History of Religion of African-Americans
The Black experience in America has always been widely taught as one of struggle. Of oppression and violence. What people rarely are taught, especially in American public schools, is how they overcame it. Not how others liberated them, but how they fought for themselves. They established schools, hospitals, took their rightful seats in politics, art, music, and literature, and so much of this comes from the deep rooted importance and impression of religion in African American culture.
The Early Centuries:
The Evangelist Mark brought Christianity to Ethiopia in the 1st to early 2nd century, around the same time, or even possibly before, it spread to Europe. Christianity was brought from Jerusalem to Alexandria, to Egypt and then to Ethiopia, and in the 4th century, King Ezana of Ethiopia made Christianity Ethiopia’s official religion. In that very same century in the year of 312, Emperor Constantine officially made Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire, which was around the same time as his victory at the Battle of Milvian Bridge. Constantine, with possible religious influences from his mother, Helena, ruled over the Roman Empire as a Christian leader. This history shows us that before the forced enslavement of Africans, both Christianity and Islam were already expanding in African countries.
In the mid-7th century, Islam began to be spread in Africa by the disciples of Mohammed. In the 8th and 9th centuries, Arab traders, travelers, and African clerics brought Islam to Sudan. Between the 8th and 14th centuries, Fulanis and the Southern Saharan Sanhaja Berbers brought Islam to the Niger Delta region. Much later in the 16th century after colonization, the Moors began to bring Islam to the Americas as well.
Religion During Enslavement:
In the beginnings of colonization and the late 1600s, the vast majority of enslaved Africans practiced traditional West African religions. Many others were a mixture of Muslim (30%) and Christian. Later, in the 1700s, many enslaved Black people converted to Protestantism, only for Christianity to later be used to keep Black people oppressed. It was unrightfully warped to further elevate the status of colonizers and their “right” to enslave Africans through the argument that “without slavery, Black people would not know Christianity at all.” As history has just shown us, this is clearly not true at all as many Africans had already known of or followed the practices of Christianity upon their arrival to America. With such widespread Protestantism in the 1700s, most of these Black Christians were Baptist or Methodist.
In 1816, about 50 years before the abolition of slavery, the first Black denomination was also formed: the AME, or the African Methodist Episcopal Church. This denomination was formed on the basis of Biblical teachings as well as Black community; it showed how Black people were able to come together and create something to improve their communities and their lives. Many future social, religious, and political figures prominent to Black history and culture would arise from A.M.E. Churches. Figures like activists A. Phillip Randolph and Rosa parks, business women like Madam CJ Walker, and Black female reverend Jarena Lee.
Religion and the Civil Rights Movement:
With a fast jump to the 1930s, America is met with the founding of The Nation of Islam. Founded by Wallace Fard Muhhamad, the Nation of Islam was established in Detroit, MI on July 4th, 1930 as an organization that combined the teachings of Islam with many different ideas of Black nationalism. And in the 1960s, a large number of African Americans converted to Islam, and part of this is due to the teachings of religious leader Malcolm X, a member of the Nation of Islam. Many saw a return to the practice of Islam as a way to return to their African religious roots, so many denounced Christianity as it was forced on many enslaved people and in turn their children for generations. They felt that as African-Americans, it was important to practice a religion that was more rooted in their nationality. However, this idea that slavery is the only reason Black people follow Christianity in the first place can easily be disputed by the history reviewed earlier in the article with a number of Africans being Christian upon their arrival to America.
The rise in support for Malcolm X is not the only religious and political leader we see come up in society. Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. also worked as arguably the most famous Civil Rights leader in African-American history. He combined his Christian and political beliefs to speak on and teach about the rightful equal treatment of white and Black people in America. He and Malcolm X used their platforms to rally the African Americans all across the country to stand united in their faiths and their rights.
Black Religion in Modern Times:
Even after the height of the Civil Rights movement, the histories of Black religion still hold a tight grasp on Black popular, social, and religious culture. Gospel tunes and Afro-Beats ring in cinema and on the radio by a plethora of Black, African, and Afro-Latinx artists. New and old radical ideas are discussed by Ismatu Gwendolyn, carrying on the traditions of Malcolm X. Trailblazing Black Christian women like Joanne Marie Tarrell and Andrea C. White follow in the footsteps of Pauli Murray while breaking gender barriers in religion and society day by day. Through the long long history from the Middle-East to Africa to Europe to Latin America and so many more regions, Black people have utilized their faith and community to build the irreplaceable impact they have had on all of the world
For more stories on Black Muslims, please read their stories and histories as written by Sylviane A. Douf of Brown University in
“The Untold Stories of African Muslim Women in the Americas”.
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