Black and white churches, at the centers of their communities, find evidence in their religious beliefs to support both slavery and its abolition.
The Black Race is Fit for Servitude A New Orleans minister explains why whites are duty-bound to enslave blacks.
Oh, You Palefaced Hypocrites! A minister and former slave points out the hypocrisy of slaveowners who call themselves Christians, and of ministers who refuse to preach against slavery.
Gallery: Reconstruction-Era Houses of Worship Religion shaped many Americans' beliefs during Reconstruction.
Web Sites Books Find books and Web sites relating to this topic.
Reconstruction: The Second Civil War About the Film | Forty Acres and a Mule | Plantations in Ruins | Black Legislators Northerners in the South | Access to Learning | Slave to Sharecropper | The Negro Question In God We Trust | White Men Unite | State by State | Teacher's Guide
American Experience | Feedback | Search | Shop | Subscribe | Web Credits
© New content 1997-2004 PBS Online / WGBH
Exclusive Corporate Funding is provided by: