Annotated Bibliography on the Black Church in America
With Special Emphasis on Orthodox Evangelical Leaders
A Fundamentalism File Research Report by Mark Sidwell
This report is intended to be a resource to help Fundamentalist Christians in studying and evaluating religious leaders and movements. It draws primarily upon materials housed in the Fundamentalism File in the J. S. Mack Library on the campus of Bob Jones University.
Although every effort has been made to provide an impartial study of the topic, this work will naturally reflect the interpretations and viewpoint of its author. This report should not be taken as representing an official statement of the position of Bob Jones University. The University's theological position is well expressed by its creed.
The staff of the Fundamentalism File would welcome any questions or comments concerning the content of this report.
First Issued: 9/11/00
The works listed below are provided to suggest useful resources for the study of the black church in America. These works represent a variety of religious and political viewpoints and their inclusion should not be taken as a complete endorsement of their contents by the author or his institution.
Guiding the selection of these resources (in addition to a desire to list standard and generally helpful works on the topic) is a conviction that much current writing on the African American church is overly dominated by the tendency to view the subject almost solely through the lens of race, class, and gender. These perspectives are unquestionably helpful, particularly in light of the overall black experience in America. Such an approach, however, ignores central aspects of the black church's history and has a tendency to fit all evidence into a preconceived framework.
One needs to remember that also central to the history of the African American has been a powerful current of evangelical, pietistic Protestant Christianity. The black church in America was born during the Great Awakening and has long nurtured a vital piety coupled with a commitment to historic Protestant orthodoxy. Any approach to black church history that ignores these factors can produce, at best, only an incomplete picture or, at worst, a distorted one.
Without downplaying the formative influence of racism and other social/political factors, this bibliography attempts to highlight a facet of the black church that is too often ignored—its unquestioned connection to historic evangelical Protestant Christianity.
General Works
Ahlstrom, Sidney E. A Religious History of the American People. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1972. See the chapters "The Rise of Black Churches" (pp. 698-714) and "Black Religion in the Twentieth Century" (pp. 1055-78).
Banks, William L. The Black Church in the U.S. Chicago: Moody Press, 1972. One of the few relatively conservative books on the subject and one that deals with current issues (e.g., civil disobedience, black theology), but not well organized and not detailed about men and movements.
Barnes, Gilbert Hobbs. The Antislavery Impulse, 1830-1844. 1933. Reprint. Gloucester, Mass.: 1957. An interesting work stressing the involvement of evangelical Christians over liberals such as Unitarian William Lloyd Garrison in the American antislavery movement.
Bentley, William H. "Bible Believers in the Black Community." In The Evangelicals: What They Believe, Who They Are, Where They Are Changing, edited by David F. Wells and John D. Woodbridge. Nashville: Abingdon, 1975, pp. 108-21. Bentley makes the observation that Bible believer is a more popular term in the black community than Evangelical or Fundamentalist.
Boyer, Horace Clarence. How Sweet the Sound: The Golden Age of Gospel. Washington, D.C.: Elliott & Clark, 1995. Despite some minor factual flaws, Boyer's book provides a fair introduction to the history of black gospel music.
Burgess, Stanley M., and Gary B. McGee, ed. Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Regency Reference Library, 1988. Notes the important contributions of African Americans in the history of Pentecostalism, notably in the articles "Azusa Street Revival" (pp. 31-36); "Black Holiness-Pentecostalism" (pp. 77-84); "Church of God in Christ (CGIC)" (pp. 204-5); "Mason, Charles Harrison" (pp. 585-87), and "Seymour, William Joseph" (pp. 778-81).
Campbell, James T. Songs of Zion: The African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States and South Africa. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998. A scholarly parallel history of the AME in the United States and its overseas branch in South Africa.
Clarke, Erskine. Wrestlin' Jacob: A Portrait of Religion in the Old South. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1979. A discussion of white efforts at the evangelization of slaves, stressing both successes and failures, the book details the work of white preachers such as Charles Colcock Jones of Georgia.
Evans, Tony. Let's Get to Know Each Other. Nashville: Nelson, 1994. Work by a black evangelical detailing his thoughts on a biblical basis for racial reconciliation.
Fauset, Arthur Huff. Black Gods of the Metropolis. 1944. Reprint. New York: Octagon, 1974. On black cults in Philadelphia (e.g., Father Divine), the work is a recognized standard on black cults despite its geographical limitation.
