ABSTRACT
The religion of the African-American had its roots deeply imbedded in African traditional religion. One of the strongest ideas of West African traditional religion prevalent among Antebellum slaves was spiritual collectivism. Charles H. Long, the renowned historian of religions, has contended that it is the religious consciousness of the African-American which ought to be consulted to understand better the African presence in African-American religion. African-American religion in the New World was composed largely of White Protestantism and the slave's own religion. There was a spiritual relationship between the invisible African-American religion of the slave and the African-American churches in the northern United States. On July 16, 1840, Pennington was installed as the pastor of the third African-American Congregational Church in the United States. From his commitment to African-American self-help sprang Pennington's vision of the African-American church as a movement and the source of African-American liberation.
