."[7] When Church of God ministers, such as Lena Shoffner, visited the camp meetings of other denominations, the rope in the congregation that separated whites and blacks was untied "and worshipers of both races approached the altar to pray".[7] Though outsiders would sometimes attack Church of God services and camp meetings for their stand for racial equality, Church of God members were "undeterred even by violence" and "maintained their strong interracial position as the core of their message of the unity of all believers".[7]

At the same time, black Baptist churches, well-established before the Civil War, continued to grow and add new congregations. With the rapid growth of black Baptist churches in the South, in 1895 church officials organized a new Baptist association, the National Baptist Convention. This was the unification of three national black conventions, organized in 1880 and the 1890s. It brought together the areas of mission, education and overall cooperation. Despite founding of new black conventions in the early and later 20th century, this is still the largest black religious organization in the United States.[35] These churches blended elements from underground churches with elements from freely established black churches.[42]

The postwar years were marked by a separatist impulse as blacks exercised the right to move and gather beyond white supervision or control. They developed black churches, benevolent societies, fraternal orders and fire companies.[57] In some areas they moved from farms into towns, as in middle Tennessee, or to cities that needed rebuilding, such as Atlanta. Black churches were the focal points of black communities, and their members' quickly seceding from white churches demonstrated their desire to manage their own affairs independently of white supervision. It also showed the prior strength of the "invisible church" hidden from white eyes.[58]

Black preachers provided leadership, encouraged education and economic growth, and were often the primary link between the black and white communities.[citation needed] The black church established and/or maintained the first black schools and encouraged community members to fund these schools and other public services.[42] For most black leaders, the churches always were connected to political goals of advancing the race. There grew to be a tension between black leaders from the North and people in the South who wanted to run their churches and worship in their own way.[59]

Since the male hierarchy denied them opportunities for ordination, middle-class women in the black church asserted themselves in other ways: they organized missionary societies to address social issues. These societies provided job training and reading education, worked for better living conditions, raised money for African missions, wrote religious periodicals, and promoted Victorian ideals of womanhood, respectability, and racial uplift.[35]

Civil Rights movement

edit
 
Ralph David Abernathy was a Baptist minister involved in the American Civil Rights Movement.
See also: Civil rights movement

Black churches held a leadership role in the American Civil Rights Movement. Their history as centers of strength for the black community made them natural leaders in this moral struggle. In addition they had often served as links between the black and white worlds. Notable minister-activists of the 1950s and 1960s included Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph David Abernathy, Bernard Lee, Fred Shuttlesworth, Wyatt Tee Walker, C. T. Vivian.[60][61] and Fr. Ted Hesburgh.who would later be recruited by President Johnson to help craft the legislation that would later become the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Black Power movement

edit
Main articles: Black Power movement and Black Catholic Movement

After the assassination of Dr. King in 1968, by James Earl Ray, African American Catholics began organizing en masse, beginning with the clergy that April. A Black Catholic revolution soon broke out, fostering the integration of the traditions of the larger (Protestant) Black Church into Black Catholic parishes. Soon there were organizations formed for Black religious sisters (1968), permanent deacons, seminarians, and a brand-new National Black Catholic Congress organization in 1987, reviving the late 19th-century iteration of the same. This era saw a massive increase in Black priests, and the first crop of Black bishops and archbishops.

Black theology

edit
Main article: Black theology

One formalization of theology based on themes of black liberation is the black theology movement. Its origins can be traced to July 31, 1966, when an ad hoc group of 51 black pastors, calling themselves the National Committee of Negro Churchmen (NCNC), bought a full-page ad in The New York Times to publish their "Black Power Statement", which proposed a more aggressive approach to combating racism using the Bible for inspiration.[62]

