Religious Life

The Old Chapel, 1870s

The Chapel, the first dedicated religious building on Davidson’s campus, was completed in the latter part of 1837. In the college’s early years, the small congregation, led by the college president, typically consisted of college students, faculty and their families, and some town residents (Beaty 1987, 1). It was allegedly not uncommon for enslaved individuals to attend services alongside their enslavers, although they were rarely documented in any official capacity. However, in June 1858, two women, Harriet and Sarah, were listed among new members of the church. Both women were enslaved by existing church members, Harriet by Professor Elijah F. Rockwell and Sarah by a Mr. Houston (Beaty 1987, 1-2).

In 1896, Plessy v. Ferguson solidified the national legal standard of “separate but equal”. However, religious segregation had long since been the norm in North Carolina. This was in part due to African Americans’ desire to control their own religious services (Blodgett & Levering 2012, 71). 

The first African American congregation in the town of Davidson, the Davidson United Presbyterian Church, was established in 1870 by former attendants of the college’s ‘Sabbath Schools’ (see below).

For black congregations, Sunday services would more often than not take up the entire day (Blodgett & Levering 2012, 50). Black women especially played an important role in church.

For African-American women, church-related organizations remained a central social and civic outlet. As with the white churches, women made up the greater part of the congregations. Their work within churches and fund-raising efforts were critical to the churches and to their community. These activities also gave women experience in leadership and allowed them to participate in town issues, albeit on a limited scale. In contrast, because the mill chapel was used primarily as a Sunday school, taught by college students and ladies from the DCPC, mill women had few if any opportunities to take part in fund-raising or socials, thereby limiting their participation in the wider community (Blodgett & Levering 2012, 81).

Reeves Temple A.M.E. Zion Church, 1950

Davidson Presbyterian Church

Two new church buildings for black congregations were built between 1885 and 1897: Davidson Presbyterian Church and Reeves Temple African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Church (Blodgett & Levering 2012, 71). The Davidson Presbyterian Church, constructed on land donated by the Davidson College Trustees in 1894, housed the Davidson United Presbyterian Church (Blodgett & Levering 2012, 73). Reverend David S. Baker served as one of its earliest pastors.

Sabbath Schools

Early on, the Davidson College Presbyterian Church seems to have felt a paternalistic inclination towards the town’s black population, especially their ‘spiritual welfare’, which they sought to cultivate through Sabbath Schools. 

1853 is the earliest known date associated with black Sabbath Schools being conducted in Davidson. In her book, Cornelia Shaw states that college students at that time were conducting a Sunday School for black Davidsonians, and that “mission work among them has continued with more or less regularity until the present” (Shaw 1923, 69). Note that Shaw’s book was published in 1923. 

The Faculty Minutes for October 27, 1856 include a provision allowing “Messrs. W. S. Lacy and Porter” to be absent on Sunday afternoons to conduct such Sunday Schools.

Faculty met.

Mr. Bennett applied for re-admission as a regular student, and was admitted reluctantly (Prof. H. opposing).

Messrs. W. S. Lacy and Porter were allowed to be absent every Sunday afternoon for the purpose of conducting a S. School among the blacks.

Another mention appears in an August 1858 report of the College Trustees to Presbytery, at which point the school was held in “the School House near College” (Beaty 1987, 2). This seems to fall in line with the Faculty Minutes for 1855, which note black locals’ tendency to “collect about the College on Sundays”:

Faculty met, and with the concurrence of the citizens of "Davidson College", established a Patrol, who shall attend to this duty at least three nights in each week, for the period of one month; and who shall receive 50 cents per night for their services.

They are also required to disperse negroes who may collect about the College on Sundays.

Messrs. Brady, Allison, and Adams were appointed and funds were raised to meet the expense.

Signed

E. F. Rockwell

D. H. Hill

C. D. Fishburn

J. A. Leland

The most detailed description of the Sabbath Schools can be found in the Trustee Minutes for July 1867:

Among the Students now in College, a large proportion are Candidates for the Gospel Ministry, and others are giving the subject serious consideration. Besides the regular attendance on the prescribed religious duties of the College, the Students of their own accord have maintained a daily evening meeting for prayer. The “Williams Society of Inquiry” has been revived and remodeled, and new interest manifested in its existences. Our young men, also, have labored with self-denying zeal in the Sabbath School. Their efforts on behalf of the colored population around the College, assisted by the Ladies of the Village, have been earnest and successful. A Sabbath School for their benefit has been held every Sunday afternoon, and is highly flourishing, and the good fruits are manifested in the number who have been taught to read the Word of God. The Board of Publication in Philadelphia on the application of the President of the College, generously made a prompt and liberal donation of a library to the Sunday School for the whites, and a varied assortment of the usual elementary books of instruction for both the Schools which have been of great service.

Held by local white women and Davidson students interested in the ministry, these Sabbath Schools were conducted on Sunday afternoons for black children and adults alike. The curriculum covered reading, writing, and Presbyterian theology. This entry also mentions a donation of books from the Philadelphia Board of Publication. Note that the white Sunday School received “usual elementary books of instruction” in addition to a library, while the black Sunday School only received the “elementary books”. Although the black Sunday School included both children and adults, the only adult-level reading material members would have access to would have been the Bible (Blodgett & Levering 2012, 49).

Another source mentions DCPC sponsored Mission Sunday Schools intended for ‘outlying communities’, including black and white laborers employed in local cotton mills (Blodgett & Levering 2012, 75).

[The Sunday Schools] offered the basics of modern education to working people who could only attend school on their single non-working day…taught reading, writing, and arithmetic and–as importantly–attempted to instill the value of hard work, thrift and obedience that factory owners thought their employees lacked (Hanchett 1998, 76).

In the late 1870s, white Sabbath Schools were held in the college chapel due to the absence of a village church building. The ‘Sunday School superintendents’ were selected from college seniors who were candidates for the ministry, and most of the teachers were also students (Shaw 1923, 129). It is possible that black Sabbath Schools were also conducted in a similar manner.

According to Shaw, these Sabbath Schools continued up to at least the 1920s, although their regularity did seem to fluctuate; in 1871-1872 for example, only five Sunday Schools were conducted in the community for white and black children (Shaw 1923, 135-136).

Bibliography

Beaty, Mary D. A History of the Davidson College Presbyterian Church. Davidson, NC: Davidson College Presbyterian Church, 1987.

Blodgett, Jan, and Ralph B. Levering. One Town, Many Voices: A History of Davidson, North Carolina. Davidson, NC: Davidson Historical Society, 2012.

Hanchett, Thomas W. Sorting out the New South City: Race, Class, and Urban Development in Charlotte, 1875-1975. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1998.

Shaw, Cornelia R. Davidson College: Intimate Facts. New York, NY: Fleming Revell Press, 1923.