Blacks, the Second Great Awakening, and Abolition

The History of Black Americans and the Black Church #8

Our Scripture verse for today is John 8:36 which reads: "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."
 
Our History of Black Americans and the Black Church quote for today is from Arthur Ashe, the World No. 1 tennis player and the first black man to be selected for the U.S. Davis Cup tennis team. He said, "If I were to say, ‘God, why me?’ about the bad things, then I should have said, ‘God, why me?’ about the good things that happened in my life."

In this podcast, we are using as our texts: From Slavery to Freedom, by John Hope Franklin, The Negro Church in America/The Black Church Since Frazier by E. Franklin Frazier and C. Eric Lincoln, and The Black Church In The U.S. by William A. Banks.

Our first topic today is a continuation of some good work done for the "God In America" series titled "The Origins of the Black Church" which was aired by the Public Broadcasting Service. This is just a brief historical overview; we will delve into these topics in great detail in upcoming episodes

THE SECOND GREAT AWAKENING AND "HUSH HARBORS"

In the late 18th and early 19th century, thousands of Americans, black and white, enslaved and free, were swept up in the revival known as the Second Great Awakening. In the South, the religious fervor of evangelical Christianity resonated easily with the emotive religious traditions brought from West Africa. Forging a unique synthesis, slaves gathered in "hush harbors" -- woods, gullies, ravines, thickets and swamps -- for heartfelt worship which stressed deliverance from the toil and troubles of the present world, and salvation in the heavenly life to come.

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