The Negro in the South

IN THE

are but two sides of the same problem, for nothing so reveals the attitude of a people toward life as the manner in which they earn their living; and on the other hand the earning of a livi

in the South means a study of these same facts over which we have gone, from a different point of view. Moreover, as the economic history of the South is in

such a discredited word as slavery. If, then, we are to study the history of religion in the South, we must first of all divest ourselves of prejudice, pro and con; we must try to put ourselves in the place of those who are seeking to read the riddle of life and grant to them about the same general charity and the sam

at religion should oppress each other to the extent of actual enslavement. The idea of human brotherhood in the seventeenth century was of a brotherhood of co-religionists. When it came to the dealing of Christian with heathen, however, the century saw nothing wrong in slavery; rather, theoretically, they saw a chance for a great act of humanity and religion. The slaves we

ing question as to what the status of the heathen slave was to be after he was Christi

hat the new convert awoke immediately to the freedom of Christ and became a freeman. But while this was the theoretical, religious answer, and inde

lared in colony after colony that baptism did not free the slaves (see Note 19). This, of course, put an end to the old doctrine of the heathen slave and it was necessary for the church to arrange for itself a new theory by which it could ameliorate, if not excuse, the position of the slave. The next question was naturally that of

t rather something familiar. At the head of the feudal manor was the lord, or master, beneath him the under-lord or overseers and then the artisans, retainers, the free working men and lastly the s

e or no distinction between black and white bondservants save in the time of their service. The idea, felt rather than expressed, was that here in America we were to have a new feudali

nd, no matter what his color was, when he became free, he became free in the same sense that other people were. Thus it was that there were free black voters in the southern col

nized the social gradation of men; all souls were equal in the sight of God, but there were differences in worldly consideration and

ches. Now when America became to be looked upon more and more as the dwelling place of free and equal men and when the Methodist and, particularly, the Baptist churches went down into the fields and proselyted among the slaves, a thing which t

eathen of this country, and will bear a comparison with heathen in any country in the world. The Negroes are destitute of the gospel, and ever will be under the present state of things. In the vast field extending from an entire state beyond the Potomac [i.e., Maryland] to the Sabine River [at the ti

commodation. We know of but five churches in the slave-holding states built expressly for their use. These are all in the state of Georgia. We may now inquire whether they enjoy the privileges of the gospel in their own houses, and on our plantations? Again we re

ated to the Negroes, when it can be done without inconvenience to the whites. When it cannot be done conveniently, the Negroes must catch the gospel as it escapes through the doors and windows. If the master is pious, the house servants a

h improved during this period. Their increase was natural and regular, ranging every ten years between thirty-four and thirty-six per cent. As the old stock from Africa died out of the country, the g

one, attended regularly the house of God, and taking them as a class, th

rom the common people and keeping them in ignorance of the way of life, for we withhold the Bible from our ser

his condition was deplorable as Jones pictures it. "Persons live and die in the midst of Negroes and know comparatively little of their real character. They have not the immediat

bond or free, throughout the whole United States. It is habit, a long established custom, which descends from generation to generation. There is an upper and an under current. Some are contented with the appearance on the surface;

the law of the land. Negro marriages are neither recognized nor protected by law. The Negroes receive no instruction on the nature, sacredness, and perpetuity of the inst

o and dissolved at the will of the parties, and that without heinous sin, or the injury of the property or interests of any one. That which they possess in common is speedily divided, and the support of the w

of morals on plantations in general. Besides the mischievous tendency of bad example in parents and elders, the little Negro is often taught by these natural instructors that he may commit any vice that he can conceal from his superiors, and thus falsehood and deception are among the earliest lessons they i

in hand?' 'O sir, I am preparing this clothing to send to the poor Greeks.' On taking leave at the steps of her mansion, he saw some of her servan

ir own number. The old Voodoo priests were passing away and already here and there new spiritual leaders

interest. "George Leile or Lisle, sometimes called George Sharp, was born in Virginia about 1750. His master (Mr. Sharp) some time before the American war removed and settled in Burke County, Georgia

ural elocution, began to exhort his black brethren and friends. He and his followers were reprimanded and forbidden to en

ng under his wounds, Andrew declared that he not only rejoiced to be whipped, but would gladly suffer death for the cause of Jesus Christ, and that while he had life and opportunity he would continue to preach Christ. He was faithful to his vow and, by patient continuance in well-doing, he put to silence and shamed his

al economy, in Adam Smith's 'Wealth of Nations,' to the voyage of Captain Cook. That he was a worker as well as a preacher is true, for when he decided to go to Africa his emplo

