Rearing Wolves to Our Own Destruction: Slavery in Richmond Virginia, 1782–1865 (40 page)

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Authors: Midori Takagi

Tags: #Social Science, #Ethnic Studies, #African American Studies, #test

BOOK: Rearing Wolves to Our Own Destruction: Slavery in Richmond Virginia, 1782–1865
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friends and family. The unusual features of the urban slave system, however, allowed slave Richmonders to improve the odds that their relationships would remain intact. Through the development of alleyway housing, the rise of segregated residential enclaves, and the high demand for hired slave workers, urban industrialization and the unusual working and living conditions allowed slave residents to survive by enabling them to develop families, create crucial survival mechanisms (such as taking in children and boarding together), and form social institutions that provided camaraderie, entertainment, and ways to escape the pressures of slavery temporarily. All of these taken together played an important role in the formation of the city slave community.
Independence Won: The First African Baptist Church, 1841-60
Of all the organizations within the slave community, the independent black Baptist church was arguably the most important institution to emerge during the late antebellum era. Like segregated neighborhoods and social activities, the church was a unifying force, which provided emotional and financial support and offered opportunities for leadership and self-governance. But unlike the other institutions, such as the gambling games or cookshops, the church played a vital role in channeling the skills, experience, and knowledge of urban slaves into political and economic forms of resistance that helped them during slavery and after.
In fact, it was through the Baptist church that slave and free black residents jointly launched their first successful political and economic attack against white domination and control. During the 1840s black congregants vied for and won the right to establish a separate church. By pooling their financial resources, advancing their interpretation of the religious culture, and holding numerical superiority (2,000 blacks and 400 whites), black communicants pressured white church members into relinquishing control of the church facilities. After much negotiation (mediated by the Reverend Jeremiah Jeter) and generous contributions from prominent white Richmonders James Sizer, Archibald Thomas, and James Thomas Jr., the old church was purchased for $7,500, $4,500 of which was paid by black members themselves. Later, an additional $7,000 was raised by black congregants to pay off the debt.
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By the winter of 1841 the First African Baptist Church was formally established.
The launching of the First African Baptist was a major event that had been twenty years in the making. As early as 1821 black Baptists had petitioned the local conferring association for a separate independent
 
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church. The Dover Association, however, rejected their petition, stating that "the formation of such a church [was] inexpedient." Undaunted, slave and free black congregants sent a second petition to the General Assembly in 1823 hoping that the state government would sanction such a move. That petition also was rejected.
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Additional efforts made during the 1830s were thwarted by white residents disturbed by the implications of Nat Turner's Rebellion in 1831. Rampant fear that uncontrolled or unmonitored Christian teachings encouraged slaves to be rebellious led lawmakers to ban black preachers and to be generally unsympathetic to independent black institutions. The long history of this struggle made the creation of the First African Baptist Church enormously important to black Richmonders.
The modest "plain brick building" that housed the newly independent church did not look like a monument to black Baptists' efforts. But what went on inside the church certainly reflected their hard work. For the first time blacks had access to all areas of the church. No longer relegated to the galleries, black congregants quickly filled the 1,500 seats.
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And they continued to do so as membership kept increasing; by 1842 the number of congregants had grown from 940 to 1,600, and between 1856 and 1859 membership exceeded 3,000.
40
More important, for the first time slave and free black congregants gained administrative control of their church and could elect their own deacons, committee members, and unofficial assistant preachers subject to the pastor's approval, of course. There were, however, some significant limitations to their power. First, the pastor had to be white; Virginia law required that all-black assemblies be led by a white minister.
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Second, a superintending committee from the parent, all-white First Baptist Church held authority over church affairs. The initial selection of the pastor and any changes made to the church's constitution, for example, were some of the committee's prerogatives. And if any major issue arose that could not be resolved by the congregation, the superintending committee could step in and make the final decision. It appears, however, that the committee generally allowed First African Baptist members to handle their own affairs, intervening only on rare occasions.
Of more immediate consequence to members of the new African Baptist Church was the new pastor, Robert Ryland. Although black congregants did get to vote on whether to accept the new minister, the candidate was selected by their old pastor, the Reverend Mr. Jeter. From the congregation's point of view, Ryland had been cut from the same cloth as Jeter. Like his predecessor, Ryland came across as "plain," "practical," and rational and did not care for theatrics or superstitions. In fact, one of his first tasks was an attempt to "correct the errors and to
 
