African-American Religion: A Documentary History Project
Teaching Resources

Course Objectives:
     Several goals have guided our thinking in designing this course. Our primary goal is to help you explore the diversity of African American beliefs, experiences, and expressions from the colonial era to the present. This exploration will be both historical and thematic. On one hand, it will help you to recognize changes and continuities over time (historical development) within African American religious traditions. On the other hand, it will help you to discern and analyze the inherent plurality of belief, worship, and devotional practice within African American communities at any given moment (thematic development).

     One important conceptual tool that we will use in our discussions of religious experience is what might be termed “radical objectivity.” For the purpose of discussion and exploration, we begin with the premise that all religious beliefs are equally valid and true. We are not here to debate the truth or falsehood of any particular religious claims; instead, we seek to confront our academically grounded disbelief, and move toward a stance of radical objectivity when addressing issues of belief and supernatural process. Our goal is to examine how religious experiences function in the lives of individuals and communities; more specifically, we hope to assess how religion has shaped, and been shaped by, the experiences of African Americans. With this in mind, we will discuss the roles of politics, class and gender, and artistry as they relate to the creation and continuation of religious traditions.

Course Assignments:
     Lectures, discussions, and readings all contribute to the kind of learning that shows up well on written tests. But there are many other ways to learn. In this class, we also hope to learn by encounter and engagement. Towards this end, we’ll be inviting believers into the classroom through the course of this semester, allowing us to encounter first-hand the power of their testimonies. At the same time, we’ll ask each of you to step into their religious worlds, so that you can experience the community of worship and the actual practice of faith. You’ll take this step in two ways: through a set of solo fieldwork exercises, and through a group project that will yield a class presentation and a group paper. You will also have a chance to demonstrate your learning on an essay midterm (or on an alternate, do-at-home paper) and an essay final. The assignments for this semester are:

(1) INDIVIDUAL FIELD EXERCISE: The first assignment—due February 11—is an eight- to ten-page field report that analytically compares two African American church services, one from a church that defines itself as “sanctified,” and a second from a church that pursues a more mainstream, less Spirit-driven approach.

     Sanctified churches are those that freely acknowledge the Holy Spirit’s active participation in worship. Their services are typically quite lively, and are often marked by spiritual shouting, tongue-speaking, holy dancing, and anointed preaching. All holiness, Pentecostal, and Disciple assemblies fall in this category, as do many independent churches and Missionary Baptist congregations.

     Mainstream churches—including most National Baptist and Methodist (A.M.E., A.M.E.Z., C.M.E.) congregations—favor a less emotional, often less participatory, and usually more “ordered” form of worship. Their services are usually less free-form than their sanctified counterparts, and the Spirit’s presence is not nearly as overt. Hence you’ll witness far fewer “signs of the Spirit” in these churches. But don’t let this difference mislead you—overt expressions of faith aren’t by any means the only measure of spirituality . . . .

     We’ve got two ends in mind for this exercise. The first is to get you into churches early in the semester, and to get you thinking about the diversity of African American worship. The second is to encourage you to analytically address this diversity. Towards this end, we don’t want you to hand us a simple, step-by-step description of the services. Rather, we want you to thoughtfully discuss the services’ differences and similarities, elaborating on the matters that struck you most forcefully. These might include worship sequence, degree of congregational participation, preaching and praying styles, foregrounded themes in prayers and sermons, gender balance (in both the congregation and the church leadership), degrees of spontaneity/formality, styles of—and roles played by—music, aural dynamics (overall loudness, and the shifting contours of soft and loud, smooth and raspy, high pitch and low pitch), spatial use, and costuming. This list is by no means comprehensive; nor do we expect you to address all of these issues. Instead, we want you to choose those factors that stood out in your mind, and use these as a basis for thoughtful discussion.

     Your paper should be typed and double-spaced, and should reference class discussions and/or readings whenever such references seem appropriate. We particularly encourage you to include materials drawn from conversations with churchgoers, recorded after your visit to their services. Their thoughts on your observations will only strengthen your paper.

     Since you have only five Sundays between now and this paper’s due-date, we recommend that you begin thinking about churches immediately. For those who aren’t familiar with local congregations, we’ll be happy to guide you to appropriate churches. At any rate, we’d like you to discuss your choices with us before you attend your second service. When planning your visits, feel free to consider services other than those on Sunday morning. Make sure, however, that the services are comparable. In other words, don’t attend a Sunday morning service at one church and a Wednesday night prayer meeting at another. Comparison is much easier when you’re not trying to liken apples to oranges.