Fitts, Leroy. A History of Black Baptists. Nashville: Broadman, 1985. A useful work but not well organized and surprisingly lacking in biographical detail.
Frazier, E. Franklin. The Negro Church in America, and C. Eric Lincoln. The Black Church Since Frazier. (2 vols. in 1.) New York: Schocken Books, 1974. In an influential work, Frazier describes the central place of the church in African American life. Lincoln's book is more typical of the standard liberal view of the black church today.
Galli, Mark. "Defeating the Conspiracy." Christian History, vol. 18, no. 2, 1999, pp. 12-17. Discusses the growth of the black church in the South from the beginnings of slavery to the end of the Civil War.
Handy, Robert T. "Negro Christianity and American Church Historiography." In Reinterpretations in American Church History. Edited by Jerald C. Braner. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968.
Hughes, Langston; Milton Meltzer; C. Eric Lincoln, and Jon Michael Spencer. A Pictorial History of African Americans. 6th updated ed. New York: Crown, 1995. Liberal in outlook, particularly in the later sections, but a good popular introduction to black history.
Jackson, Joseph H. A Story of Christian Activism: The History of the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc. Nashville: Townsend Press, 1980. A massive (nearly 800 pages) but disappointing work. Jackson, president of the NBC from 1953 to 1982, was known as a conservative for preferring legal means to civil disobedience as the vehicle of the civil rights movement. He clashed with Martin Luther King, Jr., who in turn led a split, the Progressive National Baptists. Jackson spends only about 200 pages on the history of the convention prior to his presidency; the rest of the book is an apology for his position. Sometimes useful but often dry and focused on small details. Scanty bibliography.
Johnson, James Weldon. God's Trombones. New York: Viking Press, 1955. A collection of poems based on black preaching that reveals something of the power of the black pulpit; Johnson was a leader in the "Harlem Renaissance" and not necessarily sympathetic to conservative Christianity, but his poems generally treat the Scripture and the old-time black preacher with respect. Johnson's preface on the role of the black preacher is particularly interesting.
Jones, Charles Edwin. Black Holiness: A Guide to the Study of Black Participation in Wesleyan Perfectionist and Glossolalic Pentecostal Movements. ATLA Bibliography Series, No. 18. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1987. An invaluable bibliographic guide.
Journal of Negro History. This important resource in African American history was founded by Carter Woodson in 1916. There are many references to specific articles from this journal in the entries that follow.
Kaplan, Sidney. The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution 1770-1800. New York: New York Graphic Society, 1972. See Chapter 3, "The Black Clergy" (pp. 73-108).
King, Martin Luther, Jr. Testament of Hope: Essential Writings of Martin Luther King Jr. San Francisco: Harper, 1991.
Lincoln, C. Eric, and Lawrence H. Mamiya. The Black Church in the African American Experience. Durham, N.C.: Duke Univ. Press, 1990. Probably the best available book on the subject, although the authors are liberal in outlook. If one sorts through the authors' interpretations, one can find a great deal of useful information. Pages 20-91 survey the history of the major black denominations.
Martin, Sandy D. Black Baptists and African Missions: The Origins of a Movement 1880-1915. Macon, Ga.: Mercer Univ. Press, 1989. Discusses how black American Baptists developed an interest in missions to Africa and how that interest in turn affected the views of African American Baptists.
McBeth, H. Leon. The Baptist Heritage. Nashville: Broadman, 1987. See pp. 776-90 on the black Baptists.
―――. Images of the Black Church in America." Baptist History and Heritage 16 (1981): 19-29, 40. A highly useful introductory article by a Southern Baptist historian; he surveys five influential books on the black church—The Black Church (1903) by W.E.B. Du Bois, The History of the Negro Church (1921) by Carter G. Woodson, The Negro Church in America (1964) by E. Franklin Frazier, Black Religion (1964) by Joseph Washington, and Black Theology and Black Power (1969) by James Cone—then discusses how each views the black church in America. None of the views espoused are wholly acceptable to orthodox Christians, and some are completely antithetical to Christianity. The article, however, is a beneficial introduction to the literature.
Montgomery, William E. Under Their Own Vine and Fig Tree: The African-American Church in the South 1865-1900. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univ. Press, 1993. A scholarly work on the southern black churches after the Civil War.
Murphy, Larry G.; J. Gordon Melton; and Gary L. Ward, ed. Encyclopedia of African American Religions. New York: Garland, 1993. An extremely thorough and helpful work.
