Bettye Thomas lecture, "Black Religion in 19th Century Baltimore Maryland," at the University of Iowa, June 18, 1975

Speaker 1: The following is a presentation from the 7th annual Institute of Afro-American Culture held at the University of Iowa, June 15th to the 27th, 1975. Black religion in 19th century, Baltimore, Maryland is the subject of this lecture by researcher and author, Bettye Thomas. Making the introduction is Dr. Darwin Turner, chairman of the Department of Afro-American Studies at the university of Iowa. Dr. Darwin Turn...: To those of you in the institute, I scarcely need to introduce Bettye Thomas as a dynamic personality, a very obviously strong, aggressive historian and an excellent teacher. But since we've done very little in the way of introducing Bettye Thomas in terms of her academic background, let me simply share the information with you. She graduated from Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina. After graduation, she taught in a junior high school for two years, and then attended Atlanta University where she earned a Master of Arts degree having completed a thesis entitled race relations in Atlanta, Georgia, 1877, 1900. She earned her PhD from George Washington University with a dissertation on the Baltimore black community, 1865, 1910. You see, it was not accidental that Bettye Thomas was selected. This is fully her period. Dr. Darwin Turn...: Her honors have been numerous since her undergraduate days, Ford Foundation Grant, Southern Fellowship Fund Grant, Presidential scholarship, Schaefer history award. She's a member of many organizations. She's received an award from the American Association of University Women. She's received an award from Delta Sigma Theta Sorority for her scholarship. She's a member of Alpha Kappa Mu National Honor Society. For those of you who have attended only white universities, it is important to point out that this is the national honor society for the black institutions, which were not permitted to become members of Phi Beta Kappa. It's necessary to have a certain number of Phi Beta Kappa graduates on your faculty, before you can have a chapter. It's another one of those closed circles, very difficult for the black institution to break through. Dr. Darwin Turn...: Bettye Thomas has been publishing extensively as I'm certain many of you already know from simply informal conversations with her. She has published such articles as, The Cultural Impact of the Howard Theater on the Black Community, Pan African meetings from 1800 to 1860, a 19th Century Black Operated shipyard from 1866 to 1884. She has completed biographical articles on Daniel Coker and W. Ashbie Hawkins articles, which will appear in the forthcoming Dictionary of American Negro Biography. She has also edited two important documents on the Baltimore black community in the 19th century. These will appear in the July issue of the Journal of Negro History. Her book, The Baltimore Black Community from 1865 to 1910, is to be published by the University of Illinois Press. Dr. Darwin Turn...: Presently, she is working on a manuscript of Harvey Johnson, religious civic and race spokesman from 1880 to 1914 and simultaneously she is editing the papers of the Chesapeake Marine Railway and Dry Dock Company. A multi-volume work dealing with the company's operation as one of the most important black businesses of the 19th century. It gives me great pleasure to present Bettye Thomas to discuss black religion in 19th century Baltimore. Bettye Thomas: [inaudible] I can live up to all that. This morning, I want to discuss the growth and development of black religion in 19th century, Baltimore, Maryland. Mainly, I'm going to focus upon the major black religious establishments which existed in the city during that period. I will concentrate on the organizational problems, membership concerns, denominational differences, and community involvement of the black churches. One of the most important institutions within the structure of the late 18th and 19th century black community, was the church. It was a major religious, social, economic, and sometimes political force within the lives of black people. In particular, two groups, the Baptist and the Methodist captured the imagination and interests of blacks and whites alike. These religious bodies appealed in general to the untutored mind and stressed the more emotional type appeal than the Catholics, the Anglicans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and others. Bettye Thomas: For well into the 20th century, the majority of black religious establishments in Baltimore were African Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal, and Baptist. Before the revolutionary war, attempts were made to evangelize black people. Earlier, many whites had objected to this, essentially because they did not really believe that black souls could be saved. When finally they realized the error, they still were unwilling to grant blacks an equal status in the church. Thus, we find that various patterns prevailed in different sections of the country. In some areas, blacks were accepted in white congregations and accorded fairly equal privileges. In others, their role within the church was clearly defined in terms of where they could sit, and the extent to which they could actually participate in the decision making process. Bettye Thomas: Those blacks who had enjoyed an equal status in the white church felt the pinch of conservatism as such privileges existing before the 1770s were removed. Blacks reacted to the change and began to think a forming worship groups independent of the whites. Now, for the most part, we're talking about free black communities before the 1770s and of course in that period before the 19 century. In Maryland, as it was sometimes referred to the principle organized moral force, had always been the Anglican Church. Anglicans made no attempt to