Fig. 10. “Contraband Camp at City Point” depicting an evening prayer meeting
It is a common belief that slave religion or Christianity was practiced in the balcony of the slave master’s church. At these types of services slaves were reminded to serve their masters on earth before serving God. Although slaves were uneducated, they were not stupid. This doctrine offered them no hope and encouraged them to accept their condition. When no action is taken to improve our lives, we are faced with hopelessness, which leads to depression. Depression often results in poor judgment and a lack of patience, and the existing condition is often worsened. Prayer nurtures hope by allowing us to take action in a hopeless situation. Prayer allowed slaves to petition to a power that they did not possess. Prayer gave them faith, courage, and determination. They were then able to make the best use of their resources and circumstance.
The Slave Narratives suggest that slave prayer meetings were a common practice throughout the South. Apparently, slave owners saw these prayer meetings as a threat. It was unlawful for blacks to assemble in prayer groups in the South without a white person being present. This was considered a national-security issue, and the punishment for illegal prayer meetings was flogging. I found no exception to this rule in the slave narratives; slave prayer meetings were not allowed on any plantations.
Although slave prayer meetings were illegal they continued to occur. Ellen Butler said that slaves were not allowed to pray because they prayed for freedom.
“Marster neber ’low he slaves to go to chu’ch. Dey hab big holes out in de fiel’s dey git down in and pray. Dey done dat way ’cause de white folks didn’ want ’em to pray. Dey uster pray for freedom.”[1]
Ellen Butler
Slaves, however, had a practice of “stealing away” to the woods to have their religious services. At these services, they usually prayed for freedom, and this is why these meetings were outlawed. Albert J. Raboteau is a Henry W. Putnam Professor of Religion at Princeton University. In his book Slave Religion: The “Invisible Institution” in the Antebellum South, referrers to this slave prayer meeting practice as the Invisible Institution. This invisible institution appears to be a slave movement or prayer movement and is frequently described by the voice of the slaves.
“When de niggers go round singin’ “Steal Away to Jesus,’ dat mean dere gwine be a “ligious meetin’ dat night. De masters…didn’t like dem ‘ligious meetin’s so us natcherly slips off at night, down in de bottoms or somewhere. Sometimes us sing and pray all night…Meetings back there meant more than they do now. Then every body’s heart was in tune, and when they called on God they made heaven ring. It was more than just Sunday meeting and then no godliness for a week. They would steal off to the fields and in the thickets and there…they called on God out of heavy hearts.” [2]
““We used to steal off to de woods and have church, like de spirit moved us–sing and pray to our own liking and soul satisfaction and we sure did have good meetings, honey-baptize in de river, like God said. We had dem spirit-filled meetings at night on de bank of de river, and God met us dere. We was quiet ‘nuf so de white folks didn’t know we was dere, and what a glorious time We did have in de Lord.”[3]
Susan Rhodes
’Steal a-way, steal_ a-way’
steal_ a-way to Je-sus!
steal_ a-way,
steal_ a-way home,_
I ain’t got long to stay here.
Steal_ a-way, steal_ a-way,
steal_ a-way to Je – sus!
steal_ a-way home,_
I ain’t got long to stay here.
My Lord, He calls me, He calls me by the thun – der,
The trum – pet sounds with – in a my soul,
I ain’t got long to stay here.’[4]
Plantations used guards and overseers to keep slaves in their cabins at night. Guards were called patrollers, and overseers were called nigger drivers. Mary Reynolds referred to Solomon as a nigger driver.
“We was scart of Solomon and his whip, though, and he didn’t like frolickin’. He didn’t like for us niggers to pray, either. We never heared of no church, but us have prayin’ in the cabins. We’d set on the floor and pray with our heads down low and sing low, but if Solomon heared he’d come and beat on the wall with the stock of his whip. He’d say, I’ll come in there and tear the hide off you backs.’ But some the old niggers tell us we got to pray to Gawd that he don’t think different of the blacks and the whites. I know that Solomon is burnin’ in hell today, and it pleasures me to know it.”[5]
Slaves would “steal away” to pray in the woods, which was a very sacred act. Slaves literally risked their lives along with the lives of their families to attend these prayer meetings, which made their spirituality the center of their lives. Mary Reynolds describes a secret prayer meeting in the woods and how they relied on the “power of God” for safety:
“Once my maw and paw taken me and Katherine after night to slip to nother place to a prayin’ and singin’. A nigger man with white beard told us a day am comin’ when niggers only be slaves of Gawd.”[6]
“We prays for the end of Trib’lation and the end of beatin’s and for shoes that fit our feet. We prayed that us niggers could have all we wanted to eat and special for fresh meat. Some the old ones say we have to bear all, cause that all we can do. Some say they was glad to the time they’s dead, cause they’d rather rot in the ground than have the beatin’s. What I hated most was when they’d beat me and I didn’t know what they beat me for, and I hated they strippin’ me naked as the day I was born.