Murray, Andrew E. Presbyterians and the Negro—A History. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Historical Society, 1966. A first-rate study of African American participation in American Presbyterianism
Oates, Steven B. Let the Trumpet Sound: The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Harper and Row, 1982.
Pannell, William. "The Religious Heritage of Blacks." In The Evangelicals: What They Believe, Who They Are, Where They Are Changing, edited by David F. Wells and John D. Woodbridge. Nashville: Abingdon, 1975, pp. 96-107.
Payne, Wardell J. ed., Directory of African American Religious Bodies. Washington, D.C.: Howard Univ. Press, 1991. A helpful guide along the lines of The Yearbook of Canadian and American Churches.
Pelt, Owen D. The Story of the National Baptists. New York: Vantage Press, 1960. The long-time standard history of the largest black denomination in the United States, it is fairly readable (if sometimes wooden) but not always reliable.
Raboteau, Albert J. "The Black Experience in American Evangelicalism: The Meaning of Slavery." In The Evangelical Tradition in America, edited by Leonard Sweet. Macon, Ga.: Mercer Univ. Press, 1984, pp. 181-97.
———. A Fire in the Bones: Reflections on African-American Religious History. Boston: Beacon Press, 1995. A collection of essays by a black historian, they range from the useful to the theologically suspect.
———. Slave Religion: The "Invisible Institution" in the Antebellum South. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1978. A standard and highly influential work.
Sanneh, Lamin, "Prelude to African Christian Independency: The Afro-American Factor in African Christianity." Harvard Theological Review 77 (1984): 1-32.
Sernett, Milton C., ed. Afro-American Religious History: A Documentary Witness. Durham, N.C.: Duke Univ. Press, 1985. A first-rate collection of original sources; note that it is "religious" and not specifically Christian.
———. Black Religion and American Evangelicalism. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1975. A first-rate, balanced work on black religion before the Civil War.
———. "Black Religion and the Question of Evangelical Identity." In The Variety of American Evangelicalism, edited by Donald Dayton and Robert K. Johnson. Downer's Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1991, pp. 135-47.
———. Bound for the Promised Land: African American Religion and the Great Migration. Durham, N.C.: Duke Univ. Press, 1997. An excellent scholarly study on the migration of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North in the 20th century and how that migration affected the black church.
Sidwell, Mark. "Black Baptist Pioneers of the South." Frontline, vol. 5, no. 4 (1995): 14-15. On the careers of George Liele, David George, and Andrew Bryan.
———. Free Indeed: Heroes of Black Christian History. Greenville, S.C.: Bob Jones Univ. Press, 1995. Written as a supplementary textbook on the junior/senior high level, the book provides and brief overview of African American church history and then provides biographical sketches of thirteen notable black preachers, including Richard Allen, Daniel Payne, and Charles Tindley.
———. "The Fruit of Freedom." Christian History vol. 18, no. 2 (1999): 38-41. Provides sketches of the careers of Phillis Wheatley, Lemuel Haynes, John Stewart, Jarena Lee, and Absalom Jones.
———. "Stonewall Jackson's Black Sunday School and the Religious Instruction of Slaves." Biblical Viewpoint vol. 28, no. 2 (1994): 88-97. Reviews the contribution of Thomas J. ("Stonewall") Jackson to the Southern movement for the religious instruction of slaves.
Skinner, Tom. Black and Free. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1970. Riveting autobiography by a black evangelist and converted gang leader from Harlem.
Smith, Edward D. Climbing Jacob's Ladder: The Rise of Black Churches in Eastern American Cities, 1740-1877. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988. Beautifully designed and exceptionally well illustrated, but the text is sometimes dull.
Walker, Clarence Earl. A Rock in a Weary Land: The African Methodist Episcopal Church During the Civil War and Reconstruction. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univ. Press, 1982.
White, Daniel, III, ed. When Black Preachers Preach. Atlanta: Torch Publications, 1994. A collection of sermons and essays by staunchly orthodox preachers; unusual in the black church in that they embrace the label Fundamentalist.
Woodson, Carter G. The History of the Negro Church. 3rd ed. 1945. Reprint, Washington, D.C.: The Associated Publishers, 1992. The long-time standard and still very useful for pre-20th century history; Woodson's sympathies are with the more progressive elements, but he is usually fair.
