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2/15/2006 12:02:00 AM

 

African-American religion gives deeper meaning to "Black is beautiful"

Long before the political activism of black religious leaders during the civil rights movement, black churches have offered African-Americans a means for subtle protest against racism, celebrating black life and the beauty of black bodies. Rice University theologian Anthony Pinn argues that black religion at its best has given deeper meaning to the phrase "Black is beautiful."

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As a result of the political activism of Martin Luther King Jr. and other black religious leaders of the civil rights movement, black churches appeared to be in the forefront of overt civil resistance. Not all Black churches, however, have a history of political engagement, but, argues a Rice University theologian, by their very nature they have been committed to more subtle acts of protest.

"During the period of slavery to the present, the leadership and laity of some black churches have been aggressively involved in political activities," said Anthony Pinn, a professor of religious studies at Rice.

"On a more subtle level, other Black churches through spirituals and various rituals celebrate black life and the beauty of black bodies," he said.

Pinn argues that highlighting the significance and importance of black bodies during black religious services is in itself a form of critique or activism.

In an essay entitled "Sweaty Bodies in a Circle: Thoughts on the Subtle Dimensions of Black Religion as Protest," Pinn traces the historical implications of being black in this country and the quest of African-Americans for a deeper sense of their own meaning through black religion. By citing examples of black service rituals such as the "ring shout" and the use of signification in black spirituals, he illustrates how black churches transform the image and meaning of black bodies from aesthetically inferior to beautiful, intrinsically valuable "vessels holding cosmic energy."

Pinn notes that black churches from their early formation manipulated the language within their services so that spirituals, for example, were loaded with a variety of meanings. Slaves often used signification as a way of criticizing white opinion without appearing to be rebellious. Spirituals contained lines such as "Everybody talking about heaven ain't going there."

Pinn claims that for many whites listening to this, the music and the voices were just oddly beautiful; others thought the slaves were just talking about people who hadn't accepted Christ not going to heaven.

"The slaves meant all of that and more," said Pinn. "Those who supported slavery, for example, were not going to heaven."

Another subtle form of protest, according to Pinn, was the ring shout, whereby members of the congregation sang loudly while swaying and jerking in a circular movement associated with trances in traditional African religions. The ring shout's significance stems from a basic assumption in black religion that to really participate in the glory of God requires some kind of ritualistic activity.

"One of the ways in which African-Americans worked to bring about the presence of God was through the ring shout's rhythmic motion," explained Pinn.  

"Blacks understood that intensely performing this movement was the only way to make certain God was really felt and that they would be saved."

Furthermore, Pinn noted, the perspiration resulting from the ring-shout motion transformed the body as a tool of involuntary labor from the days of slavery to a marker of divine presence. While black bodies historically were portrayed as something to be feared and served as a tool of labor for the benefit of others, Pinn believes that through the ring shout, the body takes on different types of significance and importance.

"Sweat becomes an indicator, not of black bodies as tools or objects, but of engagement in the life of the spirit," said Pinn. "I believe this aesthetic shift gives new meaning to the phrase 'Black is beautiful.'"

Pinn, the Agnes Cullen Arnold Professor of Humanities at Rice, has written extensively on African-American religions, religious thought and humanism, and religion in popular culture. He is the author and editor of numerous volumes on the African-American religious experience, including "Varieties of African-American Religious Experience," "The Black Church in the Post-Civil Rights Era," "Terror and Triumph: The Nature of Black Religion" and "The African-American Religious Experience in America."

For more information on this research, contact Pinn at pinn@rice.edu or Jennifer Evans in the Office of News and Media Relations at jevans@rice.edu.