Notes on African American Worship During Slavery

This item contains notes regarding the reilgious meetings held by African Americans in Jacksonville in the 1820s. 

The document explains how slaves conducted prayer sessions at the house of Mother An Sams in what is now downtown Jacksonville. When her owners relocated her to Pablo Beach (now Jacksonville Beach), the slaves received permission from G.B. Heart to build a pracyer house on his land. They attended services there until James McDonald led the organization of a new church, which was considered the first.

These notes may bear relation to the work of the Negro Writers Unit (NWU) of the Florida Federal Writers Project, which was based at the Clara White Mission. See the discussion of the NWU provided by the Viola Muse Digital Edition (VMDE), as well as questionnaires on religious institutions and folk traditions, included in that collection, that were designed to help fieldworks gather informatioin on those topics. 

The surname Sams, mentioned in this document, figures prominently in the Rebecca Fulton Interview Notes and the Rebecca Fulton Narrative, both part of the VMDE, as well as in the following documents on this site: List of Officers and Members of the Emancipation Proclamation Association of the City of Jacksonville and Letter from Jos. M. Sams to Eartha M.M. White, July 16, 1920, Long Branch, New Jersey.

University of North Florida, Thomas G. Carpenter Library Special Collections and University Archives, Eartha M.M. White Collection, Folder J, Item 64

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