FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[1]This dissertation was submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Faculty of Education of Columbia University in 1922.[2]I. The sources for this dissertation are:1.Public Documents.Senate:38 Cong., 1 Sess., Vol. 1, No. 1—Letter from freedmen's aid societies, Dec. 17, 1863.39 Cong., 1 Sess., Vol. 2, No. 27—Reports of assistant commissioners, Dec. 1, 1865, to March 6, 1866.39 Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 1, No. 6—Reports of assistant commissioners, Jan. 3, 1867.House Executive Documents.39 Cong., 1 Sess., Vol. 7, No. 11;39 Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 3, No. 1;40 Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 2, No. 1;40 Cong., 3 Sess., Vol. 3, No. 1;41 Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 6, No. 142;41 Cong., 3 Sess., Vol. 1, No. 1;42 Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 1, No. 1—Reports ofHoward as Commissioner, Dec. 1865-Dec. 1871.United States Statutes at Large, Vols. 13-17. (Boston).2. Reports of General Superintendent and the Societies. J. W. Alvord,Schools and Finances of Freedmen(Washington, 1866); J. W. Alvord,Semi-annual reports, 1867-'70; J. W. Alvord,Letters from the South, relating to the condition of freedmen, Addressed to General O. O. Howard(Washington, 1870); American Missionary Association,Annual report, 1862-1872; Educational Commission for freedmen,Annual report, No. 1, 1862-'63(Boston, 1863); and New England Freedmen's Aid Society,Annual report, No. 2, 1863-'64; New York National Freedmen's Relief Association,Annual report, 1865-'66(N. Y., 1866).Ibid.,Brief History with 4th annual report, 1865; Friends Association of Philadelphia for the Aid and Elevation of Freedmen,Annual report, 1866-71; Freedmen's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church,Annual report, 1869-'72; American Baptist Home Mission Society,Annual report, 1863-'72; and Board of Missions for Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church,Annual report, 1869-'70.3.Newspapers and Periodicals.The New York Times;The New York Tribune;The Charleston Daily Courier;The Darlington New Era;The Columbia Phoenix;The Nation.The Atlantic Monthly, vol. XII (Sept., 1863). Edward L. Pierce—"The Freedmen at Port Royal";Atlantic Monthly, vol. XII (May-June, 1864). Charlotte S. Forten,Life on the Sea Islands,The North American Review, vol. CI (July, 1865); William C. Gannet,The Freedmen at Port Royal;The Southern Workman, vol. XXX (July, 1901). Laura M. Towne,Pioneer Work on the Sea Islands;The American Missionary, 1862-'72, organ of the American Missionary Association;The American Freedman, 1866-'68 (incomplete), organ of American Freedmen's Union Commission;The National Freedman, 1865-66 (incomplete), organ of New York National Freedman's Relief Association;Pennsylvania Freedmen's Bulletin, 1866-'67 (incomplete), organ of Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association;Freedmen's Record and Freedmen's Journal, 1865-'68 (incomplete), organ of New England Freedmen's Aid Society;The Freedman, London, 1866 (incomplete), organ of London Freedmen's Aid Society; andThe Baptist Home Mission Monthly, 1878-'80, organ of American Baptist Home Mission Society.4.Diary, Reminiscences, and Autobiography.Eliza Ware Pearson (editor),Letters from Port Royal, written at the time of the Civil War(Boston, 1906); Rupert S. Holland (editor),Letters and Diary of Laura M. Towne, written from the sea islands of South Carolina, 1862-1884 (Cambridge, 1912); Henry N. Sherwood (editor),Journal of Mrs. Susan Walker, March 3d to June 6th, 1862.Quarterly publication of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, vol. 1, No. 1, 1912; Eliz Hyde Botume,First days among the Contrabands(Boston, 1893); Oliver O. Howard,Autobiography, 2 vols., vol. 2 (New York, 1907); and A. Toomer Porter,The History of a Work of Faith and Love in Charleston, S. C.(New York, 1882).5.Description and Travel.Charles Nordhoff,The Freedmen of South Carolina; some account of their appearance, condition and peculiar customs(New York, 1863); Whitelaw Reid,After the War, A Southern Tour, May 1, 1865, to May 1, 1866 (New York, 1866); and Sidney Andrews,The South Since the War as Shown by 14 Weeks Travel in Georgia and the Carolinas, 1866.II.Secondary Sources.Myrta L. Avary,Dixie After the War(New York, 1906); Laura J. Webster,Operation of the Freedmen's Bureau in South Carolina, Smith College Studies in History, vol. 1, 1915-'16; Paul S. Pierce,The Freedmen's Bureau, University of Iowa Studies(Iowa City, 1904); Thomas Jesse Jones,Negro Education, U. S. Bureau of Education, Bulletins, 1916, Nos. 38 and 39; Colyer Meriwether,History of Higher Education in South Carolina, U. S. Bureau of Education, Circular of Information, No. 3, 1888; William W. Sweet,The Methodist Episcopal Church and the Civil War(Cincinnati, 1912); Amory D. Mayo,Work of Northern Churches in the Education of the Freedmen. Advanced sheets. U. S. Bureau of Education.Chapter V, 1903; Bowyer Stewart,The Work of the Church in the South during the Period of Reconstruction(Episcopalian).Hale Memorial Sermon, 1913(Chicago, 1913); J. P. Hollis,Early Period of Reconstruction in South Carolina. Johns Hopkins University. History and Political Studies, 1905; Negro Year Book, 1918-'19(Tuskegee, Alabama);Charleston Year Book, 1880; and W. E. B. DuBois,Souls of Black Folk(Chicago, 1903).[3]Not to be confused with the more familiar Gen. W. T. Sherman mentioned later.[4]Gannet,North American Review, vol. 101 (1865), p. 2.[5]Laura M. Towne,Southern Workman, July, 1901, "Life on the Sea Islands";Journal of Mrs. Susan Walker; Charles Nordhoff,The Freedmen of South Carolina.[6]The Nation, vol. I (1865), p. 744. Sidney Andrews,The South Since the War, p. 228.[7]Charlotte S. Forten, inThe Atlantic Monthly, vol. XIII (May, 1864), p. 593; Botume,First Days among the Contrabands, p. 11.[8]New York National Freedmen's Relief Association,Annual Report, 1866, pp. 5-6.[9]Ibid., pp. 8-9.[10]Journal of Susan Walker, p. 11; Boston Ed. Commission,Annual Report, 1863, p. 7;Letters from Port Royal, pp. 2-3.