Interactions between enslaved people and Christian missionaries (and other evangelists) led to the spread of Christianity among Black Americans. Note: Some individual churches associated with these denominations predate the founding of the denominations themselves. Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International, 1994 Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., 1961Ĩ. National Baptist Convention of America International, Inc., 1915ħ. National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., 1880Ħ. Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church, 1870Ĥ. African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AME Zion) Church, 1821ģ. African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, 1816Ģ.

Major historically Black Protestant denominations and when they were founded:ġ. Historians say access to a conjurer gave enslaved people a sense of empowerment and control over their lives, while allowing for a worldview that distinguished them from slaveholders and connected them to Africa. This religious heritage also included the use of herbal medicine and charms, applied by specialists known as conjurers, who were believed to be able to heal disease, harm an enemy or make someone fall in love. Many of these African belief systems included a supreme, distant god who created the world and a pantheon of lower gods and ancestor spirits who were active in daily life.

But the largest number, by far, were followers of traditional religions common in West Africa at the time. When they were first captured and taken to America, some enslaved Black people were Christian. What follows is a brief account of Black religious history in the United States, with an emphasis on efforts by religious groups to deal with racism and its effects. And in the early 1900s, Islam began attracting thousands of Black Americans with the message that Christianity, like America writ large, had failed to offer them equality. Catholicism, too, has long had a presence among Black Americans, including in Maryland, Kentucky and Louisiana during the slavery era. Before enslaved people in America began converting to Protestantism in sizable numbers during the 1700s, they commonly followed traditional West African religions or Islam. Mostly founded prior to 1900, these historically Black Protestant denominations also supported colleges and helped Black communities in other ways.Īt the same time, Protestantism alone does not define the Black religious experience in the United States. The relationship between Black Americans and Protestantism is unusual due to the history of slavery and segregation, which spawned the creation of several Black-led denominations that allowed Black Americans to worship freely.

Two-thirds of Black Americans are Protestant, like about four-in-ten Americans overall.

Raboteau slave religion