Black liberation theology was first systematized by James Cone and Dwight Hopkins. They are considered the leading theologians of this system of belief, although now there are many scholars who have contributed a great deal to the field. In 1969, Cone published the seminal work that laid the basis for black liberation theology, Black Theology and Black Power. In the book, Cone asserted that not only was black power not alien to the Gospel, it was, in fact, the Gospel message for all of 20th century America.[63][64]

In 2008, approximately one quarter of African-American churches followed a liberation theology.[65] The theology was thrust into the national spotlight after a controversy arose related to preaching by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, former pastor to then-Senator Barack Obama at Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago. Wright had built Trinity into a successful megachurch following the theology developed by Cone, who has said that he would "point to [Trinity] first" as an example of a church's embodying his message.[66]

Scholars have seen parallels between the Black church and the 21st Century Black Girl Magic movement, with social media interactions involving the Black Girl Magic hashtag seen as a modern extension of "[t]he Black church traditions of testimony, exhortation, improvisation, call and response, and song," which Black women can use to form a "cyber congregation."[67]

Womanist theology

edit
Main article: Womanist theology

From the Black theology movement also came a more feminine form, in reaction to both the male-dominated nature of the field and the White-dominated nature of Feminist theology. Major figures in this reaction included Afro-Latino thinkers as well as Black women. Black Catholic womanists also played a major role, including Sr Jamie Phelps, OP, M. Shawn Copeland, and Diana L. Hayes.[citation needed]

Politics and social issues

edit

The black church continues to be a source of support for members of the African-American community, like encouragement to obtain immunizations.[68] When compared to American churches as a whole, black churches tend to focus more on social issues such as poverty, gang violence, drug use, prison ministries and racism. A study in 1996 found that black Christians were more likely to have heard about health care reform from their pastors than were white Christians.[69] As of 2024 the National Black Church initiative had 27.7 million members in the United States.[68]

Most surveys indicate that while blacks tend to vote Democratic in elections, members of traditionally African-American churches are generally more socially conservative than white Protestants as a whole.[70] Same-sex marriage and other LGBT issues have been among the leading causes for activism in some black churches;[71] though a majority of black Protestants remained opposed to same-sex marriage as of 2015,[72] support grew to a majority of both black Protestant and black Catholic respondents in later surveys.[73][74][75] Nevertheless, some denominations have been discussing this issue. For example, the African Methodist Episcopal Church prohibits its ministers from officiating same-sex weddings, but it does not have a clear policy on ordination.[76]

Some members of the black clergy have not accepted same-sex marriage. A group known as the Coalition of African American Pastors (CAAP), maintains their opposition to gay marriage. The CAAP president, Reverend William Owens Sr., asserts that the marriage equality act will cause corruption within the United States. The organization insists that a real union is between a man and a woman. They also believe that the law prohibiting gay marriage should have been upheld. Other African American religious leaders that echoed Owens' position were Bishop Janice Hollis, presiding prelate for Covenant International Fellowship of Churches in Philadelphia; Bishop Charles G. Nauden of Holyway Church of God in Christ of Southern California; and the Reverend Dean Nelson, vice chairman of the Frederick Douglass Foundation.[77] The CAAP members agree that the Supreme Court had no right to overturn the constitutional ruling.[78]

As neighborhood institutions

edit

Although black urban neighborhoods in cities that have deindustrialized may have suffered from civic disinvestment,[79] with lower quality schools, less effective policing[80] and fire protection, there are institutions that help to improve the physical and social capital of black neighborhoods. In black neighborhoods the churches may be important sources of social cohesion.[81] For some African Americans the kind of spirituality learned through these churches works as a protective factor against the corrosive forces of poverty and racism.[82][83]

Churches may also do work to improve the physical infrastructure of the neighborhood. Churches in Harlem have undertaken real estate ventures and renovated burnt-out and abandoned brownstones to create new housing for residents.[84] Churches have fought for the right to operate their own schools in place of the often inadequate public schools found in many black neighborhoods.[85]

Traditions

edit

Like many Christians, African-American Christians sometimes participate in or attend a Christmas play. Black Nativity by Langston Hughes is a re-telling of the classic Nativity story with gospel music. Productions can be found at black theaters and churches all over the country.[86][87] The Three Wise Men are typically played by prominent members of the black community.