[11]Pierce, inThe Atlantic Monthly, vol. XII, 1863, p. 299.[12]Ibid., p. 292.[13]Nordhoff,The Freedmen of South Carolina, p. 12.[14]Journal of Susan Walker, p. 14.[15]Congressional Globe, 41 Cong., 3 Sess., vol. I, No. 1.[16]J. W. Alvord,Fifth Semi-annual Report(Jan. 1, '68), p. 4.[17]New York Tribune, June 17, 1862.[18]"Cabins of slaves for religious meetings."[19]Botume,First Days among the Contrabands, p. 42.[20]The American Missionary, vol. VI (Aug., 1862), p. 186.[21]House Executive Documents, 41 Cong., 2 Sess., vol. VI, No. 142, p. 4.[22]Pierce, inThe Atlantic Monthly, vol. XII (1863), p. 303.[23]The Nation, vol. I (1865), p. 745.[24]Laura M. Towne,Southern Workman, July, 1901, p. 337. Nordhoff, p. 10.[25]"Oh, none in all the world beforeWere ever glad as we!We're free on Carolina's shore,We're all at home and free."We hear no more the driver's hornNo more the whip we fear,This holy day that saw Thee bornWas never half so dear."The very oaks are greener clad,The waters brighter smile;Oh, never shone a day so gladOn sweet St. Helen's Isle."Come once again, O blessed Lord!Come walking on the sea!And let the mainlands hear the wordThat sets the islands free!"See Pierce, inThe Atlantic Monthly, vol. XII, p. 305;Letters from Port Royal, p. 133.[26]The Nation, vol. I (1865), p. 747.[27]Botume,First Days among the Contrabands, p. 64.[28]The Nation, vol. I (1865), p. 746.[29]N. E. Freedman's Aid Society,Annual Report, 1864, p. 15.[30]Senate Executive Documents, 38 Cong., 1 Sess., vol. I, No. 1, pp. 2-6.[31]House Executive Documents, 41 Cong., 2 Sess., vol. VI, No. 142, p. 11.[32]Ibid., 39 Cong., 1 Sess., vol. VII, No. 11, p. 49.[33]National Freedman, Oct., 1865, p. 300.[34]Howard,Autobiography, vol. II, p. 221.[35]Statutes at Large, XIV, p. 176.[36]Ibid., p. 486.[37]U. S. Bureau of Ed. Bulletin, 1916, No. 38, pp. 269-271;Annual Reports of Societies, 1863-1868.[38]The Freedmen's Record(1865-1874), quoted inBulletin, 1916, No. 38, p. 297.[39]The Freedman, August, 1865, p. 12.[40]J. W. Alvord,Semi-annual Report, July 1, 1869, p. 81.[41]W. W. Sweet,Methodist Episcopal Church and the Civil War, p. 175.[42]A. D. Mayo,Northern Churches and the Freedmen, p. 300.[43]A. D. Mayo,Northern Churches and the Freedmen, p. 291.[44]U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin(1916), No. 39, p. 16.[45]National Freedman, May 1, 1865, p. 122;Ibid., April 30, 1865, p. 150.American Freedman, May, 1866, p. 29.[46]Charleston Year Book(1880), p. 122.[47]See Carter G. Woodson,Education of the Negro Prior to 1861, p. 129.[48]Sidney Andrews,The South Since the War, p. 98.[49]National Freedman, June 1, 1865, p. 150.[50]National Freedman, Nov. 15, 1865, p. 314;Ibid., May, 1866, pp. 139-140.[51]J. W. Alvord,Report, Jan. 1, 1868, p. 27.American Freedman, July-August, 1868, p. 442.[52]The American Freedman, May, 1866, p. 261. This does not, however, indicate in all cases the number of schools at each town.[53]The school at Camden increased in size the next year.[54]J. W. Alvord,Report, Jan. 1, 1870, p. 25.[55]Freedmen's Aid Society of the M. E. Church,Annual Report, 1871, pp. 19-20.[56]Mayo,Northern Churches and the Freedmen, p. 300.[57]Letters and Diary of Laura M. Towne, p. 221.[58]American Missionary Ass'n Annual Report, 1870, p. 221.[59]History of the A. M. A., p. 36;Annual Report, 1868, p. 47; Mayo, p. 287.[60]The Nation, vol. 1 (1865), p. 778.[61]American Baptist Home Mission Society,Annual Report, 1872, p. 26.[62]Merriwether,History of Higher Education in South Carolina, p. 125;Annual Report(1872)F. A. S., p. 17.[63]Charleston Year Book(1880), pp. 126-127;Annual Report(1870)Presbyterian Committee, p. 12.[64]Porter,Work of Faith and Love, p. 6; Stewart,Work of the Church during Reconstruction, p. 63.[65]Annual Report(1866)Friends Ass'n, p. 8.[66]A. M. A. Annual Report(1864), p. 16.[67]Freedmen's Journal, Jan. 1, 1865, p. 3.[68]Ibid., p. 7.[69]National Freedman, Feb., 1866, p. 49.[70]Letters from Port Royal;Letters and Diary of Laura M. Towne.[71]Pennsylvania Freedmen's Bulletin, Oct., 1866, p. 1.[72]Baptist Home Mission Monthly(1879), p. 6.[73]Columbia Phoenix, March 21, 1865.[74]Merriwether,History of Higher Education in South Carolina, p. 115.[75]House Executive Documents, 39 Cong., 1 Sess., vol. VII, No. 11, p. 13.[76]J. W. Alvord,Semi-annual Report(July 1, 1867), p. 25.[77]The Nation, vol. III, Oct. 25, 1866.[78]Alvord,Semi-annual Report(Jan. 1, 1870), p. 26.[79]The New Era, July 28, 1865.[80]Alvord,Report, Aug. 6, 1866, p. 5.[81]New York Times, Aug. 14, 1866.[82]Porter,Work of Faith and Love, p. 6;The Nation, vol. II (1866); p. 770.[83]Charleston Courier, Feb. 15, 1867;American Freedman, April, 1867, p. 204.[84]The school referred to here is the one already mentioned, the Penn Normal and Agricultural School. It is an excellent community school and one especially fitted for St. Helena, the population of which is still largely colored. SeeUnited States Bureau of Education Bulletin(1916), No. 39, p. 483. Miss Towne remained in service 39 years, Miss Schofield 48 years, and Miss Munro at Mt. Pleasant 45 years.[85]United States Census, 1860.[86]Hurd,Law of Freedom and Bondage, II, p. 98.[87]Baptist Home Mission Monthly, June, 1879, p. 182.[88]Freedmen's Record, April, 1868, p. 50.[89]Freedmen's Aid Society,Annual Report(1871), p. 13.[90]H. Ex. Docs., 40 Cong., 2 Sess., vol. II, No. 1, p. 8.[91]J. W. Alvord,Report on Schools and Finances of Freedmen, July, 1866, p. 6.[92]American Freedman, July, 1868, p. 446.[93]National Freedman, Oct., 1865, p. 299.[94]Whitelaw Reid,After the War, pp. 89-91.[95]National Freedman, June, 1866, p. 169.[96]Freedmen's Record, April, 1868, p. 52.[97]Anderson Intelligencer, July, 1867, quoted inThe American Freedman, Aug., 1867, p. 264.[98]American Freedman, Feb., 1867, p. 168.[99]Letters from Port Royal, p. 37;The Freedmen's Journal, Jan. 1, 1865, pp. 13-15; W. C. Gannet,North American Review, vol. CI (1865), p. 24.[100]Pierce, inAtlantic Monthly, vol. 12 (1863), p. 305.[101]A. M. A. Annual Report, 1866, p. 27; 1867, pp. 32-33;National Freedman, May, 1866, p. 142.