exclude any particular social class from the membership. However, the church was controlled by the landholding slave owners. They did not sanction the extension of religious instruction and baptism to blacks because they questioned the legal rights of holding as slaves, baptized person. Bettye Thomas: Quakers and Catholics permitted some blacks to become members, but the efforts were negligible in terms of the masses of blacks in Maryland. The earlier Methodist arriving in Maryland observed that blacks were treated as if they had no souls. The Methodists were willing to fraternize with blacks and preach the gospel to them as to all others. They established integrated churches. The first meeting houses in Baltimore, Lovely Lane and Strawberry Alley reportedly had scores of colored members. Bishop Asbury's black servant, Harry Hosier who's oratorical powers were quite widely known, often preached in these meeting houses. He was commonly known as black Harry, and he has been referred to by most official Methodist sources as early as 1774. Bettye Thomas: Harry was a prominent member of the group attending the ordination of Bishop Asbury. In 1785 or 1786, the white members of the Lovely Lane and Strawberry Alley churches restricted black congregants to pews in the gallery and forbade them to commune with whites at the alter. Black Methodists were not only concerned about that, but then we're also concerned about the failure of the 1784 general conference of Methodist to order the ordination of black ministers, a prevailing factor up to 1800 when Bishop Asbury was empowered to ordain black ministers. Bettye Thomas: All of these grievances weighed heavily upon the minds of black Methodist thus in 1787, a group of men under the leadership of Jacob Fortie, withdrew to form an independent prayer group which became known as the Colored Methodist Society. Being too poor to purchase a permanent meeting house, they met wherever they could. Usually at a society member's house. It's important to note that even though this group withdrew from the white Methodist churches, they remained an organic part of the United Methodist Episcopal Church. On several occasions, Fortie and his followers discussed the possibility of launching a distinctly "African yet Methodist church." The plan was rejected because it called for a grater degree of control than Bishop Asbury was willing to agree to. Bettye Thomas: Out of this colored Methodist society came the first two black churches in Baltimore, The Sharp Street Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Bethel AME Church. Let me make a note right here, The Sharp Street Methodist Episcopal Church, which many people are familiar with throughout the country, because it's still debated by some religious authorities, whether or not the blacks in Baltimore actually withdrew before the blacks and Philadelphia. Richard Allen and his group. The question of which came first then. Sharp Street, even after the group had withdrawn from the Lovely Lane and Strawberry Alley churches was known as the Sharp Street African Methodist Episcopal church. I think I said someplace here, but I may say it in a footnote. I'm not quite sure. Bettye Thomas: It was known as the Sharp Street African Methodist Episcopal Church up until the 1870s when they actually hired a lawyer to have the name changed. Even though they used the term African, African was simply used to distinguish them from the white Methodist, because actually this church was Methodist Episcopal throughout the period. All right, out of this Colored Methodist Society then came the first two black churches in Baltimore, Sharp Street Methodist Episcopal, and Bethel AME Church. By 1801, the separated group, the total group, was being referred to as the African Methodist Episcopal church. Again, African was used simply as a means of distinguishing black Methodist from white Methodist. Bettye Thomas: By 1802, the African Methodist society had grown to 482 members. The size of the group led to the establishment of two black Methodist groups meeting in different parts of the city but operating as a unit. One group was headed by Daniel Coker, a former slave who had managed through the help of friends to purchase his freedom. Daniel Coker was highly respected and he was a very popular minister and teacher. For several years before 1816, he was probably the only teacher among black people in Baltimore. Coker has been cited as the first black anti-slavery writer in the country. In 1810, he published a pamphlet entitled, A Dialogue between A Virginian and An African Minister. Bettye Thomas: Between 1802 and 1816, Coker gained considerable support as he continued to stress the necessity for a complete separation of black Methodist from white Methodist. In 1816 Coker, and his supporters traveled to Philadelphia to join Richard Allen and other black separatists in establishing the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first independent national black church movement in America. Coker was elected the first Bishop in the AME church, but resigned one day later in favor of Richard Allen. There seems to have been some question about Coker's color. He was known as a very high mulatto, and some of you have seen pictures of Coker, they're very light. There were many Methodists at that particular meeting who felt that since the majority of black people in the country were very black in terms of coloration that as the Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, they should have someone who reflected that color more so. Therefore Daniel Coker resigned a day later in favor of Richard Allen. Bettye Thomas: Thus in 1816, we find that a permanent split a black Methodist was effected in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and a number of other areas. In Baltimore, the separating group became known as the African Methodist Bethel Church and the original