Albert J. Raboteu’s, Slave Religion: The ‘Invisible Institution’ in the Antebellum South, seeks to provide an overview of the history and institution of slaves in American history. By providing samplings of hymns, songs, and stories of first hand accounts, Raboteu provides the reader with earnestness and a desire for self-reflection. In this paper I will provide a brief summary of Raboteu’s major themes and a short response.…
Ethically speaking, Douglass proved several points to include not only his ideals of the consequences of slavery, but the foreshadowing of abolitionism. Douglass would also frequently mentions religion and his beliefs on Christianity, and how it affected slavery. Ironically, the entire appendix is dedicated to persuade the context and how religion had an effect through slavery and himself. For example, Douglass retold a…
In Raboteau Slave Religion, Raboteau demonstrates the differences of African American spirituality from that of Europeans through showing the differences of how slavery manifested, rationalized and molded each belief system. In chapters three through six, the reader is brought on a journey through each religious world view to further understand the actions that made each “Christian”.…
The strength of the author’s argument is, “A central feature of Douglass’s battle over the symbolic construction of racial and national identity is the critique, ensconced within the Narrative of American religion” The weakness of the author’s argument is, “The famed northern abolitionist, William Lloyd Garrison, wrote the preface, which was meant, as John Sekora has remarked, to authenticate the Narrative by sealing Douglass’s “black” voice and “black” message inside of a “white” envelope” (Carter 20).…
Amid proslavery theologians leveraging biblical traditions for the justification of racial slavery, Wayland provided a principled argument for abolition which gave the Bible back, so to speak, to the antislavery cause. These arguments were noteworthy because, more than providing reasons for the injustice of the slave regime, they entailed a practical method for its gradual, civil, and safe abolition. Wayland set out to perform his hopes for a yet civilized society in his debate with proslavery advocates like Richard Fuller, believing in the powers of dialogue and pedagogy to reform US slave society. As a “prophet of practical orientation” who made these arguments in the context of political enmity and strife (Marsden 1996), Wayland has been celebrated for his unique contribution to the moral canons of US antebellum society, which, according to Mark Noll, amount to nothing less than the “signal moment in American moral history” (Noll…
In the antebellum South, slavery existed not only as an economic staple, but also was seen by many as a key component of the Christian religion. African-American slaves were subject to the will of their owners who believed the Bible supported their every action. As a slave himself, Frederick Douglass quickly realized that the ideals of Christianity strictly opposed the practice of slavery. The false form of this religion, explained as “The hypocritical Christianity of [the] land,” is practiced by whites, most notably Mr. Covey, and is a complete mockery of the true ideals behind genuine Christian thought (Douglass, 95). Douglass refutes Covey among others to expose the underlying hypocrisy of the slaveholding South while revealing his version…
Foremost, Douglass directly addresses Christianity in the South to emphasize how absurd it is for a slaveholder to be a “true Christian”. Douglass explains:…
The common accepted method to twist the words of scripture to meet with the lifestyle choice to participate in the slave-trade, negatively impacted African slaves and free African men. As the word of god, in the words of an African slave, says “your God, who says unto you, do unto all men as you would men should do unto you?” (34). As these types of cries for mercy…
Slavery is an evil institution that, once established, robs not only the humanity of the enslaved, but also the morality of the slaveholder. It deprives the slave’s natural desire for knowledge, and hypocritically denies a man of his God given right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, stated in the Declaration of Independence for the very country that enslaves him. Douglass uses specific examples, in the case of Hugh and Sophia Auld, Thomas Auld, Colonel Lloyd and Edward Covey, the slaveholders’ reliance on religion, and the harm caused to the slaves themselves, to show that although slavery is in itself a blatant disregard for human life, it also has drastic effects on the degradation of the slaveholder’s own morality.…
In his essay, “The Negro Has Always Wanted the Four Freedoms”, written in 1944, Charles Wesley proved why African Americans were denied these freedoms. Welsey claimed that they always wished for freedom of speech, but instead they were supposed to be silent. They also wanted to have freedom of religion, but in the past they were supposed to, “steal away to Jesus” “in order to worship God” ( Wesley, 204). In his essay, “Freedom of Worship” published in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1943, Will Durant spoke of freedom of religion in America in a different way.…