[1]This dissertation was submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Faculty of Education of Columbia University in 1922.

[2]I. The sources for this dissertation are:1.Public Documents.Senate:38 Cong., 1 Sess., Vol. 1, No. 1—Letter from freedmen's aid societies, Dec. 17, 1863.39 Cong., 1 Sess., Vol. 2, No. 27—Reports of assistant commissioners, Dec. 1, 1865, to March 6, 1866.39 Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 1, No. 6—Reports of assistant commissioners, Jan. 3, 1867.House Executive Documents.39 Cong., 1 Sess., Vol. 7, No. 11;39 Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 3, No. 1;40 Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 2, No. 1;40 Cong., 3 Sess., Vol. 3, No. 1;41 Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 6, No. 142;41 Cong., 3 Sess., Vol. 1, No. 1;42 Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 1, No. 1—Reports ofHoward as Commissioner, Dec. 1865-Dec. 1871.United States Statutes at Large, Vols. 13-17. (Boston).2. Reports of General Superintendent and the Societies. J. W. Alvord,Schools and Finances of Freedmen(Washington, 1866); J. W. Alvord,Semi-annual reports, 1867-'70; J. W. Alvord,Letters from the South, relating to the condition of freedmen, Addressed to General O. O. Howard(Washington, 1870); American Missionary Association,Annual report, 1862-1872; Educational Commission for freedmen,Annual report, No. 1, 1862-'63(Boston, 1863); and New England Freedmen's Aid Society,Annual report, No. 2, 1863-'64; New York National Freedmen's Relief Association,Annual report, 1865-'66(N. Y., 1866).Ibid.,Brief History with 4th annual report, 1865; Friends Association of Philadelphia for the Aid and Elevation of Freedmen,Annual report, 1866-71; Freedmen's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church,Annual report, 1869-'72; American Baptist Home Mission Society,Annual report, 1863-'72; and Board of Missions for Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church,Annual report, 1869-'70.3.Newspapers and Periodicals.The New York Times;The New York Tribune;The Charleston Daily Courier;The Darlington New Era;The Columbia Phoenix;The Nation.The Atlantic Monthly, vol. XII (Sept., 1863). Edward L. Pierce—"The Freedmen at Port Royal";Atlantic Monthly, vol. XII (May-June, 1864). Charlotte S. Forten,Life on the Sea Islands,The North American Review, vol. CI (July, 1865); William C. Gannet,The Freedmen at Port Royal;The Southern Workman, vol. XXX (July, 1901). Laura M. Towne,Pioneer Work on the Sea Islands;The American Missionary, 1862-'72, organ of the American Missionary Association;The American Freedman, 1866-'68 (incomplete), organ of American Freedmen's Union Commission;The National Freedman, 1865-66 (incomplete), organ of New York National Freedman's Relief Association;Pennsylvania Freedmen's Bulletin, 1866-'67 (incomplete), organ of Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association;Freedmen's Record and Freedmen's Journal, 1865-'68 (incomplete), organ of New England Freedmen's Aid Society;The Freedman, London, 1866 (incomplete), organ of London Freedmen's Aid Society; andThe Baptist Home Mission Monthly, 1878-'80, organ of American Baptist Home Mission Society.4.Diary, Reminiscences, and Autobiography.Eliza Ware Pearson (editor),Letters from Port Royal, written at the time of the Civil War(Boston, 1906); Rupert S. Holland (editor),Letters and Diary of Laura M. Towne, written from the sea islands of South Carolina, 1862-1884 (Cambridge, 1912); Henry N. Sherwood (editor),Journal of Mrs. Susan Walker, March 3d to June 6th, 1862.Quarterly publication of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, vol. 1, No. 1, 1912; Eliz Hyde Botume,First days among the Contrabands(Boston, 1893); Oliver O. Howard,Autobiography, 2 vols., vol. 2 (New York, 1907); and A. Toomer Porter,The History of a Work of Faith and Love in Charleston, S. C.(New York, 1882).5.Description and Travel.Charles Nordhoff,The Freedmen of South Carolina; some account of their appearance, condition and peculiar customs(New York, 1863); Whitelaw Reid,After the War, A Southern Tour, May 1, 1865, to May 1, 1866 (New York, 1866); and Sidney Andrews,The South Since the War as Shown by 14 Weeks Travel in Georgia and the Carolinas, 1866.II.Secondary Sources.Myrta L. Avary,Dixie After the War(New York, 1906); Laura J. Webster,Operation of the Freedmen's Bureau in South Carolina, Smith College Studies in History, vol. 1, 1915-'16; Paul S. Pierce,The Freedmen's Bureau, University of Iowa Studies(Iowa City, 1904); Thomas Jesse Jones,Negro Education, U. S. Bureau of Education, Bulletins, 1916, Nos. 38 and 39; Colyer Meriwether,History of Higher Education in South Carolina, U. S. Bureau of Education, Circular of Information, No. 3, 1888; William W. Sweet,The Methodist Episcopal Church and the Civil War(Cincinnati, 1912); Amory D. Mayo,Work of Northern Churches in the Education of the Freedmen. Advanced sheets. U. S. Bureau of Education.Chapter V, 1903; Bowyer Stewart,The Work of the Church in the South during the Period of Reconstruction(Episcopalian).Hale Memorial Sermon, 1913(Chicago, 1913); J. P. Hollis,Early Period of Reconstruction in South Carolina. Johns Hopkins University. History and Political Studies, 1905; Negro Year Book, 1918-'19(Tuskegee, Alabama);Charleston Year Book, 1880; and W. E. B. DuBois,Souls of Black Folk(Chicago, 1903).

[2]I. The sources for this dissertation are:

1.Public Documents.Senate:38 Cong., 1 Sess., Vol. 1, No. 1—Letter from freedmen's aid societies, Dec. 17, 1863.39 Cong., 1 Sess., Vol. 2, No. 27—Reports of assistant commissioners, Dec. 1, 1865, to March 6, 1866.39 Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 1, No. 6—Reports of assistant commissioners, Jan. 3, 1867.House Executive Documents.39 Cong., 1 Sess., Vol. 7, No. 11;39 Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 3, No. 1;40 Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 2, No. 1;40 Cong., 3 Sess., Vol. 3, No. 1;41 Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 6, No. 142;41 Cong., 3 Sess., Vol. 1, No. 1;42 Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 1, No. 1—Reports ofHoward as Commissioner, Dec. 1865-Dec. 1871.United States Statutes at Large, Vols. 13-17. (Boston).

