The Religion of the American Negro Slave: His
Attitude Toward Life and Death:
Electronic Edition.
Wilson, G. R. (Gold Refined)
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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
1 This dissertation was
submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Literature of the
University of Chicago in candidacy for the degree of Bachelor of Divinity,
March, 1921, by Gold Refined Wilson. 2 Working toward this end, I
have examined a vast amount of material on slavery, much of which is
controversial, having been written by men who favored slaves, or by
abolitionists and slaves who were able to see only one side of the question
discussed. Such literature, being biased, so distorts the truth that it is
extremely difficult to discover what is social fact. As sources, however, I have
used books and magazine-articles, written from a more scientific point of view.
There are a few representative ones. Kingsley's West African Studies,
which, although expressing the attitude of the author, gives us a comprehensive
picture of what the life in Africa is. Washington, in the Story of the
Negro, in a simple, sincere manner, sets forth the struggles of the Negro in
his contact with a higher civilization. Woodson's Education of the Negro
prior to 1861 shows to what extent effort was made by the whites to bring
the slaves into contact with the white civilization. The Religious
Development of the Negro in Virginia, by Earnest, shows how the church of
the Negro slave, beginning in the church of the whites, grew to be an
independent organization. Fragmentary evidence in the histories of the religious
denominations shows the same progressive development. A few of the stories of
fugitive slaves, though written for other purposes, still speak very clearly of
how dependent the slave was upon his cultural surroundings for his religious
ideas. The stories of the lives of Nat Turner, the Virginia slave
insurrectionist, and of Harriet, the Moses of Her People, are filled with
apocalyptic imagery. Concerning the phenomena of cultural contacts, the most
scholarly piece of work yet produced is that by Prof. Park, which shows the
tendency of one civilization to accommodate itself to another, by assimilation
of concepts, expressed in language and custom. For a study of the religion of
the slave, however, the best of all the sources is that spontaneous, naive body
of literature consisting of the slave-songs, sometimes called "spirituals,"
which were sung by individuals upon various occasions, and by shouting groups of
religious enthusiasts. Krehbiel, who set many of these primitive verses to
printed scales, made of them a psychological interpretation that has given the
slave-mood. Colonel T. W. Higginson, the commander of a "black regiment" in
South Carolina, during the Civil War, an eyewitness of many of the slave
religious meetings, gives the circumstances under which a number of the
"spirituals" arose. But Odum, in Volume III of the Journal of Religious
Psychology and Education, makes of all the classes of slave-songs a
psychological interpretation that is unsurpassed. The value of these collections
is the common longing found therein, a burning enthusiasm to live in
heaven.
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. 2
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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
3 In the preparation of this
dissertation the following works were used: R. H. Nassau, Fetichism in West
Africa, 1904; Mary H. Kingsley, West African Studies (London, 1901);
J. B. Earnest, The Religious Development of the Negro in Virginia
(Charlottesville, Va., 1914); H. M. Henry, Slavery in South Carolina
(Emory, Va., 1914); Ivan E. McDougle, Slavery in Kentucky, 1792-1865
(Reprinted from THE JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY, Vol. III, No. 3, July, 1918); H.
A. Trexler, Slavery in Missouri, 1804-1865, Being a Dissertation in Johns
Hopkins University Studies (Baltimore, 1914); J. C. Ballagh, Slavery in
Virginia, Johns Hopkins University Studies, vol. XXIX, 1902 (Baltimore); J.
H. Russell, Free Negro in Virginia, 1619-1865, Johns Hopkins University
Studies, Series 31, No. 3 (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1913);
J. R. Brackett, Negro in Maryland (Baltimore, 1889); G. H. Moore,
Slavery in Massachusetts (New York, 1866); R. Q. Mallard, Plantation
Life before Emancipation (Richmond, Virginia, 1892); Frances Anne Kemble,
Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-9 (New York,
1863); C. G. Woodson, The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861 (New York,
1915); The Journal of Negro History, edited by C. G. Woodson, vols. I-IV,
1916-1919 (The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Inc.,
Washington, D. C.); Alcee Fortier,History of Louisiana, 4 vols. (New
York, 1904); Code Noir, I (Published 1724); M. W. Jernegan, Slavery and
Conversion in the American Colonies (Reprinted from The American
Historical Review, vol. XXI, No. 3, April, 1916); G. M. West, Status of
the Negro in Virginia during the Colonial Period (New York); L. A.
Chamerorzow, Slave Life in Georgia; Narrative of John Brown (London,
1865); B. T. Washington, Story of the Negro, 2 vols. (New York, 1909);
Baptist Annual Register; A. N. Waterman, A Century of Caste
(Chicago, 1901); Geo. Thompson, Prison Life and Reflections, 3d Edition
(Hartford, 1849); Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Boston,
1861); Sarah H. Bradford, Harriet, The Moses of Her People (New York,
1861); Thos. W. Higginson, Life of a Black Regiment (Boston, 1870); Jas.