In the idea that the slaves and the whites have opposite effects in their lives on the same topics, we see this immensely when it comes to religion. Every time Douglass speaks on the topic of religion it seems that when it comes to what’s right and wrong in The Lord’s eyes the slaves are closer the God than the Christian slave owners. A good example is when Douglass…
In the fifth chapter, this thesis will assess the abolitionist effort to denounce the legitimacy of using the Bible to sanction southern slavery by arguing that biblical slavery was not based upon the inferiority of one race whereas southern slavery was based upon the inferiority of one race. In short, these abolitionists sought to highlight that southerners were using a book which sanctioned a system of slavery that was not based upon the inferiority of one race to sanction a system of slavery that was based upon the inferiority of one race. The Bible was being wrested from its original context to support something that it did not support. A very small number of Abolitionists such as Elijah Porter Barrows would make this argument. Barrows argued that in the Old Testament, the basis for slavery rested not on the idea that one race was inferior and thereby especially suited for slavery, but rather, anyone who was a foreigner to the Israelites, irrespective of race, was suitable for enslavement. Barrows would point out that if southerners, who likened themselves to the Israelites, were truly following the Biblical model of slavery, then they would have to permit the enslavement of many different…
“I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty- to wit, the white man’s power to enslave the black man” (Douglass, 364). From a very young age Douglass understood that the key to his freedom would be through the power of knowledge. One of the many luxuries slaves were deprived from in order to maintain them under control. It wasn’t until this moment where Douglass has his turning point, he described his discovery to be a “new and special revelation, explaining dark and mysterious things, which my youthful understanding struggled” His discovery was not something out of the ordinary or something that had not been thought of before but more of a pathway he had created for himself in order to gain his freedom. He used ambition to pursue his goals and to help other slaves around him gain their freedom as well. Douglass learned the cruelty that came along with religious men and their beliefs, he grouped religious people into two categories. There was those who were genuinely faithful Christians and were kind and followed the word of god, then there was those who used religion as an excuse to justify their actions with slaves. The hypocritical side of religion was cruel with slaves,…
Prior to the outbreak of the American Civil War, minority abolitionist groups based most prominently out of New England sought to end slavery and advocated for the political rights of all men. Under the preface of “law, humanity, and religion,” abolitionist such as the “Anti-Slavery Society” sought to reshape public opinion and guarantee the same civil and political rights enjoyed by white men for men of color. While these ideals are directly addressed in their 1832 Constitution, there remains little mention of improving or advocating for economic or social equality. Comparably, Jourdan Anderson’s 1865 letter illustrates a necessity for equality and freedom for African Americans, but intertwines a post-war vision of equality and freedom into economic and social spheres. Particularly, Anderson, after gaining his own political freedom through the 13th Amendment, sought to exert his economic right to contract and consistently addresses his former master as a…
Jones’ sermon largely goes along two paths; he alternately expresses sentiments of gratitude to many parties, and implores those listening and current slaves to live in a Christian manner. An interesting point of contention is that, although Jones makes it clear that he despises the practice of slavery, he does not directly rebuke those who practice it, or those who participated in the slave trade. In fact, he says, “Let us conduct ourselves in a manner as to furnish no cause of regret to the deliverers of our nation, for their kindness to us.” Jones seemingly states that Africans should be thankful for their deliverance to the United States, disregarding the circumstances upon which it happened. This mirrors an opinion by Phyllis Wheatley, who like Jones, was a free African in a Northern city. In Chapter Four of African Americans: A Concise History, it is said that although she lamented the sorrow her capture had caused her parents, she was grateful to have been brought to America and to become a Christian (Hines, Hines & Harrold 85). The opinions of these two free Africans bring forth the question of the effect that freedom had on the attitudes of Africans towards the…