African American Religious Traditions

Abstract

As the Civil War period came to an end, although the three African American religious themes or core concepts of "survival, preservation, and liberation" were still present in the emerging Black American church movement and the Black American religious experience, "preservation and liberation" dominated the next few centuries. Additionally, in a world where White Americans had so completely directed the daily lives and experiences of Black Americans, the church, along with family, had become the primary institution and safe-haven for most Black Americans. With more vigor and purpose, once the Civil War ended, Black Americans began to organize themselves as well as their own churches and communities. Such activities, especially the construction of numerous Black American churches and religious denominations, provided Black Americans with a spiritual shield to deal with the developing racism and Jim Crow atmosphere of the United States. This religious movement and its associated institutions also provided centers for social activities and helped to train a cadre of Black American activists and political leaders in subsequent decades. Black ministers also rapidly became the most influential people in the Black American community. This chapter discusses many of these topics and themes.