RESEARCH AND RESOURCE

Raleigh Black Church History…

is fascinating.  It would be too long for a blog post, so I am going to tease you with some of the article that I wrote for the Black Oak Society’s Church edition, due to come out in the next couple of weeks.

Raleigh has a formidable history in terms of the Black church.

The roots of the Black church go back into the times of slavery. While some plantation owners didn't want their slaves to know anything about religion, others wanted slaves to hear those passengers requiring slaves to obey their masters to keep fear and obedience hand in hand. Still other slave owners encouraged religious knowledge and brought it to their slaves and their slaves to the church.

In some instances, plantation owners held services on Sunday mornings at home with a traveling preacher or bits of bible reading and prayer. Other owners ventured to church services and allowed slaves to come worship and become members of an organized institution.

Many of...

Blacks were interspersed among whites throughout the city, free Blacks tended to live in small enclaves reflecting segregation along racial and economic lines. Slaves were often hired out to others and could "live out" in areas of the city with families of free Blacks as well as white laborers.

Free Blacks were clustered around the city, generally occupying the cheaper tracts of land beyond the city limits, "the less desirable bottomland closer to downtown, and especially the narrow streets that bordered the railroad related industries." In areas where there was economic advancement, black leaders and middle class grew and so would churches, schools, and substantial homes. "By the 1890's, 50% of the population was Black and mature and solidly segregated neighborhoods nearly encircled the city. White attitudes were considered 'racial claustrophobia', feeling that the city was under siege by displaced Blacks.

The institutions that grew depended on the Black community for their...