As North American colonists took on the fight for independence from Britain, it was crucial to present a united front. Therefore, while many held views in opposition to the prevalent practice of slavery, the issue was kept quiet and took a back seat to independence efforts. Some Christian denominations were actively against slavery and took active measures to eliminate it from the church, however, as time went on, many of those same denominations relaxed their stance in order to draw wealthy white Southerners to their congregations. What perhaps began as appeasement soon turned into approval, and sermons could be heard on Sunday morning in favor of slavery as “an institution sanctioned by God,” (Gonzalez, 333). An familiar attitude of white Protestant superiority sprung up, claiming that slavery was even beneficial to blacks as it had allowed them the opportunity to be evangelized and saved from their previous pagan nation. It is interesting to note a common thread amongst white Christians who claimed that the aggressive American conquest of the Mexican land in the southwest was actually a door opened by God so the Mexicans could be saved through evangelism (Gonzalez 331).

Certainly some denominations held to an anti-slavery stance, notably the Quakers and some Methodists and Baptists (who ended up splitting due to the controversial issue). Denominational splits were not surprising against a backdrop of the national split that was taking place over the same matter. Civil war, reconstruction, and the Supreme Court approval of segregation added complexity and tension to racial divide. Blacks began to set up their own churches separate from the whites, and while most white American Christians founded their core beliefs on the idea of liberty and individual rights, these principles were withheld from a significant portion of the population. Excluded and oppressed in practice by those who yet confessed beliefs in the same God, blacks found solidarity and a sense of dignity within their churches. Voices from this community began to speak out against the contradiction and hypocrisy that was evident in the church and nation regarding human rights.

Sojourner Truth’s compelling speech, “Ain’t I a Woman?” was delivered in 1851 at a women’s rights conference. Her perspective as a black, former-slave, Christian woman demonstrated the absurdity of inequality in race and gender. Truth argues for blacks and black women in particular, by recalling her own strength, abilities and humanity in ploughing, planting, bearing children, and grieving the loss of those children to the horror of continued slavery. Truth then simply picked apart common so-called Biblical arguments for the inferiority of women. So what if Jesus was a man? He came from God and woman, and “man had nothing to do with him,” Truth argues. Moreover, if Eve (from the Genesis story of the fall of creation) could single-handedly “turn the wold upside down,” then surely all the women fighting for their rights now could together make the world right again. While Truth says intellect has nothing to do with rights, she certainly makes her case through reason, exposing the holes in Christian arguments that result in oppression, by laying out plainly the rationality and superiority of Christian love and care.

A year later, Frederick Douglass delivered a speech entitled, “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro,” and compellingly argued the injustices birthed in the midst of a new, liberated nation. This criticism calls to mind that of John Wesley who had criticized the colonists for “claiming freedom for themselves at the same time that they denied it to their slaves,” (Gonzalez, 322). With eloquence, Douglass alludes to the destruction of the kingdom of Judah when he quotes Psalm 137. The illustration depicts a captive people, far from home, tormented and distraught – clearly meant to parallel the suffering Israelites in Babylon with the American slavery blacks had endured. Douglass calls America’s “boasted liberty, an unholy license” and “shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery,” (Douglass, 3). By using language from the Declaration of Independence he paints a stark contrast to the reality of the nation, and challenges the oppressive (or empty) use of religion and sermons as fraud and impiety. Despite all of this, Douglass ends his speech on a hopeful note, declaring that the light of knowledge, unity and liberty are drawing where no abuse can hide. By drawing upon multiple biblical passages, the notion of jubilee demonstrates Douglass’ hope for the future. God’s arm is not too short to save (Isaiah 59:1), his voice commands action (Genesis 1:3), there shall be liberty for every person (Leviticus 25:10) and injustice and oppression will be undone (Isaiah 58:6).