Religion and American Slavery
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Religion’s Impact on Shaping Colonial American Slavery
In Lesson I, you’ll come to understand how slavery developed in colonial America. Slavery was an ancient institution. The American innovation on the ancient institution of slavery was to enslave people with dark skin. This developed because it was easier to enslave Africans who looked different and could not easily escape home.
Early American colonial enslavers justified slavery of Africans because they were “heathen,” or non-Christian. However, at this time, the enslavers made no attempt to share Christianity with the people they enslaved.
Later, in the colonial American period, Christian ministers argued that it was acceptable to continue to enslave Africans and their descendants if they taught them Christianity.
Step 1. American Slavery
Step 2. Social Hierarchy
Step 3. Religion’s Impact
Step 4. Christian Reform
Step 5. Class Discussion
Enslaved African Muslims in America
In Lesson II, you’ll learn the stories of four African Muslims enslaved in America. These include Ayuba Suleiman Diallo, Yarrow Mamout , Omar ibn Said, and Abdul Rahman. We know about these stories because of portraits made of each of them and some records that still exist.
You’ll also learn about Salih Bilali, a West African Muslim born in 1790 who was kidnapped and enslaved on Sapelo Island off the coast of Georgia. Interviewers were able to capture the memories of his descendants who remembered the Muslim practices on the island.
Step 1. Enslaved Muslims
Step 2. Historical Portraits
Step 3. About the Portraits
Step 4. Family Memories
Step 5. Class Discussion
Religious Influences on Tensions Leading to the Civil War
In Lesson III, you’ll learn that over time in the United States, more enslaved people began accepting Evangelical Christianity. As this community grew, many enslaved people secretly practiced this religion in their own way as a form of resistance.
You will also learn that westward expansion upset the balance in Congress between slave states and free states, which led to a sectional crisis. This sectional crisis split many national churches along Northern and Southern lines as the question of the morality of slavery intensified. Some preachers argued slavery was a sin while others argued it was ordained of God.
This lesson ends with investigating religious arguments for and against slavery.
Step 1. Invisible Church
Step 2. Sectional Crisis
Step 3. Timeline
Step 4. American Christianity
Step 5. Timeline
Step 6. Arguments I
Step 7. Arguments II
Black Antebellum Abolitionists Motivated by Their Religion
In Lesson IV, you’ll compare and contrast the biographies of four Black Abolitionists who lived in the Antebellum era, or the period leading up to the Civil War. These four were each motivated by their religion to free themselves and others in their community from slavery. Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth all felt led by God to free themselves and others. However, they used different methods to pursue that goal.
Step 1. Black Abolitionists
Step 2. Nat Turner
Step 3. Denmark Vesey
Step 4. Harriet Tubman
Step 5. Sojourner Truth
Step 6. Compare
Step 7. Contrast
Step 8. Coming Together
Religious Freedom and American Slavery
Watch Eleesha introduce these lessons about Religion and American Slavery
Eleesha Tucker is a history and civics educator living in Utah. She loves history about colonial America, the American Revolution, U.S. Constitution, and Utah. She believes in the 3Rs for citizenship: Rights, Responsibility and Respect where every person has rights, everyone has the responsibility to protect the rights of others, and everyone has the duty to respectfully contribute to civic discourse.
