"A powerful new history of the Black church in America as the Black community's abiding rock and its fortress"-- Provided by publisher.

From the earliest days of slavery, when enslaved people were allowed to worship at all, their meetinghouses were subject to surveillance and destruction. Church burnings and bombings by anti-Black racists have continued to the present day, a hallmark of the violent effort to suppress the African American struggle for equality. Gates takes us on a journey spanning more than five centuries, from the intersection of Christianity and the transatlantic slave trade to today's political landscape. We emerge with a new understanding of the importance of African American religion to the larger national narrative: as a center of resistance to slavery and white supremacy, as a magnet for political mobilization, as an incubator of musical and oratorical talent that would transform the culture, and as a crucible for working through the Black community's most critical personal and social issues. -- adapted from jacket