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Southern Society: Religion and Slavery
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To slaves, religion was a paradox—both an instrument used by masters to control them, and a source of liberation.
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Respond to this statement, specifying whether you partly or entirely agree or disagree. Use your knowledge of the time period and the sources provided to support your arguments.
Primary source: Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano . . . , slave narrative, 1789.
Background information: Olaudah Equiano was enslaved as a child after he and his sister were kidnapped in Africa. His autobiography offers a rare comparison of African and American cultures.
As to religion, the natives believe that there is one Creator of all things, and that he lives in the sun, and is girded round with a belt that he may never eat or drink; but, according to some, he smokes a pipe, which is our own favorite luxury. They believe he governs events, especially our deaths or captivity; but, as for the doctrine of eternity, I do not remember to have ever heard of it: some however believe in the transmigration of souls in a certain degree. Those spirits, which are not transmigrated, such as our dear friends or relations, they believe always attend them, and guard them from the bad spirits of their foes. For this reason, they always before eating, as I have observed, put some small portion of the meat, and pour some of their drink, on the ground for them; and they often make oblations of the blood of beasts or fowls at their graves. . .
Such is the imperfect sketch my memory has furnished me with of the manner and customs of a people among whom I first drew my breath. And here I cannot forbear suggesting what has long struck me very forcibly, namely, the strong analogy which even by this sketch, imperfect as it is, appears to prevail in the manners and customs of my countrymen, and those of the Jews, before they reached the Land of Promise... Like the Israelites in their primitive state, our government was conducted by our chiefs or judges, our wise men and elders; and the head of a family with us enjoyed a similar authority over his household with that which is ascribed to Abraham and the other patriarchs. The law of retaliation obtained almost universally with us as with them: and even their religion appeared to have shed upon us a ray of its glory, though broken and spent in its passage, or eclipsed by the cloud with which time, tradition, and ignorance might have enveloped it; for we had our circumcision (a rule I believe peculiar to that people): we had also our sacrifices and burnt-offerings, our washings and purifications, on the same occasions as they had.
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Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavas Vassa, the African, printed and sold for the author, by T. Wilkins (London, 1789) at http://www.gliah.uh.edu/black_voices/voices_display.cfm?id=58.
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Primary source: Ben Woolfolk, testimony at trial of Prosser's Gabriel, 1800.
Background information: Ben, alias Ben Woolfolk, was an accomplice of Gabriel Prosser, an American slave who planned a major slave uprising in the United States on August 30, 1800. The following is an excerpt from Ben's confession, which led to his pardon.
[ . . . ]
. . . Mr. Prosser's Gabriel wished to bring on the business as soon as possible. Gilbert said the summer was almost over, and he wished them to enter upon the business before the weather got too cold. Gabriel proposed that the subject should be referred to his brother Martin to decide upon. Martin said there was this expression in the Bible, delays breed danger; at this time, he said, the country was at peace, the soldiers were discharged, and the arms all put away; there was no patroling in the country, and that before he would any longer bear what he had borne, he would turn out and first with his stick. Gilbert said he was ready with his pistol, but it was in need of repair; he gave it to Gabriel, who was to put it in order for him. I then spoke to the company and informed them I wished to have something to say. I told them that I had heard in the days of old, when the Israelites were in service to King Pharaoh, they were taken from him by the power of God, and were carried away by Moses. God had blessed him with an angel to go with him, but that I could see nothing of that kind in these days. Martin said in reply: I read in my Bible where God says if we will worship Him we should have peace in all our land; five of you shall conquer an hundred, and a hundred a thousand of our enemies. After this they went on consultation upon the time they should execute the plan . . . .
[ . . . ]
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Ben Woolfolk, "Confessions of Ben alias Ben Woolfolk" (16 September 1800), from Calendar of Virginia State Papers, reprint, Blacks in Bondage: Letters of American Slaves, ed. Robert S. Starobin (New York: New Viewpoints, 1974), 128–30.
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Primary source: Henry Bibb, slave narrative, 1849.
Background information: Henry Bibb was born a slave in Kentucky in 1815. He escaped to Canada in 1837 and subsequently wrote an account of his experiences.
In 1833, I had some very serious religious impressions, and there was quite a number of slaves in that neighborhood, who felt very desirous to be taught to read the Bible. There was a Miss Davis, a poor white girl, who offered to teach a Sabbath School for the slaves, notwithstanding public opinion and the law was opposed to it. Books were furnished and she commenced the school; but the news soon got to our owners that she was teaching us to read. This caused quite an excitement in the neighborhood. Patrols were appointed to go and break it up the next Sabbath. They were determined that we should not have a Sabbath School in operation. For slaves this was called an incendiary movement.
