american history tv was recently live from these that sony and for an all-day conference on african-american history. -- the future of the african-american past. a group of scholars discussed african-american religion. this was hosted by the national museum of african american history and culture. it is an hour and 40 minutes. [applause] >> good morning and thank you for joining us on this beautiful, rainy day in washington, d.c. i am honored to be the chair of this panel, which intends to answer the simple and in many question -- what is

african-american religion. african americans beene of the value had extracted. unlike livestock, this particular brand of -- this peculiar brand of property fought to preserve their humanity in their relationships with each other, in the establishment and operation of social institutions, and especially in their sacred beliefs. peoples of african descent adopted a belief system that reflected their diverse ethnicities and the systems that shaped their lives and labor. the descendents of these men and adopted new ways of

looking at the world and their place and it. but like those before them, they adopted religion as means to challenge as well as cope with the realities of their life in america. institutionalized religion constituted the core of the african-american community and freedom. it was the center of training for black leadership, the blackin that connected people in common cause, including in protest of their oppression. growing up in rural virginia in the six these, i could scarcely -- in the 60's, i could scarcely imagine there was any religious experience beyond my own. it was christian-based, male-dominated -- but women were the worker bees, as they still

are today -- church centered, and emotionally charged. baptist tradition meant a two-hour sunday service. apparently our ministers had the old adage that no souls are saved after the first 30 minutes. there was robust reaching, primarily hellfire and brimstone, to be exact, older ladies being overcome by the holy ghost, and music that would inspire godly behavior, at least for a day or two. i had graduated and enrolled in hampton institute -- not hampton university. you know how long ago that was. before i ever heard about the ame church. methodism was for white folks. there were 11 black churches in our county. every single one was a baptist

urge. black hebrews did not exist in my sacred world, nor did perceived alternative groups like those founded by elijah mohammed. you can imagine how far in the backwoods i was. we did not have that muslim presence there. of course, mike's rinse was one of many narratives that help -- my experience was one of many narratives that help to define the african-american experience in religion. is professorelist glaude, chair of african-american studies at princeton university. judith w followed by

eisenfeld, professor of religion at princeton university who will foruss sites and sources the african-american religion in the past. the lineup was a little different. we've a flannel -- we have a panel of feisty rebels. they decided it did not make sense to place them in the order i placed the men and i agree with them totally. the lesson there is to always ask the panel what they think. be --ird presenter will let me just indicate -- feld will talken about sources for the study of the african-american religious past. she will be followed by evelyn ham, professorot

of african-american studies at willrd university who address the politics of the black freedom struggle, and last, but not least, anthea butler -- i'm not sure if i am pronouncing it -- wonderful, associated -- associate professor at the university of pennsylvania. rethinking thes framework. and we will start with professor galude. [applause] you,ssor glaude: thank sister edna. welcome to early morning service. [laughter] i want toglaude: thank the organizers for thinking of me and inviting me to this extraordinary conversation. i have learned a lot. it has been a long time coming, but i am delighted to see this happen.

and i am delighted and words cannot really express. thank you for all that you do and thank you for reading here. let me just jump into this. i was thinking this morning when i got up at some ungodly hour in preparation for this about lovebirds and splitters, and i was thinking about the great isaiah berlin's distinction between hedgehogs and boxes. i tend not to identify myself as either one. i like to take myself to be more attentive to what hedgehogs and foxes do, what splitters and lovebirds take themselves to be a two. this is what i'm going to try to do today, is that all right?

many of the concerns evidence in these questions about whether --igion is a visible to reducible are interestingly copper gated when we think about religion in tandem with race. or more specifically, the issue becomes messier when the modifier black or african-american describes religion. unusualditives bear the burden of a history that colors the way religion is practiced and understood in the united states. they register the horror of slavery and the terror of jim crow and the experiences of a captured people, from sorrow stands alongside joy. it is in this context, one characterized by the ever present need to account for one's presence in the world that african-american religion takes on such significance. i want to make a distinction between african-american religion and african-american

religious life. african-american religion is not .educible african-american religious life is not reducible -- it contains avenues for solace and comfort and and hers about who we take ourselves to be -- answers about who we take ourselves to be and the meaning of the universe. oh, lord, i got it all backwards. meaning is found as insufficient , and your evil is accounted for and hope, at least for some is assured. in short, african-american religious life is as rich and complicated as the religious life of other groups in the united states, but african-american religion emerges and the encounter between faith and all of its complexity and white supremacy. let me claim what i mean. my approach assumes that the context in the united dates is a sufficientbut not study -- it is the phrase african-american religion to

significance at all, it must mean something more than african-american to our religious. african-americans practice a number of different religions. there are black people who are buddhist, jehovah witnesses, mormons. the african-americans who practiced these traditions do not lead us to describe it as a lacked buddhism or black mormonism. -- black buddhism or black mormonism. signal-american religion something more substantive than that, right? it does not refer to a definite kind of experience that is its of religious or religious .onsciousness my aim here is not to secure the unique data's of the category --

status of the category of african-american religion as its own kind. the adjective refers to a relational -- racial context in which religious meetings have been produced and reproduced or a you all all right? alright, i just want to check on you. andhistory of slavery religious dissemination in the night is dates, -- in the united states in the context of slavery , leaving many white denominations to form their own. instinctive --he distinctive interpretation of islam. we can accurately describe certain variants of christianity and islam as african-american and means nothing beyond the rather uninteresting claim that belong toviduals these different religious traditions. of course, african-american institutions can be

understood -- it helps to explain why the scholar has called the particular religious formation of african-american religion. in other words, the raises the thention of those of us -- phrases the invention of those of us with the aims and purposes to seek, describe, analyze, and the rise the religious practices of african-americans under a particular racial raising -- regime. this is what you get for inviting a philosopher to a history conference. the words black or african-american operate as markers of difference in my view, the definition of a cultural repertoire that rep -- thate unique represents the unique struggle and calls of our effort to understand the religious practice of 80 people.

