The religious revivals known as the Great Awakening and the Second Great Awakening swept through both the North and South periodically from the 1740s through the 1840s. These movements had a profound impact on American society, particularly on enslaved African Americans.
Cane Ridge Revival, an example of the large gatherings during the Second Great Awakening.
Religious Transformation and African American Conversion
Africans brought to America initially resisted giving up the religions of their forefathers, but over the years, and with the birth of new generations on American soil, accepting Christianity became part of accepting America as home. As a result of the revival movements, many Americans abandoned the hierarchical religion of their ancestors for a more egalitarian God who offered more immediate salvation. The Methodists and the Baptists, in particular, welcomed converts from the black and white working population. African Americans played a major role in their own conversion, and for their own reasons.
One key factor in the success of slave revival was the highly emotive nature of Evangelical Protestantism. Loud outbursts of joy and other sentiments were commonly heard as an evangelical preacher gave his sermon. This made the faith more appealing to slaves because it fit much better with their African cultural heritage which included similar aspects of emotional expression during religious ceremonies. Also, Frey and Wood observed that “no rigid format shaped revival services…and that this open format allowed for innovation and highly participatory forms of worship”. This meant that slaves could take part in these revival services in traditional forms of African dance and song.
The revival’s emphasis on personal religious experience resonated with many blacks and even resembled African religions. Faith gave hope to slaves, some of whom found spiritual liberation even while in slavery.
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The Rise of Black Churches and Leadership
The first generation of African American leaders -- ministers -- arose from the revival movement. The first continuing black church was Silver Bluff Church in Aiken County, South Carolina, where African-American preacher David George established a congregation in 1773 or 1774. George Liele and his proteges, Andrew Bryan and David George, built the first black Baptist churches in Georgia and South Carolina during the height of the Revolution. The black Baptist movement thrived in British-occupied Savannah and Charleston. After the war, the geographical reach of their combined ministries was remarkable.
By 1790 George Liele had emigrated to Jamaica with the Loyalists, and he preached regularly to 350 converts. David George established seven churches in Nova Scotia before leaving for Sierra Leone, West Africa, where he founded another Baptist church. Although these early leaders were black men, women were the majority of the membership of early black congregations, and they frequently took the lead in conversion.
Phillis Wheatley by Scipio Moorhead, an enslaved African-American artist, c1773.
Spiritual Resistance and the Power of Faith
For bondsmen who professed their faith, the role of Christianity in their lives went far beyond information they spread against the will of their masters or a tool to help them organize their communities. It also interacted with them on a deeply personal level. One of the main tenets of Evangelical Protestantism spoke of striving to cultivate a meaningful relationship with God in a person’s daily life. This was a powerful revelation for slaves of the faith because to them it meant their heavenly, transcendent Lord and Savior was with them in the midst of the toil and cruelty that characterized their existence. He was their confidant with whom they could share the torrent of emotions in their lives.
One of the most striking ways that some enslaved Christians sought to deepen their faith was their pursuit of reading skills in an effort to better access and understand Scripture, the Bible. Slaves always knew that uninhibited access to the Bible would allow them to read what they - and Christians through the ages - saw as God’s Word without the dishonest, power-seeking influence of their oppressors. Teaching a slave to read or write was something that was explicitly outlawed in the antebellum South, so slaves took on tremendous risk when they decided to pursue these religious-oriented literary ends.
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One of the main ways Christian slaves spread information about the Bible was through slave spirituals. These were songs that blended the traditions of their African cultural heritage with the hymns that they sang in churches. The content of these songs strove to put the ideas of the Christian faith in terms of their own experiences in bondage. Slave preachers were another important factor in the spread of Christianity among slaves and the nurture of their faiths after conversion.
African American Music: From Spirituals to Jazz and the Blues
For Christian slaves, encounters such as these powerfully embodied Biblical assurances that Christians had used for centuries, like the one found in the Old Testament prayer book, Psalms, that says “You [God] are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word” (Psalm 119:114). The notion and the experience of sharing such a significant connection with the God of the universe meant that Christian slaves were also able to find affirmation in another facet of their identity that their captors sought to destroy - their self-worth.
The Second Great Awakening and Social Reform
The Second Great Awakening is credited with strengthening the temperance movement to reduce the consumption of alcohol and the abolition movement to ban slavery. Charles Finney, a model for the Second Great Awakening preacher, was opposed to slavery. The Second Great Awakening also saw more African Americans convert to Christianity, as some slaveowners even saw it as their “moral duty” to teach enslaved people about the Bible.
Many revivalists opposed slavery on the grounds that the Bible preached equality and mercy, while conservatives argued that Bible justified slavery by pointing to various individual passages that seemed to condone the practice. Churchgoers in the North formed the majority of abolitionists during the Second Great Awakening era, motivated by religious teachings about equality. Although the religious pursuit of abolition of slavery did not secure any legal victories, it helped establish the foundation for political campaigns against slavery.
The deep entrenchment of slavery in the South led to the division of religious sects during the 1830s and 1840s. In 1845, the Southern Baptist denomination was created, splitting over the issue of slavery. Similar splits occurred among both Methodists and Presbyterians. Splits over slavery largely dissolved the unified movement of revivalism that had intensified religiosity in America during the previous decade.
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Here is a summary of the key impacts of the Second Great Awakening:
| Impact Area | Description |
|---|---|
| Religious Participation | Increased participation in religious communities, especially among free Black populations. |
| Leadership Development | Encouraged Black church leadership, allowing free Black communities to establish their own institutions. |
| Social Justice | Inspired many African Americans to engage actively in social justice causes. |
| Abolitionist Movement | Contributed to the abolitionist movement by instilling a sense of moral duty among activists. |
| Social Reform | Spurred other social reform efforts, including temperance and women's rights. |
Conclusion
The Second Great Awakening had a transformative impact on enslaved African Americans. It fostered spiritual resistance, facilitated the rise of Black churches and leaders, and contributed to the momentum of the abolitionist movement. Despite the challenges and divisions it created, the revival left an indelible mark on American history and the struggle for equality.
