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To answer this answer this question in its entirety it is important to understand the slave trade and the ethnic diversity of the slaves themselves that were taken to America. In the South the black slaves fashioned Christianity into an instrument of support and resistance . However, this influence was predominant in blacks, notably in the south were slaves used their ancestral and cultural African roots to unify and provide hope and courage in the dark era of slavery.
In conclusion, there was significant influence from African culture in colonial America throughout the period. This belief explains the explosive nature of black religious practice which was unprecedented within white religion and was found to be shocking to some. For example a black in the ‘free’ North would have been welcome to attend congregations particularly those delivered by Baptists and Methodists whilst in the South many slave owners feared the messages of equality emerging from egalitarian preaching and on yet on the other hand as the revival spread some slave holders felt it their Christian duty to teach their slaves about the bible. The large number of slaves of African descent in America throughout the period means that a considerably level of African influence could be deemed has inevitable. For example in Virginia, one of most populous slave states of the period, it is known that first generation slaves were taken from Bight of Biafra, the Gold Coast and Angola with slaves being made captive within as much to a 1000 mile range of these ports, even as far inland as Nigeria. Americans began to abandon there hierarchical religion of their ancestors in favour of protestant Christianity. This meant forming extensive families whereby cohesion was pivotal to surviving slave life. Therefore there was considerable influence from African culture in family lives of the blacks in both the north and the south. Lemuel Haynes was an unusual black minister for his times, because in his fifty year career he preached to predominantly white congregations in Connecticut, Vermont, and upstate New York.
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