Presbyterians in North Carolina: Race, Politics, and Religious Identity in Historical Perspective

6. Out from the Gloomy Past

Chapter 6 out from the Gloomy Past The aftermath of emancipation promised a new era for southern blacks, including black Presbyterians. With the Confederacy militarily defeated and southern society prostrated, resentment by southern whites against blacks was palpable, and reluctance by local whites to assist blacks was equally evident. Nevertheless, for ex-slaves in North Carolina it was a time enriched with biblical stories of exodus and emancipation, with songs of new hope and freedom, with joyful anticipation at fresh opportunities for change and fulfillment. As one minister in Wilmington put it at the end of the war, “to these colored people this was their great jubilee. They had just crossed the Red sea dry-shod” (Burkhead 44). for newly freed southern blacks, estimated to number around 4 million persons, there were daunting challenges. emancipation altered their social, political , and economic status, familiar contexts and habits were transformed, yet the reality of freedom heightened hopes and made it worthwhile. And even if social and political obstacles abounded, the religious landscape of emancipated blacks was hardly a spiritual wasteland. In addition to the vestiges of transplanted African religious traditions, white southern planters, supported by their various denominations, had provided for preaching Christianity as part of the slave owners ’ mission to the slaves. slaves were familiar with Christianity and many were members of Christian churches. Thus, John Bell estimates that by 1865 North Carolina Presbyterians had gathered around 2,000 black communicants into nearly 200 white Presbyterian churches. A New Era With the cessation of military campaigns and the surrender of the Confederacy, an important series of questions concerning the spiritual future of these black out from the Gloomy Past 136 Presbyterians quickly emerged: Would they remain in the Presbyterian fold? If so, would they continue to worship with their former white masters or develop theirownindependentPresbyteriancongregationsandchurches?samuellogan, a Presbyterian minister and secretary of the Board of Missions for freedmen of the Northern Presbyterian Church, stated in his 1866 annual report what he took to be two fundamental observations: that black Presbyterians would no longer attend churches “where white people both hold the property and choose the session. They are no longer willing to be controlled by their former masters,” and that they are, accordingly, leaving the southern Presbyterian Church to worship under the leadership of individuals “of their own color” some of whom are Presbyterian, some of whom belonged to other denominations. logan pointed out that since “there are no colored ministers of the Presbyterian order in the southern Church, while those of the Methodist and Baptist denomination are a multitude,” this placed efforts at developing black Presbyterian churchesataseveredisadvantage.Presbyteriansoughtnottocedetheentirenewly emancipated population, especially that which had previously been Presbyterian, to other denominations, logan insisted. However, attempts so far by the missionaries of the freedmen’s Mission Board to assist the development of independent black Presbyterian congregations had been strongly resented by resident southern Presbyterians. Nevertheless, by the end of 1866 a fledgling attempt had begun to support the development of black Presbyterian churches. As of May of that year, some twenty-four missionary stations under the auspices of the missionaries of the freedmen’s Mission Board had been organized throughout the south. Two North Carolina congregations existed, one in Wilmington and the other in Charlotte, with forty-eight members at Wilmington and forty-four members at Charlotte. The nucleus of the Charlotte congregation had been thirty blacks who attended the first Presbyterian Church in that city. At the conclusion of the Civil War, coming down from the balcony, symbolically as well as literally, they formed in 1866 their own congregation, which they named the Colored Presbyterian Church of Charlotte. In the face of local animosity, the members gathered in a room rented from a local black Baptist congregation. soon the members purchased a lot on Third street and Davidson street, and the freedmen’s Bureau donated and moved an old military barracks to the new location. In 1869 the congregation bought a small empty church on the corner of seventh and College streets in downtown Charlotte, and in 1895 they renamed the church seventh street Presbyterian Church of Charlotte. 137 out from the Gloomy Past The congregation in Wilmington provides another salient illustration of the challenges facing these new black congregations. In 1865 a majority of black Methodists in Wilmington walked out of the white congregation in which they had worshiped to form a new African Methodist episcopal congregation, while...