The Great Awakening was a period of the revival of the Christian religion in the American colonies which started around 1740. Over 100 hundred years after Africans arrived in North America, around 1619, did the Great Awakening take place. As enslaved Africans began to practice Christianity, they maintained African traditions and musical styles within their worship. The Black Church today takes Christianity and its practices very seriously as a result of The Great Awakening period when Africans clung to the “good news” as a source of refugee from their oppression.
Initially, before the Great Awakening, enslaved Africans were hesitant to convert to Christianity for multiple reasons:
- resistance to maintain their religious identity
- slave owners who believed Christian views opposed their economic interests, and therefore did not want slaves to participate in fear that they may revolt
It should be noted that may slaves owners used Christianity against slaves into order to fulfill their own self serving prophecies that justify owning and abusing slaves, which may have also deterred slaves from accepting Christianity all together.