Race and Religion during the Nineteenth Century
By Joseph Conway
Frederick Douglass, one of the greatest abolitionist leaders of the nineteenth century, was born into slavery in the year 1818 on a plantation in Maryland. Many people believe that his father was his mother’s owner and that Fredrick Douglass was half white. Frederick Douglass lived the first twenty years of his life as a slave, throughout this time he witnessed and felt the harsh life of a slave. Slaves were often restricted; they were allowed to do very little, especially with white people. One activity they were allowed to partake in during slavery was worship. Slaves throughout the 19th Century were allowed to worship god and go to church. This would seem like a positive thing for slaves, as religion is often a positive influence on people, and can be a great asset to have, but Frederick Douglass did not see it this way.
In the year 1838 Frederick Douglass was able to escape from slavery by forging legal papers which allowed him to board a train and escape from Baltimore to Philadelphia. After his escape Frederick Douglass published several books and presented multiple speeches to the public, which revealed to America and much of the world the cruelties of slavery. Many of his works spoke on the Christianity in America and how it was unequally given to the different races. Now Frederick Douglass did not hate religion, in fact, in the year 1839 he became a preacher for the American Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. (PBS,1)
Frederick Douglass did not hate Christianity, what he hated was the prejudice within the Christian churches of America. He spoke about this discrimination, in his speech The Church and Prejudice. Douglass delivered the speech on November 4th 1841 in Plymouth County Massachusetts. Throughout the Speech Frederick Douglass spoke on both the discrimination against the free blacks in the north and the cruelty against the slaves in the south, which all took place within the religious practices of the nation. Douglass spoke on how even in the churches black people were given unequal treatment from the white citizens. The Church and Prejudice shows a very interesting theme during this time, the use of religion to justify slavery and discrimination. Throughout the speech Frederick Douglass points out various examples of how the church in America often is prejudiced against black people. Frederick Douglass through this piece exposed how slaves were taught and given a much different form of Christianity, due to the way white people taught Christianity to them, and the way they treated them during the teachings. (Peacock Inc, Douglass )
Frederick Douglass Started out his speech speaking about how ministers in certain northern churches treated white people different than black people. He first pointed out a experience he had in which a priest had given out wine and bread to all of the white people, as part of their worship, and then once every white person was served, the priest called up all of the black people. Since there was no slavery in the north during this time period many people would think that it would be a area without discrimination, but unequal treatment towards was very common in the north, this example in a way is a form of segregation, too being allowed to take communion separately from one another, but of course the white people would go first. The black and white people are given the services separately, but black people and white people were also often kept separate from each other during church services. According to Janet Dutisman Cornelius in her book Slave Missions and the Black Church in the Antebellum South, in southern churches Slaves were often kept separate from white people using galleries, which were areas above the pews of the church. This idea originated from the English churches which would often keep the poor whites in the galleries away from the whites who could pay for a pew, but during the 19th century these galleries were used for the slaves in the south. She goes on to talk about the coop which was a dirt floored wooden shed, that slaves would sometimes have to worship in. There was very little seating in the coop, so often male slaves would either kneel on the dirt floor or stand for the service. This position also made it so the preacher would have his back to the slaves.(Cornelius, 35) Black people were allowed to worship but not equally, their worship came after all of the white members, and were kept in separate and less comfortable conditions during their worship.
Though the conditions were often differences one of the larger examples of how religion was taught differently to slaves, was that white people, instead of teaching slaves religion to help them find god, they taught them religion to make “better” slaves. Slave owners used Religion to justify and strengthen slavery during the nineteenth century. Frederick Douglass expressed this idea in his speech the Church and Prejudice. In the Church and Prejudice Frederick Douglass, expresses this idea when he is speaking about a preacher who is preaching to the slaves, Douglass said “"Oh! If you wish to be happy in time, happy in eternity, you must be obedient to your masters; their interest is yours God made one portion of men to do the working, and another to do the thinking; how good God is! Now, you have no trouble or anxiety.”(Peacock Inc, Douglass) Through preaching like this, 19th century preachers in the south attempted to make slaves accept their position in society. Through their teaching instead of teaching them what they teach to white people, preachers taught slaves, that their position in society was their natural position. In fact not only are the preachers trying to make them think that their position is natural, but they also want the slaves to appreciate their position, in comparison to thinking that white people have to do. Through the preachers teachings, they are trying to instill the idea that white people are the thinkers while black people are the workers, and that thinking is hard so black people are so lucky to get to be the workers. In the book Masters & Slaves In the House of The Lord Race and Religion in the American South , 1740-1870, which was edited by John B. Boles there is a chapter written by Blake Touchstone called Planters and Slave Religion in the Deep South , it is shown that preaching is used by slave owners on slaves for a variety of reasons. Boles show through the book that many slave owners used religion to control their slaves and keep them from revolting. Often it was a matter of building a sense of morality in the slaves and improving their chances of going to heaven, by improving the behavior of the slave, a master was helping his dependent become saved, many slave owners were able to justify slavery in this way. Slave owners were trying to save the slaves and protect them, as the slaves could not exist in society without a master, so it is a good thing that Planters own the slaves. (Boles, 102) Slave owners often were able to justify their use of slaves by making it seem as though, the slaves are part of their big Christian family, making it seem as though slaver was good for slaves, because the master took care of them, this is what is called a paternalistic relationship. Touchstone goes on to say that planters during the nineteenth century in the Deep South found that the use torture and whipping to make slaves obedient was no longer necessary. In order to make slaves more obedient, and to make them better workers, slave owners would allow their slaves to go to church and worship. (Boles 109)
