Black History Month 2015 - The Harlem Renaissance - Religion

Image source:  http://social.rollins.edu/wpsites/mosaic-hurston/2011/07/12/the-harlem-renaissance-a-social-documentary-through-art/  (Palmer C. Hayden, Midsummer Night in Harlem, 1938, oil on canvas)

Still working my way through the Harlem Renaissance. This time is a look at the influence of religion on the era.

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From the Wikipedia article on the Harlem Renaissance:

image source pbs.org

Christianity played a major role in the Harlem Renaissance. Many of the writers and social critics discussed the role of Christianity in African–American lives. For example, a famous poem by Langston Hughes, "Madam and the Minister", reflects the temperature and mood towards religion in the Harlem Renaissance. The cover story for The Crisis Magazine′s publication in May 1936 explains how important Christianity was regarding the proposed union of the three largest Methodist churches of 1936. This article shows the controversial question about the formation of a Union for these churches. The article "The Catholic Church and the Negro Priest", also published in the Crisis Magazine, January 1920, demonstrates the obstacles African–American priests faced in the Catholic Church. The article confronts what it saw as policies based on race that excluded African–Americans from higher positions in the church.

Various forms of religious worship existed during this time of African–American intellectual reawakening. Although there were racist attitudes within the current Abrahamic religious arenas many African–Americans continued to push towards the practice of a more inclusive doctrine. For example, George Joseph MacWilliam presents various experiences, during his pursuit towards priesthood, of rejection on the basis of his color and race yet he shares his frustration in attempts to incite action on part of The Crisis Magazine community.

There were other forms of spiritualism practiced among African–Americans during the Harlem Renaissance. Some of these religions and philosophies were inherited from African ancestry.

For example, the Islam religion was present in Africa as early as the 8th century through the Trans-Saharan trade. Islam came to Harlem likely through the migration of members of the Moorish Science Temple of America, which was established in 1913 in New Jersey.

Various forms of Judaism were practiced, such as Orthodox Judaism and Masorti Judaism and even Reformed Judaism, but it was Black Hebrew Israelites that founded their religious belief system during the late 20th century in the Harlem Renaissance.

Traditional forms of religion acquired from various parts of Africa were inherited and practiced during this era. Some commons examples were Voodoo and Santeria.

Religious critique during this era was found in literature, art, and poetry. The Harlem Renaissance encouraged analytic dialogue that included the open critique and the adjustment of current religious ideas.

Aaron Douglas (Image source:  convozine.com)

One of the major contributors to the discussion of African–American renaissance culture was Aaron Douglas who, with his artwork, also reflected the revisions African Americans were making to the Christian dogma. Douglas uses biblical imagery as inspiration to various pieces of art work but with the rebellious twist of an African influence.

Countee Cullen (image source www.poets.org)

Countee Cullen’s poem “Heritage” expresses the inner struggle of an African American between his past African heritage and the new Christian culture. A more severe criticism of the Christian religion can be found Langston Hughes’ poem “Merry Christmas", where he exposes the irony of religion as a symbol for good and yet a force for oppression and injustice.

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My religious beginnings were not via a Black church so I was not introduced to the divisive history of the Church. I accepted Christ at a bible camp that was through a (predominantly white) church that I wasn't a member of (a man came to one of my high school classes to talk about the youth group).

I started attending church regularly in 1992 when I was a guest at the "Soul" service on the Davis Monthan air force base in Tucson, Arizona. It was then that my education in modern religious segregation began. I was also looking more into my Black heritage and part of that was how spiritualism played a huge part in the lives of my ancestors and their peers and how they adapted to the new way of expressing it that was given to them by their captors and masters.

There are many who reject the "slave master's religion" but it has been a huge part of how Negros were able to connect socially. (I use the term "Negro" to mean before we started calling ourselves "Black"). Even in the 20th century when I was active in church, I could see how this bond (whether Christian or another organized religion) could mean so much in defining our communities and creating a somewhat safe place for us to express ourselves on a different level.