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Religion for Slaves: Difficulties and Methods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Haven P. Perkins
Affiliation:
Woodstock, Illinois

Extract

I confine myself largely to the period between 1830 and 1850 and to the movement for additional religious instruction of slaves which flourished during those years, though it did not end in 1850. The sources on which the analysis is based represent conditions in South Carolina and Georgia, with a moderate sampling of Alabama and Mississippi, and not a great deal for the border states.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1941

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References

1 See the excellent article by Jackson, Luther J., “Religious Development of the Negro in Virginia from 1760 to 1860,” Journal of Negro History, XVI (04, 1931), 168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2 Columbian Star and Christian Index, V (12 24, 1831), 410.Google Scholar

3 Southern Presbyterian Review, VIII (10, 1854), 270.Google Scholar

4 Resolution of a Georgia presbytery, quoted in Jones, Charles C., Suggestions on the Religious Instruction of the Negroes (Philadelphia, n. d.), 112Google Scholar. Jones was the outstanding missionary to the slaves and also the spokesman for the movement. His books give a complete picture of its theory and practice, with a good deal of its history, and also survey with acumen and honesty the state of slave religion.

5 McTyeire, H. N. et al. , Duties of Masters to Servants (Charleston, 1851), 25.Google Scholar

6 Presbyterian Herald, XIV (01 22, 1846), 3, col. 6Google Scholar. Cf. Jones, , Religious Instruction of the Negroes (Savannah, 1842), 179.Google Scholar, Do not confuse this with the book by the same author cited above. The book now referred to is the best single volume for anyone who wants to make the acquaintance of the movement rapidly.

7 Wilson, Joshua L., Relations ana Duties of Servants ana Masters (Cincinnati, 1839), 23.Google Scholar

8 Thornwell, James H., Rights and Duties of Masters (Charleston, 1850), 37, 44.Google Scholar

9 Presbyterian General Assembly of 1818; Baird, Samuel J., Collection of the Acts, Deliverances, and Testimonies, etc. (Philadelphia, 1855), 822.Google Scholar

10 For a characteristic strong statement see, e. g., Eice, J. H. to Alexander, A., 04 14, 1817Google Scholar, quoted in Maxwell, William, Memoir of John H. Rice (Philadelphia, 1835), 312Google Scholar. The date—1817—ds interesting, before Garrison, Denmark Vesey, or Nat Turner.

11 Adger, John B., My Life and Times (Richmond, 1899), 178.Google Scholar

12 Southern Presbyterian Review, VIII (07, 1854), 2Google Scholar; cf. McTyeire, , Duties of Masters, 38a.Google Scholar

13 See Proceedings of the Meeting in, Charleston on the Religious Instruction of the Negroes (Charleston, 1845), 20Google Scholar. This is an invaluable source. It contains 44 letters from 20 districts, describing conditions and making suggestions. The meeting lasted three days, was interdenominational, and was attended by many outstanding public figures.

14 Bruner, Clarence V., Religious Instruction of the Slaves in the Antebellum South (Ph. D. thesis—typewritten—Greorge Peabody College for Teachers, 1933), 194Google Scholar. Bruner reproduces the relevant material from most of the available sources.

15 One of the best descriptions of a joint communion service is in Stacy, James, History of the Midway Congregational Church, Liberty Cowvty, Georgia (Newnan, Georgia, n. d.), 180Google Scholar. This is a valuable book, since the community described—it was the scene of Jones' endeavors—probably had more intensive work on religious instruction for Negroes than any other in the South, and over a longer period. The changes from generation to generation are clearly shown, beginning before the Revolution and carrying down into the 1880's. The book is concrete and factual.

16 Quoted in Gadsden, Christopher E., Essay on the Life of the St. Rev. Theodore Dehon (Charleston, 1833), 205.Google Scholar

17 Olmsted, Frederick L., Journey in the Back Country (New York, 1860), 114.Google Scholar

18 Jackson, , “Negro in Virginia,” 196.Google Scholar

19 VIII (Oct., 1854), 282.

20 Thornwell, , Rights and Duties, iii.Google Scholar

21 See Jones, , Religious Instruction, 58.Google Scholar

22 Southern Presbyterian Review, VIII, (07 1854), 12.Google Scholar

23 Stacy, , Midway Congregational Church, 172.Google Scholar

24 But contrast Proc. Charleston Meeting, 23Google Scholar; special lectures for Negroes after the joint service, “particularly as to their duties as servants.” J. H. Rice seems to have had the same emphasis, see Maxwell, , Rice, 35.Google Scholar

23 Tenth Annual Report of the Liberty County Association for the Religious Instruction of Slaves, 24Google Scholar, quoted in Barnes, Albert, Inquiry into the Scriptural Views of Slavery (Philadelphia, 1846), 319.Google Scholar

26 Dickson, A. F., Plantation Sermons (Philadelphia, 1856).Google Scholar

27 Jones, , Suggestions, 115.Google Scholar

28 VIII (Oct., 1854), 275.

29 McTyeire, , Duties of Masters, 31.Google Scholar

30 Gadsden, , Dehon, 204.Google Scholar

31 Back Country, 108.Google Scholar

32 Stacy, , Midway Church, 169.Google Scholar

33 See below.

34 Quoted in Olmsted, , Back Country, 67.Google Scholar

35 Proc. Charleston Meeting, 22.Google Scholar

36 Ibid., 38, 54.

37 Stacy, , Midway Church, 175.Google Scholar

38 Proc. Charleston Meeting, 27Google Scholar; cf. Stacy, , Midway Church, 176.Google Scholar

39 Proc. Charleston Meeting, 25.Google Scholar

40 Stacy, , Midway Church, 198.Google Scholar

41 Proc. Charleston Meeting, 57.Google Scholar

42 Ibid., 58.

43 Letter from Archibald Alexander to ?, 1800, quoted in Jones, , Religious Instruction, 49Google Scholar. The district is Cub Creek in Virginia, Cf. Olmsted, Frederick L., Journey in the Seaboard States (New York, 2nd. ed. 1904), II, 57Google Scholar, where a church watchman is better paid than an overseer and is believed to own three horses.

44 Proc. Charleston Meeting, 34.Google Scholar

45 Ibid., 25; cf. Olmsted, , Back Country, 109.Google Scholar

46 Proc. Charleston Meeting, 35.Google Scholar

47 Jackson, , “Negro in Virginia,” 216.Google Scholar