The Sabbath is not regarded by a large number of the slaves as a day of rest. They have no schools to go to; no moral nor religious instruction at all in many localities where there are hundreds of slaves. Hence they resort to some kind of amusement. Those who make no profession of religion, resort to the woods in large numbers on that day to gamble, fight, get drunk, and break the Sabbath. This is often encouraged by slaveholders. . .
But this is all principally for want of moral instruction. This is where they have no Sabbath Schools; no one to read the Bible to them; no one to preach the gospel who is competent to expound the Scriptures, except slaveholders. And the slaves, with but few exceptions, have no confidence at all in their preaching, because they preach a pro-slavery doctrine. They say, "Servants be obedient to your masters. . . and he that knoweth his master's will and doeth it not, shall be beaten, with many stripes". . . means that God will send them to hell, if they disobey their masters. This kind of preaching has driven thousands into infidelity. They view themselves as suffering unjustly under the lash, without friends, without protection of law or gospel, and the green-eyed monster tyranny staring them in the face. They know that they are destined to die in that wretched condition, unless they are delivered by the arm of Omnipotence. And they cannot believe or trust in such a religion, as above named. . .
There is much superstition among the slaves. Many of them believe in what they call "conjuration," tricking, and witchcraft; and some of them pretend to understand the art, and say that by it they can prevent their masters from exercising their will over their slaves.
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Henry Bibb, Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, An American Slave, Written by Himself with an Introduction by Lucius C. Matlack (1850; reprint, New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969), 22–25.
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Primary source: Charles Ball, Slavery in the United States . . . ," slave narrative, 1837.
Background information: Charles Ball was a slave in western Maryland. In the following excerpt, he describes a slave funeral.
I assisted her and her husband to inter the infant. . . and its father buried with it, a small bow and several arrows; a little bag of parched meal; a miniature canoe, about a foot long, and a little paddle, (with which he said it would cross the ocean to his own country) a small stick, with an iron nail, sharpened and fastened into one end of it; and a piece of white muslin, with several curious and strange figures painted on it in blue and red, by which, he said, his relations and countrymen would know the infant to be his son, and would receive it accordingly, on its arrival amongst them. . .
He cut a lock of hair from his head, threw it upon the dead infant, and closed the grave with his own hands. He then told us the God of his country was looking at him, and was pleased with what he had done.
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Charles Ball, Slavery in the United States: A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Charles Ball, a Black Man, Who Lived Forty Years in Maryland,
South Carolina and Georgia, as a Slave . . . (1837; reprint, New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969), 265.
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Primary source: Thornton Stringfellow, Slavery, its Origin, Nature and History: Its Relations to Society, to Government, and True Religion . . . , 1860.
Background information: In his 1860 book, Thornton Stringfellow explains what he sees as the biblical justification for slavery.
[Slavery] is branded by one portion of the people, who take their rule of moral rectitude from the Scriptures, as a great sin; nay the greatest of sins that exist in the nation. And they hold the obligation to exterminate it, to be paramount to all others.
If slavery be thus sinful, it behooves all Christians who are involved in the sin, to repent in dust and ashes, and wash their hands of it, without consulting with flesh and blood . . . .
I propose, therefore, to examine the sacred volume briefly, and if I am not greatly mistaken,
I shall be able to make it appear that the institution of slavery has received, in the first place, 1st. The sanction of the Almighty in the Patriarchal age.
2d. That it was incorporated into the only National Constitution which ever emanated from God.
3d. That its legality was recognized, and its relative duties regulated, by Jesus Christ in his kingdom; and
4th. That is full of mercy. . . .
[The abolitionists'] hostility must be transferred from us to God, who established slavery by law in that kingdom over which he condescended to preside; and to Jesus, who recognized it as a relationship established in Israel by his Father, and in the Roman government by men, which he bound his followers to obey and honor.
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Thornton Stringfellow, Slavery, its Origin, Nature and History: Its Relations to Society, to Government, and True Religion . . . , (Alexandria, Va.: Virginia Sentinel Office, 1860).
Courtesy of The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
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Primary source: Peter Randolph, From Slave Cabin to the Pulpit, autobiography, 1893.
Background information: Peter Randolph was a former slave and a minister at the Old African Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia. In the following excerpt, he describes religious instruction for slaves.
Many say the Negroes receive religious education—that Sabbath worship is instituted for them as for others, and were it not for slavery, they would die in their sins—that really, the institution of slavery is a benevolent missionary enterprise. Yes, they are preached to, and I will give my readers some faint glimpses of these preachers, and their doctrines and practices. In Prince George County there were two meeting–houses intended for public worship. Both were occupied by the Baptist denomination. These houses were built by William and George Harrison, brothers. . . that their slaves might go there on the Sabbath and receive instruction, such as slave–holding ministers would give. The prominent preaching to the slaves was, "'Servants, obey your masters'. Do not steal or lie, for this is very wrong. Such conduct is sinning against the Holy Ghost, and is base ingratitude to your kind masters, who feed, clothe and protect you. . . " I should think, when making such statements, the slaveholders would feel the rebuke of the Apostle and fall down and be carried out from the face of day, as were Ananias and Sapphira, when they betrayed the trust committed to them, or refused to bear true testimony in regard to that trust.
