![]() ![]() Several white missionary churches made a deal with the devil: We will save their souls and preach obedience to their masters.īut the Black toe was in the door. Slaveowners reacted very cautiously to the introduction of Christianizing slaves, and were dead-set against slave literacy. Their masters lived in terror of their subjects rising against them. Gates’ research makes clear the competing duality of the slave state in America. ![]() So not a stretch at all for many Africans to recognize the Christian tradition. In fact, many were converts to Catholicism, Islam, even Jansenism, along with their native religious systems and liturgies, the result of a century of work by missionaries before the slave trade began. For example, Africans were regarded as godless savages being brought to America. The development of the Black church in America, like so much of what we are learning about the nation’s history, requires knowledge and understanding. ![]()
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