During slavery in America, one of the most dangerous acts for a Black person, especially an enslaved one, was to preach the gospel without white supervision. While Christianity was widely promoted among enslaved Africans by white slaveholders, it was only the version of Christianity that reinforced obedience and submission that was tolerated. Any sign of independent Black religious leadership, especially preaching messages of freedom, hope, or equality, was viewed as a threat to the social order and often met with brutal punishment.
Black ministers who dared to preach on plantations or in secret gatherings, called “Invisible churches”, often used the Bible to teach spiritual strength, dignity, and even liberation. These messages directly challenged the slaveholder’s narrative that obedience was God’s will. As a result, preaching without white oversight was frequently banned by law or plantation policy.
In states like South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and Mississippi, laws were passed that required Black religious gatherings to be overseen by a white person, typically a slaveholder, overseer, or designated white preacher. Preaching without such supervision was seen as inciting rebellion, and often punished severely.
Countless Black preachers, both enslaved and free, were punished for preaching without white approval:
Whipping was the most common punishment. Preachers caught conducting secret worship services were stripped and flogged, sometimes publicly, to deter others.
Imprisonment was also used, especially for free Black preachers in urban areas like Charleston, New Orleans, and Savannah. They were jailed for holding unsanctioned services or possessing unauthorized religious materials.
Execution was not uncommon. In the wake of Nat Turner’s 1831 rebellion, led by an enslaved preacher who claimed divine inspiration, white mobs and militias responded with indiscriminate violence. Dozens of Black ministers who had no connection to the uprising were lynched, shot, or vanished into the night.
One early example is Denmark Vesey, a former slave who had purchased his freedom and become a lay preacher at Charleston’s African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Vesey was hanged in 1822, accused of plotting a large-scale rebellion. Whether or not the plot was real, the authorities used it as justification to crack down on Black churches, abusing Vesey’s congregation and flogging or exiling many of its leaders.
In rural Georgia, Alabama, and the Carolinas, enslaved Africans who dared to lead prayer meetings in the woods were sometimes found hanged from trees, lynched as a warning to others.
To white slaveholders, independent Black preaching represented more than just a religious act, it was a challenge to the entire system of slavery. A preacher with access to the Bible could interpret stories like Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt or Jesus proclaiming freedom for the oppressed in ways that inspired rebellion or spiritual empowerment.
In response, many slaveholders imported white ministers to plantations to deliver carefully curated sermons. The chosen scriptures were always the same:
“Slaves, obey your masters in everything…” (Colossians 3:22)
“Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect…” (1 Peter 2:18)
“Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.” (Ephesians 6:5)
These verses became the cornerstone of slaveholder theology, Christianity distorted into a mechanism of control.
But in the invisible churches of the enslaved, the message was different: God sees, God hears, and God delivers.
Despite the constant threat of whipping, imprisonment, or death, Black ministers continued to preach. They held services deep in the woods at night, whispering hymns and sermons, tapping rhythms on their legs instead of clapping to avoid detection. These secret gatherings were more than worship, they were acts of resistance, of memory, of hope.
When slavery finally ended, the Black church emerged as one of the few independent institutions truly owned by the formerly enslaved. It became not only a spiritual refuge but also a center for education, organizing, and community power. That same spirit of stubborn faith echoed through the sermons of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who preached justice from the pulpit and in the streets, calling on America to honor its promises of freedom and equality.
The Civil Rights Movement drew its courage from this deep well of spiritual resistance. And today, the legacy of those early preachers lives on, in the Black church, in gospel music, in protests for justice, and in every voice that dares to speak truth to power.
