Freedom of the Soul but Not the Body
About this episode
Casey and Kait discuss the Moravians' views on race and enslavement in the 1700s and the history of segregation in Wachovia.
Casey and Kait discuss some of the Moravians’ ideology on race and enslavement during the 1700s and discuss some of the history of enslaved workers and segregation in Wachovia during this time. The Moravians during this time were primarily concerned with “bringing people to salvation through an awareness of Christ,” and that in the world, there was only the saved and unsaved, “a condition upon which skin had no bearing;” however, Moravians also had “little inclination to challenge the ways race was being used to construct massive social inequalities in the emerging Atlantic world,” because they were not really concerned with race as a worldly concept. They denied race in the spiritual realm but affirmed race in the physical world. Within a few years of establishing Bethabara, the Moravians in Wachovia began renting and purchasing enslaved labor. During the first years of the establishment of Wachovia, everyone was educated together and worshipped side-by-side. In the last quarter of the 1770s, especially after the American Revolution, many Brethren began seeing land and enslavement “as their ticket to prosperity,” and segregation within the Wachovia community became more…
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