How Religion Was Affected with Slaves before the Civil War
Introduction
At the beginning of American slavery, before the Civil War, either Christianity was forced upon the African slaves or it was denied completely. The white man's religion gave purpose to American domestic religious missionaries in their intent to Christianize the earliest of slaves predominantly in the southern states.
Numbers of the white slave masters believed allowing slaves any type of religion gave them, unwanted ideas about autonomy and thus, made them troublesome, lazy, and therefore, the slave masters would beat any slave professing their Christian beliefs. Holding secret gatherings to practice their religion – Christian or the ...
