Chyna Cuthbertson
Professor Loftis
REL- 2090
13 November 2017
The African American Church
The African American is such an important institution for many reasons. The African
American church has been the backbone of African Americans and for many changes regarding
race and justice in America. Because Blacks were denied access to most institutions, the church
became, after the family, the Blacks’ most important institution, providing solace and solidarity,
a positive self-image, emotional and spiritual release, and an experimental model for leadership
(Jackson 2012). The African American church differs a lot from other churches. When I say
African American church, I am referring to The Church of Christ, AME, AME Zion etc. The African
American church contains the same aspects as other church’s such as worship, song, preaching,
and praise dancers but they also include a lot of other things such as political empowerment, an
emphasis on dressing within the church and the like a family connection they embody. I’m
going to discuss all those aspects in detail in this paper, I am also going to use the terms black
church and the African American church interchangeably throughout the paper. The African
American church is so idiosyncratic and something that everyone should be educated on.
I am going to begin by discussing the start of the African American church. Most people
understand that due to slavery Africans and African Americans were not able to establish
churches for themselves for a very long time. During slavery, blacks did sometimes have a very
small form of service, the service consisted of a designated black slave talking to a group of
people, not a very large group and it was overseen by one of the white overseers. It was very
intimate and small, but the holy spirit always found a way to touch the people and make it feel
like it 1,000 people attending. The Emancipation is what led to the development of the black
religion. People were able to finally able to meet in bigger numbers, spreading the word and
creating communities for networking. Baptist and Methodist are the two main denominations
did tremendous work for African Americans. African Africans were rejected from historically
white denominations such as the Baptist and Methodists (Hemeyer 2005). Blacks became fed
up with the separation, so they began to make their own buildings, so they could hold church
themselves. The first African American church was the First African Baptist Church. It is located
in Savannah, Georgia it was officially organized in 1788, it grew from members who founded a
congregation in 1773. It was founded by George Leile, a slave who in 1773 was the first African
American licensed by the Baptists to preach in Georgia. As the churches grew so did the distinct
style of praise and worship that black churches are known for today. Black churches have
withstood many tragedies, they have been burned down and bombed but still have such
significant meaning.
Next, I am going to discuss Empowerment through the Black church. The black church
has been such a great powerhouse for Blacks, it’s a place where individuals can come together
and talk about issues and support each other’s ideas. The black church has provided structure
and organization which allowed for organizations and businesses to be created. The black
church has created positive spiritual, social, economic and political results for African
Americans. the black church has and will always serve as a safe haven for African Americans, a
place to worship God together, and a place where we are motivated to rebuild our
communities (Hemyer,2005). There was a very important time in American History where the
black church had a very profound effect and that was during the civil rights movement. The civil
rights movement was a very pivotal point in history for blacks as well as the entire country.
Those years in history gave everyone hope, hope that one day we would all be equal, hope that
one-day racism and inequality will come to an end. The civil rights movement birthed some
great leaders which would become preachers and political activist that would create great
change. Empowerment is just one of the huge ways that the church has impacted the African
American community.
