148 Culture, Identity, and Community: From Slavery to the PresentChristian music. Gospel music and singing pioneers in-
cluded Charles Tindley, Lucy Campbell, Th omas Dorsey,
Mahalia Jackson, and others. Later, Andrae Crouch, Mat-
tie Moss Clark, and James Cleveland were among those
who developed and promoted contemporary gospel music
and singing. In the area of ecumenism, blacks founded
the National Black Evangelical Association (1964) and the
Congress of National Black Churches (1978) and worked
with the National Council of the Churches of Christ, the
World Baptist Alliance, the World Methodist Council, and
the World Council of Churches. It was probably this kind
of ecumenism that infl uenced the AME (1948) and the
CME (1954) to ordain women. Another interesting form
of ecumenism shows in the Interdenominational Th eologi-
cal Center, founded in 1958, which is now a consortium
of six black seminaries. In addition, black churches have
built thousands of housing units for low-income and senior
citizens, chartered credit unions and banks, and developed
vocational programs. In the 21st century, the black church
continues to receive the support of the African American
community. As of 2008, the major denominations report
the following memberships: AME, 1.8 million; AMEZ,
1.2 million; CME, 850,000; NBCUSA, 7.5 million; NBCA,
5 million; PNBC, 2.5 million; COGIC, 5.5 million; and
PAW, 1.5 million. Overall, it must be understood that the
black church is more than just Christian people who are
black. It is a spiritual center, a prophetic voice, and a me-
dium for economic empowerment.
See also: African Methodist Episcopal Church; First African
Baptist Church; Slave ReligionDavid MichelBibliography
Cobbins, Otho B. History of Church of Christ (Holiness) U.S.A.
New York: Vantage Press, 1966.
Fitts, Leroy. A History of Black Baptists. Nashville, TN: Broadman
and Holman Publishers, 1985.
Lincoln, C. Eric, and Lawrence H. Mamiya. Th e Black Church in
the African American Experience. Durham, NC: University of
North Carolina Press, 1990.
Pinn, Anne H., and Anthony B. Pinn. Fortress Introduction to Black
Church History. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2002.
Raboteau, Albert J. Slave Religion: Th e “Invisible Institution” in the
Antebellum South. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.
Ross, Rosetta. Witnessing and Testifying: Black Women, Religion,
and Civil Rights. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003.
Wilmore, Gayraud S. Black Religion and Black Radicalism: An In-
terpretation of the Religious History of African Americans.
Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1998.strong support to black presidential candidate Jesse Jack-
son (1984, 1988).
Any study of the black church must include those con-
gregations that belong to white denominations. Because
whites introduced the gospel to the African slaves, the early
black churches either were pastored by white ministers or
found themselves under white control. Nevertheless, the
founding of black denominations did not mean that all
blacks would leave white denominations. Today, thousands
of blacks are found in the Southern Baptist Convention, the
American Baptist Churches, the United Methodist Church
(UMC), the Episcopal Church, the Catholic Church, and the
Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Blacks can also be found
in the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the United Church of
Christ (UCC), the Presbyterian Church USA, the Church
of God (Anderson, Indiana), the Church of the Nazarene,
and the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee). Many black
Baptist churches claim double affi liation, with both a black
convention and a white group. Black clergy in white de-
nominations, like their peers in the black denominations,
also supported the Civil Rights movement. Andrew Young
(UCC) and James Lawson (UMC) are the most well known
among them. Also within the ranks of these white denom-
inations must be noted the presence of large numbers of
immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean.
A good number of blacks also belong to independent
churches and loose fellowships. Independent churches are
found in rural, urban, and suburban areas and are led by
ministers who prefer independence because of personal-
ity or fi nancial factors. Many urban storefronts and mega
churches are independent. In recent years, some ministers
have preferred to organize themselves as “fellowships” in-
stead of joining the more established denominations. Th ese
fellowships do not report standards of denominational-
ism, such as publishing houses, Bible schools and Christian
colleges, and strong foreign missions. Nonetheless, they
do ordain ministers and organize national conferences.
Today, the most well-known fellowship is the Full Gospel
Baptist Church Fellowship, founded in 1992 and still led
by its founder, Bishop Paul Morton. Another phenomenon
worth mentioning is the acceptance of Pentecostal/char-
ismatic worship styles in the more established and older
denominations.
Th e black church has made other signifi cant contribu-
tions to American society during the 20th century. It heav-
ily contributed to the development of black and American