Chapter III: Conclusion (1)

Most of the work of the Bureau and the societies as already shown was temporary in character and perhaps rightly so. In Howard's own words, "it was but a beginning--a nucleus--an object lesson." Not more than one-sixth of the total black population of school age was reached. The movement only inaugurated a system of educational pioneering in the benighted South. Scientific data as to exactly what was accomplished unfortunately cannot be obtained owing to the inaccuracy of the Freedmen's Bureau reports. For example, in the report of July 1, 1868, the superintendent gives a total of sixty-two schools in operation with an additional "estimated" number of 451. Again, the amount of work done by the separate individual societies does not always tally with the reports of the Freedmen's Bureau.

Notwithstanding the fact that the efforts put forth failed to reach our modern ideal of the education of all the people, yet the movement did accomplish at least these three things: (1) By penetrating almost every county or district in the State, the schools served to awaken the Negroes to the need of education and to demonstrate to all persons that it was practicable to educate them; (2) it led up to the establishment of the public schools and left for this system material equipment in the form of school buildings and furniture; and (3), greatest of all, the combined efforts of the Freedmen's Bureau and the societies left the State with institutions of higher grade--the principal source of teachers for the common schools.

LUTHER P. JACKSON

FOOTNOTES:

[1] This dissertation was submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Faculty of Education of Columbia University in 1922.

[2] I. The sources for this dissertation are:

1. PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. _Senate_: _38 Cong., 1 Sess., Vol. 1, No. 1--Letter from freedmen's aid societies, Dec. 17, 1863._ _39 Cong., 1 Sess., Vol. 2, No. 27--Reports of assistant commissioners, Dec. 1, 1865, to March 6, 1866._ _39 Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 1, No. 6--Reports of assistant commissioners, Jan. 3, 1867._ HOUSE EXECUTIVE DOCUMENTS. _39 Cong., 1 Sess., Vol. 7, No. 11_; _39 Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 3, No. 1_; _40 Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 2, No. 1_; _40 Cong., 3 Sess., Vol. 3, No. 1_; _41 Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 6, No. 142_; _41 Cong., 3 Sess., Vol. 1, No. 1_; _42 Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 1, No. 1--Reports of_ _Howard as Commissioner, Dec. 1865-Dec. 1871_. _United States Statutes at Large, Vols. 13-17. (Boston)._

2. Reports of General Superintendent and the Societies. J. W. Alvord, _Schools and Finances of Freedmen_ (Washington, 1866); J. W. Alvord, _Semi-annual reports, 1867-'70_; J. W. Alvord, _Letters from the South, relating to the condition of freedmen, Addressed to General O. O. Howard_ (Washington, 1870); American Missionary Association, _Annual report, 1862-1872_; Educational Commission for freedmen, _Annual report, No. 1, 1862-'63_ (Boston, 1863); and New England Freedmen's Aid Society, _Annual report, No. 2, 1863-'64_; New York National Freedmen's Relief Association, _Annual report, 1865-'66_ (N. Y., 1866). _Ibid._, _Brief History with 4th annual report, 1865_; Friends Association of Philadelphia for the Aid and Elevation of Freedmen, _Annual report, 1866-71_; Freedmen's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, _Annual report, 1869-'72_; American Baptist Home Mission Society, _Annual report, 1863-'72_; and Board of Missions for Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church, _Annual report, 1869-'70_.

3. NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS. _The New York Times_; _The New York Tribune_; _The Charleston Daily Courier_; _The Darlington New Era_; _The Columbia Phoenix_; _The Nation_. _The Atlantic Monthly_, vol. XII (Sept., 1863). Edward L. Pierce--"The Freedmen at Port Royal"; _Atlantic Monthly_, vol. XII (May-June, 1864). Charlotte S. Forten, _Life on the Sea Islands_, _The North American Review_, vol. CI (July, 1865); William C. Gannet, _The Freedmen at Port Royal_; _The Southern Workman_, vol. XXX (July, 1901). Laura M. Towne, _Pioneer Work on the Sea Islands_; _The American Missionary_, 1862-'72, organ of the American Missionary Association; _The American Freedman_, 1866-'68 (incomplete), organ of American Freedmen's Union Commission; _The National Freedman_, 1865-66 (incomplete), organ of New York National Freedman's Relief Association; _Pennsylvania Freedmen's Bulletin_, 1866-'67 (incomplete), organ of Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association; _Freedmen's Record and Freedmen's Journal_, 1865-'68 (incomplete), organ of New England Freedmen's Aid Society; _The Freedman_, London, 1866 (incomplete), organ of London Freedmen's Aid Society; and _The Baptist Home Mission Monthly_, 1878-'80, organ of American Baptist Home Mission Society.

4. DIARY, REMINISCENCES, AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY. Eliza Ware Pearson (editor), _Letters from Port Royal, written at the time of the Civil War_ (Boston, 1906); Rupert S. Holland (editor), _Letters and Diary of Laura M. Towne, written from the sea islands of South Carolina_, 1862-1884 (Cambridge, 1912); Henry N. Sherwood (editor), _Journal of Mrs. Susan Walker, March 3d to June 6th, 1862_. _Quarterly publication of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio_, vol. 1, No. 1, 1912; Eliz Hyde Botume, _First days among the Contrabands_ (Boston, 1893); Oliver O. Howard, _Autobiography_, 2 vols., vol. 2 (New York, 1907); and A. Toomer Porter, _The History of a Work of Faith and Love in Charleston, S. C._ (New York, 1882).

5. DESCRIPTION AND TRAVEL. Charles Nordhoff, _The Freedmen of South Carolina; some account of their appearance, condition and peculiar customs_ (New York, 1863); Whitelaw Reid, _After the War, A Southern Tour_, May 1, 1865, to May 1, 1866 (New York, 1866); and Sidney Andrews, _The South Since the War as Shown by 14 Weeks Travel in Georgia and the Carolinas_, 1866.