African Methodist Episcopal Society was being referred to as the Sharp Street Church, mainly because of it's his location on Sharp Street. By the 1850s, there were a number of black religious establishment throughout the city. There were 13 black Methodist chapels and preaching places. Six belong into the AME fold and five that were offshoots of Sharp Street AME Church. The Zion Methodist, Protestant Methodist, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, operated one church each. The Baptist had three very small churches. Bettye Thomas: You had a very small catholic group that met in the basement of one of the white Catholic churches. In fact, we'll discover that we find that the black Catholics not really withdrawing from the Catholic church as the black Methodist do much earlier. During the antebellum period, the Sharp Street Methodist Episcopal Church and the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church had the lodges and perhaps the most prestigious was followings. Before 1865, these two churches, their ministers and members had a greater impact and influence among Baltimore blacks than any other black religious groups in the city. Prior to the civil war, black churches in Baltimore were actively engaged in organizational and building problems, which took a great deal of time. Bettye Thomas: However, ministers and laymen alike participated into the discussions and movements, which focused upon the major issues confronting blacks and whites in America. Even though the city boasted of the largest free black population in the nation, as a group, they never forgot their enslaved brethren. Men like Hezekiah Grice, William Watkins, Levin Lee, Samuel Chase, and Daniel Coker, to name a few, were known throughout the nation for their eloquence, intellect, and boldness and speaking out against slavery. They, and a number of other free blacks in Baltimore were identified with the colonization debates and participated in the early convention movement among black people in the country. Bethel AME, and the Sharp Street AME Church, each contain auditoriums which seated up with 1800 persons. These churches were the favored meeting spots throughout the 19th century for major, national and local conferences and meetings. Bettye Thomas: The citizenry rallied support for the abolitionist cause and they encouraged free blacks to ignore the call of the locally based Maryland Colonization Society. Noted black leaders and abolitionists often spoke in these churches. Black churches in Baltimore performed many necessary functions for the black community. Bethel AME, secretly served as one of the stations of the underground railroad through which many slaves escaped from the South to the North to freedom. By aiding fugitive slaves, ministers as well as members ran the risk of forfeiting their own freedom. Sharp Street and Bethel listed slaves and a few fugitives on their membership roles. Bettye Thomas: During the 1850s, the Sharp Street Church operated what was called an intelligence agency, which was really an employment bureau for its membership. I came across that term in the manuscript census several times in the period of 1860s and also in the city directorates. At first, I didn't know what an intelligence agent or intelligence agency was. About a year and a half later, I discovered that an intelligence agent and an intelligence agency was an employment bureau agent. Now, this intelligence agency operated by the Sharp Street Church was an employment Bureau mainly for its membership. The agencies secure jobs for church members as draymen, hackman, teamsters, porters, domestic workers, white washers, quarry workers, hod carriers, seamstresses, caulkers, railroad workers, privy cleaners and waiters. Bettye Thomas: This church sponsored agency handled requests for these and other categories of jobs. Church sponsored literary organizations, benevolent and secret societies and self-help organizations of all types often developed and met in local churches. One of the most noted lyceum, the Galbreath Lyceum was organized and met at Bethel AME church. This literary society sponsored the publication of the Lyceum Observer, which has been claimed as the first black owned and published journal, "South of the Mason and Dixon line." It was in the city's churches that $10,000 was collected in 1865 for the purpose of establishing one of the most important post-war industrial co-operative ventures in America, a shipyard, the Chesapeake Marine railway and Dry Dock Company. Bettye Thomas: Extant church records for the antebellum period, strongly refute common stereotypes, which tend to portray the black church as a comical carbon copy of the white church. Supposedly, ignorant black ministers led ignorant congregants in a circus atmosphere in buildings given them by white religionist. First of all, in Baltimore, according to existing land records, all black churches were purchased and furnished through the hard work of thrifty black congregations. Now underscore at this point, because during my research, and going into some of the white churches and particularly the National Methodist Museum center Lovely Lane Museum, which has all the materials of Bishop Asbury and others. I found that the white ministers there and many others continued to tell me that, they had given land to this church or that church, for this for that. Bettye Thomas: I took myself to the courthouse and I traced down the land records, and I trace down the purchase records and I discovered that those black folks had bought that land and paid for that land and those buildings themselves. I wanted to underscore that point because it's common in many areas and it's common in some of the general studies too, to make the point that blacks were given land and they would give them businesses and so forth. These people worked hard for that land and those buildings. In fact, we could