Slave Preachers

After the American War for Independence, whites feared that slaves would use the Bible to seek freedom, education, or unity so they applied strict limits on black religious service. Once white slave owners realized that religion could serve as an excellent mechanism to control slaves, they allowed field blacks to attend services as long as they were accompanied by a white "overseer". Because owners did not want black field hands in their own churches, they built modest chapels for them on their plantations.

By the latter part of the 18th century, whites in many slave states decided to allow blacks to build their own churches and conduct their own religious services. This change of heart may have been motivated in part by a sincere desire to encourage the Christianizing of blacks, but the relentless push for increased control was never far from the surface. In response the independent services conducted by and for blacks, a national policy evolved requiring whites to select and license all black preachers. Dominant white society controlled black religion, its ministers, and churches. 

Catechisms for religious instruction of slaves commonly bore such passages as:

Q. Who gave you a master and a mistress?
A. God gave them to me.

Q. Who says that you must obey them?
A. God says that I must.

A black congregation had the potential of being a source of unrest, so slave owners allowed only the most pliable, compromising, and controllable blacks to become licensed as the ministerial head of black congregations. The licensed black ministers were expected to encourage their fellow black to be meek, obedient, and accepting of whites as masters. In this arrangement, blacks were to remain loyal to whites, and worldly gratification was postponed until after death.

The licensed black preachers were supposed to defer to secular authorities on political matters and avoid comments on the injustices blacks suffered. Since blacks could not develop businesses nor enter the professional ranks, the ministry became a business as well as a job. Black ministers began cropping up across the nation. Unlike in white communities, they became instant leaders. Popularity, respect and and income security came with the position. There were no educational requirements, only a social obligation to support the status quo between the races.

Sound Familiar???