sident of another state, to the burning, eloquent appeals of George Whitfield. Fancy him as he stands there in that historic building

recognized, for he was made vice governor, and became governor in fact while Governor Ashmun was absent from the colony in this country. Carey did not allow his position to betray

nst the natives in 1828, the accidental upsetting of a

h the sinews of a Titan. He had a square face, keen eyes, and a grave countenance. His move

reach to Negroes. In 1802, in the county court, his freedom and character were certified to and it was declared that he had passed "through a regular course of academic studies" at what is now Washington and Lee Universit

ny others. Some of his pupils boarded in the family, and his school was regarded as the best in the State. "All accounts agree that John Chavis was a gentleman," and he

away; he continued and whites came to hear him. Finally the white auditors outnumbered the blacks and sheds were erected for Negroes at the side of the church. The gathering became a regular Methodist Church, with a white and Negro

ree times have I had my life in jeopardy for preaching the gospel to you. Three times I have broken ice on the edge of the water and swam across the Cape Fear to prea

dained and became an able Baptist preacher. He baptized and administered communion, and was greatly respected. When the

by the manufacture of smoking tobacco. He later became a minister

inia is best told in the

, popularly known as 'Uncle Jack,' whose services to white and black were so valuable that a distinguish

way County, a region at that time in the backwoods and destitute particularly as to religious life and instruction. He was converted under the occasional preaching of Rev. Dr. J

d from plantation to plantation within a radius of thirty miles, as he was invited by overseers or masters. His freedom was purchased by a subscription of whites, and he was given a home and tract of land for his support. He organized a large an

d 'the spirit' against the Bible, and winning over Campbell's adherents in a body. For over forty years, and until he was nearly a hundred years of age, he labo

amilies, took part in their social worship, sometimes leading the prayer at the family altar. Many of the most intelligent people attended upon his ministry and listened to his sermons with great delight. Indeed, previou

y identified with his class. He refused gifts of better clothing, saying 'These clothes are a great deal better than are genera

ntervals, was persistently stretching upward. The Negroes bade fair in time to have their leaders. The new

erhood; that the slaves should be proselyted, taught religion, admitted to the churches, and, notwithstanding their civil station, looked upon as the spiritual brothers of the white communicants. Much was done to make this true. The condition

o things must happen-either they must stop teaching or these people are going to be men, not serfs or slaves. Not only that, but to seek to put an awakening people back to sleep means revolt. It meant revolt in the eighteenth cent

stirred the South and induced So

her and assemble for the purpose of mental instruction or religious worship either before the rising of the sun or after the going down of

members of any religious society in this State, provided a majority of them shall be white persons, or otherwise to disturb their devotions unless such persons, etc., so entering said place (of worship) shall first have obtaine

l evening meetings of slaves. This was modified in 1805 so as to allow a slave, in company with a white person, to listen to a white

to Negro meetings had abated, especially in a city like

ucting his underground agitation. It was customary, at that time, for these Negro congregations to meet for purposes of worship entirely free from the presence of whites. Such meetings were afterward forbidden to be held except in the presence of at least one representative of the domin

aracterized. And, like many of his race, he was a devoted student of the Bible, to whose interpretation he brought, like many other Bible students not confined t

United States. They were both peculiar peoples. They were both Jehovah's peculiar peoples, one in the past, the other in the present. And it seemed to him that as Jehovah bent Hi

he did in the stern and Nemesis-like God of the Old Testament he looked confidently for a day of vengeance and retribution for the blacks. He felt, I doubt not, something peculiarly applicable to his enterprise and intensely personal to himself in the stern and exultant prophecy of Zachariah, fierce and sanguinary words, which were constantly in his mouth: 'Then shall t

ion for shedding the blood of his oppressors. But if he intended to kill them to satisfy a desire for vengeance he intended to do so also on broader ground. The conspirators, he argued, had no choice in the matter, but were compelled to adopt a policy of extermination by the nece

laid, but the conspi

ey and his associates hanged, there broke out the Nat Turn

ton County, Virginia, October 2, 1800. His master was one Benjamin Turner, a very wealthy and aristocratic man. He owned many slaves, and was a cruel and exacting master. Young 'Nat' was born of slave parent

rence and awe, and believed everything his mother said. He imbibed the deep religious character of his parents, and soon manifested a desire to preach. He was solemnly set apart to 'the gospel ministry' by his father, the church, and visiting preachers. He was quite low in statur