[. . . ]
In some places, if the slaves are caught praying to God, they are whipped more than if they had committed a great crime. The slaveholders will allow the slaves to dance, but do not want them to pray to God. Sometimes, when a slave, on being whipped, calls upon God, he is forbidden to do so, under threat of having his throat cut, or brains blown out. Oh, reader! this seems very hard—that slaves cannot call on their Maker, when the case most needs it. Sometimes the poor slave takes courage to ask his master to let him pray, and is driven away, with the answer, that if discovered praying, his back will pay the bill.
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Peter Randolph, From Slave Cabin to the Pulpit (Boston: J. H. Earle, 1893).
Courtesy of The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
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Primary source: Anderson Edwards, "Two Ways of Preaching the Gospel," slave narrative, c. 1936.
Background information: Members of the New Deal’s Federal Writers’ Project interviewed former slaves during 1936–38. The misspellings respect the speech and regional dialect of the ex-slaves. Anderson Edwards, born in Texas on March 12, 1844, recounts his experience as a preacher.
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I been preaching the gospel and farming since slavery time. I jined the church 'most 83 years ago when I was Major Gaud's slave, and they baptizes me in the spring branch close to where I finds the Lord. When I starts preaching I couldn't read or write and had to preach what Master told me, and he say tell them niggers iffen they obeys the master they goes to Heaven; but I knowed there's something better for them, but daren't tell them 'cept on the sly. That I done lots. I tells 'em iffen they keeps praying, the Lord will set 'em free.
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Anderson Edwards, "Two Ways of Preaching the Gospel," Lay My Burden Down: A Folk History of Slavery (1945; reprint, ed. B.A. Botkin, Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1989), 26.
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Primary source: Orleans Finger, "Cured by Prayer," slave narrative, c. 1936.
Background information: Members of the New Deal’s Federal Writers’ Project interviewed former slaves during 1936–38. The misspellings respect the speech and regional dialect of the ex-slaves. Orleans Finger, born in Little Rock, Arkansas, c. 1858, described his faith in God.
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I'm puny and no 'count. Ain't able to do much. But I was crippled. I had a hurting in my leg, and I couldn't walk without a stick. Finally, one day I went to go out and pick some turnips. I was visiting my son in Palestine. My leg hurt so bad that I talked to the Lord about it. And it seemed to me, He said, "Put down your stick." I put it down, and I ain't used it since. I put it down right there, and I ain't used it since. God is a momentary God. God knowed what I wanted and He said, "Put down that stick," and I ain't been crippled since. It done me so much good. Looks like to me when I get to talking about the Lord, ain't nobody a stranger to me.
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Orleans Finger, "Cured by Prayer," Lay My Burden Down: A Folk History of Slavery (1945; reprint, ed. B. A. Botkin, Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1989), 34.
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Primary source: M. Jackson Jr., "Family Worship in a Plantation in South Carolina," wood engraving, 18??.
Background information: This picture illustrates a family worshiping on a plantation in South Carolina. Note the African American preacher and both black and white worshipers.
M. Jackson Jr., "Family Worship in a Plantation in South Carolina," wood engravings, The Illustrated London News, at http://digital.nypl.org/schomburg/images_aa19/.
Courtesy of Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division.
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Primary source: "Master Going to Sell Us Tomorrow," Negro spiritual.
Background information: Spirituals were sung by slaves, mostly outside of churches. They reflected the values and experiences of African Americans.
Master Going to Sell Us Tomorrow
Mother, is master going to sell us tomorrow? / Yes, yes, yes! / O, watch and pray.
Going to sell us in Georgia? / Yes, yes, yes! / O, watch and pray.
Farewell; mother, I must leave you / Yes, yes, yes! / O, watch and pray.
Mother don't grieve after me / No, no, no! / O, watch and pray.
Mother, I'll meet you in heaven / Yes, my child! / O, watch and pray.
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Courtesy of Spiritual Workshop.
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Primary source: "Go Down Moses," Negro spiritual.
Background information: Many spirituals compared African American slaves to the ancient Hebrew slaves depicted in the Bible, who eventually gained their freedom.
Go Down Moses
Go down Moses,
Way down in Egypt land,
Tell ole Pharaoh
To let my people go.
When Israel was in Egypt land,
Let my people go.
Oppressed so hard they could not stand,
Let my people go.
"Thus spoke the Lord," bold Moses said
"If not, I'll smite your first born dead,"
Let my people go.
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Lyrics at http://www.negrospirituals.com/news-song/go_down_moses1.htm.
Courtesy of Spiritual Workshop.
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