Produced by Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) THE HISTORY OF THE NEGRO CHURCH BY CARTER G. WOODSON, Ph.D. _Editor of the Journal of Negro History, author of A Century of Negro Migration, and of the Education of the Negro Prior to 1861_ THE ASSOCIATED PUBLISHERS WASHINGTON, D. C. [Publisher's logo] Copyright, 1921 By THE ASSOCIATED PUBLISHERS [Illustration: A CHRISTIANIZED AFRICAN. _Frontispiece_] To THE CHERISHED MEMORY OF MY MOTHER ANNE ELIZA WOODSON PREFACE The importance of the church in the life of the Negro justifies the publication of this brief account of the development of the institution. For many years the various denominations have been writing treatises bearing on their own particular work, but hitherto there has been no effort to study the achievements of all of these groups as parts of the same institution and to show the evolution of it from the earliest period to the present time. This is the objective of this volume. Whether or not the author has done this task well is a question which the public must decide. This work does not represent what he desired to make it. Many facts of the past could not be obtained for the reason that several denominations have failed to keep records and facts known to persons now active in the church could not be collected because of indifference or the failure to understand the motives of the author. Not a few church officers and ministers, however, gladly cooperated with the author in giving and seeking information concerning their denominations. Among these were Mr. Charles H. Wesley, Prof. J. A. Booker, and Dr. Walter H. Brooks. For their valuable assistance the author feels deeply grateful. CARTER G. WOODSON. Washington, D. C., September, 1921. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I.--Early Missionaries and the Negro 1 II.--The Dawn of the New Day 23 III.--Pioneer Negro Preachers 40 IV.--The Independent Church Movement 71 V.--Early Development 100 VI.--The Schism and the Subsequent Situation 123 VII.--Religious Instruction Revived 148 VIII.--Preachers of Versatile Genius 167 IX.--The Civil War and the Church 185 X.--Religious Education as a Preparation 202 XI.--The Call of Politics 220 XII.--The Conservative and Progressive 247 XIII.--The Negro Church Socialized 266 XIV.--The Recent Growth of the Negro Church 286 XV.--The Negro Church of To-day 300 FOOTNOTES INDEX ILLUSTRATIONS