by God to burst the bolts of the prison-house and set the oppressed free. The thunder, the hail, the storm-cloud, the air, the earth, the stars, at which he would sit and gaze half the night all spake the language of the God of the oppressed. He w

th of August, 1831, the first editorial or leader is

ents. Nothing is spared; neither age nor sex respected-the helplessness of women and children pleads in vain for mercy.... The case of Nat Turner warns us

m Turner made his confes

s to his ignorance, he certainly never had the advantages of an education, but he can read and write, and for natural intelligence and quickness of apprehension is surpassed by few men I have ever seen. As to his being a coward, his reason as given for not resisting

nce, with a mind capable of attaining anything, but warped and perverted by the influence of early impressions. He is bel

of his late deeds and intentions; the expression of his fiend-like face when excited by enthusiasm, still bearing the stains of the blood of the helpless innocence about him, clothed wit

an epoch in the history of the slave. A wave of legislation passed over the South prohibiting the slaves f

ul for any slave, free Negro, or mulatto to preach the gospel" upon pain of receiving thirty-nine lashes upon the naked back of the presumptuous preacher. If a Negro received written permission from his master he might preach to the Negroes in his immediate neighborhood, providing six respectable white men, owners of slaves, were present. In Alabama the law of 1832 prohibited the assembling of more than five male slaves at any place off the plantation to which they belonged, b

Negroes began to leave white churches

tual brotherhood was given up. Slavery became distinctly a matter of race and not of status. Long years before, the white servants had been freed and only black servants were left; now social co

is new situation, and in the adjustment, no matter what might be

t white men were men. They were different-different in kind, different in origin; they had different diseases (see Note 24); they had different feelings; they were not to be treated the same; they were not looked upo

hinkable that people should live with them free. This was the philosophy that was worked out gradually, with exceptions here and there, and that was thought thro

mmunity there was a demand for orthodoxy on this one burning question of the economic and religious South, and the heretics were driven out. The Quakers left North Caro

ive. A great moral battle was impending in the South, but political turmoil and a development of northern thought so rapid as to be unintelligible in

rew up therefore after the war a new predicament; a new-old paradox. Upon the whites hung the curse of the past; because they had not sett

it unrelentingly, the Southern Church clings all the more closely to the letter of a worn out orthodoxy, while its inner truer soul crouches before and fears to answer the

and beginning to preach a living gospel of civic virtue, peace and good will and a crusade against lying, stealing and snobbery, t

be sure there is leaven in the lump. There are brave voices here and there, but they are easily dro

mbers bodily out of doors. They did it with some consideration for their feelings, with as much kindliness as crass unkindliness can show, but they virtually said to all their black members-to the black mammies whom they have almost fulsomely praised and

church fellowship on the part of the Baptists, or the policy of Episcopalians, which was simply that of stud

a black man belonging to a white church to-day but if so, he must be very old and very feeble. This anomaly-this utter denial of the very first principles of the ethics of Jesus Christ-is to-day so deep seated and unquestionable a p

are to any degree immoral, sexually unchaste, criminally inclined, and religiously ignorant, what right has the Christian South even to whisper reproach or ac

urches could not be simply centres of religious life-because in the poverty of their organized efforts all united striving tended to centre in this one social organ. The Negro Church consequently became a great social institutio

of hypocrisy; they did not cry "Whosoever will" and then brazenly ostracize half the world. They knew that they opened their doors and hearts wide to all people that really wan

upon his church doors the sign that I have often seen, "All are welcome." He knows that half the population of his city would not dare to go inside that church. Or if there was any fellowship between Christians, white and black, it would be after the manner expl

ld black man-he was an outcast, he had wandered in there aimlessly off the streets, dimly he had comprehended this call and he came tottering and swaying up the aisle. What was the result

of His first deeds would be to sit down and take supper

-day of such tremendous importance, and that gives rise to the one thing which it seems to me is the most difficult in the Southern situation and that is, the tendency to deny the truth, the tendency to lie when the real situation comes up because the truth is too hard to face. This lying about the situation of the South has not been simply a politi

ade-how shall they be treated? That they should be treated as men, of course, the best class of Southerners know and sometimes acknowledge. And yet they believe, and believe with fierce conviction,

gro's degradation, even though they know that it is not the degraded Negro whom they

the popular vote in favor of the criminals would be simply overwhelming. Why? because they want Negro crime? No, not that they fear Negro crime less, but that they fear Negro ambition and success more

s of fact concerning the Negro can be relied upon? Do they really know the Negro? Can the nati

n of the Negro masses, but there is also a strange blindness in failing to see that every pound of evidence to prove the

