Hell without fire

"Using the motif of Christian conversion as a unifying theme, Whelchel provides a basic introduction to the history and diversity of Christian religion among enslaved Africans and black Americans. Conversion serves to illuminate the complex relationships that developed between black and white religion in America from its founding until the period of Reconstruction. Whelchel concludes with the story of the founding of the C. M.

E., illustrating the emergence of black Methodism from white control in the South following the Civil War."--BOOK JACKET.