Hard Road to Freedom

"...about this time I had a vision--and I saw white spirits and black spirits engaged in battle, and the sun was darkened--the thunder rolled in the Heavens, and blood flowed in streams--and I heard a voice saying, "Such is your luck, such you are called to see, and let it come rough or smooth, you must surely bare it." And on the 12th of May, 1828, I heard a loud noise in the heavens, and the Spirit instantly appeared to me and said the Serpent was loosened, and Christ had laid down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men, and that I should take it on and fight against the Serpent..." Confession of Nat Turner, 1831

The disastrous effect of the African slave trade caused great social upheaval throughout the south in the form of slave rebellions. The most memorable of those rebellions was the one lead by a slave named Nat Turner. Nat Turner was a black preacher who led an 1831 uprising in Southampton County, Virginia in which at least 55 whites were killed by a group of about 50 slaves. Turner was a deeply religious man who claimed to have visions and directives from God. On the night of August 21, 1831, he led four other slaves (Henry, Hark, Nelson and Sam) on a murderous spree near the town of Jerusalem, killing men, women and children in their beds. By the next day, his mob had grown to at least 40 or 50, but the local militia confronted and captured most of them. Turner escaped, but was eventually captured in October and tried. He was hanged and skinned as a punishment for his crimes on November, 11, 1831.

For the slaves, the journey toward freedom was always a matter of life and death there were no shaded areas. The desire to be free burned ferociously within them throughout many generations. They fought with every talent, skill and ability they had, in hopes that oneday a merciful and loving God would guide them to better days. I mention God because in spite of all that slavery took from them, the one thing that they held on to was their faith in God.

The relationship between slavery and religion in America is inseparable. Religion played a crucial role in every as-pect of slavery. From questions over the Christian legality of slavery, to restrictions of slaves in church attendance, to new educational efforts by such agencies as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, to underground networks such as the Quakers. Even the motivation behind the slave rebellions of Toussaint L'Ouverture, Nat Turner, and Denmark Vesey, history reveals that religion, in one way or another has been an Ark of salvation for the slave.

Initially, there was no regard for the Christianization of blacks. Colonist had never considered them as belonging to the fold of Christianity. Blacks had long been held as infidels; and were not imagined by their self-styled superiors, to be of such a favored body of people. Furthermore, because of the unwritten law that a Christian could not be held a slave, the capitalist opposed any such conversion; because should the slaves be liberated upon being converted, their plans for development would fail for lack of labor supply. They firmly believed that the purpose of the black slave was for nothing more than free labor.

However, exceptions to this rule became apparent in the efforts of various clergymen in cooperation with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. This organization was established in London in 1701 to do missionary work among the heathen, especially the Indians and the Blacks. Its mission was to prepare them for a proper understanding of the church doctrine and the relationship of man to God. This group operated through the branches of the established church.

At first, the ministries were limited to a few places in Virginia, New York, Maryland, and the cities of Boston and Philadelphia. From the very beginning, this organization believed that the conversion of Blacks was as important as that of bringing the Whites or the Indians into the church and clergymen such as Bishops Lowth, Fleetwood, Williams, Sanderson, Butler, and Wilson, persistently promoted the idea to their subordinates. In 1727, Bishop Gib-son sent out two pastoral letters outlining the mission of the missionaries. Bishop Secker preached a soulstirring sermon in 1741 on the subject, and in 1784, Bishop Porteus published an extensive plan for the more effectual conversion of the slaves, contending that, "despicable as they are in the eyes of man they are, nevertheless, the creatures of God."

The first successful worker in the field was the Rev. Samuel Thomas of Goose Creek Parish in the colony of South Carolina. Records show that he began his ministry as early as 1695 and ten years later, he reported 20 black slaves along with several others had become well versed in the English language. By 1705, he had brought under his instruction as many as 1,000 slaves, "many of whom", he said, "could read the Bible distinctly and great numbers of them were engaged in learning the scriptures." When these blacks approached the communion table, however, some whites seriously objected, inquiring whether it was possible that slaves should go to heaven anyway. Nevertheless, having the cooperation of a number of liberal slaveholders working in collaboration, the missionaries in that colony prepared the way for the Christianization of the black slaves.

The efforts to establish the black church was an ongoing struggle in America that continued well into the 19th Century. In white churches, blacks were often forced to stand at the back or along the sides during services. There were even cases when they were not allowed to come inside the church and had to stand outside to hear sermons.

A new stage in the development of religious freedom in America was starting to spread. An increased toleration for evangelism meant the increasing importance of blacks in the church. Gaining greater access to the people in all parts of the country by virtue of this new boon resulting from the struggle for the rights of man, the Methodists, Baptists and Presbyterians soon became emboldened with the idea of an equality of blacks in the church although they did not always denounce slavery outright. Blacks were accepted in these congregations on this basis and when exhibiting the natural ability to interpret scripture were sometimes heard with unusual interest from white spectators.

Such elevation of the blacks by the more liberal denominations, incurred the displeasure and opposition of the aristocratic churchmen to the extent that these liberal denominations could not grant the blacks as much freedom of participation in the church work as they desired to do. However, there were a few slave masters such as George Galphin, who believed in the elevation of blacks in the church. He was a patron in the cause of the establishment of a Black Church.

As a result, in the years between 1773 and 1775, according to Dr. W. H. Brooks, the first Black Baptist Church in America, was founded at Silver Bluff across the river from Augusta, Georgia, in the colony of South Carolina. Within just ten years after the founding of the first Black Church, black preachers started to emerge as a spiritual force.