(2) GROUP FIELD PROJECT: In order to explore the textured layers of African American belief, we’ll have to move beyond the classroom and actively engage believers on their own turf. We’ll do this by going into the community in research teams, each of which will conduct an in-depth investigation of some aspect of African American belief. In our third class session, we will divide into six groups of five to six students. Each of these teams will then be responsible for developing and conducting—over the course of the full semester—a field-based research project. On April 20 and 22, each of these teams will have twenty minutes to present their project to the class. At the close of each presentation, the presenting group will hand in a seven- to ten-page paper setting forth the issues explored in their fieldwork project and the conclusions reached. The grade the group earns will be shared by each of the group-members.

     The key to making these projects work is “focus.” Students often take on projects that are conceived far too broadly; they tend to underestimate the layered nature of experience and personal testimony. Topics like “the history of gospel music,” “African American preaching styles,” or “the religious politics of rap” are simply too broad for coherent, 20-minute presentations. But if these topics were narrowed to “the history of quartet gospel in Durham,” “women’s preaching styles among local sanctified preachers,” or “local takes on Five Percent Nation rap lyrics,” they stand a much better chance of working. Whatever your topic, your presentation must frame a scholarly argument. Focus on an issue rather than on collected facts; set forth an argument, defend it, and show why it’s important. Remember, our goal is to further understanding, and not just to repeat what we’ve read or heard.

     To help with focus and analysis, we will each serve as an advisor to three groups, and will require that those groups meet with us outside of class at least twice in the course of the semester. The first such session should occur no later than the first week in March (March 1–5), and the second no later than the last (March 29–April 2). You should look on these meetings as opportunities for testing your ideas and getting some guidance. Please come well-prepared to address your group’s progress and plans.

     The group projects will necessarily entail both library and field research. Though you should focus on materials gleaned from observation and conversation, you must also demonstrate familiarity with relevant written scholarship. If, for example, your project centered on stories about being “called to preach,” then we would expect you to know the literature on the “call.” Written resources will help broaden your perspective, suggesting new lines of inquiry and raising issues you’ve not yet considered. Though you should let your field consultants set the research agenda, you should nonetheless use library sources to help focus your investigation.

     As these guidelines have hopefully suggested, the choice of topic is wide open. All we ask is that your project address issues of belief, experience, and practice in African American communities. You can focus on issues as diverse as theology; aesthetics (e.g., musical styles, preaching styles, styles of testimony); the politics of gender; the impact of Afrocentricity; the class-bound nature of belief; the recounted experience of transcendence; and the preached politics of liberation. In like manner, you can explore a range of belief systems, from those proclaiming themselves Christian or Islamic to those that have crafted themselves a place outside of the religious mainstream. The latter would include rootwork and conjuration, Santeria, African American spiritualism, the prophetic faiths of Daddy Grace and Father Divine, and the revived (and re-contexted) Yoruba faiths.

     Our experience with group projects of this sort suggests that students often find themselves overwhelmed by the experience of fieldwork. Caught up in the excitement of sharing all that they’ve encountered, they tend to build presentations around description rather than analysis. Though this may qualify them as reporters, it doesn’t say much about their scholarship. To avoid this end, and to insure that each team critically explores a well-defined issue, we’re asking each group to accompany their presentation with a seven- to ten-page analytical paper. This essay should open with a clear statement of the group’s thesis, and should then unfold the arguments that lead to a clearly defined conclusion. We expect this paper to cite both field consultants and relevant academic works. We also expect it to flow with a single voice, giving the impression of a single author rather than a series of writers. This means that group-members will have to write the essay well in advance of the presentation, and pass it around among themselves for conceptual and stylistic editing.

     How you choose to divide responsibility for writing and presenting is entirely up to you. Our only requirement is that everyone contribute ideas to both parts of the project. And that everyone participate in the fieldwork. After all, you can’t write about it unless you’ve been there.

(3) GROUP PROJECT ABSTRACT: Team projects are often plagued by the tendency to put off research until the last minute. Though this strategy might work for library projects, it won’t work for field research. Community-based fieldwork involves spending lots of time with people outside your orbit of everyday activity. Over the course of the semester, these people will become your teachers. As their student and their guest, you are completely subject to their schedules and agendas. Which means that you can’t expect them to jump when you say ‘jump.’ Expect instead to spend a lot of time arranging and conducting interviews, and plan your schedule accordingly. To encourage a quick start on the team project, we would like each group to hand in a two-page typed abstract on February 4. The abstract should open with a succinct statement of the issue(s) you are investigating. It should then detail how you will develop your arguments, and present a tentative research plan (e.g., specifying whom you have already interviewed, whom you intend to interview, and what other sources you will consult).

