Religious Affiliations

Religious identification among African Americans has changed significantly since the Civil War and the subsequent migration of blacks from rural to urban areas. Once almost exclusively members of Protestant Christian denominations, African Americans today practice many different faiths. For some, this has meant a rejection of Western religious traditions and a return to African-based faiths.

When they arrived in America from Africa, most slaves practiced spirit-based African religions such as Santeria. Such beliefs offended the Christian sensibilities of slaveowners, who saw the practice of African religions as subversive. Most owners insisted that their slaves convert to Christianity, and so early black slaves adopted the religions of their captors. Over time, American blacks developed their own independent Protestant denominations, such as the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, founded in New York City in 1821.

African slaves in Latin America and the Caribbean frequently merged their previous beliefs with the Christian faith taught by the Catholic Church. This blending process, or syncretism, produced unique forms of Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Brazilian religion such as Voudoun (voodoo) and Candomble, which combine elements of African spirituality with the worship of Christian saints and religious icons. These religions remained very small in the United States until the late twentieth century. At that time, the large-scale movement of African Americans to cities and increased immigration from Latin America brought more Americans into contact with African-inspired religions.

The movement of rural blacks to American cities that began after the Civil War changed the face of African American religious affiliation. In the cities, rural blacks mixed with Catholics, Jews, and followers of many other faiths. They also encountered religious groups that fought for African American rights and took pride in their African identity and history. For example, Marcus Garvey's Church of God and Saints of Christ identified blacks as one of the lost tribes of ancient Israel. Several black Jewish congregations were established on similar beliefs.

One of the most influential new religions encountered by urban African Americans was Islam. The first organized Black Muslim movement in the United States was the Moorish Science Temple, founded in Newark, New Jersey, in 1913. In 1930, Wallace Fard founded the Nation of Islam in Detroit. Three years later, his assistant, Elijah Poole (who later changed his name to Elijah Muhammad), took over leadership of the group and turned it into one of the most powerful forces in the African American community during the mid twentieth century.

In the early twenty-first century, African Americans can be found among all of the country's major religious groups and many of its smaller ones as well. Protestant faiths still command the allegiance of most black Americans; Baptists alone account for almost half of all black churchgoers in the United States. Yet the number of African Americans of other faiths totals well over 10 million. This includes more than 1.5 million Catholics, 250,000 Muslims, and nearly 30,000 Jews. Scholars have speculated that African Americans have become more secular over time, but in a 2001 survey, only 8 percent of those who claimed no religious affiliation were black.

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