say that the greatest wealth of the black community nationally, as well as in Baltimore, was concentrated in the 19th century and even in the early 20th century, if we ought to believe the census statistics on religious bodies. We find that the greater wealth was concentrated in church land and buildings. Bettye Thomas: Secondly, one is struck by the degree of organization within the black churches, as indicated in the meticulously well kept record books. Thirdly, black ministers in the 19th century represented one of the largest groups of educated blacks in the society. They often function as teachers, politicians, and social workers. In many cases, they formed the vanguard of those protesting segregation and discrimination. Black leadership in Baltimore was dominated by black ministers throughout the 19th century. Indeed, it is difficult to find in any generation men like Daniel Coker, an outstanding minister noted teacher, writer, activist, and immigrationist. Harvey Johnson, the minister of Union Baptist Church from 1872 until his death in 1919. The founder of the Brotherhood of Liberty, which was an early civil rights organization, the author of a book and over 80 articles and pamphlets. Bettye Thomas: Hiram Revels, minister of Madison Street Presbyterian Church from 1859 to 1863 and later a United States Senator for Mississippi. William Alexander, the minister of the Sharon Baptist Church from 1885 to 1919. The founder of the Afro-American Newspaper, the editor and manager of the Maryland Voice, which was a Baptist newspaper and an original member of the Brotherhood of Liberty and a participant in a number of important economic, social and political movements. Dr. William H. Weaver, minister Madison Street Presbyterian Church, 1880 to 1898, recognized throughout the country as an outstanding educator who fought for the hiring of black teachers to teach black children in the Baltimore public schools and pushed for better educational facilities for black children. Bettye Thomas: Father George Freeman Bragg, the founder and editor of The Ledger and later co editor of the Afro-American Ledger newspaper. The minister of the St. James Protestant Episcopal Church and a noticed spokesman and organizer. Daniel Payne, James. A. Handy, Levi J. Coppin and Benjamin T. Tanner, are four of 12 outstanding AME ministers who passed the Bethel AME church during the 19th century and who were elected bishops in the AME church. The list of outstanding educated black ministers and their accomplishments in 19th century, Baltimore, is long and distinguished. Fourthly, black churches were not mere carbon copies of white churches. Bettye Thomas: Since most 19th century black churches developed as offshoots from discriminating white establishments, they tended to reflect similar organizational structures, and obviously black churches did not come into existence to institutionalize a pecurially black religion. They came into existence at mainly as an accommodation to the caste order in American race relations, which distinguishes even between black Christians and white Christians. Black churches, however, may be differentiated from white churches, mainly in terms of the functions they performed for the black community and the focus and sometimes the style of worship. Bettye Thomas: Black churches serving black communities in all historical periods have been confronted with special problems growing out of the peculiar status of black people in the American society. Black ministers converted Christianity to the survival needs of black people. The sermons frequently supported the idea of compensatory patterns. They stressed the idea that if things are not right on earth, they will be made right in heaven. Heaven was often depicted as a place where one would be compensated for his earthly suffering. This type thing enabled many blacks to endure degradation and discrimination for they firmly believe that a just God would reward their suffering. Topics such as, "The uncertainty of human life, the expiration of the world, the durability of the future, and the ability of Christ to answer all requests back then," stressed this thing. Bettye Thomas: After the civil war, black churches in Baltimore grew by leaps and bounds. By 1890, there were over 50 churches scattered throughout the city. Methodist and Baptist, still held weight among blacks. Bethel AME, The Sharp Street AME Church, and The Union Baptist Church where the major black religious establishments from 1870 to 1900. Other important centers of black religion were the St. James Protestant Episcopal Church, The Madison Street Presbyterian Church, Metropolitan Methodist Episcopal, and The St. Francis Xavier Catholic church. These churches became the focal point of the black communities, political and social activities. Bettye Thomas: Since fairly good records exist for the major Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal, and Baptist churches, it is possible to engage in a comparative analysis of denominational attitudes and practices. Specifically, Union Baptist, Sharp Street, Methodist Episcopal, and the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal church, were archetypes for their denominations and thus will be utilized for this comparison. Minute books for the Union Baptist church exists for the period 1872 to 1919. These records indicate that Union Baptist played a very large role in controlling the morals of its members. The church was emphatic in denouncing dancing, card playing, bigamy, adultery, non attendance of church services, drinking, and other behavior patterns defined by it as being immoral. Bettye Thomas: For the longest one, I looked at those records, they were talking about people walking disorderly, and I didn't know what they were talking about. Then it dawned on me that evidently these people were drunk and someone had reported that they saw John such [inaudible] even