Black Religion in America

An Introduction

Jonathan Chism

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781040444368
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion, Politics & State

Black Religion in America is an introduction to the religious history of African Americans from the period of slavery to the twenty-first century. It analyses Black people's varying religious responses to W.E.B. Du Bois's notion of double consciousness, the experience of racial exclusion in America, of having "two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings, two warring ideals in one dark body."

The book traces the social justice thought and activism of Black Christians, Conjurors, Muslims, Pentecostals, Humanists, and various esoteric prophets across historical epochs, introducing students to major religious groups and innovators within African American religious history who have striven for full social inclusion. It offers a narrative interpretation of Black religion that engages this current generation of students grappling with enduring marginalization in the post-civil Rights and post-Obama era. This is to say, despite the victories of the Civil Rights Movement, culminating for some with the historic election of Barack Obama in 2008, Black religions have not provided a panacea for lingering social inequities. Still, throughout American history, Black people have continuously creatively employed religion to respond to changing oppressions.

The book underscores the intersectionality of Black religious women and examines their experience and resistance of racism, sexism, and classism. Featuring student-friendly pedagogy including discussion questions, it's a must-read for all students of African American Religion, Religion in America, or African American History, interested in studying how Black religion has factored in the long struggle for social justice in America.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: “Of Our Spiritual Strivings”
• 1. “On Being Brought from Africa to America”: Spiritual Strivings in the Colonial Era
• 2. “Let My People Go”: Spiritual Strivings before the Civil War
• 3. “The Color Line Was Washed Away in the Blood”: Spiritual Strivings between Reconstruction and World War I
• 4. “Now We Have a Righteous Government”: Spiritual Strivings during the Great Migration and Depression
• 5. “We Shall Overcome”: Spiritual Strivings during the Civil Rights Era
• 6. “Keep Hope Alive”: Spiritual Strivings during the Post-Civil Rights Era
• 7. “Black Lives Matter”: Spiritual Strivings during the Twenty-First Century
• 8. Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index