———, ed. Negro Orators and Their Orations. 1925. Reprint. New York: Russell and Russell, 1969. Among the orations are addresses by noted black preachers.
Wyatt-Brown, Bertram. Lewis Tappan and the Evangelical War Against Slavery. New York: Atheneum, 1971.
Young, Henry J. Major Black Religious Leaders, 1755-1940. Nashville: Abingdon, 1977. A series of brief sketches of the theology of some major black leaders, the author includes sketches of some orthodox figures (e.g., Richard Allen and Daniel Payne), but he presents their views almost entirely in terms of liberation theology.
Sources on Specific African American Christian Leaders
John Marrant (1755-91)
Converted under the preaching of George Whitefield in Charleston around 1760, Marrant later became an early missionary to the Indians. He eventually traveled to England, where he became associated with Selina, Countess of Huntington, and the Calvinistic Methodist Connexion. That group in turn sent him to Nova Scotia to minister to a colony of blacks there as well as to the Indians.
Potkay, Adam, and Sandra Burr, ed. Black Atlantic Writers of the 18th Century. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995. Contains the most accurate available version of A Narrative of the Life of John Marrant (Marrant's brief autobiography) and a sermon Marrant preached in 1789 (pp. 67-122).
Saillant, John. "Hymnody and the Persistence of an African-American Faith in Sierra Leone." The Hymn, January 1997, pp. 8-17. In giving the background of the free colony in Sierra Leone, Saillant discusses the work of Marrant, giving more detail of his work in Canada and noting the influence of music and Calvinism in Marrant's thought.
Shields, John. "John Marrant (1755-1791)." In American Writing Before 1800, edited by James A. Levernier and Douglas R. Wilmes. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1983, 2: 944-46.
George Liele (c. 1750-1828)
Liele is known partly for helping found the Silver Bluff Baptist Church in South Carolina (across the Savannah River from Augusta, Georgia), one of the first African American congregations in the U.S. He is even more famous, however, as a pioneer missionary to Jamaica, where he helped establish the Baptists in that island.
Brooks, Walter. "The Priority of the Silver Bluff Church and Its Promoters." Journal of Negro History 7 (1922): 172-96.
Davis, John W. "George Liele and Andrew Bryan, Pioneer Negro Baptist Preachers." Journal of Negro History 3 (1918): 119-27.
Holmes, E. A. "George Liele: Negro Slavery's Prophet of Deliverance." Baptist Quarterly 20 (1964): 340-51, 361. Probably the best single source on Liele's life.
"Letters Showing the Rise and Progress of the Early Negro Churches of Georgia and the West Indies." Journal of Negro History 1 (1916): 69-92.
Rusling, G. W. "A Note on Early Negro Baptist History." Foundations 11 (1968): 362-68. A useful supplement to Holmes's article.
Sernett, Milton. "The Expatriate Option." Christian History, vol. 18, no. 2, 1999.
David George (1743-1810)
A former slave, George was a coworker with George Liele in Georgia and the main leader of the Silver Bluff Baptist Church. After the Revolution, he immigrated to Nova Scotia, where he ministered among the Loyalist exiles. Eventually, he and his church went to the free colony of Sierra Leone in Africa.
Gordon, Grant. From Slavery to Freedom: The Life of David George, Pioneer Black Baptist Minister. Hantsport, Nova Scotia: Lancelot Press, 1992. A full study of all the available materials concerning George's career.
Paris, Peter J., Jr. "David George: Paramount Ancestor of the Black Churches in the United States, Canada and Sierra Leone." Criterion, Winter 1996, pp. 2-9.
Andrew Bryan (1737-1812)
A former slave and a convert of George Liele, Bryan was one of the founders and first pastor of the First African Baptist Church of Savannah. He underwent much persecution, including a public whipping, to establish this work.
Davis, John W. "George Liele and Andrew Bryan, Pioneer Negro Baptist Preachers." Journal of Negro History 3 (1918): 119-27.
Gallay, Alan. "Planters and Slaves in the Great Awakening." In Masters and Slaves in the House of the Lord. Edited by John B. Boles. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1988, pp. 19-36. This article on the Bryans—the family that owned, supported, and later freed Andrew Bryan—describes their conversion under George Whitefield and their vain struggles to reform slavery.
"Letters Showing the Rise and Progress of the Early Negro Churches of Georgia and the West Indies." Journal of Negro History 1 (1916): 69-92.
Simms, James M. The First Colored Baptist Church in North America. 1888. Reprint. New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969. On the history of Bryan's church, the First African Baptist Church of Savannah—not truly "the first" but certainly one of the earliest African American congregations in the U.S.
Richard Allen (1760-1831)
Founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Allen is one of the most important figures in black church history. A convert to Methodism, Liele purchased his freedom from slavery and became a successful preacher. Discrimination from white Methodists caused Allen and several others to form a separate body. Later in life, he became a leading opponent of efforts to send all free blacks as colonists to Africa.
Allen. Richard. The Life Experience and Gospel Labors of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen. New York: Abingdon, 1960. Allen's own writings; brief but useful and illuminating.
George, Carol V. R. Segregated Sabbaths. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1973. Probably the standard work on Allen.
Gravely, Will. "You Must Not Kneel Here." Christian History, vol. 18, no. 2, 1999, pp. 34-36.
Klots, Steve. Richard Allen: Religious Leader and Social Activist. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1991. A very good biography for teens.
Nash, Gary B. "New Light on Richard Allen." William and Mary Quarterly 46 (1989): 332-40. An interesting, if minor, study of some details concerning Allen's early years.
"Some Letters of Richard Allen and Absalom Jones to Dorothy Ripley." Journal of Negro History 1 (1916): 436-43.
Harry Hosier (1750?-1806)
Popularly known as "Black Harry," Hosier traveled with Bishop Francis Asbury throughout the South, preaching with great success to both black and white audiences.
Licorish, Joshua E. "Harry Hosier." In Encyclopedia of World Methodism. Nashville: United Methodist Publishing House, 1974, 1: 1157-58.
Smith, Warren Thomas. "Harry Hosier: Black Preacher Extraordinary." Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center 7 (1980): 111-28.
Lemuel Haynes (1753-1833)
A Congregationalist pastor in New England during the Second Great Awakening, Haynes was perhaps the first African American to pastor a white congregation. An heir of Puritan theology, Haynes was one of the most orthodox and most articulate black preachers in American history. He was particularly known as an opponent of Universalism and openly disputed with Universalist spokesman Hosea Ballou.
Bogin, Ruth. "‘Liberty Further Extended': A 1776 Antislavery Manuscript by Lemuel Haynes." William and Mary Quarterly 40 (1983): 85-105. First publication of a manuscript opposing slavery written by Haynes during the Revolutionary War.
Brown, Richard D. "‘Not Only Extreme Poverty, but the Worst Kind of Orphanage': Lemuel Haynes and the Boundaries of Racial Tolerance on the Yankee Frontier, 1770-1802." New England Quarterly 61 (1988): 502-18. A good overview of Haynes's career that takes recent literature into account.
Cooley, Timothy Mather. Sketches of the Life and Character of the Rev. Lemuel Haynes. 1837. Reprint. New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969. The best work on Haynes.
Haynes, Lemuel. Black Preacher to White America: The Collected Writings of Lemuel Haynes, 1774-1833. Edited by Richard Newman. Brooklyn: Carlson, 1990. An invaluable collection of Haynes's works.
Jelks, Randal. "The Character and Work of a Spiritual Watchman Described: The Preaching of Lemuel Haynes and Quest for Personal Freedom." Fides et Historia 26 (1994): 126-33. A review of Newman's edition of Haynes's works, the article provides an interesting analysis but seems to approach Haynes more in racial and sociopolitical terms than in religious ones.
"Lemuel Haynes." In Annals of the American Pulpit, edited by William B. Sprague. Vol. 2, Part 2. Trinitarian Congregational. Reprint. New York: Arno Press, 1969, pp. 176-87. Includes a letter written by Timothy Cooley, Haynes's main biographer.
Morse, W. H. "Lemuel Haynes." Journal of Negro History 4 (1919): 22-32.
Newman, Richard. Lemuel Haynes: A Bio-Bibliography. New York. Lambeth Press, 1984. A useful compilation of all known information on primary and secondary sources concerning Haynes.
John Chavis (c. 1763-1838)
Presbyterian evangelist during the Second Great Awakening and later educator in North Carolina, he was one of the most articulate blacks in the antebellum South.
Boyd, Daniel L. "Free-Born Negro: The Life of John Chavis." Bachelor's thesis, Princeton University, 1947. A very good source on Chavis, marred by the author's understandable lack of mature style.
Brawley, Benjamin. Negro Builders and Heroes. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1937.