(4) MID-TERM EXAMINATION: The mid-term, scheduled for February 25, allows you to choose from one of two options:

A) An in-class, closed-book essay exam. The questions will be taken from a longer list of essay questions that we will give you at least a week before the exam; or

B) A five-page analysis of a religious performance, artifact or document, whose topic is cleared with us in advance of the writing. This issue-oriented essay can focus on a performance (e.g., a song, sermon, prayer, or testimony), a material object (e.g., a visionary painting), a ceremony (e.g., a religious drama), or a written text (e.g., a poem, sermon, or diary). The purpose here is not simple description; rather, we expect an analytic essay, insightfully probing the chosen theme and relating it to class readings and discussions. The typed, double-spaced paper—with proper citation form and full bibliography—will be due in class on February 25, and will carry the same weight as the mid-term.

5) FINAL EXAMINATION: The final examination, like the mid-term, will consist of essay questions selected from a list that we will hand you at least a week before the exam. All students must take the final, which is scheduled for Thursday, May 6, at 12:00 noon.

Grading:
     Our goal in this course is to help you develop perspective and critical tools. We’re not interested in filling your head with forgettable facts, and then asking you to give them back to us at test-time. Instead, we hope that the readings, in-class conversations, and conversations you conduct in the field will foster new understandings about belief and community, and will help you develop new ways of looking at culture and its many expressions. In other words, we hope to foster the kind of knowledge that invites creative application. That’s why we’ve put so much emphasis on writing and presentation. We want to see how you apply what you’ve learned.

     This leads us to the issue of grading. Flexibility is the rule here. Your grade will be based on the assignments and on class participation. The latter is critical. If forced to break down your final grade into percentages, we would estimate that the abstract, group presentation, and group paper would contribute about 30%, the field exercise about 20%, the midterm exam/paper about 15%, the final exam about 20%, and attendance and class discussion about 15%. Notice all the “abouts.” These figures are guidelines, and not rules. We’ll try to base grades on evidence of individual learning, and not strictly on scores.

     We should add a final note about grading the presentations. This is always a rather subjective decision, as so many variables come into play. To make the process a bit more democratic, we’re adding two components that draw you into the process.

     First, each group will grade the contribution of its own members, with every individual confidentially assessing her/his peers. This lets us know, for example, if certain group-members ended up doing most of the work, or if some took the presentation as a chance to slide by while others labored. We’ll use these scores—when appropriate—to fine tune the collective grade earned by the group. (We’ll explain this process in more detail later in the semester.)

     Second, every class member will numerically grade each presentation, including their own. At the end of each day of presentations, everyone will hand us scores for the presenting groups. We’ll then take these scores into consideration when determining a final group grade.

Reading/Listening Assignments:
     Class discussions will revolve around two required texts, a host of readings, and a set of audio recordings. The texts are:

Raboteau, Albert J. Slave Religion: The “Invisible Institution” in the Antebellum South. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978.

Asante, Molefi Kefi. Afrocentricity. New revised ed. Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, 1988.

All other syllabus readings are contained in a packet on two-hour reserve at the Undergraduate Library. We strongly urge you to copy the entire packet at the beginning of the semester. Many of the local copy centers have automatic feeding copiers that make the copying process quite simple. To further simplify the process (and to prevent a run on the Reserve Desk), you might want to coordinate the copying with some of your classmates, so that you can run off multiple copies at the same time.

     Many class sessions will include recordings of songs, sermons and other sacred performances. We treat these recordings as primary sources that hold as much validity as written texts; we expect you to do the same. As such, we have included listening assignments in the syllabus, and will expect you to listen to—and be prepared to discuss—the assigned selections prior to our class meetings. Copies of the listening tapes will be available at both the Undergraduate Library’s Non-Print desk, and at the Southern Folklife Collection/Manuscripts Department on the fourth floor of Wilson Library. As the semester unfolds, we’ll present you with hand-outs identifying the recorded selections.

     If you need assistance, guidance, or just some reassuring words, drop by during office hours to see us. If you’re having trouble with any of the coursework, please come by and talk with us. We’ll be glad to discuss ideas and approaches with you. And if you find you’re having difficulty with writing (on the tests, the exercise, or the group paper), we recommend that you contact the Writing Center here on campus. Their excellent staff is ready to help you shape your ideas into compelling prose.