The watchnight service held on New Year's Eve in many Christian denominations, especially those of the Methodist and Moravian traditions, is widely attended by African American Christians.[88]

Denominations

edit

Throughout U.S. history, religious preferences and racial segregation have fostered development of separate black church denominations, as well as black churches within white denominations.

Methodism (inclusive of the holiness movement)

edit

African Americans were drawn to Methodism due to the father of Methodism, John Wesley's "opposition to the whole system of slavery, his commitment to Jesus Christ, and the evangelical appeal to the suffering and the oppressed."[89]

African Methodist Episcopal Church

edit
Main article: African Methodist Episcopal Church
 
Richard Allen

The first of these churches was the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). In the late 18th century, former slave Richard Allen, a Methodist preacher, was an influential deacon and elder at the integrated and affluent St. George's Methodist Church in Philadelphia. The charismatic Allen had attracted numerous new black members to St. George's. White members had become so uncomfortable that they relegated black worshipers to a segregated gallery. After white members of St. George's started to treat his people as second-class citizens, in 1787 Allen, Absalom Jones, also a preacher; and other black members left St. George's.[90]

They first established the non-denominational Free African Society, which acted as a mutual aid society. Religious differences caused Jones to take numerous followers to create an Episcopal congregation. They established the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, which opened its doors in 1794. Absalom Jones was later ordained by the bishop of the Philadelphia diocese as the first African-American priest in the Episcopal Church.[91]

Allen continued for some years within the Methodist denomination but organized a black congregation. By 1794 he and his followers opened the doors of the all-black Mother Bethel AME Church.[92]

Over time, Allen and others sought more independence from white supervision within the Methodist Church. In 1816 Allen gathered four other black congregations together in the mid-Atlantic region to establish the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church as an independent denomination, the first fully independent black denomination. The ministers consecrated Allen as their first bishop.[43]

African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

edit
Main article: African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

The African Methodist Episcopal Zion or AME Zion Church, like the AME Church, is an offshoot of the Methodist Episcopal Church (ME). Black members of the John Street Methodist Church of New York City left to form their own church after several acts of overt discrimination by white members. In 1796, black Methodists asked the permission of the bishop of the ME Church to meet independently, though still to be part of the ME Church and led by white preachers. This AME Church group built Zion chapel in 1800 and became incorporated in 1801, still subordinate to the ME Church.[93]

In 1820, AME Zion Church members began further separation from the ME Church. By seeking to install black preachers and elders, they created a debate over whether blacks could be ministers. This debate ended in 1822 with the ordination of Abraham Thompson, Leven Smith, and James Varick, the first superintendent (bishop) of the AME Zion church. After the Civil War, the denomination sent missionaries to the South and attracted thousands of new members, who shaped the church.[93]

Other Methodist connexions

edit

Baptists

edit

National Baptist Convention

edit
Main article: National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.

The National Baptist Convention was first organized in 1880 as the Foreign Mission Baptist Convention in Montgomery, Alabama. Its founders, including Elias Camp Morris, stressed the preaching of the gospel as an answer to the shortcomings of a segregated church. In 1895, Morris moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and founded the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., as a merger of the Foreign Mission Convention, the American National Baptist Convention, and the Baptist National Education Convention.[94]

The National Baptist Convention USA, Inc. reported to have 8,415,100 members around the globe from 21,145 congregations by 2020, thus making it the largest black religious organization in the United States.[95]

Other Baptist denominations

edit

Pentecostalism

edit

Church of God in Christ

edit
Main article: Church of God in Christ

In 1907, Charles Harrison Mason formed the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) after his Baptist church and the Mississippi Convention of the NBC USA expelled him. Mason was a member of the Holiness movement of the late 19th century. In 1906, he attended the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles. Upon his return to Tennessee, he began teaching the Holiness Pentecostal message. However, Charles Price Jones and J. A. Jeter of the Wesleyan Holiness movement disagreed with Mason's teachings on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Jones changed the name of his COGIC church to the Church of Christ (Holiness) USA in 1915.

