Conversely, black and Indian people who were raised since childhood solely or mostly among white Christians were more likely to adopt Christian beliefs and practices little different from those of white colonists. Clergymen wrote approvingly of the religious knowledge of some blacks and Indians. Mr. Usher, an Anglican missionary in Bristol, Rhode Island, noted in 1730 that “sundry negroes make application for baptism that were able to render a very good account of the hope that was in them, and their practices were generally agreeable to the principles of the Christian religion.” These black Christians and others like them knew Christian doctrines well enough to receive the approbation of white clergymen.25
For some black people, such as Flora from Ipswich, Massachusetts, their attachment to New England churches was personal and long-lasting. Flora was likely born in Ipswich in 1723 and was owned by a prominent local man named Thomas Choate. During a revival, her faith stirred, and she exhorted or preached during some of the revival meetings. The Congregational Church of Chebacco (or Fourth Church of Ipswich) was founded in 1746 by evangelicals who withdrew from Reverend Theophilus Pickering’s Congregational church, and this newly formed congregation admitted four blacks among the first twenty-two members. Flora became a full church member along with another “negro” named Binah, after publicly declaring her religious experiences before the congregation in June 1746. Within a short period after joining, however, she was required to speak again in front of the congregation. Her 1748 public confession of sin was recorded, and it provides an example of the faith of an early black Christian.26
Flora’s experience illustrates the theological views and personal commitment to a church of an enslaved New Englander. In her confession, Flora acknowledged how “spirituall Pride, Ingratitude, Unwatchfulness and Levity or Lightness” ultimately led her to fall into a worse but unnamed sin. She described the deep despair that engulfed her when she realized the extent of her rebelliousness and sin, and how she was freed from despair when “the pardoning Love of God again flowed into my Soul & caused my Heart to melt & flow with penetential streams.” She asked her fellow congregants for their forgiveness, and prayed that they would “Restore me to your Charity and Fellowship and the Privileges that I have forfitted, by my Fall.” Throughout the confession, Flora exhibited her knowledge of the Christian scriptures by interweaving biblical passages with her own phrases. After the confession was read twice to the congregation and several members asked her questions, the church voted to restore her to full membership status. She remained a member for the rest of her life.27
Despite sometimes maintaining a long-standing affiliation with a church, blacks and Indians in predominantly white churches did not participate on equal terms. Women of every race and poorer white colonists were not treated as equals to white men of higher status either, but skin color was a stark dividing line within churches. Rarely did predominantly white churches allow black men, Indian men, or any women to vote in church affairs. Prohibiting black men and Indian men from voting correlated with their exclusion from the body politic, but this exclusion may have also had the effect of gendering as female all the black men and Indian men who joined churches. Women were the largest category of church members who were usually excluded from voting, but black and Indian men could not claim the male privilege of voting either. Blacks and Indians who attended predominantly white churches usually could sit only in portions of the gallery, stairwells, or back of churches. Seating arrangements reflected the social hierarchy of the whole society, with the wealthiest people sitting in the best seats and paying the highest pew rents. At Old South Congregational Church in Boston, the church voted to have a person provide “oversight of the children & servants in the galleries” and “that in Honour to his Excellency our Governour there be a Canopy Erected over His Pew.” At the Congregational Church in Suffield, Massachusetts, in December 1733, the society “Voted, that the Hind flank seat in the upper Gallery on the North side . . . and that seat and that only be for ye Negroes to sit in.” Differences in status affected where people sat in church and were reinforced by the seating arrangements. In some cases, women and men also had separate seating areas, so wealth, skin color, age, marital status, and gender could all be factors in determining where people sat in church. Some Indians and blacks occasionally preached during this period, but no denomination ordained blacks or Indians between 1730 and 1749.28
Numerous blacks and Indians were motivated to attend churches despite substantial drawbacks and limitations that could come with their participation. Some white people, especially ministers, promoted the conversion of blacks and Indians to Christianity, but other white people were hostile to including blacks and Indians in their churches at all. Nearly all white people opposed any suggestion that blacks and Indians were their social equals. The constant use of words such as “negro” and “servant” in church records and sermons demonstrates the social distance that whites sought to maintain between themselves and black Christians. The conditions that led whites to identify black men and women as “negro” in the church records may have prevented some blacks from having access to the sacraments of communion. Some white colonists were deeply skeptical of the authenticity of black and Indian Christians, occasionally even asserting that Indianness or blackness were permanent barriers to conversion. In the 1730s and 1740s, black churchgoers did not cause white Christians to propose freeing Christian slaves. With very few exceptions, whites simply did not see slavery and Christianity as incompatible. Rather, the social hierarchy in church reflected and reinforced the social hierarchy outside of it. The acceptance of blacks and Indians in churches was often conditional or limited and certainly did not translate into acceptance into the body politic. In societies so centered around churches, the inclusion of at least some Indians and blacks implicitly validated the existing social order; however, neither segregated seating nor other reminders of low status kept blacks and Indians from participating in northern Protestant churches.29
Several motives influenced black and Indian participation in Protestant churches. Some blacks and Indians found comfort and emotional support in the religion of the suffering Christ, even though they worshipped with men and women who exploited them. Available written accounts suggest that Christianity could be comforting, empowering, or life-enriching to some blacks and Indians, just as it was to some whites. Church membership carried a recognized social status that could be associated with social benefits. As was the case with white Christians, a sudden illness, natural disaster, childbirth, marriage, or an unpredicted event likely prompted black people to seek formal affiliation with a church. Religious rituals and church affiliation often coincided with periods of transition and major events in people’s life. Of course, some blacks and Indians considered the claims made by white Christians and wholeheartedly rejected Christianity.30
While there can be no simple or narrow explanation for Indian and black participation in colonial churches, they participated in so many congregations that their religious practices must be taken seriously. Black and Indian participation in Christian churches was not peripheral to northern religious life. Rather, the widespread participation of blacks and Indians in northern churches means that the quintessential churches of northern colonial societies were not simply white institutions. The presence of blacks and Indians in so many churches compelled some church leaders and religious organizations to address the conditions of these people, and the religious practices in northern colonies influenced slavery and race relations.31
Interracial Churches of New England
Reverend Josiah Cotton of the First Congregational Church in Providence, Rhode Island, like most of his colleagues, sought to minister to the blacks and Indians in his community and brought some of them into a formal relationship with the church. When he baptized and admitted blacks or Indians, furthermore, he articulated theological reasons for the inclusion of all people into the church. Many New England ministers felt obligated to work diligently and seek the conversion of all types of people in their community. Between 1730 and 1743, Cotton baptized two people of African descent and two Indian women. While this number is quite small, the scarcity of blacks and Indians did not necessarily undermine the importance of