Legacies of he Enlightenment and Black Religions : Slavery, Race and Visions of Future in the Segregation Era
2019
Abstract
Leaving aside the better-known legacy of the Enlightenment in the abolitionist movement, the paper focuses on how was this critical discourse against slavery and racial inequality developed within black churches after the Civil War. The aim of the paper is to present the diverse ways African Americans employed to account for slavery and its place and meaning in history and how these informed their visions of the future in the era of segregation and state racism.
Articulated within the frame of American Protestant theology and the ethos of progress, the responses were diverse, ranging from visions of a raceless America, to historic mission of the black race and radical nationalist discourse.