ABSTRACT
In the antebellum period a relatively large number of genre paintings and drawings were produced, which, taken together, give an extensive pictorial overview of African-American folk culture during this period, particularly in the decade leading directly up to the Civil War and Emancipation. The first colonial institution to impact on the Africans newly arrived in the colonies was the Protestant Church. Although the black self-governing churches were established primarily above the Mason-Dixon Line, independent congregations also could be found in the South in such urban areas as Charleston, South Carolina, Richmond, Virginia, and New Orleans, Louisiana. It should be remembered that though most of the worshipers pictured are freedmen, they undoubtedly were born into slavery and consequently appreciate the reality that freedom has brought them the privilege of worshiping as they please. During the mid-nineteenth century newly established plantation-mission movement in the South began to reach out to slaves who, for one reason or another, did not attend church.