At a conference in Memphis, Tennessee, Mason reorganized the Church of God in Christ as a Holiness Pentecostal body.[96] The headquarters of COGIC is Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee. It is the site of Martin Luther King's final sermon, "I've Been to the Mountaintop", delivered the day before he was assassinated.[97]

Other Pentecostal denominations

edit
 
Worshippers at Holy Angels Catholic Church on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, by John H. White, 1973.

Black Catholicism

edit
Main article: Black Catholicism

Birthed from pre-US communities in New Orleans, Baltimore, Florida, and California, the presence of African-American Catholics in the United States territories constitute some of the earliest Black communities on the entire continent. Beginning in the early 19th century, Black Catholic religious sisters began forming congregations to serve their communities, beginning with Mary Elizabeth Lange and Henriette DeLille, who founded the Oblate Sisters of Providence and Sisters of the Holy Family, respectively. They were soon followed by the emergence of openly Black priests, the first being Fr Augustus Tolton in 1886.[citation needed]

The Society of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart (aka the Josephites), a group of priests tasked with serving African-Americans specifically, were formed in 1893 and began ordaining Black men immediately—though in small numbers. They staffed and formed Black parishes throughout the country, and today continue to serve in the same way (as do the two aforementioned sisterhoods, as well as the Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary).[citation needed]

After the Civil Rights Movement, various new Black Catholic organizations were founded for Black priests, sisters, deacons, and seminarians, and the National Black Catholic Congress arrived in 1987. African-American Catholic priests greatly increased in number and African-American bishops began being appointed, including archbishops.[citation needed]

Wilton Gregory, the first African-American cardinal was named in 2020.[98]

See also

edit

General:

