Is The Impact Of Evangelical Christianity On African American Culture

Allen Dwight Callahan’s The Talking Book: African Americans and the Bible connects biblical stories and images to the politics, music and, religion, the book shows how important the Bible is to black culture. African Americans first came to know the Bible because of slavery and at that time the religious groups would read it to them instead of teaching them by letting them encounter it for themselves. Later the Bibles stories became the source of spirituals and songs, and after the Civil War motivation for learning to read. Allen Callahan traces the Bible culture that developed during and following enslavement. He identifies the most important biblical images for African Americans, Exile, Exodus, Ethiopia, and Emmanuel and discusses their recurrence and the relationship they have with African Americans and African American culture.

Many slave owners were against the belief of religious expression because they believed it was the source of disciplinary problems that would lead to fights, low efficiency, and insubordination. Slave owners such as Zephaniah Kingsley and Judge Wilkerson believed that religion would threaten slave control and as a result slaves would become more difficult to handle. Kingsley and Wilkerson assigned white ministers to preach to the slaves and the ministers suggested the beliefs that the slave owners were “Gods” and the slaves were obligated to respect and serve them. Blacks were not satisfied with their owner’s and many held secret meetings when they believed their owner or overseer weren’t looking. Those who were caught suffered consequences of physical abuse or murder.

The answer is to keep them controlled and confounded. Europeans stripped Africans of their conventions beginning with their name, this in some degree made Africans like clear canvases prepared to be painted once more. Christianity gave slaves trust that one day their circumstance will change on the off chance that they supplicated sufficiently hard and comply with Christ words. It likewise gave them a shiny new vision of what God ought to resemble. White is great, Black is terrible.

Within the Antebellum Era in the south, Slave Religion written by Albert Raboteau, depicts the control and oversight on Christianity that white plantation masters have over their slaves who chose to practice the faith ruled by them. The novel shares the struggles slaves had while practicing Christianity and worshiping God around powerful white figures who forced the one sided teachings of scriptures as a way to keep their slaves working hard in the fields. An assortment of first and second-hand accounts combine within the novel, showing various elements of oppressed slaves struggling to practice religion under their masters control. Throughout the novel Slave Religion, there is a depiction of how African Slaves transformed their religion with

Christianity was observed in the narrative of Fredrick Douglass. Christianity was used to emphasize the spiritual beliefs of slavery. Douglass expressed the physical pain, that was caused by the hands of his master. He reflects on a time when his master whipped a young woman, but once the master finished he justified his abuse with a passage from the bible. In the words of Douglass: “I have seen him tie up a young woman whip her and then quote this passage; He that knoweth his master will, doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes” (see item 7 on p. 970).

Around the time of Fredrick Douglass, there was people claiming to be Christians used the bible and their religion to justify their injustice actions against humanity. Some Slaveholders mostly abused the religion for their own means. The majority of slaveholders use their religion as a reason for abusing their slaves. These slaveholders acted as if they were God. Slavery has a long and very ancient history, but it is the Christian slaveholders who are considered to be the worst slaveholders in history.

This encouraged the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. All of this was stirred up by the faith and love towards God. Religion and scripture created a bond of hope between these individuals. These slaves have come from nothing, no money, no power, and no family. Leaning on their faith and beliefs and then causing this rebellion and civil action to occur is more powerful than having any amount of money or power.

Their communities began to have churches while slavery was going on. Their churches continued to pray and sing the same way, with soul that could be traced their ancestors who were chained and forced into labor by horrid men who beat them every chance given. Due to the absolute depression their lives were because of the gruesome life they led they turned to their Almighty God for help and hope in the darkest moments. Within these churches great leaders were born and raised who would fight even to their deaths until their people held the same rights as those given to the whites, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. being one of them. Churches during the Civil Rights Movement had so much to do with the how everything played out as the “spirit” of the church kept them going, at this point it was not even about religion, it was the hope that held so many hearts captive and faithful that one day things would change and equality would be shouted off of every rooftop and mountain side in the nation.

The abolition movement in Britain, spurred the spread of Christianity to the slaves. The role of the Anglian Church as well as the church of the planter class was ineffective. The most influential was the Baptist followed by the Moravians and Methodist.23 However, at the start of colonial slavery, converting the slaves to Christianity was not considered a good idea. There were differences in the opinions of the Plantocracy as to whether or not the slave population should be Christianized.2 While some Planters felt that this would reinforce obedience, others feared the possibilities of a Christian slave as they thought that if their slaves were Christianized they would demand their rights as human

Throughout his narrative, Douglass’s descriptions of the white slaveholders expose the Christian hypocrisy found in the American slave system. Douglass first does so by exposing how the lesson taught by Christians to help those in need is contradicted by the experiences Douglass has especially with hunger. Douglass reflects on these experiences when he states that for the “first time during a space of more than seven years” feeling the effects of the “painful gnawing’s of hunger…” (54). This event shows the Christians’ lessons of selflessness and kindness is hypocritical as they treat their fellow humans as subhuman. The Christians at the time rely on scripture to make a case for slavery in America.

Africans who were already enslaved saw conversion to Christianity as a road to freedom, and many others who were not already enslaved believed conversion would protect them from becoming

During the time when Douglass wrote this book, there were several myths which were used to justify slavery. The slaveholder during his time justified this inhuman practice using different arguments. The first argument they used was the religion. From the narrative, Douglass says that slaveholders called themselves Christians which was the dominant religion by then.

The film Twelve Years an enslaved person taught not only me but a handful of classmates of mine the true behind-the-scenes of what slavery looked like and how fast the life of a free man can change at the snap of a finger through the eyes of Solomon Northup. As I watched the film, I noticed connections between the American Pagent textbook and what I was watching right in front of me. We learn of the hierarchy and complete control that plantation owners had over enslaved people and even those of their skin color. Religion to the enslaved people was their mental escape from the cruel reality each had to live in. Still, it was also something plantation owners forced on them, as Christianity was seen as the key to eliminating evil or negative energy.

In many accounts of slavery, the slaveholders would sing hymns from the Bible to the slaves. The article Christianity as a Justification for Slavery stated, “Slaveholders believed that slavery would liberate Africans from their savage-like ways, especially if they were infused with Christianity.” Those with this theory believed that African-Americans could be conditioned to lead a virtuous life. Human Slavery stated, “American slave owners, almost all of whom were Christians, felt that they were carrying out God 's plan by buying and using

Slavery was an impenetrable barrier, but God can break through anything that split people. And God tells us, as those dedicated to Christ, to love all kinds of people. Christians love, and fellowship must overcome all