A. W. Cook / Robert W. Winston
2022 Reprint of the 1925 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition and not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Many African Americans have rejected the Christianity they associate with slaveowners in favor of religions with more distinctively black identities. Beginning in the early nineteenth century some individual African Americans became regular worshipers at local synagogues. To this day, and in growing numbers, there are Black members of predominantly white Jewish congregations. The first African American Jewish denomination was started by William Saunders Crowdy, a black cook for the Santa Fe railroad. In 1893, Crowdy had a vision from God calling him to lead his people to the true religion. He started preaching on the streets of Lawrence, Kansas in 1896. Crowdy preached that Africans were the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel and thus the true surviving Jews. By 1899, Crowdy had founded churches in 29 Kansas towns. He called his denomination The Church of God and Saints of Christ, which, despite its Christian-sounding name, had from the start an identification with Judaism. The Christ of the church’s name refers to the still-awaited Messiah. Crowdy purchased land in Belleville, Virginia just after the turn of the century. For many years the core members of the church lived there communally. The Independent Church of God of the Juda tribe of Israel : the Black Jews is the manifesto and constitution of this Black Jewish Congregation.