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repress the extravagances into which his hearers were prone to run."
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Also like Jeter, Ryland supported slavery. Both in his written work and spoken sermons, Ryland frequently directed slaves to "be obedient" to their owners, "with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ."
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Black congregants could expect no less. No preacher could retain a position in the South if he did not support slavery. Furthermore, black parishioners were used to hearing these kinds of messages and had learned long before simply to take what was meaningful to them and to reject the rest. What they did not expect, however, was the amount of latitude Ryland gave members in running the church. Even though Ryland had final say over church matters, the deacons held enormous power because he acted largely as a moderator. Church records suggest that Ryland rarely interfered with disciplinary actions and other similar decisions. In fact, he was known for frequently missing administrative meetings, allowing the deacons to act completely on their own.
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Under these conditions the deacons along with the various committees assumed almost full responsibility for "all financial affairs, the admission and dismissal of members, social and charitable activities, and the regulation of the moral conduct of the members of the congregation."
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The deacons became the de facto "permanent ruling power" in the church.
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Ryland's lenient administrative style allowed other members to take advantage of leadership opportunities as well. Individuals who felt the inclination to preach were given a chance to lead the congregation. Even though it was illegal for free blacks and slaves to preach a response to Nat Turner's Rebellion Ryland circumvented the law by allowing church members to "take the pulpit" and preside over funeral services. One way Ryland was able to evade the law was by inviting a member to open services with a prayer. The prayer, however, could be as involved as a sermon. This was certainly the case on the Sunday that Charles Weld came to visit. As Weld described: "The service was commenced by an extempore prayer from one of the congregation, uttered in a nasal tone. . . . As the negro proceeded, his eloquence and fervour increased, eliciting sympathy from the congregation, who accompanied every burst of enthusiasm by loud ejaculations and groans."
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It was opportunities like these that helped produce John Jasper, one of the most famous preachers of the nineteenth century and best known for his sermon "De Sun Do Move," which challenged the heliocentric view of the solar system. Jasper began his career as an assistant and as a funeral speaker in the church. From the 1840s until 1859 when Jasper left the city he regularly preached at the First African Baptist Church in Richmond and at the Third African Baptist Church in Petersburg.
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Joseph Abrams also cut his teeth at the Richmond church and became so well known for his skills that at his funeral in 1854 some 8,000 mourners came to pay their respects. Deacon James Oliver regularly took the pulpit as well, though his appearances apparently did not please everyone; when Oliver rose to speak, fellow congregant Sophy Henderson would make loud "unkind remarks" and would "leave the house in a disorderly manner."
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The open environment of the church helped members assume leadership positions within the larger black (slave and free) community through the development of organizations that emphasized "collective self-improvement and mutual assistance."
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Through these organizations congregants helped feed and clothe the poor, bury the dead, and raise funds to help slaves purchase their freedom. One such organization was the Poor Saints Fund (established in 1848) to assist the "needy, [and] helpless from disease or old age." The fund consisted of seventeen church trustees whose duties included collecting donations, visiting needy households, and attending to "all applications of aid."
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The assistance of the Poor Saints quickly proved too little to meet the needs of the black community, and soon a number of other mutual aid societies developed out of the church. Some of these groups were not so well known as the Poor Saints Fund because the members chose to keep their organizations and their identities a secret out of fear that the police would arrest them for illegally congregating. In fact, the scant amount of information that exists today emerged only after the Civil War. According to a recent study, one of these groups was The United Sons of Love, "a colored benevolent organization, whose principal features are to care for the sick, look after the poor and destitute, and bury their dead."
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This information is virtually all that is known about this and many other secret organizations during the antebellum era. Efforts to help needy people outside of the Richmond community, however, were better documented. According to treasury records, the church not only sent funds to the missionaries in Africa but also provided donations to groups such as the "suffering poor of Ireland."
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Other ways the First African Baptist Church helped the larger community included raising funds for a new separate all-black church. By the mid-1850s membership at the First African had reached such high numbers that a "colony" had to be sent out. In 1858 the "colony," aided by funds donated by the First Baptist Church, helped establish the Third African Baptist Church (later renamed the Ebenezer church).
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By that year black Richmonders had three all-black independent churches to
 
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choose from: the First and the Second African Baptist (which was an offshoot of the integrated Second Baptist Church) and the Ebenezer.
Of all the committees and organizations that emerged in the First African Baptist Church, the most visibly powerful group was the deacons, thirty men "who constituted the ruling element of the Church."
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Although there was some turnover among the deacons from retirements and deaths, many of the same names filled the roster throughout the late antebellum era, including Gilbert Hunt, Simon Bailey, Joseph Abrams, William Morris, John Kinney, Thomas Allen, and Richard Henderson. The overwhelming majority of the deacons were free blacks who possessed some wealth and property. A handful were "self-made men" such as Gilbert Hunt, who not only purchased his freedom but managed to open a blacksmithing shop and create a comfortable life for himself.
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Much of the deacons' power rested in their authority to discipline members for "disorderly" conduct and actions. While these duties had changed little during the transition from the First Baptist to the First African Baptist, there were no longer white deacons present to influence, or override, the black deacons' decisions. As in the past, deacons at the First African Baptist were concerned about adultery, fighting, lying, stealing, and gambling and attempted to deter such acts through swift and harsh punishments. John Bailor and Mary Johnson, for example, received no leniency when they were reported to have been fighting. At the next church meeting the deacons voted to exclude them from the church. Strabo Manning also was thrown out of church for having an affair with fellow congregant, Mrs. Morton. James Robinson met the same fate when several members caught sight of him dancing, which was considered a frivolous and immoral activity.
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While most problems were mundane and probably no different from those in white churches of the late antebellum era, black deacons also grappled with situations unique to the slave community. One such problem was remarriage. This was an extremely sensitive and painful issue because it exposed at once the cruelty of slavery and the moral limitations of the Baptist institution. The church and its leaders found slave remarriages to be problematic because often they did not meet its traditional prerequisites. Generally, the church allowed second marriages only if a person had lost a spouse, been abandoned by one, or had been granted a separation by the church. Slave couples, however, frequently were forced apart by slave sales, and many remarried when the prospects of reuniting with their partner grew dim. The deacons acknowledged the awkwardness of the situation yet even under these circumstances still demanded proof that a marriage had truly failed. As a result, church standards proved difficult for many slaves.

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