AAT 8900282

                                A MINGLED YARN: RACE AND RELIGION IN MISSISSIPPI,
                                1800-1876

                                SPARKS, RANDY JAY

                                RICE UNIVERSITY

                                PHD

                                1988

                                BOLES, JOHN B.

                                DAI-A 49/12, p. 3851, Jun 1989

                                266

                                HISTORY, UNITED STATES (0337); MASS
                                COMMUNICATIONS (0708); RELIGION, HISTORY OF (0320)
 
 
 

                                From their inauspicious beginnings in the late eighteenth and early
                                nineteenth centuries, Mississippi evangelical churches--the Baptist,
                                Methodist, and Presbyterian-- expanded dramatically and set the
                                moral tone of society. Early churches were founded on egalitarian
                                principles by members of both races. A study of unpublished church
                                records reveals that before 1830, blacks and whites received equal
                                treatment in the churches. White evangelicals welcomed slaves into
                                the churches, often opposed slavery, and defended slaves' religious
                                freedom. The rapid expansion of slavery in the state, the movement
                                of slaveholders into the churches, and the growing wealth of the
                                membership presented evangelicals with a serious moral dilemma. As
                                sectional tensions rose and the debate over slavery intensified after
                                1830, most evangelicals embraced slavery. Religious leaders
                                articulated the most accepted justification of slavery, one based on
                                Biblical teachings. The Biblical defense of slavery emphasized the
                                spiritual welfare of slaves. After 1830 evangelical efforts to minister
                                to blacks increased, and black church membership grew. As they
                                moved from sect to denomination, churches became more
                                hierarchical and less egalitarian. Ministers sought a higher social
                                position and placed greater emphasis on the ministerial gift. Lay
                                participation in worship services was discouraged. Because of their
                                preference for a different style of worship and because of white
                                discrimination, blacks often preferred segregated services. Some
                                historians have characterized biracial churches as simply another
                                white control device against slaves, but an analysis of approximately
                                1600 disciplinary actions from 30 churches demonstrates that while
                                whites sometimes used church courts to punish slaves who violated
                                the slave code, most cases against blacks involved the same charges
                                made against white offenders. The coming of the Civil War
                                highlighted the divergent goals held by black and white evangelicals.
                                With varying degrees of enthusiasm, white evangelicals lent their
                                support to sectionalism, secession, and war. War and defeat brought
                                about a crisis in many churches, yet out of that malaise grew a
                                powerful, and heretofore unexamined, revival on the home front.
                                Blacks joined in the revivals. The war disrupted life in the slave
                                community, but many slaves saw the war as an answered prayer for
                                freedom. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)