II. SECONDARY SOURCES. Myrta L. Avary, _Dixie After the War_ (New York, 1906); Laura J. Webster, _Operation of the Freedmen's Bureau in South Carolina, Smith College Studies in History_, vol. 1, 1915-'16; Paul S. Pierce, _The Freedmen's Bureau, University of Iowa Studies_ (Iowa City, 1904); Thomas Jesse Jones, _Negro Education, U. S. Bureau of Education, Bulletins_, 1916, Nos. 38 and 39; Colyer Meriwether, _History of Higher Education in South Carolina, U. S. Bureau of Education, Circular of Information_, No. 3, 1888; William W. Sweet, _The Methodist Episcopal Church and the Civil War_ (Cincinnati, 1912); Amory D. Mayo, _Work of Northern Churches in the Education of the Freedmen. Advanced sheets. U. S. Bureau of Education._ Chapter V, 1903; Bowyer Stewart, _The Work of the Church in the South during the Period of Reconstruction_ (Episcopalian). _Hale Memorial Sermon, 1913_ (Chicago, 1913); J. P. Hollis, _Early Period of Reconstruction in South Carolina. Johns Hopkins University. History and Political Studies, 1905; Negro Year Book, 1918-'19_ (Tuskegee, Alabama); _Charleston Year Book_, 1880; and W. E. B. DuBois, _Souls of Black Folk_ (Chicago, 1903).

[3] Not to be confused with the more familiar Gen. W. T. Sherman mentioned later.

[4] Gannet, _North American Review_, vol. 101 (1865), p. 2.

[5] Laura M. Towne, _Southern Workman_, July, 1901, "Life on the Sea Islands"; _Journal of Mrs. Susan Walker_; Charles Nordhoff, _The Freedmen of South Carolina_.

[6] _The Nation_, vol. I (1865), p. 744. Sidney Andrews, _The South Since the War_, p. 228.

[7] Charlotte S. Forten, in _The Atlantic Monthly_, vol. XIII (May, 1864), p. 593; Botume, _First Days among the Contrabands_, p. 11.

[8] New York National Freedmen's Relief Association, _Annual Report_, 1866, pp. 5-6.

[9] _Ibid._, pp. 8-9.

[10] _Journal of Susan Walker_, p. 11; Boston Ed. Commission, _Annual Report_, 1863, p. 7; _Letters from Port Royal_, pp. 2-3.

[11] Pierce, in _The Atlantic Monthly_, vol. XII, 1863, p. 299.

[12] _Ibid._, p. 292.

[13] Nordhoff, _The Freedmen of South Carolina_, p. 12.

[14] _Journal of Susan Walker_, p. 14.

[15] _Congressional Globe_, 41 Cong., 3 Sess., vol. I, No. 1.

[16] J. W. Alvord, _Fifth Semi-annual Report_ (Jan. 1, '68), p. 4.

[17] _New York Tribune_, June 17, 1862.

[18] "Cabins of slaves for religious meetings."

[19] Botume, _First Days among the Contrabands_, p. 42.

[20] _The American Missionary_, vol. VI (Aug., 1862), p. 186.

[21] _House Executive Documents_, 41 Cong., 2 Sess., vol. VI, No. 142, p. 4.

[22] Pierce, in _The Atlantic Monthly_, vol. XII (1863), p. 303.

[23] _The Nation_, vol. I (1865), p. 745.

[24] Laura M. Towne, _Southern Workman_, July, 1901, p. 337. Nordhoff, p. 10.

[25]
"Oh, none in all the world before
Were ever glad as we!
We're free on Carolina's shore,
We're all at home and free.

"We hear no more the driver's horn
No more the whip we fear,
This holy day that saw Thee born
Was never half so dear.

"The very oaks are greener clad,
The waters brighter smile;
Oh, never shone a day so glad
On sweet St. Helen's Isle.

"Come once again, O blessed Lord!
Come walking on the sea!
And let the mainlands hear the word
That sets the islands free!"

See Pierce, in _The Atlantic Monthly_, vol. XII, p. 305; _Letters from Port Royal_, p. 133.

[26] _The Nation_, vol. I (1865), p. 747.

[27] Botume, _First Days among the Contrabands_, p. 64.

[28] _The Nation_, vol. I (1865), p. 746.

[29] N. E. Freedman's Aid Society, _Annual Report_, 1864, p. 15.

[30] _Senate Executive Documents_, 38 Cong., 1 Sess., vol. I, No. 1, pp. 2-6.

[31] _House Executive Documents_, 41 Cong., 2 Sess., vol. VI, No. 142, p. 11.

[32] _Ibid._, 39 Cong., 1 Sess., vol. VII, No. 11, p. 49.

[33] _National Freedman_, Oct., 1865, p. 300.

[34] Howard, _Autobiography_, vol. II, p. 221.

[35] _Statutes at Large_, XIV, p. 176.

[36] _Ibid._, p. 486.

[37] _U. S. Bureau of Ed. Bulletin_, 1916, No. 38, pp. 269-271; _Annual Reports of Societies_, 1863-1868.

[38] _The Freedmen's Record_ (1865-1874), quoted in _Bulletin_, 1916, No. 38, p. 297.

[39] _The Freedman_, August, 1865, p. 12.

[40] J. W. Alvord, _Semi-annual Report_, July 1, 1869, p. 81.

[41] W. W. Sweet, _Methodist Episcopal Church and the Civil War_, p. 175.

[42] A. D. Mayo, _Northern Churches and the Freedmen_, p. 300.

[43] A. D. Mayo, _Northern Churches and the Freedmen_, p. 291.

[44] _U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin_ (1916), No. 39, p. 16.

[45] _National Freedman_, May 1, 1865, p. 122; _Ibid._, April 30, 1865, p. 150. _American Freedman_, May, 1866, p. 29.

[46] _Charleston Year Book_ (1880), p. 122.

[47] See Carter G. Woodson, _Education of the Negro Prior to 1861_, p. 129.

[48] Sidney Andrews, _The South Since the War_, p. 98.

[49] _National Freedman_, June 1, 1865, p. 150.

[50] _National Freedman_, Nov. 15, 1865, p. 314; _Ibid._, May, 1866, pp. 139-140.

[51] J. W. Alvord, _Report_, Jan. 1, 1868, p. 27. _American Freedman_, July-August, 1868, p. 442.

