African American Religious Leaders That Argued Against Slavery Essay

his side helps secure the notion that the possibility of a future could be sought and

Richard Furman was born in 1755 to an Episcopal school teacher and wife and grew to be a strong student (Wheaton College). With a strong background in education, Furman was recognized for his strong preacher skills and established

Courage is a trait that has been possessed by a lot of leaders in history, from presidential leaders to civil right leaders, to even athletic coaches, courage is used in every leadership position and is a very important trait when wanting to become a leader. Courage takes a lot of self-work you must be fully committed to your values and what you believe in before you go out and get a career like Job. Frederick Douglas escaped slavery and later became a main leader of the anti-slavery movement through all his published writings. Courageous leaders also make time for their peers and their employees because courageous leaders not only believe in themselves but believe in the team that works for them. Courage is also shown through sports form coaches to players. They are required to sacrifice some of their beliefs so their team can be one unit and work as one. They show courage day in and down out, standing up for what they believe in and their team which speaks volumes within an organization. Courageous leaders seem to be the most effective type of leaders because those types of leaders relate to you or has a common interest. These leaders preach what they believe and stick to it even through tough times when it calls for them to step outside their box.

In 1854 Abraham Lincoln gave his Peoria, Kansas speech opposing slavery stating the Kansas Act had a "declared indifference, but as I must think, a covert real zeal for the spread of slavery, I cannot but hate it. I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself. I hate it because” it deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world”. Abraham Lincoln became the sixteenth President of the United States in 1861. Growing up in non-slave territories as a child and disapproving of slavery, Lincoln had little support in the South. With the country moving forward into a new capitalist society through modernization, new workers would be needed. The South, dependent on slave labor that Lincoln opposed begin to

The objective of this study is to examine the Baptist Church and slavery prior to the Civil War or the war that took place between the North and the South U.S. armies, which was a war, fought to a great extent over the issue of slavery. The 1840s and 1850s witnessed many of the largest denominations in America having internal struggles over the issues of slavery and even earlier, it is reported that there was a split in the Presbyterian church over the issue of slavery. The Baptists however are reported to have maintained peace through careful avoidance of discussion upon the topic however, the topic could not be avoided in 1840 as the issue came to ahead. The argument posited by Baptist Southern delegates was that while slavery was a tragic circumstance that it could not be considered to be a sin. The Alabama Convention requested that slave owners be eligible to become missionaries and the request was denied by the Baptist Board. Following this, a Baptist Free mission Society was formed and this organization did not want the dirty money of the South. The southern members withdrew from the Baptist Convention and formed the Southern Baptist Convention, which is now the largest Protestant denomination in the country.

Lemuel haynes was born on july 18 1753 and died 1833. lemuel’s dad was enslaved and his mom a scottish immigrant servant abandoned him at birth. haynes was born in west hartford, connecticut. Lemuel was brought to a massachusetts farm where he worked as an indentured servant for a part of his life. After the paper war of 1752-1753 Haynes turned down the opportunity to join and study at dartmouth college. Haynes decided to go to a latin and greek college. He was licensed to middle granville and later married an elizabeth babbit, a school teacher. during 1785 haynes was put as a congregational minister, haynes was a lifelong admirer of george washington. haynes the first african american in america to serve as pastor of a white congregation or church. haynes got an

American churches’ overemphasized on individualism, inadequate social theory and rejecting ecclesiology. According to Goen, it failed to provide a proper leadership in the issue of slavery, as a result, it forced the nation to turn to politics in order to confront this slavery issue, which in fact also led to war.1

and Mrs. Rose, his guardians. Haynes composed an essay in 1776 related to liberty and thoughts on the unlawfulness of keeping slaves. After the Revolution, he became known among the whites as an inspiring preacher. He was a New Divinity Theologian who believed that slave keeping and oppression was sinful. His use of republican ideology and New Divinity Theology established Hayes as a founding father of Black Theology, although he has never been acknowledged. Hayes has been invisible partly because he did not minister in independent black churches or denominations but also because his most critical piece on slavery remained unpublished until 1983. He pronounced the fundamentals of Black Theology in 1776 and laid the footing with his first sermon, which discussed conversion. Daniel Farrand, a leader of eighteenth century rivals and minister in Connecticut, tutored Lemuel in Latin as well as theology and certified him as a qualifier for ordination in 1780. Shortly after he preached his first public sermon in Wintonbury, Connecticut. In 1783 he was married to Elizabeth Babbit and they had nine children. Lemuel was ordained a minister on November 9, 1785. Shortly after that, in 1788, he was assigned as minister to a Congregational Church in Rutland, Vermont. In 1804 he earned his honorary master’s degree from Middlebury College. From 1792 to 1820, he published essays, sermons, poems, and hymns from the mid-1770s to 1821. Most of his publications started as sermons and evolved from those (“Haynes,

One of the first things that attracted the African American slaves to Christianity was a way of obtaining the salvation of theirs souls based on the Christian’s idea of a future reward in heaven or punishment in hell, which did not exist in their primary religion. The religious principles inherited from Africa sought purely physical salvation and excluded the salvation of the soul. However, they did believe in one supreme God, which made it easier for them to assimilate Christianity.

Peter Randolph, too, presented the durable linkage between African-Americans, especially during slavery. Their alliance was characterized by creating the so called, “plantation churches” whenever they could not attend the actual church services. By doing so, they could simply gather together, remember their traditions, dance, sing, recite their prayers, sorrows or play banjo. All those familiar activities were helping them hold on to their culture, refine their identity and avoid the “Social Death” or “Cultural Genocide” they were subjected to. Similarly, creating the AME Church, along with following churches, such as the Ethiopian Church of Jesus Christ, was a method of showing to the society that the African history and beliefs are not forgotten.

Lemuel Haynes is the first African American that as ordained by a established Protestant Church in the United States. He was also a preacher. Other than him being Protestant and a religious leader, he was a minuteman for the

Historically, the Black church has been a place that has inspired soulful expression. During slavery, it was the only place that had minimal or no supervision by white, slave masters. The church and its tenets stood as both a spiritual and physical manifestation of the hopes and dreams of a people who desired to be released from their bondage. The theological views embraced by the African diaspora in the church were inexorably linked with their belief that God would punish their oppressors and reward the righteous in this life or the next.

A passage that argues for the church and other African-Americans to join in the fight for equality for women, especially African-American women.

The memoir of Old Elizabeth presents a rare and important slave narrative in which the stories of African American women intersect with the experiences of African American people in roles of religious leadership. Elizabeth broke many of societies conventions at the time by preaching and holding religious meeting despite being woman. Her religious work was met with backlash from the church and from many other people who did not accept the idea of a woman leading religious services, yet she continued to practice until her health would no longer allow for it. This is unusual as it spends most of the narrative on the time after she was free rather than focusing on the time that she was enslaved the way that many slave narratives do.

Although this information on Liberation Theology is essential to understanding of this concept, the focus of our presentation, in relation to our class, was Black Liberation Theology. It is easy to see how African Americans relate to the idea of Liberation Theology, as a historically socially oppressed group of peoples. The encompassed theme of Black Liberation theologians is the concept of God emancipating African Americans from white racism. Jesus in Liberation Theology is commonly represented as a ‘Poor Black Man’, therefore allowing the representation of a relatable figure for the African American people. One way in which we felt the concept of Liberation Theology come together with class discussion, was in relation to the Black Liberation Theologian, James Cone, whom we had previously discussed in class time, leading up to this presentation.