Another countercultural element existed in the Natchez District. Slaves took readily to the messages of evangelical Protestantism and were welcomed into churches as equal in worship and in the eyes of God. However, white forms of Christian worship sometimes failed to provide the answers to questions of morality asked by slaves. While biblical messages and stories appealed to the enslaved, sometimes the interpretations provided by white ministers rang hollow. Ultimately, slaves reshaped evangelical Protestantism in ways that attended to their own needs and confirmed truths about the particular world in which they lived. Although whites often used their churches as elements of social control, enslaved blacks conducted their own services in their own way, and on their own time. This “invisible institution” existed alongside conventional worship patterns, and slaves participated in both. Although they surely saw and understood the symbols of cotton prosperity, slaves created their own countercultural symbols and rituals to affirm the circumstances of their own lives. u.edu/docs/available/etd-07012004-091858/unrestricted/Smith_thesis.pdf-David Smith.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Apr 2014 19:21:54 +0000
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