[52] _The American Freedman_, May, 1866, p. 261. This does not, however, indicate in all cases the number of schools at each town.

[53] The school at Camden increased in size the next year.

[54] J. W. Alvord, _Report_, Jan. 1, 1870, p. 25.

[55] Freedmen's Aid Society of the M. E. Church, _Annual Report_, 1871, pp. 19-20.

[56] Mayo, _Northern Churches and the Freedmen_, p. 300.

[57] _Letters and Diary of Laura M. Towne_, p. 221.

[58] _American Missionary Ass'n Annual Report_, 1870, p. 221.

[59] _History of the A. M. A._, p. 36; _Annual Report_, 1868, p. 47; Mayo, p. 287.

[60] _The Nation_, vol. 1 (1865), p. 778.

[61] American Baptist Home Mission Society, _Annual Report_, 1872, p. 26.

[62] Merriwether, _History of Higher Education in South Carolina_, p. 125; _Annual Report_ (1872) _F. A. S._, p. 17.

[63] _Charleston Year Book_ (1880), pp. 126-127; _Annual Report_ (1870) _Presbyterian Committee_, p. 12.

[64] Porter, _Work of Faith and Love_, p. 6; Stewart, _Work of the Church during Reconstruction_, p. 63.

[65] _Annual Report_ (1866) _Friends Ass'n_, p. 8.

[66] _A. M. A. Annual Report_ (1864), p. 16.

[67] _Freedmen's Journal_, Jan. 1, 1865, p. 3.

[68] _Ibid._, p. 7.

[69] _National Freedman_, Feb., 1866, p. 49.

[70] _Letters from Port Royal_; _Letters and Diary of Laura M. Towne_.

[71] _Pennsylvania Freedmen's Bulletin_, Oct., 1866, p. 1.

[72] _Baptist Home Mission Monthly_ (1879), p. 6.

[73] _Columbia Phoenix_, March 21, 1865.

[74] Merriwether, _History of Higher Education in South Carolina_, p. 115.

[75] _House Executive Documents_, 39 Cong., 1 Sess., vol. VII, No. 11, p. 13.

[76] J. W. Alvord, _Semi-annual Report_ (July 1, 1867), p. 25.

[77] _The Nation_, vol. III, Oct. 25, 1866.

[78] Alvord, _Semi-annual Report_ (Jan. 1, 1870), p. 26.

[79] _The New Era_, July 28, 1865.

[80] Alvord, _Report_, Aug. 6, 1866, p. 5.

[81] _New York Times_, Aug. 14, 1866.

[82] Porter, _Work of Faith and Love_, p. 6; _The Nation_, vol. II (1866); p. 770.

[83] _Charleston Courier_, Feb. 15, 1867; _American Freedman_, April, 1867, p. 204.

[84] The school referred to here is the one already mentioned, the Penn Normal and Agricultural School. It is an excellent community school and one especially fitted for St. Helena, the population of which is still largely colored. See _United States Bureau of Education Bulletin_ (1916), No. 39, p. 483. Miss Towne remained in service 39 years, Miss Schofield 48 years, and Miss Munro at Mt. Pleasant 45 years.

[85] _United States Census_, 1860.

[86] Hurd, _Law of Freedom and Bondage_, II, p. 98.

[87] _Baptist Home Mission Monthly_, June, 1879, p. 182.

[88] _Freedmen's Record_, April, 1868, p. 50.

[89] Freedmen's Aid Society, _Annual Report_ (1871), p. 13.

[90] _H. Ex. Docs._, 40 Cong., 2 Sess., vol. II, No. 1, p. 8.

[91] J. W. Alvord, _Report on Schools and Finances of Freedmen_, July, 1866, p. 6.

[92] _American Freedman_, July, 1868, p. 446.

[93] _National Freedman_, Oct., 1865, p. 299.

[94] Whitelaw Reid, _After the War_, pp. 89-91.

[95] _National Freedman_, June, 1866, p. 169.

[96] _Freedmen's Record_, April, 1868, p. 52.

[97] _Anderson Intelligencer_, July, 1867, quoted in _The American Freedman_, Aug., 1867, p. 264.

[98] _American Freedman_, Feb., 1867, p. 168.

[99] _Letters from Port Royal_, p. 37; _The Freedmen's Journal_, Jan. 1, 1865, pp. 13-15; W. C. Gannet, _North American Review_, vol. CI (1865), p. 24.

[100] Pierce, in _Atlantic Monthly_, vol. 12 (1863), p. 305.

[101] _A. M. A. Annual Report_, 1866, p. 27; 1867, pp. 32-33; _National Freedman_, May, 1866, p. 142.

THE RELIGION OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO SLAVE: HIS ATTITUDE TOWARD LIFE AND DEATH

I propose to discuss the religious behavior of the American Negro slave, between 1619 and the close of the Civil War, first, by a brief discussion of the religion of the tribes in Africa, and the tendency of the old habits and traditions to maintain themselves among the American slave; second, by a consideration of what the slave found in America, and his contact with another religious culture called Christianity; and third, by a description of the slave's reaction to a Christian environment, or what the slave's religious behavior really was.[1] My thesis is that the religion of Africa disappeared from the consciousness of the American slave; that the slave himself, by contact with a new environment, became a decidedly different person, having a new religion, a primitive Christianity, with the central emphasis, not upon this world, but upon heaven.[-99]

My task is to show that the religion of the Negro slave between 1619 and the Civil War did not originate in Africa, but was something totally different from the prevailing religion of the black continent in that it placed emphasis upon heaven; and that this distinctive element in the religion of the slave grew out of his contact with Christianity in America. In taking this position I have tried to give due weight to those considerations which tend to support a contrary position, such as the inertia of African habits and traditions in the life of the American slave, and the hostile tendency of his social surroundings to religious development.[3] On the other hand, I have considered the disintegrating effects of the American slave system upon black groups that originated in Africa, together with the American slave's new social contacts, which produced in him the religious attitude found, and out of which arose the early slave-preacher and church. Finally, I have attempted to show that the naive imagery and emphasis in the "spirituals" are selected elements that helped the slave adjust himself to his particular world.