Jan. 7     Realities Other Than our Own — Re-thinking Belief and Religious Experience

Faith, Aesthetics and Worldview in West Africa

Jan. 12     African Faiths and African Ways — Experience and Expression
     David Hufford, “Traditions of Disbelief”
     Albert Raboteau, Slave Religion, pp. 4–16

Jan. 14     The Gods in Exile — Shaping a New African Faith
     Walter Pitts, excerpt from Old Ship of Zion, pp. 59–68
     Raboteau, Slave Religion, pp. 43–75

Jan. 19     Entering the Field — A Practicum in Ethnography
     (1st meeting of groups)

Emergent Creole Faiths in North America

Jan. 21     “Saving” and Enslaving — Missions, Awakenings & Revivals
     Raboteau, Slave Religion, pp. 128–150

Jan. 26     God’s Hand Is Moving — Independent African American Churches
     Prayer: Richard Allen, “A Prayer for Hope”
     Richard Allen, “Life Experience and Gospel Labors,” pp. 135–59
     Jarena Lee, The Life and Religious Experience of Jarena Lee, pp. 27–48

Jan. 28     Like Fire in My Bones — The 2nd Great Awakening
     Albert Raboteau, “The Black Experience in American Evangelicalism: The Meaning of Slavery”
     Frederick Douglass, excerpts from My Bondage and My Freedom, pp. 120–25, 157–59

Feb. 2     Islamic Continuities — A Visit with Warith Dean Muhammad
     ** CLASS WILL MEET IN PHILLIPS 332 **
     Ellen Barry, “Owning Omar”
     Michael Gomez, “Muslims in Early America”

Feb. 4     Hush Harbors and Upturned Pots — The Emergence of the Invisible Institution
     ** GROUP ABSTRACT DUE **
     Prayer: Anonymous, “Again and One More Time”
     Testimony: Sister Kelly, “Proud of that ‘Ole Time’ Religion”
     Raboteau, Slave Religion, pp. 212–243, 266–275

Feb. 9     Worlds of Spirit — The Arena of Style
     Listening assignment #1
     Raboteau, Slave Religion, pp. 243–266
     Testimonies: Unnamed elder saints, “I Am Blessed But You Are Damned,” “A Voice Like the Cooing of a Dove,” “A Voice Rang in my Soul,” “Preacher from a ‘God-Fearing’ Plantation”
     Glenn Hinson, “Sing Till the Power of the Lord Comes Down” excerpt, from Fire in My Bones, pp. 1–6

Feb. 11     Praises Go Up, and Blessings Come Down — A Visit with the Branchettes
     ** FIELD EXERCISE DUE **

Feb. 16     Worlds of Spirit — Creoles and Conjuration
     Raboteau, Slave Religion, pp. 75–87, 275–88
     Frederick Douglass, excerpts from My Bondage and My Freedom, pp. 144–53, 162
     William Adams, “Narrative”

Feb. 18     Steal Away — Abolitionism, Colonization, and the Underground Railroad
     Prayer: David Walker, “A Prophet’s Plea to God”
     David Walker, excerpts from Walker’s Appeal, in 4 Articles, pp. 11–29, 46–56

Feb. 23     God’s Avenging Sword — Holy Struggles for Liberation
     Raboteau, Slave Religion, Chapter 6 & Conclusion
     Nat Turner, The Confessions of Nat Turner
     Gayraud Wilmore, “Three Generals in the Lord’s Army,” pp. 53–73

Feb. 25     MIDTERM EXAMINATION (OR MIDTERM PAPER DUE)

Freedom and the New Contours of Faith

March 2     Slavery’s Chain Done Broke at Last — Freedom and the New Contours of Faith
     ** 1ST GROUP MEETING WITH ADVISOR BEFORE OR DURING THIS WEEK **
     Prayer: W. E. B. Du Bois, “A Prayer for Endurance”
     Daniel Payne, excerpts from Recollections of Seventy Years, pp. 220–226, 253–257
     W. E. B. Du Bois, excerpts from The Souls of Black Folk, pp. 43–53, 210–225, 264–278

March 4     Got My Mojo Working — Continuities in Conjuration
     Listening assignment #2
     Zora Neale Hurston, excerpts from Mules and Men, pp. 192–199, 221–229
     Jim Finn, “Jim Finn on Calling Up the Devil”
     Selection of contemporary newspaper articles & advertisements

