At the beginning of the slave trade, African religious beliefs were varied, and more importantly, secret. Due to the Slave Code, slave religion was against the law. Most of the Slaves were Christian, but there were some that were Islamic.
Before the Civil War, Christianity had found it's way into slave religion. Not all of the slaves were Christian, and neither were all those who accepted Christianity members of a church, but the vision of life preached by Christianity were familiar to most people. The religion of the slaves were both seen and hidden, typically organized and easily adapted. Regular Sunday worship at the local church was illegal, so they held prayer meetings on weeknights in the slave cabins. Licensed preachers were reinforced by slave preachers only by the spirit. Quotes from the Bible, which most slaves couldn't read, were explained by verses from the spirituals. Slaves forbidden by masters to attend church, or in some cases, they were even forbidden to pray. They put their lives at risk, still attending their secret meetings. |
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