When we’s comin’ back from that prayin’, I thunk I heared the nigger dogs and somebody on horseback. I say, Maw, its them nigger hounds and they’ll eat us up.’ You could hear them old hounds and sluts abayin’. Maw listens and say, Sho nough, them dogs am running’ and Gawd help us!’ Then she and paw talk and they take us to a fence corner and stands us up gainst the rails and say don’t move and if anyone comes near, don’t breathe loud. They went to the woods, so the hounds chase them and not git us. Me and Katherine stand there, holdin’ hands, shakin’ so we can hardly stand. We hears the hounds come nearer, but we don’t move. They goes after paw and maw, but they circles round to the cabins and gits in. Maw say its the power of Gawd.”[7]
Mary Reynolds
The following are exerts from the slave narratives titled “ON THE SECRET RELIGIOUS MEETINGS OF ENSLAVED PERSONS.”[8]
“”A Negro preacher delivered sermons on the plantation. Services being held in the church used by whites after their services on Sunday. The preacher must always act as a peacemaker and mouthpiece for the master, so they were told to be subservient to their masters in order to enter the Kingdom of God. But the slaves held secret meetings and had praying grounds where they met a few at a time to pray for better things.”
Harriet Gresham, born a slave in 1838 in South Carolina, as reported by her interviewer, ca. 1935
“Sometimes we would, unbeknown to our master, assemble in a cabin and sings songs and spirituals. Our favorite spirituals were—Bringin’ in de sheaves, De stars am shinin’ for us all, Hear de Angels callin’, and The Debil has no place here. The singing was usually to the accompaniment of a Jew’s harp and fiddle, or banjo.”
Dennis Simms, born a slave in Maryland in 1841, as transcribed by his interviewer, 1937
“De black folks gits off down in de bottom and shouts and sings and prays. Dey gits in de ring dance. It am jes’ a kind of shuffle, den it git faster and faster and dey gits warmed up and moans and shouts and claps and dances. Some gits ‘xhausted and drops out and de ring gits closer. Sometimes dey sings and shouts all night, but come break of day, de nigger got to git to he cabin. Old Marse got to tell dem de tasks of de day.”
Silvia King, born in Morocco and enslaved in Texas, as transcribed by her interviewer, ca. 1936
“Tom Ashbie’s [plantation owner] father went to one of the cabins late at night, the slaves were having a secret prayer meeting. He heard one slave ask God to change the heart of his master and deliver him from slavery so that he may enjoy freedom. Before the next day the man disappeared . . . When old man Ashbie died, just before he died he told the white Baptist minister, that he had killed Zeek for praying and that he was going to hell.”
Rev. Silas Jackson, born a slave in 1846 or 1847 in Virginia, as transcribed by his interviewer, 1937
“[The plantation owner] would not permit them to hold religious meetings or any other kinds of meetings, but they frequently met in secret to conduct religious services. When they were caught, the ‘instigators’—known or suspected—were severely flogged. Charlotte recalls how her oldest brother was whipped to death for taking part in one of the religious ceremonies. This cruel act halted the secret religious services.”
Charlotte Martin, born a slave in 1854 in Florida, as reported by her interviewer, 1936
“On Sundays the slaves were permitted to have a religious meeting of their own. This usually took place in the backyard or in a building dedicated for this purpose. They sang spirituals which gave vent to their true feelings. Many of these songs are sung today. There was one person who did the preaching. His sermon was always built according to the master’s instructions which were that slaves must always remember that they belonged to their masters and were intended to lead a life of loyal servitude. None of the slaves believed this, although they pretended to believe because of the presence of the white overseer. If this overseer was absent sometimes and the preacher varied in the text of his sermon, that is, if he preached exactly what he thought and felt, he was given a sound whipping.”
William Ward, born a slave in the early 1830s in Georgia, as reported by her interviewer, ca. 1936
[1] Ellen Butler, in Mellon, Bullwhip Days, 190.
[2] Albert J. Raboteau, Slave Religion: The “Invisible Institution” in the Antebellum South (Oxford University Press, 1978) 213–217.
[3] Susan Rhodes,in Mellon, Bullwhip Days, 194.
[4] J. W. Johnson and J. R. Johnson, American Negro Spirituals, 114–5.
[5] Mellon, Bullwhip Days, 19.
[6] Mellon, Bullwhip Days, 19.
[7] Mellon, Bullwhip Days, p19.
[8] http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nineteen/nkeyinfo/aarsecretmeetings.htm.