when i use the phrase african-american religion, i am not referring to something that can be defined substantively. you, too to orient single out the workings of the human imagination and there it under a particular condition. sentences that begin "african-american religion is" are rarely simple descriptive. they usually contain normative assumptions about what the african-american religion is, like it is aesthetic or emotional. risksly in this way, it the problem of verifying a particular understanding of african-american religious actresses, denying complexity by snatching practices out of the

-- african-american religious practices, denying complexity by snatching practices out of the tradition. i like things messier. saying you should give attention to this rather than that. i'm going to bring it home. what howard thurman, the great 20 century black theologian claimed that the slave is there to redeem, offering an understanding of what christianity am a not the idolatrous to embrace of christian doctrine, right? christian doctrine that justified the subordination of black people. embraced-- instead, it the liberating power of jesus's example. he sought to orient the reader to a specific inflection of her sanity in the hands of those who lived as slaves.

church.'t black i have to say ain't rather than isn't. what is being noted is the absence of something. this in theough paper. i tried to make a distinction about how african-american religion works and how it takes us into the thicket of actual practices. what i am thinking about is what happens when the category is not doing the work we expect it to. nigerian think about the cost does? it?do we think about it keeps us from seeing all of the complexity on the ground.

we need to think about the descriptive, analytic work, where it is leaving us. if it is getting in the way, is time we get rid of it. thank you. [applause] professor weisenfeld: in going to switch this powerpoint and -- that is not what i meant to do. >> [indiscernible] professor weisenfeld: i don't think so, but for some reason -- think through images and about images, so i wanted to offer you some images from my work. ?ou are good my goal is to suggest ways to broaden our scope for the study of african american religious history beyond the focus on protestantism and churches.

needless to say we missed the onlycomplexity if we attend to the tradition that emerges from its context. mean to argue not that this tradition of protestantism is not worthy of scholarlyt -- attention. i believe it is vital that we expand our scope of inquiry. this involves devoting more attention to buddhist, humorous forumanist, secularists, example. i am interested in what new

understandings of and perspectives on african-american religious history emerge when we bring sites and sources other than churches and clergy interview, and i offered resources i have encountered in my own research on 20th-century african-american religious history that have led me to broaden my view on the social actors of that history. spencer william released the blood of jesus. and there is a trailer -- it is unclear whether he made it and it was lost or he never got to make it. these voters are part of the broader landscape of film produced for black audiences and had begun to decline in popularity. jesus delivered a

message of christian redemption and an entertaining -- in and entertaining package. williams was uniquely successful in appealing to african-american viewers who saw his films. "the blood of jesus" is about popular culture and oems places the character of -- williams places the character of martha at the center of the's tory. -- at theet in a center of the story. although set in a christian context, it highlights women as essential figures in black religious life and he present a complex portrait of the allergy with only a passing -- theology with only a passing reference to church for clergy.

it rendered the movie theater a productive right for the study of african-american religious history. my sources called on me to think of the cinema not only as a social and political environment as many scholars of early black film have demonstrated, but also a religious one that viewers of be ams' films and other century films have engaged as such, bringing media and culture more centrally into the history of african american religious history, disseminating ideas about religion, but also the mediation of religious six. and. -- religious experience. thehe course of researching great migration, i turned to an online database to learn more matthew, an immigrant from st. kitts and a

rabbi. because racial and religious origins were essential to how black he drew -- how black hebrew authorities in harlem were essential -- i was interested in his point he had been born in nigeria. matthew most often gave his st. kitts, but one source dashes world war ii draft registration cards from april 26, 1942 -- raised a host of other questions about individual and collect the understanding -- collective understanding about in early 20th century america. we see that matthew considered his clerical title of rabbi to be oh important he squeezed it in above his name and included it in his signature. of theother portion registration card, matthew as or an amendment daughter's asked fo

matthew asked -- hebrew.mendment, adding his request led me to wonder whether he was alone in this. documents hundreds of from members from what i have come to call religious racial who sought to be represented according to what they understood to be an intertwined relio-racial identity. -racial identity. in keeping with father divine's theology that race is a negative construct of the mind, he asked listed as human. the registrar complied, but

wrote that above the designation of negro. another insisted he was moorish-american. registrarmpelled the andharacterize his skin hair color as all of -- as olive. we see the registrar pushed back. he wrote that he believed he was actually a negro. in the course of my research, i came to the such paperwork, as draftords such registration cards and .mmigration paperwork as rich reading through and with such documents illuminates the race making and maintenance work members of these religious groups undertook in daily life and in public contacts and calls

as an exercise of state power and religious expression and experience, sometimes a challenge to state power. in 1915, law enforcement and medical officials decided that mary wood should be committed to the stockton state hospital for the in's name. -- for the insane. it said she would not sleep night or day, wanted to be appointed as a preacher and a local church. the diagnosis was of insanity, accompanied i religious -- by andgious tha delusions

the psychiatrist noted religion as a factor. the desire to preacher not obvious indicators of mental illness -- [laughter] professor weisenfeld: although it seems to me that gendered understands of leadership may have had a role in the perception that would was disruptive somehow. this was situated in an ongoing manic state that produced sleeplessness and exhaustion, leading to her death eight days after her admission to the hospital. this is not particularly revealing beyond an individual's religious expression and psychological distress. but placed in the larger context of psychiatric's course and practice about race and religion, it directs us to a set of sources for angry. -- for inquiry. would was among -- wood was

among those diagnosed with some form of religiously-grounded mental illness. dollars of the history of the racial's age and -- scholars of the history of the racialization have noted this as a containment of individual action. the process of diagnosis and the practice oftment -- treatment. early psychiatric literature about african-americans are filled with assertions about enduring negro savagery, manifest particularly and religion. them want to continue to shape habits and behavior. the page of the stockton state

