1. The Great Awakening, Enlightenment, & Phillis Wheatley
Religious and Intellectual Movements of the 18th Century Influence Generations

2. Great Awakening Religious revival in America
1740s: American Congregationalist Minister Jonathan Edwards emphasizes personal religious experiences
1740s:George Whitefield brings Methodism from Britain-huge crowds flock to hear the open-air sermons
Whitefield urges people to worship God through their good works
Evangelical Protestant ministers cater to a people interested in religion

3. George Whitefield, itinerant preacher addresses a revival gathering

4. Great Awakening & Africans in America
Evangelical preachers challenge the hierarchical order of the established church
The message of spiritual equality before God appealed to Africans
African American preachers emerged from the revival movement
George Liele and his students Andrew Bryan & David George led services in the south
Lemuel Haynes preached in New England
Lemuel Haynes, African American
Congregational Minister

5. Conversion of Many African Americans
Themes of liberation, equality, and salvation for the oppressed appealed to many enslaved and free Africans in America
Whitefield and others actively seek to convert enslaved and free Africans
Thousands of Africans converted to this evangelical Christianity

6. Maryland slave John Thompson describes the Great Awakening’s impact
“ This new doctrine. . . brought glad tidings to the poor bondman; it bound up the broken hearted; it opened the prison doors to them that were slaves, it spread from plantation to plantation, where there were but few who did not experience religion”
What impact did this religious revival have on enslaved Africans?

7. The Enlightenment
Intellectual movement challenges social and political hierarchy
Emphasized ‘reason’ over blind faith-rationality & science
Challenged established institutions: political, social, & religious
John Locke: personal liberties, personal rights of property
“Natural Rights of Man”: life, liberty, pursuit of property
P.116

8. On Being Brought from Africa to America
by Phillis Wheatley
'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
"Their colour is a diabolic die."
Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,
May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.