Our beginning is with the prevailing religion of Africa, Fetishism. Authorities use the term "Fetishism" as the "(_a_) worship of inanimate objects, often regarded as purely African; (_b_) Negro religion in general; (_c_) the worship of inanimate objects conceived as the residence of spirits not inseparably bound up with, nor originally connected with, such objects; (_d_) the doctrine of spirits embodied in, or attached to, or conceiving influence through certain material objects;[4] (_e_) the use of charms, which are not worshipped, but derive their magical power from a god or spirit; (_f_) the use as charms of objects regarded as magically potent in themselves."

All of the elements embodied in this definition are found, generally, in the primitive religions of the African peoples. Believing that persons and objects of this world were inhabited by spirits, the African necessarily accounted for the phenomena of the universe by the arbitrary will of spiritual beings, whom he feared, and, therefore, worshipped, or sought to control by magic. Unable thus to find companionship with these unseen, mysterious personalities, the men of Africa knew no land of sunshine beyond the dreadful shadow of the grave; but the American slave, who experienced death as a short period of darkness before a day of eternal glory, did not inherit the fears of Africa.

Now what did the slave bring from Africa? In answering this question let us consider what is commonly referred to as the inertia of African heritage. American missionaries reported that it was harder to teach the slaves who were born in Africa than those born in this country. This quotation from the Calendar of State Papers, Colonial America and West Indies, 1699, Section 473, supports this view: "Negroes born in this country were generally baptized, but for Negroes imported, the gross barbarity and rudeness of their manners, the variety and strangeness of their language, and the weakness and shallowness of their minds rendered it in a manner impossible to attain to any progress in their conversion."[5]

Two definite cases bear a similar testimony, the one being that of Phyllis Wheatley, a girl brought here from Africa, who spoke of how her mother there worshipped the rising sun, the other, this story related by a man concerning his grandfather: "He was an old man, nearly 80 years old," he said, "and he manifested all the fondness for me that I could expect from one so old.... He always expressed contempt for his fellow slaves, for when young he was an African of rank.... He had singular religious notions, never going to meeting, or caring for the preachers he could, if he would, occasionally hear. He retained his native traditions respecting the deity and hereafter."[6]

Other cases, though few, clearly demonstrate that among the American slaves also there existed a belief in ghosts and a lurking fear of the denizens of a mysterious world. But what was religion in Africa was generally regarded by the American slaves themselves as mere superstition.

The hostility of masters to new slave-contacts had some bearing on the situation. Whatever superstition, whether from Africa or another source, we find among the slaves, had a tendency to maintain itself the more because of the attitude of some masters toward the religious education of their bondmen. Slaves of those owners, who, through love of money, were indifferent toward education, encouraged in vice and superstition, had no time for religious training. Although, ever since 1619, and especially after the rebellion of Nat Turner, there were some slaves whose eagerness to learn occasioned State-laws against the education or assembling of slaves, nevertheless, during the entire period there was a countless number of slaves who were absolutely disinterested in their own education. They were also handicapped in religious advancement, because many owners believed that baptism made the slave free, which belief was prevalently held until 1729, when the Christian nations finally reached the decision that baptism did not mean manumission, and that even a Christian could be a slave.[7] Such a sentiment against the contact of slaves with the Christian religion, beyond doubt, tended to keep them in ignorance and superstition, and to develop among them religious habits and attitudes peculiar to an isolated group, but the point can be over-emphasized, in view of all that actually happened.

Dr. Park says: "Coming from all parts of Africa and having no common language, and common tradition, the memories of Africa which they brought with them were soon lost.... The fact that the Negro brought with him from Africa so little tradition which he was able to transmit and perpetuate on American soil makes that race unique among all peoples of our cosmopolitan population."[8] In connection herewith, moreover, we must also take into account that slave-groups, upon reaching America, were broken up and the members thereof sold into different parts of the country, where new habits had to be formed, because of a different environment. Contrasting the life in Africa with that of slaves in America, Washington better expresses the idea in these words: "The porters, carrying their loads along the narrow forest paths, sing of the loved ones in their far-away homes. In the evening the people of the villages gather around the fire and sing for hours. These songs refer to war, to hunting, and to the spirits that dwell in the deep woods. In them all the wild and primitive life of the people is reflected....

"There is a difference, however, between the music of Africa and that of her transplanted children. There is a new note in the music which had its origin in the Southern plantations, and in this new note the sorrow and the sufferings which came from serving in a strange land find expression."[9]

Let us direct attention to what the Negro slave found in America, a Christian atmosphere. With their various groups broken into fragments and scattered by the American slave-trade, as the slaves here learned the English language, they were more able to assimilate the elements of Christianity found in American life. Sold into Christian homes, but gathered with their masters around the family altar, they became actual participants in the singing and praying that broke the morning and evening silence of those eventful days. The old records show that from the very beginning of American slavery[10] slaves experienced Christianity through the conscious help of some masters, and later, as the whites saw that the Christian religion made the Negroes better slaves and did not set them free, the blacks secured more favorable opportunities for religious instruction. In some States masters were required even by legislation to look after the religious education of their slaves.[11] In Louisiana, for example, planters were obliged by the Code Noir to have their Negroes instructed and baptized, to give them Sundays and holidays for rest and worship. But, even when not required by law, a few owners established schools for their slaves, and either taught or hired others to teach them "the way of eternal life."

So it is reported that by the 19th century: "Few Negroes escaped some religious instruction from those good people. Usually on Sunday afternoons, but sometimes in the morning, the slaves would be gathered in the great house and lessons in the catechism had to be learned. The Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments were also taught. Hymns were sung and prayers rose to Heaven. Many good masters read sermons to their slaves. Other masters hired ministers.... Others preached themselves."[12]

Another source of contact with Christianity was that resulting from the attitude of persons who worked, not for the religious development of their own slaves alone, but who, with a larger human interest, unmindful of the benefits that might come to their individual households, gave their lives to bless all slaves. One of the very purposes of American slavery being to benefit the slaves, one can readily see how missionary work among them grew with the system of slavery itself.