to examines led me psychiatric literature that might reveal more about the history of disability in the form of mental illness. wondering about mary wood's life, her religious amendment and aspiration, and eric's. and in the stockton state hospital -- and her experience in the stockton state hospital -- how might her diagnosis as suffering rum religious insanity -- from religious insanity of guided her treatment? did race and religion play a role in her treatment and eventual death? i am putting my research before you. as is clear, the sources and

sites often emerge from or have connection to these arenas of religious life. they highlight new social act or's. returning from the almost exclusive attention to lag churches and political struggles -- black churches and eslitical struggles, it includ developments like the prosperity gospel that has had influenced yon whack immunity -- beyond new forms ofties. spirituality not tied to christian institutions, new religious bases that signal a black queer presence and more. so, a more textured understanding helps situate these and a much broader variety that has always characterized religious life in

america. thank you. [applause] >> good morning. >> good morning. an honor to be here and i am so appreciative of jim gro this and all who have made possible. i of seen friends i have not seen in 40 years. it's wonderful to be here. to you about the bible politics of the black freedom struggle. today, most americans, upon hearing the term "bible politics" would associate it with the religious right, the

conservative evangelical wing of the republican party read yet -- republican party. yet etymology speaks of oots, those who believe god's laws and justice lay at the very foundation of civil government and laws. unlike the followers of william lloyd arison who disdained the constitution and sought the end of slavery through moral suasion who followtionists historians like james brewer stewards and most termtly -- observed the "bible politics" that was coined by these abolitionists,

specifically and third-party politics. the liberty party and its successors, particularly the radical abolition party. they claimed the gospel of liberty in order to end the sin of slavery. however, despite the coinage in these specific context, bible politics precisely captures the fusion of religion and politics. it looks at the interlocking discourses of religion, race, --d synthesizes rests on the distinction between obedience to natural, divine law. and civil man-made law. it rejects as artificial the

binary between the religious and political. i higherng god's law, moral law, as the basis of civil law. and as a moral referent for evaluating the validity of civil law. what makes it distinct is the central it he of religious ideas in bringing about racial equality and justice through the american government's ideals, documents, processes, and institutions. when you see it online, i talk about where you can see religious language in the declaration of independence. he also see religious language in the enlightenment, thinkers like john locke. attention to religious language reveals the perceived linkage between the universal ideals in and the natural law ideals of the american nation as presented in the declaration of independence and the constitution. it also reveals the centuries long conversation over the meaning and application of laws , a contestation in

which both sides, the antislavery side and the proslavery side, both the civil rights workers and the segregationists, are validating the perspectives by using the same foundational text, the declaration of independence, the constitution, and the bible. for much of american history, the fusion of religion and politics has undergirded white supremacy and the subordination of black people. example,rity laws, for expose the most fundamental expression of the long-standing inseparability of race, religion, politics, and natural law. let me give you an example from the state of virginia. 166he state of virginia, in 2, virginia legislators sought to curb interracial effects and

the colonies growing mixed-race population by increasing a punitive fine from yet an earlier law, so the law predates 1662. 1662 says if any christian shall commit fornication with a black man or woman, he or she is so offending, shall pay double the fines imposed by the former act. the law was really meant to curb mulattos, and very much targeted to women. if you were a white woman and had a mixed-race child, that child would not be a slave. it would inherit the status of the mother. it's also interesting that this law uses the word christian for white people. while you might think, that's interesting, and maybe black people did not go to church, that's not true. some of the cases are black and white churchgoers. aboutd like you to think the post-brown decision, when many schools and counties in virginia closed.

counties of virginia closed public schools to resist the brown decision. when they opened their white schools, often they were called christian schools. in 1662, we can go up , anl the loving case interracial couple who took their marriage to the supreme court in 1967 and it was validated as a legal marriage. in 1965, on the way to the supreme court, the circuit judge in caroline county said their marriage was illegal, and talked about states rights, but also added, almighty god created the races white, black, yellow, mele, and red, and place them on separate continents.

with interference with his arrangement there would be -- without interference with his arrangement there would be no -- he did not intend for the races to mix. document. the legal they were actually in jail. iny spent some time in jail the process of fighting for this . the bible politics of the black freedom struggle often a counter narrative. normativea competing, universe. it exists as a combination of principles that also continued over the centuries. i will identify them as follows. one is biblically validated oneness of humanity. this is based on the book of

acts in the bible, chapter 17, verse 26, god hath made the nations of one blood. based on that, the argument goes, and it goes from the colonial period to today that because of that, humanity is one, and so freedom is a natural condition of all persons. the second point is the sacred quality of the declaration of independence and the liberating spirit of the constitution. number three, recognition of just laws and unjust laws, with emphasis on obedience to just laws. four, the essentiality of a multiracial coalition for lasting success. moral of african-americans to make america live up to its ideals. give examples in the paper. the first is from the revolutionary war era and the early republic. next is from the time of the

abolitionists, and finally from the 20th century. in the earliest period i draw from the public addresses and writings of the black new englander. he was a soldier in the continental army. the theologian, ordained congregationalist minister. in 1776 with the wars going on, he writes an essay called liberty further extended. what he argues is that the revolutionary war could not usher in true american liberty until freedom was extended to the black slaves. in all these narratives there is a story about the unfinished business of america. haynes based his antislavery argument on the bible and declaration of independence when he wrote that freedom was the natural condition of mankind. quote, liberty and freedom is an innate principle which is on movably placed in the human species.

