Evolution of the Black Church
"Freedmen's School"...Courtesy of Institue of Texan Cultures
The spirituals and gospels that have been handed down from generation to
generation are two examples of the native black culture. The religious songs that Anglo-
Americans taught to slaves soon gave way to music that sprang from faith in their
deliverance from slavery. These songs were the cries of men and women who wanted to
be accepted as human beings.
With the end of the Civil War the black church became a leader in preparing
blacks to assume the freedoms that had been granted to them. The first black schools
were formed through the Freedmen's Aid Societies, which were first established through
the church.