B. Avirett, The Old Plantation, Great House and Cabin before the War,
1817-65 (New York, Chicago, London, 1901); Jno. S. Abbott, South and
North (New York, 1860). Lucius P. Little, Ben Harding, His Times and
Contemporaries (Louisville, 1867); De Bow's Commercial Review (New
Orleans, 1847); Life of Josiah Henson (Boston, 1849); Baptist Home
Missions in America (New York, 1883); Presbyterian Magazine, I
(Philadelphia, 1851); Methodist Magazine, X (New York, 1827); W. L.
Grissom, History of Methodism in North Carolina, 1772-1805, vol. I;
Sermons by John Wesley, 3d Edition, vols. I-Il (New York); B. F. Riley,
History of Baptists in Southern States East of Mississippi (Philadelphia,
1888); John Rankin, 1793-1886, Letters on Slavery (Boston, 1833); W. G.
Hawkins, Lunsford Lane (Boston, 1863); Frederick Douglass, My Bondage
and Freedom (New York, 1857); K. E. R. Pickard, The Kidnapped and the
Ransomed, Recollections of Peter Still and His Wife Vina, 3d Ed. (Syracuse,
1865); Fifty Years in Chains, Life of an American Slave (New York); H. E.
Krehbiel, Afro-American Folk-Songs, R. E. Park, Education, Conflicts,
and Fusions, American Sociological Society, vol. XIII (Sept. 3, 1918);
Journal of American Folk-Lore, vol. XIV (1901), pp. 1-11, vol. XXVII
(1914), pp. 241-5, vol. XXIII, p. 435, vol. XXIV, p. 255; Songs by Thos. P.
Fennes; W. F. Allen, Slave Songs of the United States (New York,
1867); Twenty-two Years Work of Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute
(Hampton, 1893); T. P. Fenner, Hampton and its Students by Two of its
Teachers, with 50 Cabin and Plantation Songs (New York, 1875); American
Journal of Religious Psychology and Education, vol. III, pp. 265-365;
Negro Year-Book; E. W. Pearson, Letters from Port Royal (1916); C.
H. Jones, Instruction of Negro Slave (1842).
On the other
hand, I have considered the disintegrating
Page 43
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
4 Tylor's
Anthropology.
(e) the use of charms, which are not
worshipped,
Page 44
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
5 Earnest, p.
28.
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,
Page 45
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
6 Fifty Years in
Chains, p. 14.
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
7 Jernegan, pp.
506-7.
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
Page 46
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
8 Education, Conflicts,
and Fusion, p. 47.
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
9 Washington, Story of the
Negro, pp. 260-261.
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
10 Earnest, p.
19.
slaves experienced Christianity through the conscious help of
some masters, and later,
Page 47
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
11 Woodson, Education of
Negro Prior to 1861, p. 23.
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
12 Earnest, p.
60.
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. 13 Woodson, Education of
Negro Prior to 1861, p. 21.
Page 48
. . . 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
14 Woodson, Education of
Negro Prior to 1861, p. 26.
"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
15 Ibid., p.
29.
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
Page 49
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
16 Earnest, Religious
Development, p. 17. 17 Ibid., p.
45. 18 Ibid., p.
66. 19 Ballagh, p.
114. 20 In 1841, there were
500,000 slaves who were church members, or 1/5 of total number of slaves.
2,000,000 were regular attendants. J. C. Ballagh, p. 114.
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
21 Story of the Negro,
p. 257.
Let us now consider the effects of these early religious contacts upon the life of slave-preachers, some of whom
Page 50
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
22 Story of the Negro,
p. 268; Quoted from Ballagh.
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
23 Washington, Story of
Negro, p. 266. 24 Quite different from the
early experiences of Bryan and Samson, who made adversity serve them, the
beginning of Jasper's Christian career was greatly aided by his master, a man
with a similar conversion and a similar faith in Christ. Using the Bible as the
norma of all truth, in his attack upon current scientific knowledge, Jasper
impressed all men by his sincere conviction and devout Christian life. A
contemporary said of him: "Jasper made an impression upon his generation,
because he was sincerely and deeply in earnest in all that he said. No man could
talk with him in private, or listen to him from the pulpit, without being
thoroughly convinced of that fact. . . . He took the Bible in its literal
significance; he accepted it as the inspired Word of God; he trusted it with all
his heart and soul and mind; he believed nothing that was in conflict with the
teachings of the Bible." - See Washington's Story of the Negro, p.
264.
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
Page 51
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
25 Washington, Story of
the Negro, pp. 260-1.
