VIA BCCN1.com:
As we approach Easter. I would like to share some history on African American Christians in our Portland community as this particular holiday represents a special time in our culture and our history.
Believe it or not, African Americans were denied the right to worship freely in the United States. Blacks were forbidden by the U.S. government to even become Christians in the early years of our nation’s history, and religious freedom was not truly extended to African Americans until President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862.
Before slavery ended, it is well documented that white Christians in the South and abolitionists from the North, who wished to evangelize to the slaves, were arrested by the local authorities. In the black community, becoming a Christian was an act of defiance. Black people died to become Christians, and they were even killed by fellow Christians.
The Bible is a cherished book for African Americans, even beyond the normal religious connotations. The Bible was one of the first books slaves used to learn how to read and write, but this had to be done in secrecy, as education was also outlawed for black folk in the United States. For this reason, the Bible was and is truly the “Good Book” to African Americans.
