Preface to the Second Edition ix
Introduction 1
I. From Africa Through Early America
1. Traditional Ibo Religion and Culture / Olaudah Equiano 13
2. African Religions in Colonial Jamaica / Bryan Edwards 20
3. Slave Conversion on the Carolina Frontier / Francis Le Jau
25
4. "Address to the Negroes in the State of New York" / Jupiter
Hammon 34
5. Letters from Pioneer Black Baptists / George Liele and Andrew
Bryan 44
6. A Black Puritan's Farewell / Lemuel Haynes 52
II. Slave Religions in the Antebellum South
7. Plantation Churches: Visible and Invisible / Peter Randolph
63
8. "Proud of the 'Ole Time' Religion" / Sister Kelly 69
9. Conjuration and Witchcraft / Henry Bibb 76
10. "Great Moral Dilemma" / James W.C. Pennington 81
11. Religion and Slave Insurrection / Nat Turner 89
12. Slaveholding Religion and the Christianity of Christ /
Frederick Douglass 102
13. Slave Songs and Spirituals / Thomas Wentworth Higginson 112
III. Black Churches North of Slavery and the Freedom Struggle
14. "Life Experience and Gospel Labors" / Richard Allen 139
15. Rise of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church /
Christopher Rush 155
16. A Female Preacher among the African Methodists / Jarena Lee
164
17. African Baptists Celebrate Emancipation in New York State /
Nathaniel Paul 185
18. "Our Wretchedness in Consequence of the Preachers of Religion"
/ David Walker 193
19. "Mrs. Stewart's Farewell Address to Her Friends in the City of
Boston" / Maria Stewart 202
20. "To the Citizens of New York" / Peter Williams 211
21. Black Churches in New York City, 1840 / Charles B. Ray 218
22. Protesting the "Negro Pew" / Jeremiah Asher 224
23. "I Will Not Live a Slave" / Jermain W. Loguen 228
24. "Welcome to the Ransomed" / Daniel Alexander Payne 232
IV. Freedom's Time of Trial: 1865-World War I
25. From Slave to Preacher among the Freedmen / Isaac lane 245
26. "The Colored Methodist Episcopal Church" / Lucius H. Holsey
252
27. Black Religion in the Post-Reconstruction South / William Wells
Brown 256
28. "Education in the A.M.E. Church" / Daniel Alexander Payne
261
29. The Travail of a Female Colored Evangelist / Amanda Smith
270
30. "The Regeneration of Africa" / Alexander Crummell 282
31. Emigration to Africa / Henry McNeal Turner 289
32. The First African American Catholic Congress, 1889 / African
American Catholics 296
33. 1899 Presidential Address to the National Baptist Convention /
Elias C. Morris 301
34. Bishop C.H. Mason, Church of God in Christ / Elsie W. Mason
314
35. "Of the Faith of the Fathers" / W.E.B. Dubois 325
36. "The Race Problem in a Christian State, 1906" / Reverdy C.
Ransom 337
37. "What Induced Me to Build a School in the Rural District" /
Rosa Young 347
V. From the Great Migration to World war II
38. Address on the Great Migration / African Methodist Episcopal
Council of Bishops 359
39. "Dear Mary" and "My dear Sister" / Letters on the Second Exodus
364
40. Social Work at Olivet Baptist Church / S. Mattie Fisher and
Mrs. Jessie Mapp 368
41. Effects of Urbanization on Religious Life / Lacy Kirk Williams
372
42. Report of the Work of Baptist Women / Nannie H. Burroughs
376
43. Address to the Suehn Industrial Mission, Liberia / Jasper C.
Caston 403
A Letter from the "Foreign Field" / Lula E. Cooper 410
44. "Things of the Spirit" / Carter G. Woodson 415
45. "The Genius of the Negro Church" / Benjamin E. Mays and Joseph
W. Nicholson 423
46. "The Churches of Bronzeville" / St. Clair Drake and Horace R.
Clayton 435
VI. Twentieth-Century Religious Alternatives
47. Garvey Tells His Own Story / Marcus Garvey 453
48. "Organized Religion and the Cults" / Miles Mark Fischer 464
49. Black Judaism in Harlem / Rabbi Matthew 473
50. "The Realness of God, to you-wards..." / Father Divine 478
51. Elder Lucy Smith / Herbert Morrisohn Smith 487
52. "Self-Government in the New World" / Wallace D. Muhammad
499
VII. CIvil Rights, Black Theology, and Beyond
53. "National Baptist Philosophy of Civil Rights" / Joseph H.
Jackson 511
54. "Letter from Birmingham Jail--April 16, 1963" / Martin Luther
King, Jr. 519
55. Singing of Good Tidings and Freedom /Mahalia Jackson 536
56. "The Anatomy of Segregation and Ground of Hope" / Howard
Thurman 548
57. "Black Power" Statement, July 31, 1966, and "Black Theology"
Statement, June 13, 1969 555
58. "Black Theology and the Black Church: Where Do We Go From
Here?" / James H. Cone 567
59. "The Black Churches: A New Agenda" / Lawrence N. Jones 580
Index 589
An expanded, second edition including new sources on women, African missions, and the Great Migration
Milton C. Sernett is Professor of African-American studies at Syracuse University. He is the author of several books, including Bound for the Promised Land, also published by Duke University Press.
From reviews of the first edition: "Anyone interested in America's religious past, and, specifically the black religious experience will be rewarded by reading and urging others to read this fine 'anthology.'" - Robert Michael Franklin, Journal of the American Academy of Religion "Sernett deserves the highest marks for this collection."-Stephen J. Stein, Religious Studies Review " . . this book will long stand as a major and valuable tool for the study of Afro-American religious history." - Sandy D. Martin, The Black Scholar
Ask a Question About this Product More... |