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
26 Ibid., pp.
254-5. 27 Ibid., pp.
255-6. 28 Earnest, p.
72. 29 Ben Harding, His Times
and Contemporaries, p. 544.
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
30 Earnest, p. 73.
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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
31 Jacobs, Life of a
Slave-Girl, p. 112. 32 Coffin, p.
60.
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' I hab no fear."
33
33 Higginson, p.
26.
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,
Page 53
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
34 Henson, Life of Josiah
Henson, p. 12.
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
35 Earnest, p.
42. 36 Plantation Life before
Emancipation, p. 164. 37 Life of John
Thompson, p. 19. See Methodists in N. C., p. 238.
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
Page 54
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
38 Earnest, Religious
Development, p. 54.
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
39 Life of Douglass,
p. 82.
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
40 Presbyterian
Magazine: 1831, p. 27; See vol. 6, pp. 8-9; Woodson, Education of Negro
Prior to 1861, p. 49; Sermons of Wesley and
Whitefield.
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
Page 55
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
41 Journal of Negro
History, vol. I, p. 70.
The slaves used to express it
thus in song: 42
42 Twenty-two Years Work
at Hampton.
"One day when I was walkin' along,
De element opened, an' do love came down,
I never shall forget dat day,
When Jesus washed my sins away."
They also sang such words as
these: 43
43 Journal of Religious
Psychology and Education, vol. 3, pp. 290-1.
"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
Page 56
with reference to the life led after having this experience, the slaves sang
with much feeling: 44
44 Higginson, Life of a
Black Regiment, p. 133.
"All true children gwine in do wilderness,
Gwine in de wilderness, gwine in de wilderness,
True believers gwine in de wilderness,
To take away de sins ob de world. "
45, Twenty-two Years at
Hampton.
"Stay in the field, stay in the field, stay in
the field, till de war is ended." 45
46 Hampton and its
Students, p. 182.
"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 47 Henry, p.
141.
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
Page 57
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
48 Life of Black
Regiment, by Higginson, pp. 51-2.
"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 rythmical barbaric dance the Negroes called a 'shout,'
chanting, often harshly, but always in the most perfect time, some monotonous
refrain." 49
49 Ibid., pp. 35,
198.
"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
50 My position is that the
shout was a natural and spontaneous creation of group-phenomena. It differed
from the whites' behavior in ceremonial emphasis. Neither the shout nor the
antiphonal song was brought from Africa. The real religious significance of
both, however, is not in external behavior, but in content.
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:
Page 58
51 Am. J. Rel. Psy. and
Ed., 3: 287.
"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
52 Story of the Negro,
p. 260.
" '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:
53 Fenner, Hampton and its
Students, p. 223.
"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
Page 59
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
54 Am. J. Rel. Psy. and
Ed., 3: 303.
"My mother's sick an' my father's dead,
Got nowhere to lay my weary head."
55 Ibid.,
340.
"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
56 Ibid., 3:
321.
"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:
57 Fenner, Hampton and its
Students, p. 190.
"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
58 Higginson, Black Regiment of South Carolina, 200-1.
Page 60
59 Am. J. Rel. Psy. and
Ed., 3: 351.
"My trouble is hard,
O yes,
My trouble is hard,
O yes,
Yes indeed my trouble is hard." 59
60 Krehbiel, p.
75.
"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
61 Am. J. Relig. Psy. and
Ed., 3: 304.
"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.
62 Ibid.,
320.
"Oh, what a hard time,
Oh, what a hard time,
Oh, what a hard time,
My Lord had a hard time too." 62
63 Allen,
30-1.
"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.
Page 61
64 Allen, Slave Songs,
113, p. 94.
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
65 Ibid., 112, p.
93.
"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
66 Am. J. Relig. Psy. and
Ed., 3: 304.
"Gwine rock trubbel over,
I b'lieve,
Rock trubbel over,
I b'lieve,
Dat Sabbath has no end." 66
67 Allen, Slave Songs,
124, p. 101.
"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.
Page 62
68 Am. J. Relig. Psy. and
Ed., 3: 288.
My sins went a-lumberin' down to hell,
An, my soul went a-leapin' up Zion's hill." 68
69 Jacobs, p.
109.
"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
70 Am. J. Relig. Psy. and
Ed., 3: 309.
"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
71 Allen, Slave Songs,
120, p. 98.
"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
72 Ibid., 107, p.
86.
"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
73 Am. J. Relig. Psy. and
Ed., 3: 365.
"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
74 Allen, Slave Songs,
80, p. 60.
"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
Page 63
75 Allen, Slave Songs,
108, p. 87.
"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
76 Plantation Life Before
Emancipation, p. 168.