March 9 & 11     SPRING BREAK

Alternate Streams of Faith: Sanctified Folk and Rationalistic Believers

March 16     Shout All Over God’s Heaven — Holiness, Pentecostalism, and the “Old-Time Religion”
     Listening assignment #3
     Scripture: Psalms 149 & 150, I Corinthians 12, Acts 2
     Elsie W. Mason, “Bishop C. H. Mason, Church of God in Christ”
     James Tinney, “William J. Seymour: Father of Modern-Day Pentecostalism”

March 18     Testifying to the Power — A Visit with Evangelist Evelyn Gilchrist
     Catherine Peck, “Your Daughters Shall Prophesy: Women in the Afro-American Preaching Tradition”

March 23     Re-defining the Race — Gender, Institutions, and Religious Practice
     Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, excerpt from Righteous Discontent, pp. 88–119
     Ida B. Wells-Barnett, excerpts from Crusade for Justice, pp. 7–34, 47–59, 225–232, 321–333

March 25     Re-defining the Race — Migration, City Life, and the “New Negro”
     Prayer: Countee Cullen, “Pagan Prayer”
     Milton Sernett, Bound for the Promised Land: African-American Religion and the Great Migration, chapter 3

March 30     God Gave Me a Song — The Emergence of Gospel
     ** 2ND GROUP MEETING WITH ADVISOR BEFORE OR DURING THIS WEEK **
     Listening assignment #4
     Song: Thomas Dorsey, “Precious Lord”
     Mahalia Jackson, excerpt from Movin’ On Up, pp. 56–66
     Glenn Hinson, excerpt from “The Anointing of God Breaks the Yokes,” from Fire in My Bones, pp. 1–13

Re-Connections

April 1     God Showed Me the Way — The New Prophetic Faiths
     Randall Burkett, excerpt from Black Redemption, pp. 3–18 [Marcus Garvey]

April 6     Re-claiming the Roots — The Re-emergence of Islam
     C. Eric Lincoln, excerpt from The Black Muslims in America, 3rd ed, pp. 47–62

April 8     No class — Preparation for the Class Presentations

April 13     Fulfilling Allah’s Prophecy — The Nation of Islam and the Politics of Faith
     Guest Panel from the Nation of Islam
     Elijah Muhammad, excerpts from Message to the Blackman in America, pp. 68–70, 79–80, 52–54, 161–71, 84–85.
     Web Assignment: Visit and review NOI.ORG—readings to be announced.

April 15     No Segregation in Heaven — Struggling for Civil Rights
     Listening Assignment #5
     Recitation: Horace Williams, “A Black Man Talks to God”
     Sermon: Rev. C.L. Franklin, “What of the Night”
     Martin Luther King, Jr., “The World House”

April 20     CLASS PRESENTATIONS

April 22     CLASS PRESENTATIONS

April 27     Reclaiming Roots — Afrocentricity
     Molefi Kefi Asante, Afrocentricity, pp. 1–30, 109–120

April 29     A Long Day’s Journey Home — Some Final Thoughts

May 6     FINAL EXAMINATION — Thursday @ 12:00 Noon

Adams, William. [1938?] 1972. “Narrative.” In The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, Vol. 4, Texas Narratives, Parts 1 & 2, ed. George P. Rawick, Part 1, pp. 4–8. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Publishing Company.

Allen, Richard. [1833] 1985. “Life Experience and Gospel Labors.” In Afro-American Religious History: A Documentary Witness, ed. Milton Sernett, pp. 135–59. Durham: Duke University Press.

—————. [1787-1830] 1994. “A Prayer for Hope.” In Conversations with God: Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans, ed. James M. Washington, p. 10. New York: HarperCollins.

Anonymous. [1895] 1994. “Again and One More Time.” In Conversations with God: Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans, ed. James M. Washington, pp. 83–84. New York: HarperCollins.

Barry, Ellen. 1998. “Owning Omar.” The Boston Phoenix, July 6.

Burkett, Randall. 1978. Black Redemption: Churchmen Speak for the Garvey Movement. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Cullen, Countee. [1925] 1994. “Pagan Prayer.” In Conversations with God: Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans, ed. James M. Washington, p. 136. New York: HarperCollins.

Dorsey, Thomas A. [1932] 1994. “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.” In Conversations with God: Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans, ed. James M. Washington, p. 154. New York: HarperCollins.

Douglass, Frederick. [1855] 1987. My Bondage and My Freedom. Ed. & with introduction by William L. Andrews. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Du Bois, W. E. B. [1909–1910] 1994. “A Prayer for Endurance.” In Conversations with God: Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans, ed. James M. Washington, p. 106. New York: HarperCollins.

