The Presbyterians and the Negroes
In 1869, encouraged by the white members, the negro members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Tennessee and north Alabama asked for and received separate organization and were henceforth known as the African Cumberland Presbyterian Church.[1834]
It is this division of the Cumberland Presbyterians that is now (1905) hindering somewhat the union of the Cumberland Presbyterian with the Northern Presbyterian organization. The blacks demanded the separation of the races; the whites now demand that it be continued.
Various branches of the Northern Presbyterian organizations worked in Alabama among the negroes. The principal result of their work was the separation of the blacks into independent churches. The Southern Presbyterian Church (Presbyterian Church in the United States) made earnest efforts for the negro after the war, and with some success. The Institute at Tuscaloosa for the education of colored Presbyterian ministers is now the only school in the South for negroes which is conducted entirely by southern white teachers.[1835] The work of the Presbyterians among the negroes has continued to the present day, though in 1898 a movement was started to separate the blacks of the Southern Presbyterian Church into an independent church. This movement was not successful, as not a majority of the negro preachers desired separation. But the number of colored Presbyterians has always been small.[1836]
The Roman Catholics
The Roman Catholic Church did much work among the negroes in the cities and at first with a fair degree of success. It was strongly opposed by all Protestant denominations, both northern and southern, and especially by the Northern Methodist Church. It seemed to be dreadful news to the Methodists when it was reported that the Catholic Church was about to open fifteen schools in Alabama for the negro, where free board and tuition would be given.[1837] The American Missionary Association, supported in Alabama mainly by money from the Freedmen’s Bureau, used its influence among the negroes against the Catholic Church, which, the Association stated in a report, “was making extraordinary efforts to enshroud forever this class of the unfortunate race in Popish superstition and darkness.”[1838]
But the Catholic Church had no place for the negro preacher of little education and less character who desired to hold a high position in the negro church. There was better prospect for promotion in the Baptist and Methodist churches, and to those churches went the would-be negro preacher and, through his influence, the majority of his people.[1839]
The Episcopalians
The Protestant Episcopal Church did nearly all of its work among the negroes in the cities and among the negroes on the large plantations of the Black Belt. This church offered little more hope of advancement to the average negro preacher than the Roman Catholic, and the hostility of the military authorities to this church in 1865 and 1866 and the efforts of the missionaries and politicians caused a loss of most of the negro members that it had. In 1866 the laity of the State Convention seemed rather unenthusiastic in regard to work among the negroes, and left it to be managed by the bishop and clergy. The General Convention established the “Freedmen’s Commission” to assist in the work, which was not to be under the jurisdiction of the bishop. Bishop Wilmer stated that he was unwilling to accept this “schism-breeding proposition,” but would be glad of assistance which would be under his direction as bishop. No such aid was forthcoming. In 1867 only two congregations of negroes were left, one in Mobile and one in Marengo County. A few solitary blacks were to be found in the white congregations, and during Reconstruction these suffered real martyrdom on account of their loyalty to their old churches. They were ostracized by the other negroes, were called heathen and traitors, and were left alone in sickness and death. Under such treatment, the majority of the negro members were forced to withdraw from the Episcopal churches.[1840]