Frederick Douglass through the Church and Prejudice reveals to the world the flawed logic of the plantation owners in the south. They used religion to justify that slaves should do all the field work while white people do all the thinking. The southern whites used the bible to try to justify that it was natural. Frederick Douglass saw that this was flawed in that, white people were making it seem like black people could not speak and think and learn like white people could, by restricting what they are allowed to do. White people did not allow black people to learn or speak up for what they believe in, so who knows if the slaves were great thinkers, they were never given the chance to be the thinkers of society during the 19th century. In his speech Frederick Douglass expresses this and says “You degrade us, and then ask why we are degraded—you shut our mouths, and then ask why we don't speak—you close our colleges and seminaries against us, and then ask why we don't know more.”(Peacock Inc, Douglass ) Frederick Douglass expresses this frustration he has for the white slave owners, they expect blacks to be more like white people and yet they do not provide black people with any of the opportunities that they have. Thanks to this oppression, white people could easily make a case that white people were made for thinking and black people were made for working, because that’s what white people trained black people for, they forced them into work, without freedom or forms of education, so of course it will seem as though they are the natural thinkers. Though the Church and Prejudice itself perhaps itself is proof that African American could be thinkers, this idea was expressed in a Academic Journal written by Gary S. Selby titled Mocking the Sacred: Frederick Douglass’s “Slaveholder’s Sermon” and the Antebellum Debate over Religion and Slavery in which in his conclusion Selby quotes several reactions to Douglass’s speech, though some of the reactions were of anger due to his speaking on the topic of religion, others realized that he was very intelligent and skilled throughout his speech, which in turn as a black man, proves that black people could be the thinkers of society. (Selby, 337-338)
There was a large amount of resistance against the ways in which slavery was justified by churches in the south, and using the bible to do it. The War against Proslavery Religion: Abolitionism and the Northern Churches 1830-1865 was a book written by John R. McKivigan, which is about how Abolitionists in the north, attempted to free slaves and end the justification of slavery through religion. Within the book the author has several reasons why using the bible to justify slavery is wrong one thing the author stated was “antislavery militants accused religious institutions of thwarting rather than promoting God’s will.”(McKivigan, 14) Through this statement Mckivigan is showing how abolitionists believed that southern churches were misrepresenting god’s will. Though slave owners and preachers often made it seem as though slavery is what god intended for black people, abolitionists disagreed and believed that instead of following what god wanted they were going against what god wanted. The Abolitionists also believed that the church had corrupted itself by becoming involved with the institution of slavery. Frederick Douglass as a preacher probably could see this same idea, he could see that religion in the south was becoming corrupt, and was used to justify an institution that was once forced upon him. Frederick Douglass as many other religious minds of the time, did not agree with the use of the church to justify the enslavement of a whole race.
During the 19th century religion was used to justify slavery. Slave owners used the church to teach slaves that they were meant to do the work while the owners were meant to do the thinking. Churches also often separated the black and white members and provided black people with unequal areas to worship in. They provided Christianity to the slaves, but not the same kind they would teach their children. Instead they taught slaves messages to make them better and more loyal slave. Instead of focusing on god they focused on strengthening the Slave’s loyalty towards their master. Frederick Douglass fought against the use of religion to promote slavery and prejudice by delivering his speech the Church and Prejudice. Throughout the speech He goes over several subjects such as unequal treatment and the idea that slaves are naturally the workers of society. Through the speech Douglass proves that black people could also be thinkers in society. Through his actions before, during and after this speech Frederick Douglass, helped bring an end to slavery.
Work Cited
Boles, John B. Masters & Slaves in the House of the Lord Race and Religion in the American South. Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky, 1988.
Cornelius, Janet Duitsman. Slave Missions and the Black Church In The Antebellum South. Columbia, SC: South Carolina Press, 1999.
McKivigan, John R. The War against Proslavery Religion. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1984.
Peacock Data, Inc, “Frederick Douglass: The Church and Prejudice,” Great American Documents. Accessed October 3, 2011. http:www.greatamericandocuments.com/speeches/douglass-church prejudice.html.
PBS, “People of Faith: Frederick Douglass.” This Far by Faith. Accessed December 4,2011. http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/people/frederick_douglass.html
Selby, Gary S. “ Mocking the Sacred: Frederick Douglass’s ‘Slaveholder’s Sermon’ and the Antebellum Debate over Religion and Slavery.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 88, no 3 (August 2002): 326-341. Communication & Mass Media Complete (7255822).