2. Reports of General Superintendent and the Societies. J. W. Alvord,Schools and Finances of Freedmen(Washington, 1866); J. W. Alvord,Semi-annual reports, 1867-'70; J. W. Alvord,Letters from the South, relating to the condition of freedmen, Addressed to General O. O. Howard(Washington, 1870); American Missionary Association,Annual report, 1862-1872; Educational Commission for freedmen,Annual report, No. 1, 1862-'63(Boston, 1863); and New England Freedmen's Aid Society,Annual report, No. 2, 1863-'64; New York National Freedmen's Relief Association,Annual report, 1865-'66(N. Y., 1866).Ibid.,Brief History with 4th annual report, 1865; Friends Association of Philadelphia for the Aid and Elevation of Freedmen,Annual report, 1866-71; Freedmen's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church,Annual report, 1869-'72; American Baptist Home Mission Society,Annual report, 1863-'72; and Board of Missions for Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church,Annual report, 1869-'70.

3.Newspapers and Periodicals.The New York Times;The New York Tribune;The Charleston Daily Courier;The Darlington New Era;The Columbia Phoenix;The Nation.The Atlantic Monthly, vol. XII (Sept., 1863). Edward L. Pierce—"The Freedmen at Port Royal";Atlantic Monthly, vol. XII (May-June, 1864). Charlotte S. Forten,Life on the Sea Islands,The North American Review, vol. CI (July, 1865); William C. Gannet,The Freedmen at Port Royal;The Southern Workman, vol. XXX (July, 1901). Laura M. Towne,Pioneer Work on the Sea Islands;The American Missionary, 1862-'72, organ of the American Missionary Association;The American Freedman, 1866-'68 (incomplete), organ of American Freedmen's Union Commission;The National Freedman, 1865-66 (incomplete), organ of New York National Freedman's Relief Association;Pennsylvania Freedmen's Bulletin, 1866-'67 (incomplete), organ of Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association;Freedmen's Record and Freedmen's Journal, 1865-'68 (incomplete), organ of New England Freedmen's Aid Society;The Freedman, London, 1866 (incomplete), organ of London Freedmen's Aid Society; andThe Baptist Home Mission Monthly, 1878-'80, organ of American Baptist Home Mission Society.

4.Diary, Reminiscences, and Autobiography.Eliza Ware Pearson (editor),Letters from Port Royal, written at the time of the Civil War(Boston, 1906); Rupert S. Holland (editor),Letters and Diary of Laura M. Towne, written from the sea islands of South Carolina, 1862-1884 (Cambridge, 1912); Henry N. Sherwood (editor),Journal of Mrs. Susan Walker, March 3d to June 6th, 1862.Quarterly publication of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, vol. 1, No. 1, 1912; Eliz Hyde Botume,First days among the Contrabands(Boston, 1893); Oliver O. Howard,Autobiography, 2 vols., vol. 2 (New York, 1907); and A. Toomer Porter,The History of a Work of Faith and Love in Charleston, S. C.(New York, 1882).

5.Description and Travel.Charles Nordhoff,The Freedmen of South Carolina; some account of their appearance, condition and peculiar customs(New York, 1863); Whitelaw Reid,After the War, A Southern Tour, May 1, 1865, to May 1, 1866 (New York, 1866); and Sidney Andrews,The South Since the War as Shown by 14 Weeks Travel in Georgia and the Carolinas, 1866.

II.Secondary Sources.Myrta L. Avary,Dixie After the War(New York, 1906); Laura J. Webster,Operation of the Freedmen's Bureau in South Carolina, Smith College Studies in History, vol. 1, 1915-'16; Paul S. Pierce,The Freedmen's Bureau, University of Iowa Studies(Iowa City, 1904); Thomas Jesse Jones,Negro Education, U. S. Bureau of Education, Bulletins, 1916, Nos. 38 and 39; Colyer Meriwether,History of Higher Education in South Carolina, U. S. Bureau of Education, Circular of Information, No. 3, 1888; William W. Sweet,The Methodist Episcopal Church and the Civil War(Cincinnati, 1912); Amory D. Mayo,Work of Northern Churches in the Education of the Freedmen. Advanced sheets. U. S. Bureau of Education.Chapter V, 1903; Bowyer Stewart,The Work of the Church in the South during the Period of Reconstruction(Episcopalian).Hale Memorial Sermon, 1913(Chicago, 1913); J. P. Hollis,Early Period of Reconstruction in South Carolina. Johns Hopkins University. History and Political Studies, 1905; Negro Year Book, 1918-'19(Tuskegee, Alabama);Charleston Year Book, 1880; and W. E. B. DuBois,Souls of Black Folk(Chicago, 1903).

[3]Not to be confused with the more familiar Gen. W. T. Sherman mentioned later.

[4]Gannet,North American Review, vol. 101 (1865), p. 2.

[5]Laura M. Towne,Southern Workman, July, 1901, "Life on the Sea Islands";Journal of Mrs. Susan Walker; Charles Nordhoff,The Freedmen of South Carolina.

[6]The Nation, vol. I (1865), p. 744. Sidney Andrews,The South Since the War, p. 228.

[7]Charlotte S. Forten, inThe Atlantic Monthly, vol. XIII (May, 1864), p. 593; Botume,First Days among the Contrabands, p. 11.

[8]New York National Freedmen's Relief Association,Annual Report, 1866, pp. 5-6.

[9]Ibid., pp. 8-9.

[10]Journal of Susan Walker, p. 11; Boston Ed. Commission,Annual Report, 1863, p. 7;Letters from Port Royal, pp. 2-3.

[11]Pierce, inThe Atlantic Monthly, vol. XII, 1863, p. 299.

[12]Ibid., p. 292.

[13]Nordhoff,The Freedmen of South Carolina, p. 12.

[14]Journal of Susan Walker, p. 14.

[15]Congressional Globe, 41 Cong., 3 Sess., vol. I, No. 1.

[16]J. W. Alvord,Fifth Semi-annual Report(Jan. 1, '68), p. 4.

[17]New York Tribune, June 17, 1862.

[18]"Cabins of slaves for religious meetings."

[19]Botume,First Days among the Contrabands, p. 42.

[20]The American Missionary, vol. VI (Aug., 1862), p. 186.

[21]House Executive Documents, 41 Cong., 2 Sess., vol. VI, No. 142, p. 4.

[22]Pierce, inThe Atlantic Monthly, vol. XII (1863), p. 303.

[23]The Nation, vol. I (1865), p. 745.

