We Fought Once, Will We Fight Again?: Attempting to Contextualize AME Resistance

We Fought Once, Will We Fight Again?: Attempting to Contextualize AME Resistance

By Rev. Aaron M. Treadwell, PhD., Contributing Writer

Historian Rayford Logan coined the Nadir Era of Race relations (1877-1901) as a “low point” in American racial violence.^[1] This violence was the by-product of emancipating four-million Africans in a nation that constitutionally thwarted their equality for economic gain. Add on 618,222 men dying in a Civil War fought over the aforementioned suppression, and simple logic will explain how the Lost Cause ideology of the south justified terrorizing black bodies. Within this era, historians like Tolnay and Beck have estimated over 3,000 black people being lynched, whereas the Equal Justice Initiative has increased the sample size and reports over 4,440 lynchings – between 1877 and 1950.^[2] Both numbers symbolize a political statement by white supremacy to ignore the newly minted Amendments to the Constitution of the United States (13th, 14th, and 15th) and a belief that terror could break the spirits of black people.

 Many lynchings were performed during the Nadir Era with a “total war” methodology. This process justifies targeting any and all civilians who get in the way and targeted many communities, businesses, and even black churches to protect the targeted lynch victim.^[3] Due to the frequency of lynchings, almost every black community had developed a strategic plan of protection. The most obvious and historically acknowledged method of protection was a Winchester Rifle.^[4] Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. DuBois both acknowledge in their well-respected papers the use of ammunition against white terrorism. At the same time, one of the most overlooked but most prevalent responses happened within African Methodist Episcopal Churches. 

The black church was more than a spiritual house, and especially within the southeastern states, it was a physical shelter to offset lynching in the Nadir Era. Pastors preached against lynching, campaigned for Constitutional reform, and when the legal system failed, clergy and lay often provided rounds to protect themselves.^[5] For example, in Tallahassee, Florida, when the AME Church established its first Conference, a mob of colored men was encouraged by the pro-slave Methodist Episcopal Church, South, to mob and burn down the eventual Bethel Church. In response, William Bradwell preached about the cowardly ways of that denomination and then proceeded to confront the mob outside.^[6] By his side was the Rev. Robert Meacham, who not only bragged about having a pistol in the pulpit but had shot at numerous Klansmen in North Florida. According to Meacham, “Negroes of the country have shown a desire to fight,” and this was both in spirit and in action.^[7]

The traditions of black churches protecting themselves are well recorded. In my working manuscript and recent academic journal articles, there are hundreds of examples of black churches addressing and protecting themselves against the threats that come their way. The history of the black church is not monolithic, but it is a fair generalization to say that black churches have never been docile in the face of white supremacy and terrorism. This article will close with a contextual and hypothetical question. Is the AME Church of today able to protect its community as it did during the Nadir Era? If the answer is yes, what does this protection look like?

^[1]  Rayford Logan, The Negro In American Life And Thought, The Nadir, 1877-1901,(New York: Dialpress) 1954, page 1-3.

^[2]  Stewart Emory Tolnay and E. M. Beck, A Festival of Violence: an Analysis of Southern Lynchings, 1882-1930 (Urbana (Ill.): University of Illinois Press, 1995); Seguin, Charles, and David Rigby. “National Crimes: A New National Data Set of Lynchings in the United States, 1883 to 1941.” Socius, (January 2019); also see the EJI “Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror” report concerning violence in Florida during the Nadir Era of race relations for further information.

^[3]  Aaron Treadwell, Black Fires, Submitted Paper for NAAR Conference: North American Association For The Study Of Religion, November 20, 2021.

^[4] Akinyele Omowale Umoja , We Will Shoot Back; Charles E. Cobb Jr., This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed; Nicholas Johnson’s Negroes and the Gun.

^[5]  Aaron Treadwell, “Tongues Of Fire: AME Theological Protection In The Face Of Lynching”. The Griot: Journal Of African American Studies, 2021. For research that highlights the role religion played in American lynching, see Peter Ehrenhaus & A. Susan Owen (2004) “Race lynching and Christian Evangelicalism: performances of faith” Text and Performance Quarterly, 24:3-4, 276-301; Amy Kate Bailey, “Practicing What They Preach? Lynching and Religion in the American South, 1890 – 1929,” AJS. 2011 November ; 117(3); Tod A. Baker, Robert P. Steed, and Laurence W. Moreland, Religion and Politics in the South (New York, 1983).

^[6]  Savannah Daily News and Herald, May 8, 28, 1867.

^[7]  SMN, November 14, 1870.