References

edit
  1. ^ Gecewicz, Besheer Mohamed, Kiana Cox, Jeff Diamant and Claire (2021-02-16). "Faith Among Black Americans". Pew Research Center. Retrieved 2024-11-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Lincoln, C. Eric; Mamiya, Lawrence H. (1990). The Black church in the African-American experience. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-1057-0.
  3. ^ Raboteau, Albert J. (2004). Slave religion: the "invisible institution" in the antebellum South (Updated ed.). Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-517413-7.
  4. ^ Jacobsen, Douglas (June 2005). "Fortress Introduction to Black Church History. By Anne H. Pinn and Anthony B. Pinn. Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress, 2002. viii + 184 pp. $16.00 paper". Church History. 74 (2): 416–417. doi:10.1017/s0009640700110674. ISSN 0009-6407.
  5. ^ Jacobsen, Douglas (June 2005). "Fortress Introduction to Black Church History. By Anne H. Pinn and Anthony B. Pinn. Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress, 2002. viii + 184 pp. $16.00 paper". Church History. 74 (2): 416–417. doi:10.1017/s0009640700110674. ISSN 0009-6407.
  6. ^ Jones, Ida E. (2005-05-19), "Protestant Churches, Black", African American Studies Center, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.44357, ISBN 978-0-19-530173-1, retrieved 2024-09-03
  7. ^ a b c d e f Alexander, Estrelda Y. (3 May 2011). Black Fire: One Hundred Years of African American Pentecostalism. InterVarsity Press. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-8308-2586-8.
  8. ^ Sutton, Charyn D. (1992). Pass It On: Outreach to Minority Communities, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America.
  9. ^ "Parishes with a Strong Black Catholic Presence | USCCB". www.usccb.org. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
  10. ^ Gravely, William B. (September 1981). "Slave Religion: The "Invisible Institution" in the Antebellum South. By Albert J. Raboteau. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978. xi + 382 pp. $14.95". Church History. 50 (3): 349–350. doi:10.2307/3167344. ISSN 0009-6407. JSTOR 3167344.
  11. ^ a b Paris, Peter J. (July 1992). "The Black Church in the African American Experience By C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya Durham, NC, Duke University Press, 1990. 519 pp. $18.95". Theology Today. 49 (2): 266–268. doi:10.1177/004057369204900218. ISSN 0040-5736.
  12. ^ Williams, Rhys H.; Emerson, Michael O.; Smith, Christian (2004). "Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America". Sociology of Religion. 65 (2): 178. doi:10.2307/3712407. ISSN 1069-4404. JSTOR 3712407.
  13. ^ Ownby, Ted (March 2006). "Freedom's Coming: Religious Culture and the Shaping of the South from the Civil War through the Civil Rights Era. By Harvey Paul. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2005. xvi + 338 pp. $34.95 cloth". Church History. 75 (1): 219–221. doi:10.1017/s0009640700088697. ISSN 0009-6407.
  14. ^ Taylor, Durahn (March 2018). "Marvin A. McMickle, Pulpit and Politics: Separation of Church and State in the Black Church. Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 2014. Pp. 220. $22.99 (paper)". The Journal of African American History. 103 (1–2): 262–264. doi:10.1086/696644. ISSN 1548-1867.
  15. ^ "David L. Chappell. <italic>A Stone of Hope: Prophetic Religion and the Death of Jim Crow</italic>. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 2004. Pp. 344. $34.95". The American Historical Review. December 2004. doi:10.1086/ahr/109.5.1598. ISSN 1937-5239.
  16. ^ SCHÄFER, AXEL R. (August 2003). "Albert J. Raboteau, Canaan Land: A Religious History of African Americans (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001, $9.95). Pp. 151. ISBN 0 195 14585 2". Journal of American Studies. 37 (2): 355. doi:10.1017/s0021875803617123. ISSN 0021-8758.
  17. ^ Ownby, Ted (March 2006). "Freedom's Coming: Religious Culture and the Shaping of the South from the Civil War through the Civil Rights Era. By Harvey Paul. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2005. xvi + 338 pp. $34.95 cloth". Church History. 75 (1): 219–221. doi:10.1017/s0009640700088697. ISSN 0009-6407.