DesChamps, Margaret Burr. "John Chavis as a Preacher to Whites." North Carolina Historical Review 32 (1955): 165-72.
Franklin, John Hope. The Free Negro in North Carolina 1790-1860. 1943. Reprint. New York: Russell and Russell, 1969.
Hudson, Gossie. "John Chavis, 1763-1838: A Social-Psychological Study." Journal of Negro History 64 (1979): 142-56. Somewhat psychological in focus, but contains some helpful information.
Knight, E. W. "Notes on John Chavis." North Carolina Historical Review 7 (1930): 326-45. The best available source on Chavis.
Larson, Rachel. "John Chavis." In Faith of Our Fathers: Scenes from American Church History, edited by Mark Sidwell. Greenville, S.C.: Bob Jones Univ. Press, 1991, pp. 79-83.
Mangum, Willie Person. The Papers of Willie Person Mangum. 5 vols. Edited by Henry Thomas Shanks. Raleigh, N.C.: State Department of Archives and History, 1950. Mangum was an influential Whig politician in nineteenth-century North Carolina. Volumes 1 and 2 contain over twenty letters written from Chavis to Mangum.
Savage, W. Sherman. "The Influence of John Chavis and Lunsford Lane on the History of North Carolina." Journal of Negro History 25 (1940): 14-24.
John Stewart (c. 1786-1823)
A free-born Virginia black, Stewart was converted in Marietta, Ohio, and he joined the Methodists. Stewart went as a missionary to the Wyandot Indians in northern Ohio, where he saw some success in preaching the gospel before his early death. His grave in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, is now a Methodist shrine.
Finley, James B. Life Among the Indians. Edited by D. W. Clark. Cincinnati: Cranston and Curtis, 1859.
Marsh, Thelma R. Moccasin Trails to the Cross: A History of the Mission to the Wyandott Indians on the Sandusky Plains. Upper Sandusky, Ohio: United Methodist Historical Society of Ohio, 1974.
Mitchell, Joseph. The Missionary Pioneer; or a Brief Memoir of the Life, Labours, and Death of John Stewart, Man of Color. 1827. Reprint. Austin: The Pemberton Press, 1969. The best source on Stewart's life.
Thomas, Frank Morehead. "At the Grave of John Stewart." Methodist Quarterly Review 68 (April 1919): 316-28.
Lott Carey (c. 1780-1828)
Carey was a pioneer missionary to Africa. Born a slave in Virginia, he was converted while working in Richmond. He purchased his freedom, became first a lay exhorter and then a licensed Baptist preacher. He went to Liberia in the 1820s as one of the first American missionaries to that continent and one of the founders of that nation. (Note: As the sources listed below demonstrate, his last name was sometimes spelled Carey and sometimes Cary.)
Fisher, Miles Mark. "Lott Cary, The Colonizing Missionary." Journal of Negro History 7 (1922): 380-418, 427-48.
Fitts, Leroy. Lott Carey: First Black Missionary to Africa. Valley Forge, Pa.: Judson Press, 1978.
Gurley, Ralph Randolph. "Sketch of the Life of the Rev. Lott Cary." In Life of Jehudi Ashmun, Late Colonial Agent in Liberia, pp. 147-60. 1839. Reprint. Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1971.
"Lott Cary." In Annals of the American Pulpit, edited by William B. Sprague. Vol. 6. Baptist. Reprint. New York: Arno Press, 1969, pp. 578-87.
Poe. William A. "Lott Cary: Man of Purchased Freedom." Church History 39 (1970): 49-61.
John Jasper (1812-1901)
A former slave preacher, Jasper became a leading black preacher in the post-Civil War South. A powerful orator, despite his dialect, he is best known for the sermon "The Sun Do Move."
Day, Richard Ellsworth. Rhapsody in Black: The Life Story of John Jasper. Philadelphia: Judson Press, 1953.
Fant, Clyde E., and William M. Pinson, Jr. "John Jasper." In 20 Centuries of Great Preaching. Vol. 4. Newman to Robertson. Waco: Word Books, 1971, pp. 226-57.
Hatcher, William E. John Jasper: The Unmatched Negro Philosopher and Preacher. 1908. Reprint. New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969. The best biography of Jasper, although Hatcher seems a little condescending in a few places.
Honan, William Holmes. "John Jasper and the Sermon that Moved the Sun." Speech Monographs 23 (1956): 255-61.