One of those spiritual forces was Richard Allen. Religious leader and social activist, Richard Allen was born into slavery on February 14, 1760, in Philadelphia. Allen and his parents were household slaves who took care of the home, did kitchen work, and helped look after their master's children. At 20 years old, Allen paid for his freedom. He became the first Black bishop in U.S. history.

In 1784, Methodism established itself as a separate denomination, the Methodist Episcopal Church. Allen was attracted to the rigorous preaching, and spontaneous, joyous worship services of the Methodist, and in 1786, began preaching at St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, where two-thirds of the blacks were free.

Allen proved to be an electrifying speaker, and his sermons attracted many converts, many of whom were blacks. White members of the church grew discontented with the rising number of blacks and problems arose within the church. Outraged at how the blacks were being treated, Allen and the others left the church and formed the Free African Society. Later, the society became affiliated with the Protestant Episcopal Church, but many black Methodists did not want to abandon their Methodist roots.

On July 29, 1794, Allen, along with a small group of members, established a black Methodist church named Bethel on Lombard Street, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. However, in 1805, an elder from St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church attempted to gain control of Bethel. Allen had his congregation pass a set of amendments, known as the African Supplement, which gave control of the church to Bethel's trustees. Finally, in 1816, after much legal dispute, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declared that because Bethel was administered by and for the black community, it should be independent. Then, on April 9, 1816, the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church was officially born. Allen was consecrated as the church's first bishop, thereby becoming the first black bishop in U.S. history.

Every black leader who stood up for the freedom of their people, whether through a doctrine of violence or nonviolence, found their inspiration through the median of religion. Others such as Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, and Sojourner Truth were all spiritually inspired to their cause. Although the road to freedom was often a long and seemingly impossible feat, a deep faith and conviction gave them the victory.

Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

The slave trade was undoubtedly the darkest period in recorded human history. Since ancient times slavery has existed. In Africa, slaves were people who had been captured in war, failed to repay a debt, or had committed a crime. Some were those who sold themselves into slavery during times of famine. In most African societies, slaves were members of the community, and their children were not born as slaves. Back then, slaves were seen as servants rather than property. The people of Ashanti used to say, "A slave who knows how to serve inherits his master's property." With this understanding, slavery was not a perpetual condition used to prohibit human freedom, but was a means to which justice was served, or in some cases, as a means of survival.

However, by the mid 1400's, the old concept of slavery took a turn in a new direction. Slavery became a business. When Portuguese sailors arrived on the coast of West Africa and begin setting up trading post, fish, sugar, ivory, gold, and pepper were not the only commodities made available to them. Black men, women, and children, even entire villages were sold into slavery in exchange for guns and other manufactured goods brought by the Europeans. It is disheartening to know that Africans were so involved in the selling of other Africans.

Slavery had a lasting impact on Africa and other parts of the world. In some areas, it disrupted entire societies. The loss of human resources in men. During these times, many women had to become soldiers and fight to protect themselves. As demand for slaves grew, wars started as tensions among neighboring African countries increased. For instance, in West Africa, the rulers of Ashanti and Dahomey attacked their neighbors to capture slaves. They sold these slaves for guns with which they used to control trade and build military might. The slave trade also thrived in East Africa. Rulers in this part of the world, delivered captives to Arab merchants, who sent slaves to the Middle East and North Africa.

Nonetheless, the fault lies on both ends of the coin. On one end, the African leaders are to blame for their role in the selling of their own people. On the other end, the Arabs and Europeans are to blame for their role in the trafficking and purchasing of human beings for profit. Because of their actions, millions of innocent people, as well as their descendants, were sold into a condition of chattel slavery that would last for almost 400 years, and create racial hatred within these societies for generations to come.

At the height of the slave trade in the 1700's, up to 100,000 Africans a year were packed into the holes of airless slave ships, and sent off to foreign lands with the possibility of never returning to their homeland. An estimated ten million Africans died in the 'middle passage' across the Atlantic. Many Africans resisted by staging revolts with little success, while others literally threw themselves and their children overboard into the ocean where they were eaten by sharks. Many died of diseases that spread rapidly in the filthy, unsanitary conditions of the ship's hold. These horrific conditions across the Atlantic continued 'uninterrupted' for 400 years.

The slave trade enriched the Western World. Africans were sold throughout Europe (including Britain), South and North America, the West Indies and Arabia. The trading of slaves was so profitable in Britain; it gave birth to the Industrial Revolution. The result of 300 years of free labor by millions of black slaves produced massive wealth for both the nations of Europe and America. For instance, in 1790, the U.S. was producing less than 100,000 bales of cotton per season. There were close to 800,000 slaves in the U.S. at that time. By 1860, cotton production had grown to over four million bales per season with each bale weighing 500 lbs. Over four million slaves had been added to the free labor pool. In just 60 years, in cotton produc-tion alone, the U.S. economy had grown by 800%. The nation had experienced an unprecedented growth on the backs of black slaves.

In 1861, a Civil War erupted in America. It was mainly due to greed that this war happened. The issue that was causing so much turmoil among whites was slavery. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the 'Emancipation Proclamation Act' declaring that all slaves in Confederate areas were free. Eventually, all slaves were freed in the U.S. However, the cries of injustice and civil rights violations against blacks would continue to go unheard for another one hundred years after emancipation.