"After 1716," Woodson tells us, "when Jesuits were taking over slaves in large numbers, and especially after 1726, when Law's Company was importing many to meet the demand for laborers in Louisiana, we read of more instances of the instruction of Negroes by the Catholics. ... Le Petit spoke of being 'settled to the instruction of the boarders, the girls who live without, and the Negro women.' In 1738 he said, 'I instruct in Christian morals the slaves of our residence, who are Negroes, and as many others as I can get from their masters.'"

Awakened by what the zealous French in Louisiana were doing, English missionaries made progressive plans for preaching the gospel to the blacks. During the 18th century numerous missionaries, catechists, and school-masters, sent from England to America, founded schools for the slaves, and distributed many sermons, lectures, and Bibles among them. In 1705 Thomas counted among his communicants in South Carolina twenty Negroes who could read and write. Later, making a report of the work he and his associates were doing, he said: "I have here presumed to give an account of 1,000 slaves so far as they know of it and are desirous of Christian knowledge and seem willing to prepare themselves for it, in learning to read, for which they redeem the time from their labor. Many of them can read the Bible distinctly, and great numbers of them were learning when I left the province."[14]

"After some opposition," Woodson further says, "this work began to progress somewhat in Virginia. The first school established in that colony was for Indians and Negroes.... On the binding out a 'bastard or pauper-child black or white,' churchwardens specifically required that he should be taught 'to read and write and calculate as well as to follow some profitable form of labor.' ... Reports of an increase in the number of colored communicants came from Accomac County where four or five hundred families were instructing their slaves at home and had their children catechised on Sunday."[15]

Side by side with the work done by missionaries, men of different denominations vied with one another in bringing slaves into the light of a Christian atmosphere. Some founded Sunday schools, some preached of the "inner light in every man," others more successfully preached salvation by faith in the power of a risen Christ, who died for the sins of men. Soon after the first Negroes were placed upon the shores of Jamestown, slaves began to be baptized, and received into the Episcopal Church. Earnest says that "at least one Negro was baptized soon after the contact with the colonists in Virginia."[16] Washington says that only five years after slavery was introduced into Virginia a Negro child named William was baptized, and that from that time on the names of Negroes can be found upon the register of most of the churches. In the old record-book of Bruton Parish, 1,122[17] Negro-baptisms were recorded between 1746 and 1797.[18] In 1809 there were about 9,000 Negro Baptists in Virginia.[19] The African Baptist Church of Richmond alone subsequently increased from 1,000 to 3,832 in 24 years. The Methodist Magazine of October, 1827, reports that as early as 1817 there were 43,411 Negro members in the Methodist societies.[20]

"The Negro seems, from the beginning," says Washington, "to have been very closely associated with the Methodists in the United States. When the Reverend Thomas Coke was ordained by John Wesley, as Superintendent or Bishop of the American Society in 1784, he was accompanied on most of his travels throughout the United States by Harry Hosier, a colored minister who was at the same time the Bishop's servant and an evangelist of the Church. Harry Hosier, who was the first American Negro preacher of the Methodist Church in the United States, was one of the notable characters of his day."[21]

Let us now consider the effects of these early religious contacts upon the life of slave-preachers, some of whom were comparatively well educated. Concerning Jack of Virginia it is said that "his opinions were respected, his advice followed, and yet he never betrayed the least symptoms of arrogance or self-conceit. His dwelling was a rude log-cabin, his apparel was of the plainest, coarsest materials.... He refused gifts of better clothing, saying, 'These clothes are a great deal better than are generally worn by people of my color, and, besides, if I wear them I find I shall be obliged to think about them even at meetings.'"[22]

With an influence among the slaves equal to Jack's, two other Negro messengers of the gospel, Andrew Bryan and Samson, his brother, who earlier had appeared in Georgia, were publicly whipped and imprisoned with 50 companions, but they joyously declared that they would suffer death for their faith found in Christ, whom they expected to preach until death.[23] By their uncompromising attitude,[24] which silenced opponents and raised up friends, they won for themselves among the slaves that sacred esteem belonging to saintly martyrs like Polycarp, Huss, and Fox.

There were other itinerant ministers in these days, who were either given their freedom or purchased it by working as common laborers while preaching. Being better educated, and more closely in contact with the religious life of the whites than the masses of slaves, they were carriers of Christian sentiment from the whites to the blacks, inspiring them with the hope of life in an unseen world. One day there arrived in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Henry Evans, a Methodist preacher, a free Negro from Virginia, who worked as a carpenter during the week and preached on Sunday. Forbidden by the Town Council of Fayetteville to preach, he made his meetings secret, changing them from time to time until he was tolerated. Just before his death, while leaning on the altar-rail, he said to his followers:

"I have come to say my last word to you. It is this: None but Christ. Three times I have had my life in jeopardy for preaching the gospel to you. Three times I have broken the ice on the edge of the water and swam across the Cape Fear to preach the gospel to you, and if in my last hour I could trust to that or anything but Christ crucified, for my salvation, all should be lost, and my soul perish forever."[25]

Some of these ministers led an independent movement. Six years after Richard Allen, with a few followers, withdrew in 1790 from the Free African Society in Philadelphia,[26] and started an independent Methodist Church in a blacksmith shop, Negro members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in New York began separate meetings. After pastoring a white church,[27] Josiah Bishop started the First Colored Baptist Church of Portsmouth in 1791. Finding accommodations in the white church of Richmond inadequate, the Negroes petitioned for separate meetings in 1823.[28] Harding, speaking of the opportunity of religious instruction and of divine worship allowed the slaves in Kentucky, says that "in every church-edifice, seats were set apart for the occupancy of colored worshippers.... Almost every neighborhood had its Negro preacher whose credentials, if his own assertion was to be taken, came directly from the Lord."[29]

What were the results of these contacts? The most important was that with its charming stories of the creation of the universe, of the Egyptian bondage, and of the journey across the Red Sea, with its New Testament emphasis upon the power, death, and resurrection of Christ, with its apocalyptic imagery, the Bible became to the slave the most sacred book of books. Upon its pages he saw the tears of men and women constantly fall, and from its truths he saw the pious preacher choose words suitable for exhortation. The peculiar interest of the Negro-slave in reading this book was soon apparent.

