The mass of "gospel" hymns
which has swept through American churches and well-nigh
ruined our sense of song consists largely of debased imita-
tions of Negro melodies made by ears that caught the jingle
but not the music, the body but not the soul, of the Jubilee
songs. It is thus clear that the study of Negro religion is not
only a vital part of the history of the Negro in America, but
no uninteresting part of American history.
The Negro church of to-day is the social centre of Negro
life in the United States, and the most characteristic expres-
sion of African character. Take a typical church in a small
Virginia town: it is the "First Baptist"--a roomy brick edi-
fice seating five hundred or more persons, tastefully finished
in Georgia pine, with a carpet, a small organ, and stained-
glass windows. Underneath is a large assembly room with
benches. This building is the central club-house of a commu-
nity of a thousand or more Negroes. Various organizations
meet here,--the church proper, the Sunday-school, two or
three insurance societies, women's societies, secret societies,
and mass meetings of various kinds.
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