BLACK CENTER:

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BLACK CENTER

• African American Religion
• Nationhood

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Review Religion in America
The Original Cast Native American Faiths Judaism
Roman Catholicism Protestant-Christianity Black Center African American Religion Nationhood
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I. AFRICA IN AMERICA
1619 AFRICAN INDENTURED SERVANTS ARRIVE IN
JAMESTOWN
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Slavery in the New World
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American Slavery

• 1500-1865
• c. 15,000,000 Africans enslaved
• c. ½ die during Middle Passage
• c. 500,000 to North America
• servitude quickly becomes Hereditary and Racial

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c. 1800 1 in 5 people in the new United States
are of African descent
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II. West African Faiths

1. Highly diverse
2. Ordinary Extraordinary (world is filled with
   miracles spirits)
3. Ancestors The Dead are very present
4. Intermediaries Tricksters/ Saints

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West African Faiths

• 5. Intermediaries Sacramentalism (sacred
  objects)
• 6. Religion as EXPERIENCE (via Music, Dance,
  Chant)

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III. AFRICAN FAITH IN THE NEW WORLD

1. Experience of Slavery
2. West African Traditions
3. Adoption of Christianity

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1. The Experience of Slavery Exploitation

• Exploitation
• Breakup of Family
• Lack of Education
• Terror

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Experience of Slavery Resistance

• Refusal to work
• Preservation of Family Culture
• Development of Skills
• Flight (underground railroad)
• Violent Rebellion (1831, Nat Turner)

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2. Cultivation of African Traditions

• Trickster tales (Brer Rabbit)
• Ordinary Extraordinary ? magic, conjure bags
• Drums, dance
• Chants

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3. Adoption of Christianity

• Masters try to impose Christianity on enslaved
  Africans with little success
• 1600-1800 very few enslaved Africans are
  interested in Christianity

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Adoption of Christianity

• Strong parallels between African Traditions
  Roman Catholicism
• Black Catholics (New Orleans Haiti Latin
  America)

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Adoption of Christianity

• Second Great Awakening (c. 1800) waves of
  enslaved Africans convert to Christianity
• Focus Slavery Freedom (Moses, Exodus)

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Adoption of Christianity

• The Africanization of Christianity
• The Invisible Institution (Invisible Church)
• Praise Houses, Hush Harbors, Brush Arbors
• A distinctly African Accent spirituals ring
  shout chanted sermons

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IV. The Rise of Black Church in Freedom

• 1787 Richard Allen Absalom Jones Free
  African Society
• 1816 Allen ? AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL ZION
  (AME-ZION) CHURCH

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Black Church in the later 1800s

• Methodists Baptists
• Segregated congregations ? unique Black Churches
• BLACK CHURCH AS CENTER OF BLACK COMMUNITY
• Education social-welfare housing
• C. 1900 at least 1/3 of African Americans are
  active Church members

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V. THEMES VARIATIONS

• Black Holiness-Pentecostal Movement CHURCH OF
  GOD
• CHARLES MASON (1866-1961)

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Themes Variations

• 2. Father Divine (George Baker, 1879-1965)
• Peace Mission Movement
• Spiritual Practice Group

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Themes Variations

• 3. Spiritual Churches of New Orleans (Haitian
  voodoo Catholicism)
• 4. Afro-Cuban Santería

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Themes Variations

• 5. Marcus Garvey (1887-1940) Universal Negro
  Improvement Association
• Religion Ethnic Pride

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Themes Variations

• 6. Rastafarianism
• Jamaica Ras Tafari (Haile Selasse)

Bob Marley
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Themes Variations

• 7. Black Muslims
• 1920s Wallace Fard
• Elijah Muhammad NATIONAL OF ISLAM
• 1960s MALCOLM X
• 1990s Split Louis FARRAKHAN builds splinter
  Nation of Islam

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Themes Variations

• 8. 1960s Revived Black Christianity
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil Rights Movement
• James Cone others Liberation Theology

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