African-American Religious Movements the African-American Religious Experience Essay

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African-American Religious Movements

The African-American religious experience went through a period of "…extraordinary change" in the years between WWI and WWII (Fulop, et al., 1997, p. 314). Several "sects" and "cults" worshiped in storefront churches, moving from "mainline churches" into organizations that had political, fraternal and "benevolent" approaches to spirituality. But as to mainline Black churches, between 1926 and 1936, the Black Baptist movement grew from 3.2 million to 3.8 million and hence by 1936 the Black Baptist congregation had become the largest Christian church affiliated with the African-American community; indeed, 67% of "all Black Church members" were connected to the Black Baptist movement (Fulop, 315). This growth within the Back Baptist faith was partly due to the decrease in Black membership of the African Methodist church, the Churches of Christ and the Churches of the Living God (Fulop, 315).

Nation of Islam: Wallace D. Fard came to the United States in 1930 -- starting in Detroit -- and brought with him the religious practice known today as "Nation of Islam." According to the book by Richard Brent Turner (Islam in the African-American Experience, Second Edition), Fard began his work by "…assuming the guise of an Arab street peddler… [and he] told his audiences in Detroit that the "…Black men in North America are not Negroes, but members of the lost tribe of Shaba," and he also said the Caucasians were the real "colored people" but that they had lost their "original color" (Turner, 2003, p. 148). Fard peddled silk and other wares from Asia and Africa.

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Fard claimed to be a prophet from the "Holy City of Mecca," and he spoke to black audiences about the religions of people in Africa; he also "openly and vehemently attacked the white race, Christianity, and the teachings of the Bible" (Turner, 149).

The Nation of Islam "…used this kind of propaganda… to attract thousands of black converts in the 1930s," Turner explained (p. 129). Many African-Americans were influenced by the propaganda and converted to Islam and hence the movement grew, especially in large urban areas like New York City. "Lower class blacks" were "anxious to buy his goods and hear his stories," Turner continues on page 148, and that's how the Nation of….....

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