  18. ^ "Black Catholics' experience of segregation". Catholic Standard. Retrieved 2022-09-03.
  19. ^ Gates, Henry Louis (9 March 2021). "How the Black Church saved Black America". The Harvard Gazette. Harvard University. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  20. ^ Murphy, Joseph (1994). Working the Spirit: Ceremonies of the African Diaspora. Beacon Press Books. pp. 145–176. ISBN 9780807012215.
  21. ^ Raboteau, Albert (1978). Slave Religion: The "Invisible Institution" in the Antebellum South. Oxford University Press. pp. 68–72. ISBN 978-0-19-802031-8.
  22. ^ a b "Gillfield Baptist Church, Petersburg, Virginia" Archived 2008-10-19 at the Wayback Machine, Virginia Commonwealth University Library, 2008, accessed 22 Dec 2008
  23. ^ a b H. E. Nutter, A Brief History of the First Baptist Church (black) Lexington, Kentucky, 1940, accessed 22 Aug 2010
  24. ^ Miller, Randall M; Stout, Harry S; Wilson, Charles Reagan, eds. (1998-11-05). Religion and the American Civil War. Oxford University PressNew York, NY. doi:10.1093/oso/9780195121285.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-512128-5.
  25. ^ "A Lasting Legacy: James Edward O'Hara's Post-Reconstruction Struggle for Racial Equality". Before Obama: ii41–62. 2012. doi:10.5040/9798400617263.0028. ISBN 979-8-4006-1726-3.
  26. ^ Ellis, Isaiah (2023). "Passion Plays: How Religion Shaped Sports in North America by Randall Balmer (review)". Journal of Southern History. 89 (4): 750–751. doi:10.1353/soh.2023.a909871. ISSN 2325-6893.
  27. ^ Gravely, William B. (September 1981). "Slave Religion: The "Invisible Institution" in the Antebellum South. By Albert J. Raboteau. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978. xi + 382 pp. $14.95". Church History. 50 (3): 349–350. doi:10.2307/3167344. ISSN 0009-6407. JSTOR 3167344.
  28. ^ "John W. Blassingame. <italic>The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South</italic>. New York: Oxford University Press. 1972. Pp. xv, 262. $7.95". The American Historical Review. October 1973. doi:10.1086/ahr/78.4.1132-a. ISSN 1937-5239.
  29. ^ Maddex, Jack (April 1976). "Book Review: Roll, Jordan, Roll: the World the Slaves Made". Insurgent Sociologist. 6 (3): 61–63. doi:10.1177/089692057600600310. ISSN 0047-0384.
  30. ^ "The Slave Bible: Let the Story Be Told". Museum of the Bible. Retrieved 2024-09-07.
  31. ^ "Why Bibles Given to Slaves Omitted Most of the Old Testament". HISTORY. 2023-08-24. Retrieved 2024-09-07.
  32. ^ Gravely, William B. (September 1981). "Slave Religion: The "Invisible Institution" in the Antebellum South. By Albert J. Raboteau. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978. xi + 382 pp. $14.95". Church History. 50 (3): 349–350. doi:10.2307/3167344. ISSN 0009-6407. JSTOR 3167344.
  33. ^ "John W. Blassingame. <italic>The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South</italic>. New York: Oxford University Press. 1972. Pp. xv, 262. $7.95". The American Historical Review. October 1973. doi:10.1086/ahr/78.4.1132-a. ISSN 1937-5239.
  34. ^ Salamone, Frank A. (2004). Levinson, David (ed.). Encyclopedia of Religious Rites, Rituals, and Festivals. New York: Routledge. p. 13. ISBN 0-415-94180-6.
  35. ^ a b c Maffly-Kipp, Laurie F. (May 2001). "The Church in the Southern Black Community". Retrieved 2007-05-21.
  36. ^ a b Robert Hamilton Bishop's An Outline of the history of the church in the state of Kentucky, during a period of forty years (containing the memoir of Rev. David Rice), T. T. Skillman, 1824, pp. 230–33.
  37. ^ Wilbon, Roderick (April 28, 2017). "First Baptist Church of St. Louis, oldest African-American church west of the Mississippi River, celebrates its 200th anniversary". Retrieved 2022-02-14.
  38. ^ "First African Baptist Church History (S0006)" (PDF). State Historical Society of Missouri. 1974.
  39. ^ Wortham, Robert (2017). W. E. B. Du Bois and the Sociology of the Black Church and Religion, 1897–1914. Lexington Books. p. 153. ISBN 9781498530361.
  40. ^ Rosemary Skinner Keller (2006), "Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America: Women and religion: methods of study and reflection", Indiana University Press, p. 997