and to see man a spy after it is not enigmatical, seeing he acts no ways incompatible with his own nature. liberty is a jewel which was handed down to man from the cabinet of heaven. it proceeds from the supreme legislature of the universe. building on this rationale, he why slaveryxplain is an unjust system. he distinguishes between just and unjust laws to the rights of blacks by saying, every privilege -- every privilege that mankind enjoys has their origin from god, and whatever acts are passed in any earthly court which are derogatory, to those edicts which are passed in the court of heaven, the act is void. martin luther king would use that same just and unjust laws 100 years later. in fact, the language is very similar. it appeals to the moral, even liberating context of the

constitution in the face of perceived unjust law can be seen december 30, 1799, in a petition to congress by absalom jones and other free black citizens of philadelphia. in the petition of color, it's called the petition to the people of color, freeman within the cities and suburbs of philadelphia. 70 signatories focused on some of them, just put x's by their names. they focused on the fugitive slave act of 1793. they were conscious of exercising their rights as citizens. the black petitioners acknowledged their own enjoyment of the natural rights to liberty and their sense of duty to speak for the slaves. brethren,ted suffering under various circumstances in different parts of the states, but deeply sympathizing with them right the scholarship in the last decade or so on abolitionists, moving to the second period, scholarship on this third-party radical abolition party, also

shows that you have the same kind of sentiments. , overwhelmingly white in membership, the liberty party, the radical abolition as membersmed blacks and delegates to their meetings. the 1844 platform made explicit its invitation, quote, for our colored citizens to eternity with us in the liberty party. both parties nominated black persons from office under national tickets. most recently, in her comprehensive study of abolitionism identifies a number of leading black abolitionists within the liberty party. african-americans were a minority in that party. they were a minority in the united states. therefore, they form their own at the state and national levels while also

participating in the political parties. at the same time they are doing this campaigning, henry garnet is proudly identifying with the liberty party. garnet is also remembered for his fiery address at the national negro convention in buffalo in 1843 where he urged the slaves to rise up against their masters in the manner of denmark vesey and matt turner. garnet's speech was long remembered for his fiery resistance. yet that very speech also included a familiar rhetoric of the bible politics of black freedom struggles. i quote garnet. he's talking about the declaration of independence. sages admired it. the declaration of independence was a glorious document and the

patriotic of every nation, referenced the godlike sentiments which it contained. he then proceeded to condemn the founding fathers for their limited embrace of universal rights. when the power of government returned to their hands, did they emancipate the slaves? no. they rather added new links to our chains. in every man's mind, the good seeds of liberty are planted and he who brings the fellow down so low as to make him content with the condition of slavery commits he higher crime against such laws. in thee found expression radical abolition party. john stauffer talks about douglas, frederick douglass, who used to be a follower of garrison. after 1850 he had become a radical abolitionist. he writes in his newspaper, we want men at this crisis you

cannot be frightened from the advocacy of a radical doctrines because of their unpopularity. let us not to grow weary of believing what ever is right is practicable, go forth with renewed determination to caulker, though we die in the conflict. and at the inaugural radical abolition party meeting was john brown. he would go on to kansas and then a few years later to harpers ferry. from the founding of civil rights activism of the 1960's, the bible politics of the freedom struggle at continuously maintained the theme of purifying america, of making america live up to its ideals, or as martin luther king stated with regards to the constitution , on april 3, 1968, the day before he died, always say to america is to be true to what was set on paper. bible politics have been pursued through overwhelmingly like organize asian through alliances on a multiracial basis.

the southern leadership conference selected the slogan to save the soul of america. while at the same time it promoted nonviolent disobedience to unjust laws of the 1950's and 1960's. they believed the gaze of racial justice must come through laws, executive orders, and judicial opinions. this would entail not only interracial, all-black efforts, but also alliances across the races. despite complications, setbacks occurring in each context. i want to end the paper with examples from women. discusses the fusion of religion and politics by the activities of black church women who engaged in electoral politics and in fighting for the passage of legislation such as

antilynching laws and the civil rights laws. withdecades she identifies familiar names. one is a woman named florence spearing randolph, who was an .me zion minister yet she was very much involved in republican women can's -- women's organizations, black women's and white women's from the 1920's to the 1940's. jennifer scanlon's wonderful new biography on anna headsman, who is involved in the march on washington movement in 1941 as well as the interracial christian organization in the 1960's. these organizations lobbied for the civil rights act of 1964. toill conclude that we need see more about the political activism of the religious people in america, and black people in particular. thebible politics of

struggle is in an important intervention in african-american and american history. thank you. [applause] >> good morning. i want to thank everyone for inviting me to this wonderful conference. every time i pass by the museum and look at it, i think, this is the right jewel in the crown on the mall. it's gorgeous. at my paperd online, you can think of that as a historiographical essay to go with what i'm going to say now, which you don't know what i will say now, which will probably make a few people nervous. i want to start off by telling a story that encapsulates not only my interest in history and religion, but the ways in which african-american religion is always present, whether you recognize it or not.

a game i love of history, not only from my mother, but my high school teacher, a history teacher, wayne ford, outside of houston, texas. mr. ford came to school really sharp, briefcase always neatly organized. he was very patient with me. i asked way too many questions in the classroom and harassed him with questions after class. when i graduated from high school, he told me he was retiring soon and he would be buying a drugstore in houston, texas. i should come and visit him. i did not understand why he wasn't buying -- why he was buying a drugstore and he wasn't a pharmacist. i thought, sure. i best friend and i traveled to houston's fifth ward to stanley's drugstore. when we walked in, i was stunned to see wax candles in the shape of men and women and assorted body parts. oils, powders, and my former

history teacher standing behind the counter with his brow arched behind his huge glasses, waiting on a customer. my history teacher was a who man, and ioodoo never knew it. he probably put something on me and i don't even know. needless to say, my mind was blown. i had to rethink everything about what i knew about him. of oils andiness powders and candles he was surrounded by were very exciting to me. i had a whole new set of questions. my best friend was try to find the right oil in order to get the most tips out of her wages. don't judge me. i know historians don't like to talk about this kind of stuff. but there you go. if you think this is an aberration, take a look at this week's "the los angeles times." stanley's drugstore is still going strong.