[24]Laura M. Towne,Southern Workman, July, 1901, p. 337. Nordhoff, p. 10.

[25]"Oh, none in all the world beforeWere ever glad as we!We're free on Carolina's shore,We're all at home and free."We hear no more the driver's hornNo more the whip we fear,This holy day that saw Thee bornWas never half so dear."The very oaks are greener clad,The waters brighter smile;Oh, never shone a day so gladOn sweet St. Helen's Isle."Come once again, O blessed Lord!Come walking on the sea!And let the mainlands hear the wordThat sets the islands free!"See Pierce, inThe Atlantic Monthly, vol. XII, p. 305;Letters from Port Royal, p. 133.

[25]

"Oh, none in all the world beforeWere ever glad as we!We're free on Carolina's shore,We're all at home and free."We hear no more the driver's hornNo more the whip we fear,This holy day that saw Thee bornWas never half so dear."The very oaks are greener clad,The waters brighter smile;Oh, never shone a day so gladOn sweet St. Helen's Isle."Come once again, O blessed Lord!Come walking on the sea!And let the mainlands hear the wordThat sets the islands free!"

"Oh, none in all the world beforeWere ever glad as we!We're free on Carolina's shore,We're all at home and free.

"Oh, none in all the world before

Were ever glad as we!

We're free on Carolina's shore,

We're all at home and free.

"We hear no more the driver's hornNo more the whip we fear,This holy day that saw Thee bornWas never half so dear.

"We hear no more the driver's horn

No more the whip we fear,

This holy day that saw Thee born

Was never half so dear.

"The very oaks are greener clad,The waters brighter smile;Oh, never shone a day so gladOn sweet St. Helen's Isle.

"The very oaks are greener clad,

The waters brighter smile;

Oh, never shone a day so glad

On sweet St. Helen's Isle.

"Come once again, O blessed Lord!Come walking on the sea!And let the mainlands hear the wordThat sets the islands free!"

"Come once again, O blessed Lord!

Come walking on the sea!

And let the mainlands hear the word

That sets the islands free!"

See Pierce, inThe Atlantic Monthly, vol. XII, p. 305;Letters from Port Royal, p. 133.

[26]The Nation, vol. I (1865), p. 747.

[27]Botume,First Days among the Contrabands, p. 64.

[28]The Nation, vol. I (1865), p. 746.

[29]N. E. Freedman's Aid Society,Annual Report, 1864, p. 15.

[30]Senate Executive Documents, 38 Cong., 1 Sess., vol. I, No. 1, pp. 2-6.

[31]House Executive Documents, 41 Cong., 2 Sess., vol. VI, No. 142, p. 11.

[32]Ibid., 39 Cong., 1 Sess., vol. VII, No. 11, p. 49.

[33]National Freedman, Oct., 1865, p. 300.

[34]Howard,Autobiography, vol. II, p. 221.

[35]Statutes at Large, XIV, p. 176.

[36]Ibid., p. 486.

[37]U. S. Bureau of Ed. Bulletin, 1916, No. 38, pp. 269-271;Annual Reports of Societies, 1863-1868.

[38]The Freedmen's Record(1865-1874), quoted inBulletin, 1916, No. 38, p. 297.

[39]The Freedman, August, 1865, p. 12.

[40]J. W. Alvord,Semi-annual Report, July 1, 1869, p. 81.

[41]W. W. Sweet,Methodist Episcopal Church and the Civil War, p. 175.

[42]A. D. Mayo,Northern Churches and the Freedmen, p. 300.

[43]A. D. Mayo,Northern Churches and the Freedmen, p. 291.

[44]U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin(1916), No. 39, p. 16.

[45]National Freedman, May 1, 1865, p. 122;Ibid., April 30, 1865, p. 150.American Freedman, May, 1866, p. 29.

[46]Charleston Year Book(1880), p. 122.

[47]See Carter G. Woodson,Education of the Negro Prior to 1861, p. 129.

[48]Sidney Andrews,The South Since the War, p. 98.

[49]National Freedman, June 1, 1865, p. 150.

[50]National Freedman, Nov. 15, 1865, p. 314;Ibid., May, 1866, pp. 139-140.

[51]J. W. Alvord,Report, Jan. 1, 1868, p. 27.American Freedman, July-August, 1868, p. 442.

[52]The American Freedman, May, 1866, p. 261. This does not, however, indicate in all cases the number of schools at each town.

[53]The school at Camden increased in size the next year.

[54]J. W. Alvord,Report, Jan. 1, 1870, p. 25.

[55]Freedmen's Aid Society of the M. E. Church,Annual Report, 1871, pp. 19-20.

[56]Mayo,Northern Churches and the Freedmen, p. 300.

[57]Letters and Diary of Laura M. Towne, p. 221.

[58]American Missionary Ass'n Annual Report, 1870, p. 221.

[59]History of the A. M. A., p. 36;Annual Report, 1868, p. 47; Mayo, p. 287.

[60]The Nation, vol. 1 (1865), p. 778.

[61]American Baptist Home Mission Society,Annual Report, 1872, p. 26.

[62]Merriwether,History of Higher Education in South Carolina, p. 125;Annual Report(1872)F. A. S., p. 17.

[63]Charleston Year Book(1880), pp. 126-127;Annual Report(1870)Presbyterian Committee, p. 12.

[64]Porter,Work of Faith and Love, p. 6; Stewart,Work of the Church during Reconstruction, p. 63.

[65]Annual Report(1866)Friends Ass'n, p. 8.

[66]A. M. A. Annual Report(1864), p. 16.

[67]Freedmen's Journal, Jan. 1, 1865, p. 3.

[68]Ibid., p. 7.

[69]National Freedman, Feb., 1866, p. 49.

[70]Letters from Port Royal;Letters and Diary of Laura M. Towne.

[71]Pennsylvania Freedmen's Bulletin, Oct., 1866, p. 1.

[72]Baptist Home Mission Monthly(1879), p. 6.

[73]Columbia Phoenix, March 21, 1865.

[74]Merriwether,History of Higher Education in South Carolina, p. 115.

[75]House Executive Documents, 39 Cong., 1 Sess., vol. VII, No. 11, p. 13.

[76]J. W. Alvord,Semi-annual Report(July 1, 1867), p. 25.

[77]The Nation, vol. III, Oct. 25, 1866.

[78]Alvord,Semi-annual Report(Jan. 1, 1870), p. 26.

[79]The New Era, July 28, 1865.

[80]Alvord,Report, Aug. 6, 1866, p. 5.

[81]New York Times, Aug. 14, 1866.

[82]Porter,Work of Faith and Love, p. 6;The Nation, vol. II (1866); p. 770.

[83]Charleston Courier, Feb. 15, 1867;American Freedman, April, 1867, p. 204.