  41. ^ a b Anne H. Pinn, Fortress Introduction to Black Church History, Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Fortress, 2002, p. 2.
  42. ^ a b c Abdul Alkalimat and Associates. Religion and the Black Church. Introduction to Afro-American Studies (6th ed.). Chicago: Twenty-first Century Books and Publications. Archived from the original on 2007-04-08. Retrieved 2007-05-16.
  43. ^ a b "Africans in America: The Black Church". PBS. Retrieved 2007-05-21.
  44. ^ Rimsa, Kelly. "The Underground Railroad in Indiana". Archived from the original on 2007-04-13. Retrieved 2007-05-21.
  45. ^ "Civil War history lesson: Petersburg, Virginia, embraces and expands its past", Boston.com, 9 March 2005, accessed 22 Dec 2008
  46. ^ "First Baptist Church, Petersburg" Archived 2012-02-14 at the Wayback Machine, African American Heritage, accessed 22 Dec 2008
  47. ^ "George Liele", Africans in America, PBS, accessed 14 Jan 2009
  48. ^ Raboteau, Albert J. (2004). Slave Religion: The 'Invisible Institution' in the Antebellum South. Oxford University Press. pp. 139, 141. ISBN 9780195174137. Retrieved 2008-12-27.
  49. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  50. ^ John H. Spencer, A History of Kentucky Baptists: From 1769–1885, Vol. II, Cincinnati, OH: J.R. Baumes private printing, 1886, p. 657, accessed 23 Aug 2010
  51. ^ Laroche, Cheryl J. (2013). Free Black Communities and the Underground Railroad The Geography of Resistance. University of Illinois Press. pp. 1–3. ISBN 9780252095894.
  52. ^ "Daniel Payne", This Far by Faith, PBS, 2003, 13 January 2009.
  53. ^ James T. Campbell, Songs of Zion, New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, pp. 53–54, accessed 13 Jan 2009
  54. ^ a b "The Church in the Southern Black Community", Documenting the South, University of North Carolina, 2004, accessed 15 Jan 2009
  55. ^ "Roots of Christian Methodist Episcopal Church", Christian Methodist Episcopal Church Official website, accessed 15 Jan 2009
  56. ^ Anne H. Pinn, Fortress Introduction to Black Church History, Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Fortress, 2002, p. 56
  57. ^ James T. Campbell, Songs of Zion: The African Methodist Church in the United States and South Africa, New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, p. 54.
  58. ^ Peter Kolchin, American Slavery: 1619–1877, New York: Hill and Wang, 1994, p. 222.
  59. ^ James T. Campbell, Songs of Zion, New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, accessed 13 Jan 2009
  60. ^ "We Shall Overcome: The Players". Archived from the original on 2007-06-07. Retrieved 2007-05-29.
  61. ^ "The Black Church", Brotherly Love, Part 3: 1791–1831
  62. ^ Barbara Bradley Hagerty, "A Closer Look at Black Liberation Theology", National Public Radio.
  63. ^ Obama and His 'White Grandmother' from 'The Wall Street Journal'
  64. ^ Cornel West and Eddie S. Glaude, eds, African American Religious Thought: An Anthology, 2003 ISBN 0-664-22459-8, p. 850.
  65. ^ Powell, Michael. "A Fiery Theology Under Fire", The New York Times, May 4, 2008.
  66. ^ TUCC Talking points Archived 2008-03-25 at the Wayback Machine; see also [www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/31079.html Margaret Talev, "Obama's church pushes controversial doctrines"], McClatchy Newspapers, March 20, 2008.
  67. ^ Jackson, Carla Jean-McNeil (Spring 2020). "Hashtags and Hallelujahs: The Roles of #BlackGirlMagic Performance and Social Media in Spiritual #Formation". Fire. 6 (1): 98–131. JSTOR 10.5323/48581555. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  68. ^ a b "National Black Church Initiative". www.naltblackchurch.com. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
  69. ^ "The Diminishing Divide ... American Churches, American Politics". June 25, 1996. Retrieved 2007-05-16.
  70. ^ Fears, Darryl (2004-11-02). "Gay Blacks Feeling Strained Church Ties". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-05-16.
  71. ^ Jeffrey S. Siker, Homosexuality and Religion: An Encyclopedia, 2007, p. 49.