One old man, being secretly taught by a slave-girl to read the Bible, said, with trembling voice, while tears were falling from his penetrating eyes: "Honey, it 'pears when I can read dis good book I shall be nearer to God."[31] Another slave prayed thus: "I pray de good massa Lord will put it into de niggers' hearts to larn to read de good book. Ah, Lord, make de letters in our spelling books big and plain, and make our eyes bright and shining, and make our hearts big and strong for to larn.... Oh, Hebbenly Fader, we tank De for makin' our massas willin' to let us come to dis school."[32]

Upon a battlefield of the Civil War, another, a soldier, said: "Let me lib wid dis musket in one hand an' de Bible in de oder,--dat if I die at de muzzle ob de musket, die in de water, die on de land, I may know I hab de bressed Jesus in my hand an' hab no fear."[33]

How the text from Hebrews 2:9, "That He, by the grace of God, should taste of death for every man," became a part of his life, was told by Josiah Henson after becoming free: "This was the first text of the Bible to which I had ever listened, knowing it to be such. I have never forgotten it, and scarce a day has passed since, in which I have not recalled it, and the sermon that was preached from it. The divine character of Jesus Christ, his life and teachings, his sacrifice of himself for others, his death and resurrection were all alluded to, and some of the points were dwelt upon with great power.... I was wonderfully impressed, too, with the use which the preacher made of the last words of the text, 'for every man' ... the bond as well as the free; and he dwelt on the glad tidings of the Gospel to the poor, the persecuted ... till my heart burned within me, and I was in a state of greatest excitement ... that such a being ... should have died for me ... a poor slave...."[34]

Contemporaries assert that often while following the plow, gathering up the frosty corn, or driving the ox-cart to the barn, slaves, burning with enthusiasm, talked of how much sermons satisfied their hungry souls. Household and plantation slaves, gray-haired fathers and mothers with their children, crowded eagerly to hear the gospel preached. Thus Earnest says of one man: "His slaves came 17 miles to reach Mr. Wright's nearest preaching place."[35] Concerning the spread of the Christian religion among the slaves on the seaboard of South Carolina, it is affirmed that "the scenes on the Sabbath were affecting. The Negroes came in crowds from two parishes. Often have I seen (a scene, I reckon, not often witnessed) groups of them 'double-quicking' in the roads, in order to reach the church in time.... The white service being over, the slaves would throng the seats vacated by their masters...."[36] John Thompson, in the story of his life, says that, "As soon as it got among the slaves, it spread from plantation to plantation, until it reached ours where there were but few who did not experience religion."[37]

From the blighting, superstitious fears of a heartless universe, the heralds of Christianity brought to the slave words of hope and salvation, a message of companionship with a heavenly father. "You are poor slaves and have a hard time of it here," said they, "but I can tell you the blessed Savior shed his blood for you as much as for your masters.... Break off from all your wicked ways, your lying, stealing, swearing, drunkenness, and vile lewdness; give yourselves to prayer and repentance and fly to Jesus, and give up your heart to him in true earnest; and flee from the wrath to come."[38]

Fred Douglass relates that "the preaching of a white Methodist minister, named Hanson, was the means of causing me to feel that in God I had such a friend. He thought that all men, great and small, bond and free, were sinners in the sight of God: that they were by nature rebels against his government; and that they must repent of their sins, and be reconciled to God through Christ.... I was wretched."[39]

Besides definite principles of morality which included humble submission to the divine right of masters, Negro slaves were also taught that "parents who meet their children in heaven will be more than consoled for their early death." "You can not imagine," said they, "what happiness is in reserve for you from this source.... When you have entered heaven you will probably be met by a youthful spirit who will call you father! mother! Perhaps you have a little family there, expecting your arrival ... save your own soul."[40]

Exactly what was this religion of the slave? Thus coming into contact with this Christian environment, the slave consciously lived a new life, which definitely began with conversion, the phenomenon marked by a feeling of remorse, inner conflict, prayer, and release of tension, or what was felt to be "freedom from hell." Prior to conversion he had been a member of the "disobedient servant-group," perhaps lying, stealing, drinking, and using profanity; but after conversion, being initiated into a new group, he had to live a circumspect life. Conversion, then, meant to the slave that experience by which he turned his back toward hell and began the journey toward heaven. Very often it signified retiring to some lonely spot, where the slave struggled with an unseen power, until freed by Christ, with whom, no longer a child of fear, he afterwards lived in filial companionship, hopefully asking and joyfully securing aid in an unfriendly world.

"I always had a natural fear of God from my youth," declared one slave, describing his feelings leading up to conversion, "and was often checked in conscience with thoughts of death, which barred me from my sins and bad company. I knew no other way at that time to hope for salvation but only in the performance of my good works.... If it was the will of God to cut me off at that time, I was sure I should be found in hell, as sure as God was in heaven. I saw my condemnation in my own heart, and I found no way which I could escape the damnation of hell, only through the merits of my dying Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; which caused me to make intercession with Christ, for the salvation of my poor immortal soul.... After this I declared before the congregation of believers the work which God had done for my soul."[41]

The slaves used to express it thus in song:[42]

"One day when I was walkin' along,
De element opened, an' de love came down,
I never shall forget dat day,
When Jesus washed my sins away."

They also sang such words as these:[43]

"Jesus snatched me from de doors of hell,
An' took me in with him to dwell."
"Jesus told you ... go in peace an' sin no mo'."
"Soul done anchored in Jesus Christ."

With reference to the wilderness, where, without food, they overcame the spirit of evil by the aid of Jesus, and with reference to the life led after having this experience, the slaves sang with much feeling:[44]

"All true children gwine in de wilderness,
Gwine in de wilderness, gwine in de wilderness,
True believers gwine in de wilderness,
To take away de sins ob de world."

"Stay in the field, stay in the field, stay in
the field, till de war is ended."[45]

"You say your Jesus set-a you free;
View de land, view de land,
Why don't you let-a your neighbor be,
Go view de heavenly land.
You say you're aiming for de skies,
Why don't you stop-a your telling lies?"[46]

Another ceremonial feature of slave-conversion was the shout, in which the prospective convert, upon the "mourners' bench," surrounded by a group of singing dancers, prayed continually, until convinced of perfect relief from damnation, when he leaped and ran to proclaim the joyous news. When shouting, whether for making converts or for mere group-response, these noisy, black singers of antiphonal songs preferred to be alone in some cabin or in the praise-house, where they could express themselves with absolute freedom.