[84]The school referred to here is the one already mentioned, the Penn Normal and Agricultural School. It is an excellent community school and one especially fitted for St. Helena, the population of which is still largely colored. SeeUnited States Bureau of Education Bulletin(1916), No. 39, p. 483. Miss Towne remained in service 39 years, Miss Schofield 48 years, and Miss Munro at Mt. Pleasant 45 years.

[85]United States Census, 1860.

[86]Hurd,Law of Freedom and Bondage, II, p. 98.

[87]Baptist Home Mission Monthly, June, 1879, p. 182.

[88]Freedmen's Record, April, 1868, p. 50.

[89]Freedmen's Aid Society,Annual Report(1871), p. 13.

[90]H. Ex. Docs., 40 Cong., 2 Sess., vol. II, No. 1, p. 8.

[91]J. W. Alvord,Report on Schools and Finances of Freedmen, July, 1866, p. 6.

[92]American Freedman, July, 1868, p. 446.

[93]National Freedman, Oct., 1865, p. 299.

[94]Whitelaw Reid,After the War, pp. 89-91.

[95]National Freedman, June, 1866, p. 169.

[96]Freedmen's Record, April, 1868, p. 52.

[97]Anderson Intelligencer, July, 1867, quoted inThe American Freedman, Aug., 1867, p. 264.

[98]American Freedman, Feb., 1867, p. 168.

[99]Letters from Port Royal, p. 37;The Freedmen's Journal, Jan. 1, 1865, pp. 13-15; W. C. Gannet,North American Review, vol. CI (1865), p. 24.

[100]Pierce, inAtlantic Monthly, vol. 12 (1863), p. 305.

[101]A. M. A. Annual Report, 1866, p. 27; 1867, pp. 32-33;National Freedman, May, 1866, p. 142.

I propose to discuss the religious behavior of the American Negro slave, between 1619 and the close of the Civil War, first, by a brief discussion of the religion of the tribes in Africa, and the tendency of the old habits and traditions to maintain themselves among the American slave; second, by a consideration of what the slave found in America, and his contact with another religious culture called Christianity; and third, by a description of the slave's reaction to a Christian environment, or what the slave's religious behavior really was.[1]My thesis is that the religion of Africa disappeared from the consciousness of the American slave; that the slave himself, by contact with a new environment, became a decidedly different person, having a new religion, a primitive Christianity, with the central emphasis, not upon this world, but upon heaven.[2]

My task is to show that the religion of the Negro slave between 1619 and the Civil War did not originate in Africa, but was something totally different from the prevailing religion of the black continent in that it placed emphasis upon heaven; and that this distinctive element in the religion of the slave grew out of his contact with Christianity in America. In taking this position I have tried to give due weight to those considerations which tend to support a contrary position, such as the inertia of African habits and traditions in the life of the American slave, and the hostile tendency of his social surroundings to religious development.[3]On the other hand, I have considered the disintegratingeffects of the American slave system upon black groups that originated in Africa, together with the American slave's new social contacts, which produced in him the religious attitude found, and out of which arose the early slave-preacher and church. Finally, I have attempted to show that the naive imagery and emphasis in the "spirituals" are selected elements that helped the slave adjust himself to his particular world.

Our beginning is with the prevailing religion of Africa, Fetishism. Authorities use the term "Fetishism" as the "(a) worship of inanimate objects, often regarded as purely African; (b) Negro religion in general; (c) the worship of inanimate objects conceived as the residence of spirits not inseparably bound up with, nor originally connected with, such objects; (d) the doctrine of spirits embodied in, or attached to, or conceiving influence through certain material objects;[4](e) the use of charms, which are not worshipped,but derive their magical power from a god or spirit; (f) the use as charms of objects regarded as magically potent in themselves."

All of the elements embodied in this definition are found, generally, in the primitive religions of the African peoples. Believing that persons and objects of this world were inhabited by spirits, the African necessarily accounted for the phenomena of the universe by the arbitrary will of spiritual beings, whom he feared, and, therefore, worshipped, or sought to control by magic. Unable thus to find companionship with these unseen, mysterious personalities, the men of Africa knew no land of sunshine beyond the dreadful shadow of the grave; but the American slave, who experienced death as a short period of darkness before a day of eternal glory, did not inherit the fears of Africa.

Now what did the slave bring from Africa? In answering this question let us consider what is commonly referred to as the inertia of African heritage. American missionaries reported that it was harder to teach the slaves who were born in Africa than those born in this country. This quotation from the Calendar of State Papers, Colonial America and West Indies, 1699, Section 473, supports this view: "Negroes born in this country were generally baptized, but for Negroes imported, the gross barbarity and rudeness of their manners, the variety and strangeness of their language, and the weakness and shallowness of their minds rendered it in a manner impossible to attain to any progress in their conversion."[5]

Two definite cases bear a similar testimony, the one being that of Phyllis Wheatley, a girl brought here from Africa, who spoke of how her mother there worshipped the rising sun, the other, this story related by a man concerning his grandfather: "He was an old man, nearly 80 years old," he said, "and he manifested all the fondness for me that I could expect from one so old.... He always expressed contempt for his fellow slaves, for when young he was an African of rank.... He had singular religious notions,never going to meeting, or caring for the preachers he could, if he would, occasionally hear. He retained his native traditions respecting the deity and hereafter."[6]

Other cases, though few, clearly demonstrate that among the American slaves also there existed a belief in ghosts and a lurking fear of the denizens of a mysterious world. But what was religion in Africa was generally regarded by the American slaves themselves as mere superstition.

The hostility of masters to new slave-contacts had some bearing on the situation. Whatever superstition, whether from Africa or another source, we find among the slaves, had a tendency to maintain itself the more because of the attitude of some masters toward the religious education of their bondmen. Slaves of those owners, who, through love of money, were indifferent toward education, encouraged in vice and superstition, had no time for religious training. Although, ever since 1619, and especially after the rebellion of Nat Turner, there were some slaves whose eagerness to learn occasioned State-laws against the education or assembling of slaves, nevertheless, during the entire period there was a countless number of slaves who were absolutely disinterested in their own education. They were also handicapped in religious advancement, because many owners believed that baptism made the slave free, which belief was prevalently held until 1729, when the Christian nations finally reached the decision that baptism did not mean manumission, and that even a Christian could be a slave.[7]Such a sentiment against the contact of slaves with the Christian religion, beyond doubt, tended to keep them in ignorance and superstition, and to develop among them religious habits and attitudes peculiar to an isolated group, but the point can be over-emphasized, in view of all that actually happened.

