I am examining how the Black Baptist church aided in the construction of the New Negro identity. The Great Migration afforded the Black churches of the North a challenge because they had to accommodate and help the influx of Southerners. In Bound For the Promised Land, Milton Sernett, observes the church as the most central institute in the African American experience. The Reverend Lacey Kirk Williams of Olivet Baptist Church was mentioned as a church that quickly responded to the migrants needs. Reverend Williams sent church members to the train stations to direct migrants and he soon transformed the church into a social service center. The church became an agent of self-help and economic self-determination. These two elements represented the New Negro movement. Because there were few entities that catered to the needs of the Black community the Black church was expected to help themselves. The Black church was an independent institute that had the ability and finances to be self-sufficient. The Olivet Baptist Church was able to feed, clothe, and assist migrants in finding housing and employment. Furthermore, they hosted educational, social, and recreational activities. They were financially independent and able to use their money in ways that empowered and helped the Black community. Olivet’s reputation as an important social center rapidly spread and increased the church numbers. The bigger the church grew the more influential the church became in the community. The church was transforming from the “old tradition” to a New Negro church that was exhibiting social and economic power while also producing intellectual leaders and productive workers for the community. The Northerner churches began to make it a priority to teach migrants how to obtain industrial jobs. This was part of the attempt to remove the “seasonal rhythms of farm work” ingrained in the South. The churches goal was to focus not only on the spiritual but the “Gospel of Efficiency” in order to begin to transform Blacks into productive workers who can become financially stable and contribute back to the Black community to continue to grow the church and the social services started.