i relayed the story because i suspect many of us while looking for the traditional markers of african-american religion look at the black church you think of a choir, the dynamic preacher, women in hats. but we miss the quotidian ways of which religion is practiced right in front of us by african-americans. many of you who have relatives who would not eat at somebody's house or had somebody who told you not to comb your hair in certain places or had different practices and tics you might have thought were spiritual in nature or just superstition, but you paid little thought about where they came from. i been thinking a lot in the past few years about an alternative narrative of african-american religion. in the spirit of thinking about the title of this conference, i want to explore a future in which we consider a different trajectory for the broader field of research and writing about black religion in history. so many of the great histories that have been written take the

ark of the slave religion, the establishment of black churches to the civil rights movement and beyond. i call this the tramp the narrative of freedom, except we know in today's world freedom ain't free. sometimes the freedom you think you get is not really there. i don't think we should stop doing the history of black churches, but i do think it is time to destroy this idea of the black church that has held african-american religion in parole. narrative the whole about the spiritual laws of african-americans and frame that only within the specter of protestant black churches, we miss the entirety of what black religion is all about. we miss the whole story. we make the people who have these stories, we put them in a second place, in a second category. that is not what we should do. if we think about protestantism, it has an inherent bias of laws

that are reinforced by scripture, and in part, that hold there at seven got inculcated within the work of anthropologists and sociologists who wrote about black religion in the early part of the 20th century. a lot of those representations of like religion have also influenced historians. idea about black religion that exists outside of a church frame or protestant frame is always seen as other. it's aberrant. it's primitive. there is another way to think about that arc. remarks todaye my in light of essays in the journal of african religions by entitled, africa and a religious studies, towards a transdisciplinary agenda in an emerging field. they propose the study of africana religions was -- must disconnect itself from the , and others,te

especially theologians, and researching and making available the diversity of u.s. african-american religious cultures and the range of encounters and exchanges that have produced them. secular historians have much to offer religionists. i think that's true and that is the case. historians have often pointed at the stories we did not know. and the other hand, those of us who do religious history have a a firmrm -- responsibility to do this work in a different way. instead of that narrative from slave religion to freedom, we must connect to the african past. i think this is crucial. we haven't talked very much on this panel this morning about the ways in which africa looms as a present.

we need to be able to begin to think, how are we going to do this narrative over again and make that narrative more clearly connect to african antecedents of religion. that would include christianity. and others, things like islam and african traditional religion. brings into sharp relief the geographic and regional aspects of african-american religion. it cuts and a different way if we eliminate the black church thing that is happening, and following the trajectory to tell us more about slavery, migration, freedom, the urban space, and the future. by considering the history outside of christianity, we open up space for the creative ways which african-americans should use religion as a way to make a creative space, to create identity, to connect with the ds para and manage their everyday lives and give them determination and awards. in order to do that, i want to

talk about three different stories this morning that i think speak to that narrative of difference. you might be surprised about a couple of them, not so much because you might not know them, because of the ones i've chosen make a representation of certain kinds of stories. the first is a story about c.h. mason. the second is a story about father maurice, who is a black priest in the society for divine work. the first is charles harrison mason. you probably know mason as the cofounder as the church i wrote about in my first book. he was the first presiding bishop. what many people don't know outside of those who study pentecostalism is that there's a very famous picture of mason with his roots and signs and wonders of nature. in this picture he's holding different kinds of potatoes and tree branches, things like this,

that all spoke to him that he said were part of god's wonders of creation, but he also use them to pray over people and heal them. in the past, people wrote about mason as someone who was caring for slave religion, but we might think about those antecedents as going back even further than slave religion. they go back to africa. he has a about mason, picture of him with his roots. it also talks about how he used those roots to preach from scripture to talk about the wonders of god, the wonders of jesus. this fusion is a different way to think about what is actually happening. pentecostalism really isn't protestantism at all. we need to think about this in a much different way because of the fusion of spiritual traditions, the fusion of catholicism. it has many different things going on. mason even talks about reading

the entrails to see the signs and wonders of god. he talks about sexual spirits, succubus coming to people in the middle of the night, and people having these kinds of issues and them needing prayer in the church. this is not a normal protestant sermon, ok? to read thesein narratives and look at what people are saying, especially in a lot of the black pentecostal traditions, you will see a trajectory of spiritualism, spirituality and all these things, of people being really confused about what a spirit is and what another spirit is. we have to begin to look at those in a different kind of way to speak to the myriad of ways that these traditions keep popping up, and -- in every one of these narratives, and show us something different. rice was one of the first black man who went into the seminary in 1921 in biloxi, mississippi.

a prominent creel family in new orleans. his sister became a nun. he went into seminary at the age of 14, society for divine word in greenville, mississippi. he was ordained in 1934 and in 1941 he was sent to saint martinsville, louisiana, to nature them -- to notre dame. that church was established by katharine drexel. you might think, why are you telling this story about a black priest? ,t is a story of an execution and execution of willie francis. if you know the story, this is one of the stories that went to the supreme court. francis' o illie confessor -- confessor, he heard his final confession rate he had been accused of killing a pharmacist in louisiana.

he probably did not do it, but he was framed for it. when they sent him to the electorate -- electrical chair for the first time, right there in the center of town in the courthouse, the electric chair did not work he was shocked. he was not killed. this case went to the supreme court and the father fought for this young man's life. narrative, he talked about the kinds of racialized things that were happening. there was no black church strong enough to save anybody in saint martinsville, louisiana. it was a black priest who had to testify. and so we don't look for where these other stories might pop up. we begin to see the myriad of different ways of different , then weclergy working missed the story. unfortunately willie francis was put to death and the second time he was electrocuted, he died.

