Family Patterns 193had the right to accept or reject salvation. In 19th-century
America, evangelicalism was the mainline religion, usefully
describing the attitude of most Baptists and Methodists. His-
torians have long confl ated this evangelical majority with
the eventual success of the abolitionist movement. Because
such inordinate responsibility was placed on the individual
in his or her own conversion, individual activity was seen
more broadly as a key demonstration of God’s grace. Social
reform, like abolition, was therefore a major evangelism of
American evangelicals, who sought to perfect the world
to match their perfected souls. Th e majority of Northern
abolitionists would aptly be described as evangelical.
Th e eff ects of Christian evangelism on African Ameri-
cans are widely debated. For some, black conversion to
Christianity facilitated the growth of independent black in-
stitutions (such as the African Methodist Episcopal Church
and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference) and
the development of wide-ranging social service and edu-
cational networks. Others contend that Christianity was
another tool of white oppression; such critiques would
spawn such 20th-century movements as Marcus Garvey’s
United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), the Na-
tion of Islam, and alternatives led by religious leaders such
as Daddy Grace and Father Divine. Such assessments aside,
the demographic and sociological impact of Christian
evangelism within African America is indisputable.
See also: African Methodist Episcopal Church; Daddy
Grace; Elaw, Zilpha; Father Divine; Society for the Propa-
gation of the Gospel in Foreign PartsKathryn Emily Loft onBibliography
Butler, Jon. Awash in a Sea of Faith: Christianizing the American
People. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990.
Frey, Sylvia R., and Betty Wood. Come Shoutin’ to Zion: African
American Protestantism in the American South and British
Caribbean to 1 830. Chapel Hill: University of North Caro-
lina Press, 1998.
Heyrman, Christine. Southern Cross: Th e Beginnings of the Bible
Belt. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997.
Raboteau, Albert. Slave Religion: Th e “Invisible Institution” in the
Antebellum South. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.Family Patterns
Family studies have identifi ed characteristic family pat-
terns—broadly defi ned as general value orientations andopposition by pointing out that the Bible sanctioned slavery
and that Paul explicitly tells servants to obey their masters.
Christianity would not make freed men, Anglican church-
men argued; rather, it would make better slaves, who would
better understand their hierarchical position in the divine
plan. With this message, the Society for the Propagation of
the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG) sent missionaries to Brit-
ish North America. Founded in 1701, the SPG was the fi rst
organization to systematically evangelize the slaves. South-
ern slave owners found little to be troubled by in the SPG’s
tactics or message; in general, SPG evangelists affi rmed the
feudal hierarchy of Southern society, reiterating the moral-
ity of paternalism and rationalizing the complex slave codes
that prohibited black literacy or assemblage.
Even so, the SPG achieved limited success among
slaves. Few slaves could abide the tedium of the Anglican
catechism without expectation of social uplift ; moreover, the
SPG never eff ectively translated the Christian message to
the slave experience. It was not until Baptist and Methodist
itinerant preachers spread across the rural South in the early
19th century that blacks began to convert in large numbers
to Christianity. Scholars have long debated the success of
Baptists and Methodist among Southern slaves, attempting
to determine what made their message so appealing. Several
theories have been supported: First, neither group required
an educated clergy, encouraging individual slaves to preach
without ecclesiastical requirement. Second, Baptists and
Methodists shared an antislavery stance from their denomi-
national beginnings and, more importantly, preached a gos-
pel of equality that seemed to challenge the accepted social
order. In addition, black evangelists such as Zilpha Elaw
had a tremendous infl uence on converting black people to
Christianity in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Subsequent
black theologians would argue that Baptists and Methodism
also provided a message of profound spiritual transforma-
tion and ultimate redemption, if not in this life, then in the
next. Regardless of the reason, by the mid-19th century, the
majority of freed blacks affi liated with either the Baptists or
the Methodists as a result of this successful evangelism.
“Evangelism” is oft en confl ated with “evangelicalism,” a
conservative movement in Protestantism. Evangelicalism is a
specifi c theological strain sourced in the Wesleyan movement
of the 18th century. Evangelical Christians emphasized the
role of the individual in his or her own conversion. Whereas
all Protestants shared an investment in personal salvation
and sanctifi cation, evangelicals believed that an individual