Abstract
This essay is a part of a continuing effort to analyze and understand, and to theorize about organized religion in the life and culture of
Blackamerica. My presuppositions are 1) that there does exist a viable, identifiable black subculture in America; 2) that while this subculture shares with other ethnic groups and with the overculture in general a broad spectrum of experiences, values and institutionalized behavior patterns, there is a unique element in its history commonly defined as “the black experience;” and that 3) what is understood by the ingroup as “the black experience” is a principal motivational force in the development of a cultural black nationalism—which may be the prevailing mood characterizing the contemporary black community.