coleman, the founder of united christ temple in chicago, illinois, she started the church in 1956. we talk about people like father divine, we talk about the reverend, but johnny coleman should get the credit for having 20,000 members. she was probably one of the first mega-churches pass 1950. when she moved into the science of mind, she led many other people who became clergy at this time, had a profound experience of illness, decided to start studying what her mother had been passing out to her. we don't talk a lot about african-americans who embrace science of mind and have decided to turn away from traditional ways of thinking about christianity.

but all of the story say something, and what do they say? we should think about the ways in which this religious history, these religious complexes of african-americans who are practicing religion are not these traditional stories of the preacher, the music, and the frenzy. i think in many ways, although i love his work, there's been a narrative that has cut out the voices. this historical narrative of african-american religion. if we miss these stories, we missed the whole point about what religion is in america. i've often thought about henry mcneal turner when he said, god is a black man. you can draw a trajectory from turner to father divine, who says he is god. how do you go from a black man saying god is black to the black man saying he is god? we need to begin to consider and deconstruct and reconstruct our

narrative so that we can have a clear perspective about what african-american religion really is. it's not just the preacher, the music, and the frenzy. it's not just a beautiful hat. it's not just church mothers i've written about. it's a whole complex of religion that can connect us to a broader world of the african d aspera and beyond. disapora and beyond -- diaspora and beyond. thank you. [applause] >> can you or me? ok. voodoo men as high school teachers, that is a novel concept. thank you all. i would be remiss if i did not our professor wallace best, professor of religion and african-american studies at princeton, and paul harvey, professor of history and presidential teaching scholar at the university of colorado,

colorado springs. i deliberately abbreviated the introductions of our speakers to make sure we had enough time for a discussion. before we open this up to the audience, i have a question for each one of you. eddie, i understand what you were saying about categorizing african-american religion, and the question i'm about to ask probably you would not want to answer but i'm going to make you answer it anyway. congregation,ck and white leadership. is this an authentic african-american religion, or it's just african-american life, or it's an african-american religious experience? to what extent does that white

presence, especially in the leadership role, change the experience? [inaudible] eddie: we can concretize that. do byf what i'm trying to troubling the category is saying it's precisely those sorts of experiences, those sorts of institutional realities that complicate some of the hidden assumptions about african-american religions. what were trying to do at that moment, were trying to fit it into a prior understanding of what an african-american religious life entails. we look at the complexity of african-american religious life, we are going to see that. work on the part of the historian, to try to fit it

into a category of african-american religion? moment,s lost in that when we have to ask ourselves, is it that or is it not, as opposed to looking at the experiences themselves and what's going on and what's happening? what is the father doing with this? instead, we are trying to fit it into something called african-american religion or black church. something gets lost there. [inaudible] i just had to do that. i felt my mother popping me upside the head. this is the boy's reference. in the paper i wrote, i talk about the boys reference.

we tend to read of the faith of as the definitive statement on african-american religious life, but at the end of that chapter he calls for a new religious ideal. in the next chapters of the passing of the firstborn. i'm thinking part of what do boys is doing -- dubois is doing is treating christianity doing an institutional history. then he called for a new religious ideal. something much more interesting is happening there. i want to say this in terms of bible politics. there is contestation there. about the ways in which bible politics reflect not so much a commitment to america living up to its ideals of purifying america, but actually is the ground to reject america and such.

the rhetorical value. people might not be invested in the truth claim of the bible. --jamesrson and others baldwin engaging in bible politics. i don't know, but we know the bible is everywhere. >> if we could continue along that vein, does there have to be a connection to institutionalized religion? we know a lot of these black men and white men who are pursuing this are ministers, but not all are. does or have to be an affiliation with an institution or just because you know the and you think you know what god's plan is? >> for me -- i make a distinction in the longer paper -- i would not include the

ethiopians as bible politics. i take literally this idea of the abolitionists who are saying that we are going to stay in america. that's one of their themes, we will stay in america. our blood has made this country, we will make it better. do is draw on the quote sacred documents of condemnation. the different groups that don't fit into this type of bible politics -- i want people to understand that looking back at the past, looking even before that time and looking right up to the present, you can go to north carolina for moral mondays. this is a tradition, and i think it's a tradition worthy of talking about. no, you don't have to be a minister. what you do is you engage the political system, to petition

through public writings like lemuel haynes or martin luther king. livehallenge the system to up to what it is supposed to do. frederick douglas was certainly not a minister. neither was james mckenzie. they used literally the language of the bible. they literally used bible passages, they invoke god. if they are not invoking god, it's narrow red -- narrow. i do think it's a tradition to have a long history, and a tradition that has been -- we think about it so much, and the right that we don't realize how that tradition has been used, all along is a counter narrative to this other way that the bible is used politically. and -- with the caseued

wood, andat, -- mary the idea that religion can be linked to mental illness, although some of us i think recognize that connection had we not read your paper. you educate that this is a racially station of the whole thing. of you find any instances white patients being diagnosed with it? >> i was really only just getting started on this, and it grows out of the previous project in which i became intrigued on the psychiatric letter -- literature on followers of father divine. sociologists try to think about following this man, who thinks he is god.