Just how they disturbed the peace is expressed in the following words: "Almost every night there is a meeting of these noisy, frantic worshippers.... Midnight! Is that the season for religious convocation?... is that the accepted time?"[47] Concerning worship by a light-wood fire another said: "But the benches are pushed back to the wall when the formal meeting is over, and old and young, men and women ... begin, first walking and by and by shuffling around, one after the other, in a ring. The foot is hardly taken from the floor and the progression is mainly due to a jerking, hitching motion which agitates the entire shouter and soon brings out streams of perspiration. Sometimes they dance silently; sometimes as they shuffle they sing the course of the spiritual, and sometimes the song itself is also sung by the dancers. But more frequently a band, composed of some of the best singers and of tired shouters, stand at the side of the room to 'face' the others singing the body of the song and dropping their hands together or on their knees. Song and dance are alike extremely energetic and often, when the shout lasts into the middle of the night, the monotonous thud, thud of the feet prevents sleep within half a mile of the praise-house."[48]

"And all night, as I waked at intervals, I could hear them praying and 'shouting' and chattering with hands and heels," relates Colonel T. W. Higginson. "It seemed to make them very happy, and appeared to be at least an innocent Christian dissipation ... the dusky figures moved in the rhythmical barbaric dance the Negroes called a 'shout,' chanting, often harshly, but always in the most perfect time, some monotonous refrain."[49]

"By this time every man within hearing, from oldest to youngest, would be wriggling and shuffling, as if through some piper's bewitchment; for even those who at first affected contemptuous indifference would be drawn into the vortex ere long."[50]

Whatever may be said about the "shout," the fact remains, that whether this ceremony was mere play, or relaxation after a day of repressing toil, or whether it served to drive away a hostile spirit by creating within the members of the group the feeling of being possessed with the power of God, it became an indispensable part of the slave religious worship. In this Christian dance, the slave sang: "O shout, shout, de debbil is about, O shut yo' do' an' keep him out." Through it he expected to destroy the kingdom of Satan, and thereby make the assurance of reaching heaven more complete. The feeling gained thereby became spiritual balm for the aches of by-gone and coming days.[51]

The songs, also, used by the slave in these meetings and sung generally by the individuals thereof, tell in a very definite way what the religious attitude of the American Negro slave was. They relate the sorrows of this world, and the joys felt by the slave, who anticipated a home in heaven. They describe in naive imagery the rugged journey of the weary traveler and the land of his happy destination. "Nothing," says Washington, "tells more truly what the Negro's life in slavery was, than the songs in which he succeeded, sometimes, in expressing his deepest thoughts and feelings. What, for example, could express more eloquently the feelings of despair which sometimes overtook the slave than these simple and expressive words:[52] 'O Lord, O my Lord! O my good Lord! keep me from sinking down.'"

Unable to sing or pray during the lifetime of their master, after his death, by permission of their mistress, a crowd of Negro slaves sang the following hymn:

"Oh walk togedder, children,
Don't yer get weary,
Walk togedder, children,
Don't yer get weary,
Walk togedder, children,
Don't yer get weary,
Dere's a great camp meetin' in de Promised Land.
Gwine to mourn an' nebber tire ...
Mourn an' nebber tire,
Mourn an' nebber tire,
Dere's a great camp meetin' in de Promised Land."[53]

With longing for that mother who used to carry him upon her back to the dewy fields, where she, setting her babe upon the springing grass at the end of the row, began her daily task with the hoe, returning now and then to give him of her breast; for her whose beaming eyes turned back until the coming of the night, when she again held him in her arms, the slave sang in bitter tears. Her tender help was gone. Father's smile was no more.[54]

"My mother's sick an' my father's dead,
Got nowhere to lay my weary head."

"My mother an' my father both are dead ...
Good Lord, I cannot stay here by myself.
I'm er pore little orphan chile in de worl',
I'm er pore little orphan chile in de worl' ..."[55]

"My mother'n yo' mother both daid an' gone,
My mother'n yo' mother both daid an' gone,
Po' sinner man he so hard to believe.
My folks an' yo' folks both daid an' gone,
Po' sinner man he so hard to believe.
My brother an' yo' brother both daid an' gone,
Po' sinner man he so hard to believe."[56]

With great hope the slave sang:

"Gwine to see my mother some o' dese mornin's,
See my mother some o' dese mornin's,
See my mother some o' dese mornin's,
Look away in de heaven,
Look away in de heaven, Lord,
Hope I'll jine de band.
Look away in de heaven, Lord,
Hope I'll jine de band."[57]

To express his sorrow and his longing for relief from the burdens of his condition the slave sang:

"One more valient soldier here,
One more valient soldier here,
One more valient soldier here,
To help me bear de cross."[58]

"My trouble is hard,
O yes,
My trouble is hard,
O yes,
Yes indeed my trouble is hard."[59]

"Nobody knows the trouble I've seen,
Nobody knows but Jesus.
Nobody knows the trouble I've seen,
Glory halleluyah!
Sometimes I'm up, sometimes I'm down!
O yes, Lord!
Sometimes I'm almost to de groun'!
O yes, Lord!
What makes old Satan hate me so?
O yes, Lord,
Because he got me once, but he let me go;
O yes, Lord!"[60]

"Ever since my Lord done set me free,
Dis ole worl' been a hell to me,
I am de light un de worl'."[61]

"Oh, what a hard time,
Oh, what a hard time,
Oh, what a hard time,
All God's children have a hard time.