Johnson, Robert B. "From Slavery to Servanthood John Jasper Sang the Praises of Joy." Fundamentalist Journal, February 1986, pp. 32-34.
Daniel Payne (1811-93)
Educator and bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Payne was free-born in Charleston, S.C. Driven out of the South by legislation prohibiting the education of blacks, he moved to the North, where he attended seminary and became a pastor. There Payne also became a staunch advocate of the abolition of slavery. He helped found Wilberforce University near Xenia, Ohio.
Coan, Josephus R. Daniel Alexander Payne—Christian Educator. Philadelphia: The A.M.E. Book Concern, 1935. Probably the best biography of Payne and containing some illuminating quotations from Payne's personal journal, but inferior in interest level to Payne's autobiography.
Griffin, Paul R. "The Black Rational Orthodox Impulse in the Post Civil War African-American Experience." Fides et Historia, vol. 23, no. 3 (1991), pp. 43-56. On the views of Payne and two other post-Civil War black Methodist leaders.
Payne, Daniel A. "Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne's Protestation of American Slavery." Journal of Negro History 52 (1967): 59-64. An 1839 address by Payne urging Lutherans to adopt an official report calling for the end of slavery in America.
———. History of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. 1891. Reprint. New York: Arno Press and the New York Times, 1969. Payne's masterwork and a valuable source on the history of the AME Church but sometimes stultifying in its depth of detail and ponderous style.
———. Recollections of Seventy Years. 1888. Reprint. New York: Arno Press and the New York Times, 1968. Payne's autobiography and one of the best sources on his life; generally very readable.
———. Sermons and Addresses, 1853-1891. Edited by Charles Killian. New York: Arno Press, 1972.
Steumpfle, Herman G. "Daniel Alexander Payne as Hymn Writer." The Hymn, January 1993, pp. 29-31.
Samuel Morris (1873-93)
A native of the Ivory Coast, Morris came to America to study so that he might return to preach to his people. He died while attending Taylor University in Indiana, but the story of his life inspired others to volunteer for missionary service.
Baldwin, Lindley. Samuel Morris. 1942. Reprint. Minneapolis: Bethany House, n.d. The best biography of Morris, although very popular in style.
Reade, Thaddeus C. Samuel Morris (Prince Kaboo). "Edition of 1924." Upland, Ind.: Taylor Univ. Press, 1924. A brief, best-selling pamphlet that was probably most responsible for publicizing Morris's life story and bringing financial stability to Taylor University.
Ringenberg. William C. Taylor University: The First 150 Years. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996.
Matthew Anderson (1845-1928)
"Pastor, churchman, and social reformer," as the journal article below describes him, Anderson was Presbyterian pastor in Philadelphia. He was a graduate of Oberlin College and one of the first black students at Princeton Theological Seminary.
Anderson, Matthew. Presbyterianism: Its Relation to the Negro. Philadelphia: John McGill White & Co., 1897. Both Anderson's autobiography and his plea for outreach to the black community by the Presbyterian church.
Trotman, C. James. "Matthew Anderson: Black Pastor, Churchman, and Social Reformer." American Presbyterianism 66 (1988): 11-21.
Francis J. Grimké (1850-1937)
A graduate of Princeton Seminary (where he was a classmate of Matthew Anderson), Grimké was the long-time pastor of Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. He was a theological conservative ("a Negro Puritan," according to a biographer) and an unflinching advocate of black civil rights.
Bruce, Dickson D. Archibald Grimké: Portrait of a Black Independent. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univ. Press, 1993. A biography of Francis Grimké's older brother that also is useful for studying Francis Grimké‚ especially his early years.
Grimké, Francis J. "Victory for the Allies and the United States a Ground of Rejoicing, of Thanksgiving." In Negro Orators and Their Orations, edited by Carter Woodson. 1925. Reprint. New York: Russell and Russell, 1969, pp. 690-708.
———. The Works of Francis James Grimké. Washington: The Associated Publishers, 1942. 4 vols.
Ferry, Henry Justin. "Francis James Grimké: Portrait of a Black Puritan." Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1970.
———. "Patriotism and Protest: Francis James Grimké on World War I." Journal of Religious Thought 32 (1975): 86-94.
———. "Racism and Reunion: A Black Protest by Francis James Grimké." Journal of Presbyterian History 50 (1972): 77-88.
Olmstead, Clifton E. "Francis James Grimké (1850-1937): Christian Moralist and Civil Rights." In Sons of the Prophets: Leaders in Protestantism from Princeton Seminary, edited by Hugh T. Kerr. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1963, pp. 161-75.