the literature was distinctive in rehearsing a litany that goes something like the negro is three generations removed from savagery, one generation removed from the rural south. when i start to think about the i found a large set of psychiatric literature that does the same thing, that ilnks diagnostic categories and practices to this cluster of ideas about savage religions and so on. is the case, it was common in 19th century america withhites to be diagnosed mania. by the early 20th century --

religion gets used to contain certain things about african americans. i'm really just at the start of this. yes, there are people in these institutions in the archival work of done who are not like who have religion attached or something else, but then when you locate that -- i was very surprised. >> dr. butler, you mention something in your paper that i think is very important to emphasize -- emphasize here. we talked about the fact that we have records that could help us challenge that traditional narrative that everything is protestant, and church-based, and all of the rest, but that

those records are languishing in basements and attics, and people who are tasked with having to clean out grandma's home after are noted away predisposed to certain kinds of important documents we should be preserving. what would be your advice to this audience, by ensuring we don't lose those important records? >> do you know some buddy is older that is ill and they forgot to clean out the house, go over there. i can't tell you how much is being lost right now. in thet just the papers print, it's the material culture of this. if you see a bottle of holy water, oil or something, that is part of the story. we need those stories. i want to bring up something that has been a point for all of us. african-american

project that started back in the 1990's and was a long, torturous thing. there are documents from 1444 to the 20th century that no one has looked at or touched yet. i think it's a tragedy. there are so many dissertations and books that have not been written because that project was not out. i've talked a lot about it, but i'm going to say it publicly now. if there's any way to get that to oakland, let's do it now. it's past time for the stories to come out. are going to have an african-american museum on the mall. at a handful of people who teach in the area of african american religious history, two of them are sitting right next to each other. we wonder about what our legacy is going to be. not that we need a legacy, but the work needs a legacy. if we are not training enough

people and we don't have the materials we need to train people, then the stories are gone. that's it. >> let's take some questions from the audience, starting here. >> good morning. thank you. my name is barbara's average from the university of pennsylvania. -- barbara savage from the university of pennsylvania. i wanted to really ask a question that is more of a semantic question. i was thinking about it yesterday. i wanted to ask a question about is --m, and whether it when you talk about religious practices that folks are engaged in, is there a way in which the is the onereligion right that african-americans

have been able to protect and use more than others even with the legal restrictions we have talked about here, and if so why, or why not. your panel will be an argument. anybody can do what they want to do. i want to put that there as a way of talking about african-american religion and the state and the laws of representation of that. the second is to say on black protestantism, even as we talk about the very nature of african-american religion and the need for all the work that is being done represented by this panel, one of the most understated aspects of african-american religion is black protestantism. i will tell you that, in terms of trying to get down in the trenches and to write the histories of individual churches and religious communities in individual cities and states and counties in this country.

let's not throw all of that out. it is that material that is most likely in your grandmothers attic. -- final thing has to do with all this variety of religious practices among black given any anyone thought or done any work on interracial religious conflict and tension. all the conversation we had yesterday about community and who is an african-american, how are black people holding themselves together as a political unit with all of this amazing religious diversity? >> who would like to answer? >> i can start with some part of it. religious freedom, one could argue that whether it's a church and state difference, which obviously my people were not do, but -- i do think we need to acknowledge that the slaves were not free to worship the way they wanted to worship. their efforts to either sneak

or to worshipip in these white churches that were telling them to obey their masters. the idea of freedom of religion did not really apply to them in the same way it did two other people. later, i think there is some validity to that. what was the last point? >> intraracial. >> my goodness. -- whole idea of the split these churches splitting. , one of theing biggest fights in the national baptist convention occurred in 1915 over their publishing company. it was terrible. falling offkilled the stage or something. when they split, it was about one not being incorporated.

later, ations this fight with the national baptists again and the formation of the progressive national baptist convention. the national baptist convention was the jackson side and the king side was the other. not only at huge denominational levels, but also within the church, when you're about the church splitting, that's what that is about. [inaudible] mason was a baptist. >> he was baptist but then he goes into the holiness movement and becomes pentecostal. he started off baptist. >> i never really read anything

about real fights between these other groups. i'm not saying they don't exist. >> based on something that i hope will connect your first and third question, freedom of religion, one has to have a religion to have freedom of religion. the ways in which the state defines what is religion states whether or not african-americans are able to have religious freedom. i was struck in reading some of moorish voice newspaper and one of the things he said is there is freedom of religion in america, so we will pursue that. he calls on other african-americans to respect freedom of religion. he's invested in that sort of thing, and trying to expand the scope of what african-americans --

bythat regard, i was struck how much fighting is going on between protestant clergy and i wasaders of the new -- especially interested in the way the black press took up the role of arbitrating what is appropriate religion in public. beyond the question of whether one can exercise freedom of religion or not, the conflicts i saw were about people trying to do the work that eddie is talking about, constraining, containing everyone in this narrow box of religion because it gives us a better case beyond enforceable rights. there is a lot of dispute over that and a lot of work. america gives us the opportunity to express ourselves religiously. the fbi is surveilling them by the 1940's.

martin is working on fbi and religion. this, quick points about disestablishment is at the heart of american denominationalism, the proliferation of it. will has an interesting work about how that forms and shapes denominations. we are part of that story. typically where the conflict or if conflict is actually thought about and analyzed, you are , isending to be a historian where we see the metaphor of marketplace, the kind of religious marketplace is where we begin to see -- in addition to judith, this is where we begin to see this consumption-based model as people are trying to compete for various places. the reverend has his service at 2:00 and you can go to your

church and you can come to mine after you leave yours. the religious marketplace gives us a point of entry into understanding how the competition is happening. >> i'm a graduate student at vanderbilt. i appreciate this discussion. one thing i noticed is that a lot of focus is on still the .rophetic tradition, can you talk about the importance of conservatism in african-american religious believe and practice? >> thank you. i did not bring that up because you can only get so much in in 10 minutes. i been thinking about this because of the election cycle, and a longer history of conservativism.

