Studio Theatre | The Black Church and Social Change

It’s no mistake that the characters of Purlie Victorious speak of ministry and revolution interchangeably. The Black Church has been an epicenter of civic action within the Black community since the Colonial Era, anchoring Black Americans in their ongoing pursuit of civil rights and equitable treatment. But how do you define an institution that exists outside of physical boundaries?

Colonial Times and the First Great Awakening

In the early 18th century, Protestant Christians across the West developed an explosion of new denominations and preaching styles during a period known as the First Great Awakening. This movement emphasized animated, emotional preaching and the belief that everyone—regardless of race or status—had a direct personal relationship with God. As high-profile white ministers encouraged their congregations to convert people of color, slaveholders began preaching a doctrine of passivity to enslaved people, redacting Exodus, most of the New Testament, and any passages of the Bible they feared would inspire rebellion.

Despite this censorship, the perseverance of Jesus in the face of persecution and the Jewish struggle for freedom resonated deeply with Black congregations. Christianity became a spark for resistance. After the Stono Rebellion resulted in the deaths of 25 slave owners in the colony, South Carolina passed the Negro Act of 1740, the first of many oversight laws across the country that made it illegal to teach Black people to read and greatly limited Black people’s ability to assemble without white oversight. Black Christians were left with two options: establish a praise house (a small boxy church on plantation property) and congregate under slaveholders’ oversight or worship secretly. These secret meetings became known as the “Invisible Institution”.

In addition to being a spiritual refuge, the Invisible Institution provided space to strategize as a community about how to escape bondage. Negro Spirituals like “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and “Go Down Moses” became a second language for the Underground Railroad, holding secret messages about when and how to escape.

Meanwhile, as white congregations debated whether slavery was a divine institution, the Methodist Church emerged as the first anti-slavery denomination. They were still pro-segregation, however. Being forced out of worship, Bishop Richard Allen founded the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Philadelphia in 1794—the first independent Protestant denomination founded by Black people. He named the first physical AME church “Mother Bethel”, which Davis might be referencing in Purlie's “Big Bethel” church.

Antebellum South and the Civil War

As abolitionism and religion intertwined, Black preachers were seen as a threat to slavery. Denmark Vesey, a formerly enslaved preacher and AME member, organized a revolt in 1822, citing scripture to condemn slavery. When the plan was uncovered, dozens were executed by law enforcement and racial hate groups, Vesey was lynched, and his church was burned—one of many instances of targeted violence against Black religious institutions.

During the Civil War, Black churches were crucial to the fight for freedom. Established churches served as checkpoints for the Underground Railroad, where fugitives could eat and sleep safely before receiving directions to their next location. For the Union’s Black Battalions, Black churches became hospitals and strategic hubs for the war effort.

In January 1865—two years after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation—General William Tecumseh Sherman met with twenty Black Baptist and Methodist ministers in Savannah to discuss how to support the newly emancipated people displaced from plantations. Minister Garrison Frazier advocated for land ownership, inspiring Special Field Order No. 15: The promise of 40 acres of rebel land to formerly enslaved families. Though later revoked, it remains a key example of early reparations efforts, and the critical advocacy work of the Black church.

Reconstruction Era

After the war, abandoned formerly white Confederate churches were purchased by Black congregations. Brick Baptist Church, in St. Helena, South Carolina, was one, and became the home for the historic Penn School in 1862, one of the first schools for emancipated people. With 95% of free people being unable to read or write, many Black churches established schools that would evolve into Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) like Morehouse, Fisk, and Tuskegee.

When the 15th Amendment granted Black men the right to vote in 1870, racist literacy tests and violence followed. Churches became organizing hubs, helping communities navigate voting barriers and travel safely to the polls. They also became safe spaces for political debate and political campaigning, creating a preacher-to-politician pipeline. The same year Black men got the right to vote, Minister Hiram Revels became the first Black U.S. senator. By the end of the Reconstruction era, there were about 2,000 Black men in office, many of whom were clergymen.

Migration and Expansion

During the Great Migration, Northern Churches became community resource hubs for newly arrived Southerners. Churches provided schooling, childcare, job interviews, and safety alerts for where to live. This also ushered a wave of cultural exchange within the Black church, bringing the livelier spiritual traditions of shouting, catching the spirit, and speaking in tongues to the more conservative Northern churches. Storefront churches –small, intimate congregations housed in remodeled stores– became very popular. Though many churches were reluctant to let women preach, women continued gaining ground in their pursuit of leadership, heading community organizing efforts, teaching classes, creating women’s advocacy groups, and welcoming migrants to a new America.

The Civil Rights Movement

In the 1950s, legendary gospel artists like Mahalia Jackson and Aretha Franklin were starting to gain momentum in their careers, getting record deals out of church services. These artists used their record sales and charity concerts to fund advocacy groups like the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and finance safe transportation through the South for traveling activists.

In 1962, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) established the SNCC Freedom Singers to raise money to support their operations. Songs like “Woke Up This Morning with My Mind Stayed on Jesus” became “My Mind Stayed on Freedom,” and hymns like “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around” became anthems of the movement.

At the same time, Black churches remained targets of racial violence. The 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, which killed four young girls, underscored the risks of political engagement. Some churches pulled back for safety, leaving groups like the Divine Nine’s historically Black fraternities and sororities and prominent Black labor unions to expand their organizing roles.

In 1965, ministers were at the forefront of the Selma Marches. Protesters departed with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Hosea Williams, and John Lewis of SNCC, responding to violence and hatred with prayer. By the third march on Selma, they left from Brown AME Chapel with 3,200 people walking in tow, singing hymns and praying along the way. The displays of non-violent resistance being met with such violent responses inspired President Lyndon B. Johnson to sign the Voting Rights Act of 1965 three months later.

Purlie’s Search for Church

At the time Purlie Victorious was written, the Black Church was inseparable from activism. As the institution continues to evolve—both in the visible historically Black Churches of the nation, and the invisible traditions that were preserved through the folk traditions used to maintain the community’s survival—it is clear that the history of Black theology and Black resistance in America feed each other. Purlie’s pursuit for Black liberation in tandem with his fight buy back Big Bethel explore the parallel histories of activism and theology on an epic scale. His letter to purchase the church captures the nuances of that philosophy.

Preaching Freedom: The Black Church and Social Change