Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the roots of African American religion beginning with the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the extraordinary ways enslaved Africans preserved and adapted their faith practices from the brutality of slavery to emancipation.

Discover how the Black Church expanded its reach to address social inequality and minister to those in need, from the Jim Crow South to the heroic phase of the civil rights movement and the Black Church’s role in the present.

The Hymnist sang praises to celebrate the soul's salvation and save the body from slavery.

The Reader risked his life to bring to the Church what should have never been prohibited.

The Servant taught others how to serve more deeply, not as a slave, but as a free man.