i really think that is a story we are missing because part of this is all about how you construct how you're going to be in the world and what gets you what you need to get. if we think about religion as doing certain kinds of things. on the one hand, we've talked a lot about black churches being the freedom bringer. let's face it, the black church is not very progressive on some other issues if you're going to talk about the monolith. we break it apart, we will see a lot of different things. there's a lot of room to do that work. some of that is political work. i think about a day's work. need to start to connect black republicanism to the kinds of ways in which people had religious concerns on top of that. i think there's a big, rich history that could probably be written there. i think the book remains to be ontten probably historically sexual practices and sexual

relationships, because that's always the hardest thing for me as a historian to get to. i think the ways in which there is one kind of conservativism but there's another kind of -- in the midst of black churches that we need to talk about. i used to say that bill clinton got don't ask, don't tell from black churches. unfortunately. it's a thing, right? i hate that. this is something that we really do need to get at historically. there is starting to be good work on that. i hope that kind of answers your question. it is something i have been interested in for a variety of reasons you can go back to the -- reasons. >> even go back to the writings of the fathers. in 1953, he is saying they are differentiating. he's making that distinction as early as 1903. when you look at the reverend he lists portions of oral roberts

biography. we are thinking about these as parallel and opposite, but they're not. this is a christian network, right? saying, stop looking at black churches. areof black folk protestant. 78%. if you're going to go to the ground and look at what is going on, you will see christianity everywhere as well as other things. it is what is getting in the way of us understanding the complexity of those practices. >> one thing about conservatism, it ties to your point, barbara. youn in the black church, have a designation of progressives and conservatives. someone like the reverend in the late 20th century would have been a progressive minister. in the context of their perception of who is progressive

and who is conservative, usually the conservative people are the people who can see the church solely as a spiritual place. you don't get involved in all this other kind of stuff. that's another issue where conservatives are different in that black tradition. please keep your questions short and your answers even shorter. >> ok. >> so we can get more people. >> i don't have a question. comment is, when i saw the question what is african-american religion, i wondered if there would be anyone who would talk about religion from not a christian concept. i thought that because i was not raised christian. i wonder what it would be like to talk about religion and then to put african-american in front

of religion and not use , such as terminology preacher, congregation, to imagine a religion that does not ise an image of god, and god not a man, and to imagine being in the space where worship does not have sound or very little, and there is no call and response, or to imagine a religion that does not have and then tot body, imagine being -- i'm one of those people who grew up in the faith islam. so let me mislead you. i'm cold. that is why that is on my head right now. my uniform has nothing to do with religion at the moment. but what i think about is, when front of thein african-american religion, there's a body of people who are missed.

muslimsm a family of whose great-grandparents were muslims, whose grandparents were muslims, whose children are muslims, and my nieces and nephews. this is not a religion we come to through the nation of islam. >> yes. [applause] abby cooper, brandeis university. what are the possibilities and costs for historians writing black lives into the center of andican, emphasizing political, making it black politics. related to that, the supernatural in this, nat turner thought he was a messenger of god.

so the supernatural and agency sometimes to be at odds. what happens when the supernatural seems most disposable to historians? >> that is a history problem. [laughter] quickly, nat very turner would not have used the word supernatural. it will be one of the things you will be able to see. when john brown is at this convention, he is white, and talks about we have to do this through shed blood, he is quoting from the hebrews. talk there.gious what does it mean to think about it as a religious political movement.

that is something i am interested in. >> sometimes in places we have to say it -- see it. example, this has been a movement that is obviously a religious movement. and largely written about as a political movement. what does it mean to think about this as a religious and political movement at the same time? it is a very important question and a difficult one for look at theo vernacular, how people understand the divine in any given context as part of the political work that people might be doing or people might not be doing. isgood morning, my question for professor claude.

of addition,ology does the professor working a way related to your work and is irrelevant -- relevant? >> it is definitely relevant. i cannot just read the black theology and not look at the prophetic, that is trying to put that into the idiom of power. it is dealing with other things and pieties, like cultural nationalism and the pieties that are imaginary and it emerges in that context and if you read black power, he is engaging in a translation project in order to ensure the relevancy of a black

is lookingrend that at the secularizing, in the sense where you have competing vocabularies and the language has to emerge that caps off the cost these differences -- talk across these differences. come and you can be baptist, methodist, whatever. so he is trying to enter in that moment to and i think if you fail to read black liberation theology as a form of apologetics, then he will fail to see how it is historical consciousness over determines its theological consciousness. because it has historiography that is indebted to black power and it shapes how he thinks the -- how he thinks theologically. that is just me.

>> we only have time -- we only have time for a couple more questions. let's take one. when smallwood, my question, the part of the conference this is about is looking at the future areas that we will try to research as we move forward, in terms of re-examining the past and what we will do in the future. i go back to early america, i do early american history. and i want to know how you feel orut the re-examination examining of the early merging of native religions with african religion, specifically when you look at north carolina and virginia, talking about nat turner and events, and many claim nat turner as their own, but his great great

nodawayghter was in the porter -- -- william barber, his people from north carolina and their heritage. so if you know about your koi -- iroquois lujan -- religion you know that shape shifting, roots and herbs, all that is part of the culture. what i found in my research in eastern north carolina, is that the earlier scholars they mistook native religion and however can americans had emerged native religion into voodoo and african religion, that is not to. they do not understand or know anything about the native religions and where it came together. and i will wind it down, because when you go to the modern era, the 21st century and to talk

about the baptist tradition in the black church, the power of women, particularly in north carolina, in the baptist churches -- i am not region -- you have to go. did andlect the chief test chief -- chief. and this became part of the communities and the church. and one last thing -- >> can you give them the opportunity to answer? >> i have an answer for you. think that this is a really important area, but i have a graduate student working on this from the early 20th century between turkey and -- cherokees and african-americans, and the crossover musically with everything that was happening. i think that we need more people that work with an

african-american religion, early america anyway, and of the cross between native american and african religion. there is a project on it, i forget who was involved, maybe 10-20 years ago, but some of it started happening and then fell away. that is a piece that we need to do. and it is a regional question, when you talked about how that would play out differently in louisiana and that has regional variance and we do not think about the geography a lot with african religion. >> i apologize, we are out of time. i am sure that all of the panelists will be around for the rest of the day. [applause] we are going to take a 15 minute break. 10:35. at

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