Negroes as Christian Ministers

The Negro preachers and their churches arose as a result of the Great Awakening' when people lost complete control of themselves and shouted and swooned because their sins were forgiven. Denominations were divided respecting the intense and repeated revivals which continued periodically in America for about one hundred years. The Episcopalians denounced them, and the Unitarians arose in protest from the Congregationalists. Notwithstanding, it was clear that only those Christians who were warmly evangelical, like the Baptists and the Methodists, could hope to influence the masses of the people, including the Negroes. White people did not continue to be extreme emotionalists, for during the revivals the majority of the American colleges were established for them in order that the gospel story might be told intelligently. Exciting religion became orthodox among Negro Christians, who had no colleges; and when they were permitted to secure the means of edification, they refused.2 Despite such a background there stood out from the ranks of the Negro exhorters ministers who were able to make a contribution to the religious life of the time. From the first they made Negroes race conscious. The earliest Negro organization was a

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