he was walking disorderly. Then he call called for church. Union Baptist, not only denounce these activities, but in the period, 1872 to 1915, actively engaged in enforcing its moral codes by holding trials for the accused and upon finding them guilty move to exclude them from the church membership. This was no minor activity in the Union Baptist church for the major portion of the minutes, deal with trials and exclusions. Even individuals with a great deal of stature in the community were brought to trial. Bettye Thomas: Mason Albert Hawkins, a graduate of Harvard university in 1901 and later in 1909 the principal of the Colored high school was brought before the church and charged with being at a dance. He and a young lady who attended the same dance came before the church asking forgiveness and subsequently they were exonerated. Another young man "failing to obey the call of the church" was excluded. The Methodist Episcopal and African Methodist Episcopal churches were involved in excluding members who did not adhere to church standards of morality. But for the most part, this pattern prevailed in those churches in the period before 1865. After the civil war, the Methodist records indicate very few instances of this. Usually only in extreme cases of misbehavior. Bettye Thomas: The Baptist also censored church members who attended literary gatherings or who participated in any of the numerous excursions of the period. The Methodist, however, firmly supported literary and debating societies. Some of the most popular societies such as the Monumental Literary and the Galbreath Literary Society were organized and directed by well-known and distinguished Methodists like John Henry Butler, a clothier, and an educational agent for the Freedman's bureau and W. Ashbie Hawkins a well-known lawyer writer and editor. Bettye Thomas: Even though the United Methodist were constantly protesting excursions given by local social clubs, they did not exclude members who participated. In fact, the United Methodists finally concluded during the 1880s that since this was a very popular social activity, the church will sponsor its own excursions and thus not only could it control and oversee the behavior of its members, keep them from smoking and drinking, but it could reap great financial benefits. Local ministers condemned excursions on the trains, or on the ships, boats, so forth because of the liquor and tobacco consumed a board them. There seemingly was a great deal, more liberality, in the Methodist church's attitude towards temporal matters. However, even though their ministers evidence concern about the existence of racism in the larger society, they did not move to forcefully attack the system and enhance institute, meaningful social and political change, which would directly affect their parishioners lives. Bettye Thomas: The United Methodist and African Methodist were frequently involved in lawsuits undertaken by their own church members who in most cases, challenged the authority of church administrators seldom where the Baptists engaging in this type of inner conflict. I might add there as an example, and there are so many examples I think that I left out of this paper because I condense this from 145 pages for the paper that I presented at the Organization American Historians condensed it to 17 pages. Therefore A lot of examples and other things are not here, but one example of the kind of losses they engaged in at the Sharp Street Church. There was some Concern, in the period of the late 60s for the purchase about the purchase of what they call a melodion. Bettye Thomas: When I see like this melodion with some sort of Oregon. There were church members who felt that music was the devil's workshop and this was a prevalent kind of attitude in that 19th century. Therefore, they challenged the authority of the board of trustees and the minister, and they took them to court and they got an injunction, which stated that, that melodion could not be played until the case was solved. Therefore the melodion wasn't played for two and a half years. The court though finally ruled that the trustees and the minister had the right to introduce it in the church and that it could be utilized. Now you have all kinds of other court suits. I could do just a little book on the court suits, not just with the churches, but even just in terms of blacks. I was struck by court records and the number of blacks who went to court, challenging whites, blacks, and all others. It's very interesting. Bettye Thomas: Seldom was the Baptist though, engaging in this type of inner conflict. It is clear that the Baptist ministers would not have accepted such action. They would have simply expelled the dissidents. Methodists challenges of church authority often remained within the church after the court cases were settled. If one wished to label and categorize these religious groups, it could be said that the Baptist led by Harvey Johnson, where the most militant and aggressive group in attacking segregation and discrimination. Baptist ministers through the Brotherhood of Liberty, won the right for black lawyers to practice before the bar in Maryland, instituted a number of lawsuits protesting discrimination on common carriers, the rape of black women, lynching, and a number of other issues. Bettye Thomas: However, the Baptists were conservative and tended to be very autocratic in matters concerning church governance. It should be noted that Baptist ministers possessed greater power and authority than Methodist ministers and thus were able to exert more control over their congregations. Essentially, this was because of the differences in the denominational structures. The United Methodist, characterized by Sharp Street Methodist Episcopal church at the helm were to a great extent democratic in church governance, but they appeared to be semi accommodationist in relationship