Dr. Park says: "Coming from all parts of Africa and having no common language, and common tradition, the memories of Africa which they brought with them weresoon lost.... The fact that the Negro brought with him from Africa so little tradition which he was able to transmit and perpetuate on American soil makes that race unique among all peoples of our cosmopolitan population."[8]In connection herewith, moreover, we must also take into account that slave-groups, upon reaching America, were broken up and the members thereof sold into different parts of the country, where new habits had to be formed, because of a different environment. Contrasting the life in Africa with that of slaves in America, Washington better expresses the idea in these words: "The porters, carrying their loads along the narrow forest paths, sing of the loved ones in their far-away homes. In the evening the people of the villages gather around the fire and sing for hours. These songs refer to war, to hunting, and to the spirits that dwell in the deep woods. In them all the wild and primitive life of the people is reflected....

"There is a difference, however, between the music of Africa and that of her transplanted children. There is a new note in the music which had its origin in the Southern plantations, and in this new note the sorrow and the sufferings which came from serving in a strange land find expression."[9]

Let us direct attention to what the Negro slave found in America, a Christian atmosphere. With their various groups broken into fragments and scattered by the American slave-trade, as the slaves here learned the English language, they were more able to assimilate the elements of Christianity found in American life. Sold into Christian homes, but gathered with their masters around the family altar, they became actual participants in the singing and praying that broke the morning and evening silence of those eventful days. The old records show that from the very beginning of American slavery[10]slaves experienced Christianity through the conscious help of some masters, and later,as the whites saw that the Christian religion made the Negroes better slaves and did not set them free, the blacks secured more favorable opportunities for religious instruction. In some States masters were required even by legislation to look after the religious education of their slaves.[11]In Louisiana, for example, planters were obliged by the Code Noir to have their Negroes instructed and baptized, to give them Sundays and holidays for rest and worship. But, even when not required by law, a few owners established schools for their slaves, and either taught or hired others to teach them "the way of eternal life."

So it is reported that by the 19th century: "Few Negroes escaped some religious instruction from those good people. Usually on Sunday afternoons, but sometimes in the morning, the slaves would be gathered in the great house and lessons in the catechism had to be learned. The Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments were also taught. Hymns were sung and prayers rose to Heaven. Many good masters read sermons to their slaves. Other masters hired ministers.... Others preached themselves."[12]

Another source of contact with Christianity was that resulting from the attitude of persons who worked, not for the religious development of their own slaves alone, but who, with a larger human interest, unmindful of the benefits that might come to their individual households, gave their lives to bless all slaves. One of the very purposes of American slavery being to benefit the slaves, one can readily see how missionary work among them grew with the system of slavery itself.

"After 1716," Woodson tells us, "when Jesuits were taking over slaves in large numbers, and especially after 1726, when Law's Company was importing many to meet the demand for laborers in Louisiana, we read of more instances of the instruction of Negroes by the Catholics.... Le Petit spoke of being 'settled to the instruction of the boarders, the girls who live without, and the Negro women.' In 1738 he said, 'I instruct in Christian morals the slaves of our residence, who are Negroes, and as many others as I can get from their masters.'"

Awakened by what the zealous French in Louisiana were doing, English missionaries made progressive plans for preaching the gospel to the blacks. During the 18th century numerous missionaries, catechists, and school-masters, sent from England to America, founded schools for the slaves, and distributed many sermons, lectures, and Bibles among them. In 1705 Thomas counted among his communicants in South Carolina twenty Negroes who could read and write. Later, making a report of the work he and his associates were doing, he said: "I have here presumed to give an account of 1,000 slaves so far as they know of it and are desirous of Christian knowledge and seem willing to prepare themselves for it, in learning to read, for which they redeem the time from their labor. Many of them can read the Bible distinctly, and great numbers of them were learning when I left the province."[14]

"After some opposition," Woodson further says, "this work began to progress somewhat in Virginia. The first school established in that colony was for Indians and Negroes.... On the binding out a 'bastard or pauper-child black or white,' churchwardens specifically required that he should be taught 'to read and write and calculate as well as to follow some profitable form of labor.' ... Reports of an increase in the number of colored communicants came from Accomac County where four or five hundred families were instructing their slaves at home and had their children catechised on Sunday."[15]

Side by side with the work done by missionaries, men of different denominations vied with one another in bringing slaves into the light of a Christian atmosphere. Some founded Sunday schools, some preached of the "inner lightin every man," others more successfully preached salvation by faith in the power of a risen Christ, who died for the sins of men. Soon after the first Negroes were placed upon the shores of Jamestown, slaves began to be baptized, and received into the Episcopal Church. Earnest says that "at least one Negro was baptized soon after the contact with the colonists in Virginia."[16]Washington says that only five years after slavery was introduced into Virginia a Negro child named William was baptized, and that from that time on the names of Negroes can be found upon the register of most of the churches. In the old record-book of Bruton Parish, 1,122[17]Negro-baptisms were recorded between 1746 and 1797.[18]In 1809 there were about 9,000 Negro Baptists in Virginia.[19]The African Baptist Church of Richmond alone subsequently increased from 1,000 to 3,832 in 24 years. The Methodist Magazine of October, 1827, reports that as early as 1817 there were 43,411 Negro members in the Methodist societies.[20]

"The Negro seems, from the beginning," says Washington, "to have been very closely associated with the Methodists in the United States. When the Reverend Thomas Coke was ordained by John Wesley, as Superintendent or Bishop of the American Society in 1784, he was accompanied on most of his travels throughout the United States by Harry Hosier, a colored minister who was at the same time the Bishop's servant and an evangelist of the Church. Harry Hosier, who was the first American Negro preacher of the Methodist Church in the United States, was one of the notable characters of his day."[21]

Let us now consider the effects of these early religious contacts upon the life of slave-preachers, some of whomwere comparatively well educated. Concerning Jack of Virginia it is said that "his opinions were respected, his advice followed, and yet he never betrayed the least symptoms of arrogance or self-conceit. His dwelling was a rude log-cabin, his apparel was of the plainest, coarsest materials.... He refused gifts of better clothing, saying, 'These clothes are a great deal better than are generally worn by people of my color, and, besides, if I wear them I find I shall be obliged to think about them even at meetings.'"[22]

With an influence among the slaves equal to Jack's, two other Negro messengers of the gospel, Andrew Bryan and Samson, his brother, who earlier had appeared in Georgia, were publicly whipped and imprisoned with 50 companions, but they joyously declared that they would suffer death for their faith found in Christ, whom they expected to preach until death.[23]By their uncompromising attitude,[24]which silenced opponents and raised up friends, they won for themselves among the slaves that sacred esteem belonging to saintly martyrs like Polycarp, Huss, and Fox.

