Reference no: EM132694631

Emancipation and the Church

COLLAPSE

In the emancipation process, it goes without doubt that Christianity played a role. Churches also informed the economic and political opportunities available for slaves. In North Carolina, the Home Mission Society in conjunction with other Northern Baptists wanted the gospel to reach the negroes. The Northern Baptists argued that slavery was not right and that it should be discouraged among all Baptist church members. The Northern Baptists accepted this claim but the ones in the South opposed it. This led to turbulence not only in the ecclesiastical councils but also stirred the whole nation. Churches began considering African congregants and some of the Baptist and Methodist bishops established schools and churches for negroes to learn the gospel.

Christianity helped to inform economic opportunities for newly freed slaves by teaching the men and women in schools to prepare to go and teach the gospel to other negroes. Furthermore, through the negro churches and the combination of forces from the Presbyterian Church, Methodist Church, and Baptist Church, negroes would get the chance to access higher education and hence improve their economic status. In terms of political opportunities, the church tried to influence negroes into forming associations that would help them represent themselves.