political leaders were recruited from the preachers. This situation was used by whites to control black communities.
In practically all rural areas, and in many of the urban ones, the preacher stood out as the acknowledged local leader of the Negroes. His function
became to transmit the whites‟ wishes to the Negroes and to beg the whites for favors for his people. He became-in our terminology-the typical
accommodating Negro leader. To this degree the Negro church perpetuated the traditions of slavery Myrdal 861.
But, this situation gradually diminished because gathering blacks and whites in the same church was a new problem for white preachers. This situation
could be happen because there was dilemma. Segregation in Christian churches is an embarrassment. In a religion whose central teaching is brotherly love and the
golden rule, preachers have to do a great deal of rationalizing as they expound their own gospel Myrdal 868. The presence of black people in the church made
the white followers left the church one by one. It could not be avoided that black church would be born.
The development of black church was growing stronger and stronger. The biggest church which had the biggest followers was the Baptist church. It got 41
per cent from the total followers Myrdal 866. The other churches, ranked from the higher to the lower followers after the Baptist church, are the Methodist, the
Protestant Episcopal, the Roman Catholic, the Presbyterian, the Adventist, the Congregationalist, the Moravian and Lutheran.
b. From a Place to Worship to the Outstanding Social Institution
Since the black church needed funds for managing its existence, it depended on the church membership. Because of this reason, the church became
forcefully stimulated to make itself as indispensable as possible to the people, and it undertook
many functions of a social nature in order to “sell” itself to the public.
In the Negro church the collection of money becomes of pathetic importance… The church has been, and continues to be, the outstanding
social institution in the Negro community. It has a far wider function than to bring spiritual inspiration to its communicants. Among rural Negroes
the church is still the only institution which provides an effective organization of the group, an approved and tolerated place for social
activities, a forum for expression on many issues, an outlet for emotional repressions, and a plan for expression on many issues, an outlet for
emotional repressions, and a plan for social living. It is a complex institution meeting a wide variety of needs. It is a social center, it is a club,
it is an area for the exercise of one‟s capabilities and powers, a world in which one may achieve self-realization and preferment Myrdal 867.
This situation was getting worst when there was stratification in the black community itself. The big gap of the denominations brought the community of
black people into the situation of anti-democratic in its results. This situation was described by Maurice Boyd and Donald Worcester, as follows:
Membership in various groups is another factor in determining class. In some religions belonging to a particular church will reflect some prestige
on an individual, while membership in certain others will mark him as being of lower status. There is, for instance, an important distinction made
in some communities between belonging to the Episcopal or Presbyterian church and to the Seventh Day Adventists or Holly Rollers. The same
differential ranking is true to clubs and social organizations, each having its own status and prestige Boyd 329-330.
This situation made for a greater manifestation of social class distinction that there would be if most people belonged to the same state-supported church.
Became a member of one church or another became a means of class identification, just like membership in clubs. Most black people in rural
communities were affiliated with either Baptist or Methodist churches, with Baptists outnumbering Methodists Pinkney 58.
c. Problem of Denominations and Uneducated Preachers
As written before the denominations raised the problem of stratification. There were communities which were strong and weak within the religious
community of black people. Each of denominations tried to get as many as possible their own mass. Actually, this situation brought bad effect to the unity of
black community itself. Different education level and also economic level differentiated the quality
of the preachers the black church had. Most of the black people became a preacher because of a “call”. This kind of preachers tended to retain the emotionalism that
had traditionally been identified with the Negro‟s religion.
Gunnar Myrdal pictured the decrease of preachers‟ role in a black
community as follows: … a class Negro preachers are losing influence, because they are not
changing as fast as the rest of the Negro community …. As improvements
in education have been rapid in the last decades, the bulk of the old Negro preachers are today below the bulk of younger generation Negroes in
education. Young people have begun to look down on the old-fashioned Negro preacher.…. Few college students are going into the ministry. The
ministry is no longer a profession which attracts the brightest and most ambitious young Negroes. The development under way will take a long
time to manifest its complete effects. But it goes on and will spell the further decline of the Negro church as an active influence in the Negro
community, if it does not begin to reform itself radically Myrdal 875- 876.
It was clear that the development of Negro church growing faster in the education area. The function of church as the freedom movement institution