oes into the world, and whose deeds throughout the South and particularly in Virginia, the mother of slavery, have left but few prominent families whose blood does not to-day course in black veins? Suppose to-day Negroes do steal; who was i

th, and despite the bitter opposition of his foes, South and North, he has bought twelve million acres of land, swept away two-thirds of his illiteracy, organized his church, and found leadership and a

absolute ethical contradiction, t

ation beside white men, then the South owes it to the world and to its better self to give the Negro every chance to prove this. To make the assertion dogmatically and then resort to all means which retard and restrict Neg

ial reception a matter worth consideration; few will gain the sobriety and industry which will deserve the ballot; and few will achieve such solid moral character as will give them welcome to the fellowship of the chu

t him in slavery owes him at least this chance; and the church which professes to follow Jesus Christ

ht against inertia, prejudice, and intrenched snobbery. But it is the duty of men, it is a duty of the church, to face the problem. Not only is it their duty to face it-they must face it, it is impossible not to, the very attempt to ignore it is assuming an attitude. It is a problem not simply

ts of an attitude of humility, of a desire for peace, of a disposition to treat our brothers as we would have our brothers treat us, of mercy and charity

e not peaceful nor peacefully inclined as our armies and battle-ships declare; we do not want to be martyrs, we would much rather be thieves and liars so long as we can be rich; we do not seek cont

m where these different tests of Christianity are most flagrantly disregarded, but it must begin by a girding of ourselves and a determ

hoice, not because I feel myself welcome within its portals, but simply because I refuse to be read outside of a church which is mine by inheritance and the service of my fathers. When the Episcopal church comes, as it does come to-day, to the Parting of the Ways, to the question as to whether its r

he differences that you make or are going to make in their treatment are made for their good or for the service of the world; do not entice them to ask for a separation which your unchristian conduct forces them to prefer; do not pretend that the distinctions which you make toward them are

ristian disunity far more distressing than sectarianism. I should therefore deplore it; and yet I am also free to say that unless this church is prepared to treat its Negro members with exactly the same consideration that other members receive, with the same brotherhood and fellowship, the same encouragement to aspiration, the sam

men, who wish the world better and work toward that end, should begin to see the real significance of this step and of the great

f you cannot get on with colored men in America you cannot get on with the modern world; and if you cannot wor

nfalteringly, for the sake of human liberty and the souls of his children's children. But as he stoops he will remember the indignation of that Jesus who cried, yonder behind heaving seas and years: "Woe unt

nd he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, c

TNO

"Right on th

," Atlanta University

O

TERS II

O CHAPT

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eteenth century. Between the years 1775 and 1825 occurred economic events and changes of the highest importance and widest influence. Though all branches of the industry felt the

that in England, the chief cotton market of the world, the consumption of raw cotton rose steadily from 13,000 bales in 1781, to 572,000 in 1820, to 871,000 in 1830, and to 3,366,000 in 1860. Very early, therefore, came the query whence the supply of raw cotton was to come. Tentative experiments on the rich, broad

the abnormal and fatal rise of a slave-labor, large-farming system, which, before it was realized, had so intertwined itself with and braced itself upon the economic forces of an industrial age, that a vast and terrible civil war was necessary to displace it. T

sion of the Slav

entions most graphicall

n Jay, fl

, spinning

Paul, card

ert Kay,

kwright, water-f

tt, stea

, improvements o

kwright, series

uel Compt

Cartwright,

e and Johnson, d

berts, f

Eaton, self-

rts, improvem

ufactures," pp. 116-23; "Encyclop?dia

te

any free person of color or slave to spell, read, or write, shall, upon convictio

o taught a slave to read or write twe

r printed characters, the same free person of color or slave shall be punished by fine and whipping, or fine or whipping, at the discretion of the court; and if

violated sometimes by individual masters, and clandestine schools were opened for Negroes in some of the cities before the war. In 1850 an

permit or cause to be taught any slave to read or write shall be

shall keep or teach any school for the instruction of Ne

ted by free Negroes up until 1835

it enacted, that all and every person and persons whatsoever who shall hereafter teach or cause any slave or slaves to be taught, or shall use or employ any slave as

ee person of color to read or write, such free person of color or slave shall be liable to the same fine, imprisonment and corporal punishment as by this act are imposed and inflicted o

in the day or night." Nevertheless free Negroes kept schools for themselves until the Nat Turner Insurrection, when it was enacted, 1831, that "all meetings of free Negroes or mulattoes at any school-house, chur

school, academy or other literary institution for the instruction or education of colored persons who are not inhabitants of this State, or harbor or board, for the purpose of attending or being taught or instructed in any such school, academy or literary institution any colored person who is not an inhabitant of

n the property of colored persons for school purposes should be appropriated to their instruction and no other purpose." This

