ABSTRACT

Among the first segregated institutions in the postwar South were its churches. In the wake of emancipation, African-Americans established their own churches as a sign of their newfound freedom, while many white Southerners shut blacks out of their once integrated religious institutions. The messages of salvation and redemption were well received by many previously unchurched black Southerners. During the postwar years, African-American churches became some of the largest institutions in many Southern cities. During the postwar era, more Southerners became involved in formal religious institutions than ever before. Southerners—white and black—were less churched than other Americans at the end of Reconstruction. Urbanization provided the critical mass of people in certain areas to allow Southern churches to grow.