to their involvement in attacking societal racism and acquiescence to some degree in their relationship to the white Methodist church control. Now, this does not exclude the fact that for years they petitioned the church for a "colored Bishop". I think that Dr. Mitchell mentioned the other night, if you remember that the United Methodist did not really get a Bishop till 1920. Bettye Thomas: They petitioned to for their own conference. They tended though to complain among themselves about the discrimination they experienced at the national conferences dominated by white Methodist. They grumbled about their inability to participate as equals on such occasions. The United Methodist, however were more concerned with remaining within the Methodist fold and therefore they were willing to accept gradual change. The African Methodist Episcopal Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church were the only religious groups totally independent of white ecclesiastical control, a right they achieved by withdrawing from the United Methodist Church in 1816 in the case of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and 1820 in the case of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. Bettye Thomas: While it is true that Union and Calvary Baptist church withdrew from the Maryland Baptist association in 1892, the bulk of the city's black Baptist were reluctant to follow the advice of Harvey Johnson that black churches must withdraw from white Baptist and stand on their own. There's a beautiful letter that's in one of those Union Baptist minute books that he wrote to the white Baptist, in which he underscored the kind of discrimination that the black Baptist began to experience in the late 80s. At first, white Baptist, in the period right after the civil war in Maryland would allow black Baptist ministers to sit with them at the meetings to discuss equally policy for the church in Maryland and so forth. Bettye Thomas: Then at some point in the 1880s, when Harvard Johnson attended the meeting, they required that he sit at a separate table and they made other requirements. He wrote a very scathing letter to them, and he told his people that is time that we pick up our bed and walk, and that we'd be responsible for our own religious development and not dependent on these whites. That we must develop religion among our people throughout Maryland, thus he and of course, Calvary Baptist Church followed withdrew from the white Baptist Maryland association. Now, Baptist ministers appeared to be more actively involved though in local protests than their laymen while Methodist layman, like for example, Isaac Myers might I add, and I think many of you of course, are familiar with Isaac Myers and Colored National Labor Union. Bettye Thomas: He was an outstanding example of a black political and social leader in that particular period. Isaac Myers belonged to Bethel AME Church might I add. He like many others, who perhaps are less known in that period as Methodist were often... You can often see their names in the newspapers of organizations they're forming, making all kinds of statements about what must be done, confronting society so forth. Now we find them that these Methodists layman often out distance their ministers and not only articulating the problems and goals of black people, but also in protesting and devising strategy for bringing about change. Bettye Thomas: The Baltimore black religious community was dominated by black males. Baptist ministers never debated the role that females should play in church governance or services. With the Baptist, it was simply understood that men would make church decisions and conduct church services. The United Methodist ministers occasionally discuss questions concerning women. They pondered whether the scriptures revealed, "the fact that females have done more good works than the male." Should females hold official offices in the church? Should Christian women be licensed and ordained to preach? My favorite, is woman an inferior to man? In the first three cases, the answer was emphatically, no. In the last case there was a general consensus among the ministers that "sad as it may be, woman is as much inferior to man as man is to God." Bettye Thomas: At no time during the 19th century were women allowed to vote on church procedures and policy. Church decisions in the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Protestant Episcopal church were made by male members of the church, 21 years of age and over. In the period before the civil war, in most cases, there was a stipulation that they must be free black males, 21 years of age, or over. Until the 1870s, women were strictly segregated at all church functions and allowed to play the most minimal role in church services. Thus, women were not allowed to go to the mourner's bench, serve on the board of trustees and participate in policy decisions. They were however allowed to sponsor and organize fairs, raffles, bizarre, sewing circles, and other social activities, which will contribute to the social life and financial success of the church. From all available evidence, it is clear that throughout the 19th century, the center of black life in Baltimore was the church. Bettye Thomas: Before the building of halls by the beneficial and secret societies in the late 1880s, it was the most assessable place to hold concerts, fairs, bazaars, lectures, raffles exhibitions, commencements, banquets, private socials, and other activities. Anniversary celebrations were festive occasions when special sermons were rendered for black organizations. It was in the church that the community celebrated emancipation, the passage of the 15th amendment and many other historical events. Within the church, boycotts were planned. Moral discipline established and political rallies with held. Thus, for the black community, it was an indispensable institution.