Black Church History

Abstract

Black church history is rich in content as blacks witnessed lives full of suffering because of slavery and then as free souls with remnants of their past. Initially, they got Christian services according to their masters' wills. They did not have their own rights to exercise their religious obligations. However, after the civil war, they got freedom and established their evangelical congregations. Initially, black churches were administered by whites, but afterwards, blacks got the right of ad ministering their own churches. This paper analyzes the history of the black church in terms of its establishment as a set of free institutions practicing black religion that is an amalgamation of African culture and Christian evangelism.

Black Church History

Introduction

Historical descriptions of all happenings and occurrences are informative and knowledge giving as people can seek guidance from them. Black church history is quite rich in terms of its formation, description and currently existing form. Historians trace back to the end of the sixteenth century for highlighting the existence of Black churches. Before Civil War, black population was restricted in terms of its religious duties. The churches existent at that time were part of standardized denominations and stood as congregations administered and governed by whites entertaining the black slave community (Lincoln & Mamiya, 1990). The churches named as Zion Church and African Methodist Episcopal Church, are well reputed to be formed in 1801 and 1821 consecutively as earlier church black buildings. These churches were built in the North as blacks were restricted to form any gathering spots in the South. Blacks were not allowed to exercise even their religious rights freely. Southern states were slave states as White population held blacks captive as slaves (Pinn & Pinn, 2002). The black church journeyed rationally from acceptance of blacks as slaves to acceptance of blacks as free individuals having equal rights as of White people. This paper analyzes the history of the black church in terms of its establishment as a set of free institutions practicing black religion that is an amalgamation of African culture and Christian evangelism. This paper also analyzes the historical transformation of the black church.

Blacks who entered America came as slaves, and they did not arrive at their will but were sold in slavery. They spent their time as slaves before the civil war, but after the civil war, there was a general acceptance that blacks have their rights as other human beings. Still, they had to fight for their rights, but perception about blacks as slaves took a lot of time to be changed (Lincoln & Mamiya, 1990). After gaining freedom, the real form of the black church came to the forefront because they were able to perform their religious duties and fulfill the obligations accordingly like whites. The faith that they developed was an amalgamation of African conventions that they brought with them and Christian evangelism that they gained after being in America (Andrew, 2002). However, their black churches are still branches of white churches formed as standard institutions of ...