There were other itinerant ministers in these days, who were either given their freedom or purchased it by working as common laborers while preaching. Being better educated, and more closely in contact with the religious life of the whites than the masses of slaves, they were carriers of Christian sentiment from the whites to the blacks, inspiringthem with the hope of life in an unseen world. One day there arrived in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Henry Evans, a Methodist preacher, a free Negro from Virginia, who worked as a carpenter during the week and preached on Sunday. Forbidden by the Town Council of Fayetteville to preach, he made his meetings secret, changing them from time to time until he was tolerated. Just before his death, while leaning on the altar-rail, he said to his followers:

"I have come to say my last word to you. It is this: None but Christ. Three times I have had my life in jeopardy for preaching the gospel to you. Three times I have broken the ice on the edge of the water and swam across the Cape Fear to preach the gospel to you, and if in my last hour I could trust to that or anything but Christ crucified, for my salvation, all should be lost, and my soul perish forever."[25]

Some of these ministers led an independent movement. Six years after Richard Allen, with a few followers, withdrew in 1790 from the Free African Society in Philadelphia,[26]and started an independent Methodist Church in a blacksmith shop, Negro members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in New York began separate meetings. After pastoring a white church,[27]Josiah Bishop started the First Colored Baptist Church of Portsmouth in 1791. Finding accommodations in the white church of Richmond inadequate, the Negroes petitioned for separate meetings in 1823.[28]Harding, speaking of the opportunity of religious instruction and of divine worship allowed the slaves in Kentucky, says that "in every church-edifice, seats were set apart for the occupancy of colored worshippers.... Almost every neighborhood had its Negro preacher whose credentials, if his own assertion was to be taken, came directly from the Lord."[29]

What were the results of these contacts? The most important was that with its charming stories of the creation of the universe, of the Egyptian bondage, and of the journey across the Red Sea, with its New Testament emphasis upon the power, death, and resurrection of Christ, with its apocalyptic imagery, the Bible became to the slave the most sacred book of books. Upon its pages he saw the tears of men and women constantly fall, and from its truths he saw the pious preacher choose words suitable for exhortation. The peculiar interest of the Negro-slave in reading this book was soon apparent.

One old man, being secretly taught by a slave-girl to read the Bible, said, with trembling voice, while tears were falling from his penetrating eyes: "Honey, it 'pears when I can read dis good book I shall be nearer to God."[31]Another slave prayed thus: "I pray de good massa Lord will put it into de niggers' hearts to larn to read de good book. Ah, Lord, make de letters in our spelling books big and plain, and make our eyes bright and shining, and make our hearts big and strong for to larn.... Oh, Hebbenly Fader, we tank De for makin' our massas willin' to let us come to dis school."[32]

Upon a battlefield of the Civil War, another, a soldier, said: "Let me lib wid dis musket in one hand an' de Bible in de oder,—dat if I die at de muzzle ob de musket, die in de water, die on de land, I may know I hab de bressed Jesus in my hand an' hab no fear."[33]

How the text from Hebrews 2:9, "That He, by the grace of God, should taste of death for every man," became a part of his life, was told by Josiah Henson after becoming free: "This was the first text of the Bible to which I had ever listened, knowing it to be such. I have never forgotten it, and scarce a day has passed since, in which I have not recalled it, and the sermon that was preached from it. The divine character of Jesus Christ, his life and teachings,his sacrifice of himself for others, his death and resurrection were all alluded to, and some of the points were dwelt upon with great power.... I was wonderfully impressed, too, with the use which the preacher made of the last words of the text, 'for every man' ... the bond as well as the free; and he dwelt on the glad tidings of the Gospel to the poor, the persecuted ... till my heart burned within me, and I was in a state of greatest excitement ... that such a being ... should have died for me ... a poor slave...."[34]

Contemporaries assert that often while following the plow, gathering up the frosty corn, or driving the ox-cart to the barn, slaves, burning with enthusiasm, talked of how much sermons satisfied their hungry souls. Household and plantation slaves, gray-haired fathers and mothers with their children, crowded eagerly to hear the gospel preached. Thus Earnest says of one man: "His slaves came 17 miles to reach Mr. Wright's nearest preaching place."[35]Concerning the spread of the Christian religion among the slaves on the seaboard of South Carolina, it is affirmed that "the scenes on the Sabbath were affecting. The Negroes came in crowds from two parishes. Often have I seen (a scene, I reckon, not often witnessed) groups of them 'double-quicking' in the roads, in order to reach the church in time.... The white service being over, the slaves would throng the seats vacated by their masters...."[36]John Thompson, in the story of his life, says that, "As soon as it got among the slaves, it spread from plantation to plantation, until it reached ours where there were but few who did not experience religion."[37]

From the blighting, superstitious fears of a heartless universe, the heralds of Christianity brought to the slave words of hope and salvation, a message of companionship with a heavenly father. "You are poor slaves and have ahard time of it here," said they, "but I can tell you the blessed Savior shed his blood for you as much as for your masters.... Break off from all your wicked ways, your lying, stealing, swearing, drunkenness, and vile lewdness; give yourselves to prayer and repentance and fly to Jesus, and give up your heart to him in true earnest; and flee from the wrath to come."[38]

Fred Douglass relates that "the preaching of a white Methodist minister, named Hanson, was the means of causing me to feel that in God I had such a friend. He thought that all men, great and small, bond and free, were sinners in the sight of God: that they were by nature rebels against his government; and that they must repent of their sins, and be reconciled to God through Christ.... I was wretched."[39]

Besides definite principles of morality which included humble submission to the divine right of masters, Negro slaves were also taught that "parents who meet their children in heaven will be more than consoled for their early death." "You can not imagine," said they, "what happiness is in reserve for you from this source.... When you have entered heaven you will probably be met by a youthful spirit who will call you father! mother! Perhaps you have a little family there, expecting your arrival ... save your own soul."[40]

Exactly what was this religion of the slave? Thus coming into contact with this Christian environment, the slave consciously lived a new life, which definitely began with conversion, the phenomenon marked by a feeling of remorse, inner conflict, prayer, and release of tension, or what was felt to be "freedom from hell." Prior to conversion he had been a member of the "disobedient servant-group," perhaps lying, stealing, drinking, and using profanity; but after conversion, being initiated into a newgroup, he had to live a circumspect life. Conversion, then, meant to the slave that experience by which he turned his back toward hell and began the journey toward heaven. Very often it signified retiring to some lonely spot, where the slave struggled with an unseen power, until freed by Christ, with whom, no longer a child of fear, he afterwards lived in filial companionship, hopefully asking and joyfully securing aid in an unfriendly world.

"I always had a natural fear of God from my youth," declared one slave, describing his feelings leading up to conversion, "and was often checked in conscience with thoughts of death, which barred me from my sins and bad company. I knew no other way at that time to hope for salvation but only in the performance of my good works.... If it was the will of God to cut me off at that time, I was sure I should be found in hell, as sure as God was in heaven. I saw my condemnation in my own heart, and I found no way which I could escape the damnation of hell, only through the merits of my dying Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; which caused me to make intercession with Christ, for the salvation of my poor immortal soul.... After this I declared before the congregation of believers the work which God had done for my soul."[41]

The slaves used to express it thus in song:[42]

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