—————. [1903] 1969. The Souls of Black Folk. New York: New American Library.

Finn, Jim. 1968. “Jim Finn on Calling Up the Devil.” In American Negro Folklore, ed. J. Mason Brewer, pp. 281–82. Chicago: Quadrangle Books.

Franklin, Rev. C. L. 1989. “What of the Night?” In Give Me This Mountain: Life History and Selected Sermons, pp. 166–74. Ed. Jeff Todd Titon. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Gomez, Michael A. 1994. “Muslims in Early America.” Journal of Southern History 60: 671–710.

Higginbotham, Evelyn Brooks. 1993. Righteous Discontent: The Women’s Movement in the Black Baptist Church, 1880–1920. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Hinson, Glenn. 1999. Fire in My Bones: Spirit and Experience in African American Gospel. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Hufford, David J. 1982. “Traditions of Disbelief.” New York Folklore 8 (3/4): 47–55.

Hurston Zora Neale. [1935] 1978. Mules and Men. Introduction by Robert Hemenway. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Johnson, Charles S., ed. 1945. God Struck Me Dead: Religious Conversion Experiences and Autobiographies of Negro Ex-Slaves. Social Science Source Documents No. 2. Nashville: Social Science Institute, Fisk University.

Kelly, Sister. [1929–1930] 1985. “Proud of that ‘Ole-Time’ Religion.” In Afro-American Religious History: A Documentary Witness, ed. Milton Sernett, pp. 69–70. Durham: Duke University Press.

King, Martin Luther, Jr. 1967. “The World House.” In Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community, pp. 167–91. New York: Harper & Row.

Lee, Jarena. “The Life and Religious Experience of Jarena Lee.” In Sisters of the Spirit, ed. pp. 27–48.

Lincoln, C. Eric. 1994. The Black Muslims in America. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, Mich. & Trenton, N.J.: W. B. Eerdsmans & Africa World Press.

Mason, Elsie W. “Bishop C. H. Mason, Church of God in Christ.” In Afro-American Religious History: A Documentary Witness, ed. Milton Sernett, pp. 285–95. Durham: Duke University Press..

Muhammad, Elijah. 1992 [1965]. Message to the Blackman of America. Newport News, Va.: United Brothers Communications Systems.

Payne, Bishop Daniel A. 1888. Recollections of Seventy Years. Nashville: Publishing House of the A.M.E. Sunday School Union.

Peck, Catherine L. 1988. “Your Daughters Shall Prophesy: Women in the Afro-American Preaching Tradition.” In Diversities of Gifts: Field Studies in Southern Religion, ed. Ruel W. Tyson, Jr., James L. Peacock, & Daniel W. Patterson, pp. 143–156. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Pitts, Walter F. 1993. Old Ship of Zion: The Afro-Baptist Ritual in the African Diaspora. New York: Oxford University Press.

Raboteau, Albert J. 1997. “The Black Experience in American Evangelicalism: The Meaning of Slavery.” In African-American Religion: Interpretive Essays in History and Culture, ed. Timothy Fulop and Albert J. Raboteau, pp. 89–106. New York: Routledge.

—————. 1978. Slave Religion: The “Invisible Institution” in the Antebellum South. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Sernett, Milton. 1997. Bound for the Promised Land: African-American Religion and the Great Migration. Durham: Duke University Press.

Tinney, James. 1978. “William J. Seymour: Father of Modern-Day Pentecostalism.” In Black Apostles: Afro-American Clergy Confront the Twentieth Century, ed. Randall K. Burkett & Richard Newman, pp. 213–25. Boston: G. K. Hall.

Turner, Nat. [1831] 1985. “The Confessions of Nat Turner.” In Afro-American Religious History: A Documentary Witness, ed. Milton Sernett, pp. 88–99. Durham: Duke University Press.

Walker, David. [1829] 1994. “A Prophet’s Plea to God.” In Conversations with God: Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans, ed. James M. Washington, p. 25. New York: HarperCollins.

—————. [1929] 1969. Walker’s Appeal, in 4 Articles. New York: Arno Press.

Wells-Barnett, Ida B. 1970. Crusade For Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Williams, Horace. 1985. “A Black Man Talks to God.” Recorded by Glenn Hinson in Durham, N.C., April 4.

Wilmore, Gayraud S. 1983. Black Religion and Black Radicalism: An Interpretation of the Religious History of Afro-American People. 2nd ed. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books.