"A scholarly study tracing the development of the Negro church in America from its earliest beginnings to the powerful position it occupies today. The institution has been the most dominant and cohesive force in the life of the Negro - as a matter of fact, it is and has been the one great force that has enabled the Negro to withstand oppression before and since emancipation, though the influence of the church is now waning." -The Nation, January 4, 1922
"No student of the progress of the Negro race should be uninterested in, or ignorant of the history of an institution which has been so potent a factor in that progress as the Negro Church. Dr. Woodson has therefore made a valuable contribution to the understanding and appreciation of a most important, but almost neglected field of Negro history. His book is a popular treatise, simple and readable, yet marked by scholarly thoroughness. The story, as he tells it, of the birth, the struggles, and the victories of the Christian Church among colored people is most interesting and appealing. Much material, which has long been known by a few, but which has never before been carefully collected and presented, is contained in the chapters of Pioneer Negro Preachers and Preachers of Versatile Genius. The record of the origin and the development of the leading Negro development of the leading Negro denominations which the book contains makes it a real contribution to a subject that has suffered much misunderstanding and not a little injustice." -The Southern Workman, January, 1922
CONTENTS
I.—Early Missionaries and the Negro
II.—The Dawn of the New Day
III.—Pioneer Negro Preachers
IV.—The Independent Church Movement
V.—Early Development
VI.—The Schism and the Subsequent Situation
VII.—Religious Instruction Revived
VIII.—Preachers of Versatile Genius
IX.—The Civil War and the Church
X.—Religious Education as a Preparation
XI.—The Call of Politics
XII.—The Conservative and Progressive
XIII.—The Negro Church Socialized
XIV.—The Recent Growth of the Negro Church
XV.—The Negro Church of To-day