The following hymns also vividly set
forth what happy anxiety the slave felt about his journey "home."
77 Am. J. Relig. Psy. and
Ed., 3: 331.
"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
78 Atlantic Monthly, 19:
687.
"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
79 Am. J. Relig. Psy. and
Ed., 3: 317.
"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
80 Fenner, Hampton and its
Students, p. 215.
"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,
Page 64
81 Fenner, Hampton and Its
Students, p. 188.
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
82 Allen, Slave Songs,
p. 73.
"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
83 Am. J. Relig. Psy. and
Ed., 3: 334.
"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
84 Krehbiel, p.
99.
"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
85 Am. J. Relig. Psy. and
Ed., 3: 362.
"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
Page 65
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.
86 Atlantic Monthly, XIX,
687.
"Dere's no rain to wet you,
O, yes, I want to go home.
Dere's no sun to burn you,
O, yes, I want to go home.
O, push along believers,
O, yes, I want to go home.
Dere's no hard trials,
O, yes, I want to go home.
Dere's no whips a crackin'
O, yes, I want to go home." 86
87 Fenner, Hampton and Its
Students, p. 219.
"Oh de hebben is shinin', shinin',
O Lord, de hebben is shinin' full ob love.
Oh, Fare-you-well, friends,
I'm gwine to tell you all,
Gwine to leave you all a-mine eyes to close;
De hebben is shinin' full ob love." 87
88 Am. J. Rel. Psy. and
Ed., 3: 279.
"How sweet a Sabbath thus to spend,
In hope of one that ne'er shall end." 88
89 Ibid.,
337.
"Yes my mother's goin' to heaven to outshin the sun,
An it's way beyon' the moon." 89
Page 66
90 Am. J. Rel. Psy. and
Ed., 336.
"Po' man goin' to heaven,
Rich man goin' to hell,
For Po' man got his starry crown,
Rich man got his wealth." 90
91 Ibid.,
328.
"Well there are sinners here and sinners there,
An' there are sinners everywhere,
But I thank God that God declare,
That there ain't no sinners in heaven." 91
92 Ibid.,
332.
O join on, join my Lord,
Join de heaven wid the angels;
O join on, join my Lord,
Join de heaven wid de angels." 92
93 Ibid.,
298.
"I'm gwin to keep a climbin' high
Till I meet dem angels in de sky.
Dem pooty angels I shall see--
Why doan de debbil let a me be?
O when I git to heaven goin sit an' tell,
Three archangels gwin er ring dem bells
Two white angels come a walkin' down,
Long white robes an' starry crown.
What's dat yonder, dat I see?
Big tall angels comin' after me." 93
The following spirituals emphasize what the slave felt that he would do in heaven.
94 Ibid.,
328.
"Heaven, heaven,
Everybody talkin' bout heaven an' goin' there
Heaven, heaven,
Goin' to shine all 'round God's heaven." 94
95 Life before
Emancipation, p. 163.
"Oh, I wish I was there,
To hear my Jesus' orders,
Oh, how I wish I was there, Lord,
To wear my starry crown." 95
"A golden band all 'round my waist,
An' de palms of victory in-a my hand,
An' de golden slippers on to my feet,
Gwine to walk up and down o' dem golden street.
Page 67
96 Hampton and its
Students, p. 187.
Oh, wait till I put on my robe.
An' a golden crown-a placed on-a my head,
An' my long white robe a-com a dazzlin' down,
Now wait till I get on my gospel shoes,
Gwine to walk about de heaven an' a-carry de news,
Oh, wait till I put on my robe." 96
97 Am. J. Relig. Psy. and
Ed., 3: 323.
"You can hinder me here but you can't hinder me dere
For de Lord in Heaven gwin' hear my prayer.
De evening's great but my Cap'n is strong,
U'm fightin' fer de city an' de time ain't long." 97
98 Ibid.,
337.
"Well, my mother's goin' to heaven,
She's goin' to outshine the sun, O Lord,
Well, my mother's goin' to heaven,
She's going to outshine the sun, O Lord,
Yes, my mother's goin' to heaven to outshine the sun,
An' its way beyon' the moon.
The crown that my Jesus give me,
Goin' outshine the sun,
You got a home in the promise lan',
Goin' outshine the sun,
Goin' to put on my crown in glory,
An' outshine the sun, O Lord.
'Way beyon' de Moon." 98
99 Ibid.,
299.
"Gwine hab happy meetin',
Gwine shout in hebben,
Gwine shout an' nebber tire,
O slap yo' han's chilluns,
I feels do spirit movin',
O now I'm gittin' happy." 99
"Gwine to march a-way in de gold band,
In de army bye-and-bye;
Gwine to march a-way in de gold band,
In de army by-and-bye.
Sinner, what you gwine to do dat day?