"Oh, what a hard time,
Oh, what a hard time,
Oh, what a hard time,
My Lord had a hard time too."[62]

"I'm a-trouble in de mind,
O I'm a-trouble in de mind.
I'm a-trouble in de mind,
What you doubt for?
I'm a-trouble in de mind."[63]

"I'm in trouble, Lord,
I'm in trouble.
I'm in trouble, Lord,
Trouble about my grave,
Trouble about my grave,
Trouble about my grave.
Sometimes I weep, sometimes I mourn,
I'm in trouble about my grave;
Sometimes I can't do neither one,
I'm in trouble about my grave."[64]

"My father, how long,
My father, how long,
My father, how long,
Poor sinner suffer here?
And it won't be long,
And it won't be long,
And it won't be long,
Poor sinner suffer here.
We'll soon be free,
De Lord will call us home.
We'll walk de miry road
Where pleasure never dies.
We'll walk de golden streets
Of de new Jerusalem ...
We'll fight for liberty
When de Lord will call us home."[65]

"Gwine rock trubbel over,
I b'lieve,
Rock trubbel over,
I b'lieve,
Dat Sabbath has no end."[66]

"My fader's done wid de trouble o' de world,
Wid de trouble o' de world,
Wid de trouble o' de world,
My fader's done wid de trouble o' de world,
Outshine de sun."[67]

Although the songs above tell the slave's dissatisfaction with the present world, there are other songs that relate his definite experiences of joy arising from a feeling of triumph over this world of sorrow by assurances of a future world of bliss. Some of these songs of joy are the following:

"I started home, but I did pray,
An' I met ole Satan on de way;
Ole Satan made a one grab at me,
But he missed my soul, an' I went free.
My sins went a-lumberin' down to hell,
An' my soul went a-leapin' up Zion's hill."[68]

"Ole Satan's church is here below.
Up to God's free church I hope to go.
Cry Amen, cry Amen, cry Amen to God!"[69]

"I'm so glad, so glad;
I'm so glad, so glad,
Glad I got religion, so glad,
Glad I got religion, so glad.
I'm so glad, so glad;
I'm so glad, so glad,
Glad I bin' changed, so glad,
Glad I bin' changed, so glad."[70]

"My brudder have a seat and I so glad,
Good news member, good news;
My brudder have a seat and I so glad,
And I heard from heav'n today."[71]

"Brudder, guide me home, an' I am glad,
Bright angels biddy me to come;
Brudder, guide me home, an' I am glad,
Bright angels biddy me to come.
What a happy time, chil'n,
What a happy time, chil'n,
What a happy time, chil'n,
Bright angels biddy me to come.
Let's go to God, chil'n,
Bright angels biddy me to come."[72]

"I jus' got home f'um Jordan,
I jus' got home f'um Jordan,
I jus' got home f'um Jordan,
'Ligion's so-o-o sweet.
My work is done an' I mus' go,
My work is done an' I mus' go,
My work is done an' I mus' go,
'Ligion's so-o-o sweet."[73]

"Shout an' pray both night an' day;
How can you die, you in de Lord?
Come on, chil'n, let's go home;
O I'm so glad you're in de Lord."[74]

"Little children, then won't you be glad,
Little children, then won't you be glad,
That you have been to heav'n, an' you gwine to go again,
For to try on the long white robe, children,
For to try on the long white robe."[75]

Even a slave, when dying, cried: "I am going home! Oh, how glad I am!"[76] The following hymns also vividly set forth what happy anxiety the slave felt about his journey "home."

"Gwine to weep, gwine to mourn,
Gwine to get up early in de morn,
Fo' my soul's goin' to heaven jes' sho's you born,
Brother Gabriel goin' ter blow his horn.
Goin' to sing, goin' to pray,
Goin' to pack all my things away,
Fo' my soul's goin' to heaven jes' sho's you born,
Brother Gabriel gwine ter blow his horn."[77]

"I want to go to Canaan,
I want to go to Canaan,
I want to go to Canaan,
To meet 'em at de comin' day."[78]

"I'm goin' home fer to see my Lord,
Bear yo' burden, sinner,
An' don't you wish you could go 'long
Bear yo' burden, let in the heat."[79]

"Oh, my mudder's in de road,
Most done trabelling;
My mudder's in de road,
Most done trabelling,
My mudder's in de road,
Most done trabelling,
I'm bound to carry my soul to de Lord."[80]

"Run, Mary, run,
Run, Mary, run,
Oh, run, Mary, run,
I know de oder worl' 'm not like dis.
Fire in de east an' fire in de west,
I know de oder worl' 'm not like dis,
Bound to burn de wilderness,
I know de oder worl' 'm not like dis.
Jordan's ribber is a ribber to cross,
I know de oder worl' 'm not like dis,
Stretch your rod an' come across,
I know de oder worl' 'm not like dis."[81]

"We will march through the valley in peace,
We will march through the valley in peace;
If Jesus himself be our leader,
We will march through the valley in peace."[82]

"My sister's goin' to heaven fer to see my Lord,
To see my Lord, to see my Lord;
Well, my sister's goin' to heaven, to see my Lord,
What's de onbelievin' soul?"[83]

"Bend-in' knees a-ach-in'
Body racked wid pain,
I wish I was a child of God,
I'd git home bim-by.
Keep prayin; I do believe
We're a long time waggin o' de crossin,
Keep prayin; I do believe
We'll git home to heaven bim-by.
O yonder's my old mudder,
Been a-waggin' at the hill so long;
It's about time she cross over,
Git home bim-by.
O hear dat lumerin' thunder
A-roll from do' to do',
A-callin' de people home to God;
Dey'll git home bim-by."[84]

"When the roll is called up yonder,
I'll be there.
By the grace of God up yonder,
I'll be there.
Yes my home is way up yonder,
An' I'll be there.
I got a mother way up yonder,
I'll be there.
I got a sister way up yonder,
I'll be there."[85]

Although this world was a hell to the slave, still he could wait here with patience until the time of death, after which he would see the real home of his inner longing. To the slave heaven was a beautiful, comfortable place beyond the sky. It had golden streets and a sea of glass, upon which angels danced and sang in praise to Him upon the golden throne. There was no sun to burn one in that bright land of never-ending Sabbath. There kindred and friends reunited in the happiest relationships. The slave was poor, hampered, and sorrowful in this world; but in that world above, whose glory falling stars and melting elements would signify in the day of judgment, he would be rich and free to sing, shout, walk, and fly about carrying the news. There he would know no tears or the sorrow of parting, but only rest from toil and care, in the delightful companionship of the heavenly groups.