  72. ^ "Changing Attitudes on Gay Marriage". 29 July 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  73. ^ "Support for Same-Sex Marriage Grows, Even Among Groups That Had Been Skeptical". Pew Research Center. June 26, 2017. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  74. ^ Avery, Dan (October 21, 2020). "Support for gay marriage reaches all-time high, survey finds". NBC News. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  75. ^ Shine, Robert (March 18, 2022). "New Report: Majorities of Black Catholics Affirm Gay People and Same-Gender Marriages". New Ways Ministry. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  76. ^ Hahn, Heather. "Gay pastor's removal brings sadness, defiance". www.umc.org. United Methodist Church. Archived from the original on April 24, 2018. Retrieved November 26, 2015.
  77. ^ Gryboski, Michael; Editor, Mainline Church (2012-08-01). "Black Pastor: Gay Marriage Issue Will Increase in Importance in November Election". www.christianpost.com. Retrieved 2024-09-12. {{cite web}}: |last2= has generic name (help)
  78. ^ Baptiste, Nathalie (3 July 2015). "What Some Black Church Leaders Have Wrong About Gay Marriage – and Civil Rights". The American Prospect. Prospect. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  79. ^ Root shock: The consequences of African American dispossession, Journal of Urban Health. New York: Springer. Volume 78, Number 1 / March 2001.
  80. ^ Douglas A. Smith, "The Neighborhood Context of Police Behavior", Crime and Justice, Vol. 8, Communities and Crime (1986), pp. 313–41.
  81. ^ Mary Pattillo-McCoy, "Church Culture as a Strategy of Action in the Black Community", American Sociological Review, Vol. 63, No. 6 (December 1998), pp. 767–84.
  82. ^ Arnold, Bruce Makoto (June 2012). "Shepherding a Flock of Different Fleece: A Historical and Social Analysis of the Unique Attributes of the African American Pastoral Caregiver". Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling. 66 (2): 2. doi:10.1177/154230501206600202. PMID 23045903. S2CID 31892039.
  83. ^ Wendy L. Haight, "'Gathering the Spirit' at First Baptist Church: Spirituality as a Protective Factor in the Lives of African American Children", Social Work, Vol. 43, 1998.
  84. ^ "Abyssinian Development Corporation".
  85. ^ Azi Paybarah, "A Harlem Church Sues to Operate Charter School Archived January 21, 2008, at the Wayback Machine", October 25, 2007.
  86. ^ Black Nativity Archived 2008-01-09 at the Wayback Machine
  87. ^ Black Nativity Archived 2007-10-09 at the Wayback Machine
  88. ^ Harrell, Joan R. (31 December 2012). "Watch Night Service In The Black Church In America: 150 Years After The Emancipation Proclamation". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  89. ^ Costen, Melva Wilson (1 January 2004). In Spirit and in Truth: The Music of African American Worship. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-664-22864-4.
  90. ^ "Absalom Jones and the Insufficiently Progressive | Notes and News". St. Bart's. Retrieved 2022-09-03.
  91. ^ "The Story of The Rev. Absalom Jones". Union Theological Seminary. Retrieved 2022-09-03.
  92. ^ "Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church [Philadelphia] (1794- )". BlackPast. 2010-12-23. Retrieved 2022-09-03.
  93. ^ a b Moore, John Jamison, D.D (1884). History of the A.M.E. Zion Church in America. Founded 1796, In the City of New York. York, Pa: Teachers' Journal Office.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  94. ^ "History of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc". Archived from the original on 2007-01-06. Retrieved 2007-05-29.
  95. ^ "Member Unions | Baptist World Alliance". baptistworld.org. Retrieved 2022-09-03.
  96. ^ "The Story of Our Church". Archived from the original on 2007-05-13. Retrieved 2007-05-22.
  97. ^ "Chronology of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr". Archived from the original on 2007-05-02. Retrieved 2007-05-22.
  98. ^ "This archbishop has become the first African American cardinal in Catholic history". CNN. 27 November 2020.
  99. ^ Baptiste, Nathalie (3 July 2015). "What Some Black Church Leaders Have Wrong About Gay Marriage – and Civil Rights". The American Prospect. Retrieved 14 March 2017.

Further reading

edit
Main article: Religion in Black America § Further reading
edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black_church&oldid=1258206875"