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My Mother Could Send Up The Most Powerful Prayer: The Role Of African American Slave Women In Evangelical Christianity, Sherry L. Abbott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Evangelical Christianity swept through the South during the nineteenth century, permeating and redefining all aspects of social and cultural life. The traditional way to study this subject is through the history of the conversion of white women and African Americans, the power and expansion of certain denominations, and slaves' widespread use of religion as resistance. Yet something is missing within this history of Southern evangelical religion -the unique experience of African American women. This thesis addresses their experience, indicating that slave women found creative ways to assert their authority within immediate families and in their community. The study specifically focuses …