Sidwell, Mark. "Francis Grimké and the Fundamentalists." Biblical Viewpoint vol. 32, no. 1 (1998): 79-91.
———. "Francis James Grimké and the Value and Limits of Carter Woodson's Model of the Progressive Black Pastor." Fides et Historia 32 (2000): 99-117.
Weeks, Louis B., III. "Racism, World War I and the Christian Life: Francis James Grimké in the Nation's Capital." Journal of Presbyterian History 51 (1973): 471-88.
Charles Tindley (1851-1933)
Eloquent Methodist pastor and hymnwriter, he is best known for his large ministry in Philadelphia and his songs such as "Nothing Between" and "Stand By Me." His song "I'll Overcome Some Day" was adopted and altered by the civil rights movement as "We Shall Overcome."
Costen, Melva W. "Hymn Interpretation: 'Stand by Me.'" The Hymn. January 1995, pp. 40-41.
Heinze, Lee. "Charles A. Tindley—Preacher, Pastor, Hymnwriter," Fundamentalist Journal, December 1985, pp. 40-41.
Jones, Ralph H. Charles Albert Tindley: Prince of Preachers (Nashville: Abingdon, 1982) A good biography, certainly the best available resource, but suffering from a lack of bibliography and footnotes.
Konig, Linda. "Charles Albert Tindley, Black Gospel Musician." The Church Musician, January 1988, pp. 18-19.
Reagon, Bernice Johnson, ed. We'll Understand It Better By and By: Pioneering African American Gospel Composers. Washington: Smithsonian Institute Press, 1992. Contains two articles on the career and songs of Tindley (pp. 37-78); also includes articles on other black gospel song writers, including Thomas Dorsey ("Take My Hand, Precious Lord," "Peace in the Valley") and Kenneth Morris ("Just a Closer Walk with Thee," "My God Is Real").
Tindley, Charles A. Book of Sermons. Philadelphia: Charles A. Tindley, 1932.
———. "Heaven's Christmas Tree." Fundamentalist Journal, December 1985, pp. 42-44.
Charles Price Jones (1865-1949)
Founder of the Church of Christ (Holiness), U.S.A., a group similar to the Nazarenes in doctrine, Jones was a major leader among black holiness Christians. He was also a popular gospel songwriter. He split with C. H. Mason, founder of the Pentecostal Church of God in Christ, over the matter of tongues.
Cobbins, Otho, ed. History of Church of Christ (Holiness) U.S.A., 1895-1965. New York: Vantage Press, 1966.
Spencer, Jon Michael. "The Hymnody of Charles Price Jones and the Church of Christ (Holiness) USA." Black Sacred Music: A Journal of Theomusicology 4 (1990): 14-29.
John Perkins (1930- )
The founder of Voice of Calvary ministries, Perkins is an evangelical minister involved not only in evangelistic and discipleship ministries but also in projects designed to foster economic development of poor black communities, notably in his native Mississippi. Perkins has also been involved in civil rights activity, such as promoting black voter registration. Often opposed, he received national notice after suffering a vicious beating by a Mississippi sheriff and his deputies.
Balmer, Randall. Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1989. See pp. 138-54 for a discussion of Perkins and the impact of his work in Mississippi.
Berk, Stephen E. A Time to Heal: John Perkins, Community Development, and Racial Reconciliation. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1997. A full biography with very useful discussions of the relationship of the black church to Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism; marred, however, by the author's lack of objectivity in tone.
Norton, Will. "A Day in the Life of a Black Fundamentalist." Eternity. 9 September 1971, pp. 22-24, 42.
Perkins. John. Let Justice Roll Down. Glendale, Calif.: Regal Books, 1976. His autobiography; very readable.
———. "My Debt of Gratitude." Fundamentalist Journal, February 1987, pp. 20-23.
———. "Voice of Calvary Ministries: A Case Study." Journal of Christian Reconstruction 9 (1982): 68-73.
———. "Who Speaks for the Black Community?" Presbyterion 18 (1992): 111-16.
———. With Justice for All. Ventura, Calif.: Regal Books, 1982.
Rinehart, Paula. "John Perkins and the Voice of Calvary." Discipleship Journal. 1 January 1985, pp. 18-23.
Whalin, W. Terry. John Perkins. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996. A young people's biography for ages 8-12.