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es' "Slav

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f, that over fifteen thousand slaves had been brought into this country during the past year (1859). He had seen, with his own eyes, three hundred of those recently-imported, miserable beings, in a slave-pen in Vicksburg, Miss., and also large numbers at Memphis, Tenn." It was currently reported that depots for these slaves existed in over twenty larg

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neys" and Helper's

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it in a haze of sentimental lies? We have near worshiped the Civil War for

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mechanic, or shopkeeper,' or any other trade or business on their own account without paying an annual license fee to the district judge. And no Negro could obtain a license who had not served a term of 'apprenticeship' at the trade. Tennessee also required lice

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l that time no man's rights of person were invaded under the forms of law." Thomas E. Miller, a Negro member of the late Constitutional Convention of South Carolina, said: "The gentleman from Edgefield (Mr. Tillman) speaks of the piling of the State debt; of jobbery and peculation during the period between 1869 and 1873 in South Carolina, but he has not found voice eloquent enough nor pen exact enough to mention those imperishable gifts bestowed upon South Carolina between 1873 and 1876 by Negro legislators-the laws relative to finance, the building of penal and charitable institutions,

ranchisement of

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rs and proceedings of the eighteenth Annual Mee

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Laws on Labo

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f Alabama,

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South Caroli

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ber 8, 12th Unit

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ginia rector. Let John Sharp Williams, minority

the fifteenth amendment were repealed. The fifteenth amendment touches it only on its political or voting side, where the trouble is cured already in the South. It is true that the Negro does vote in Ohio, Illinois and New Jersey and various other places. But the people of

under any circumstances. The verdict of the primary is then registered in a farce "election." In Atlanta, e.g., at the "election" 700 votes are cast in a city of 100,000! The success of the "white" primary depends of course (a) on the ill

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s; finally the attempt to renew the assault by a crowd mingled with county policemen, who were repulsed by a fierce defense by Negroes; these Negroes were afterward acq

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e miners in Alabama consist o

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he economic history of t

a Residence on a Georgia Plant

in the Sea Board Slave Stat

haracter, Career, and Probable Designs,"

8: "Negroes in United States," by W.F. Wi

ublications of the University

rade" (Harvard Historical Monograp

University

or Social Betterm

gro in Busines

egro Artisan,

e United States De

22, 32, 35,

t of the Industrial Com

the American Econom

O CHAPT

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sity Publications,

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r freedom, in order that diverse masters freed from this doubt may more

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f Negro Suffrage," Proceedings of the American

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, alas! what is the instruction of a few hundreds in several years with respect to the many thousands uninstructed, unconverted, living, dying, utter pagans. It must be confessed what hath been done is as nothing with regard to what a true Christian would hope to see effected." After stating several difficulties

6 1

0 1

1 1

6 1

aptists had 18,000 Negro members in 1793. As to the Episcopalians, the single s

n 'such as were frequently found in the South before the war.' The commission hope for 'real advance' among the colored people in so doing. We do not agree with the commission with respect to either the wisdom or the effi

ps and a large number of the clergy were always interested in the religious training of the slaves, yet as a m

re of the slaves. But despite all these efforts the Journals fail to record any great achievements along that line.... So faithful had been the work

te

he Negroes in the United States," Savannah, 1842.

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o the decrease in the pr

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s "Review," Vol. II, pp. 29, 184, 331

te

and Slavery," Balt. 1896; B

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rong minority. On the contrary the brave utterances of such men represent a very small and very weak minority-a minority which is growing very slowly and which can only hope for success by means of moral support from the outside. Such moral support has not been generally given; it i

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tlanta University Publica

te

hical and religious aspect of sl

ion of the Negroes in the United St

Race Problem in the South," Pamphl

ia, and Through Her of the Sout

de View of Slavery," Boston

life, experience and gospel labors of the Rt. Rev. Rich

erianism and Its Relation

egro and the Nation," N

-Slavery in Ameri

very," etc., with an introduction by

tory of Human Contrasts" (The problem of th

iversity P

egro Common Scho

Negro Church,

s on Negro Crim

," A record of personal observation. N.

e Souls of Black F

ess of the Friends Against Slavery and t

dred Years of the A

he Religious Society of Fr

of the A.M.E. Churc

e South," Washington, D.C., 1898. "Southe

e African

errors corre

d that' replaced w