It travels back in time to examine Africans' initial encounter with Christianity, and tells the story of Denmark Vesey, who used bilblical scripture to justify a violent slave rebellion in 1822. Vesey worked with support from the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). We then tell the story of Sojourner Truth - born, enslaved, as Isabella Baumfree. She drew upon a highly individualized faith to challenge the system of slavery. Her spiritual strength led her to become a national figure in the abolitionist and feminist movements. These twin tributaries of righteous engagement and righteous retribution flow through African-American religious life.
After Emancipation, minister-turned-journalist Henry McNeal Turner used his faith in the will of Providence and the power of the black church to encourage political participation in the south. Turner, a popular preacher even before the Civil War, became the Union Army's first black chaplain once President Lincoln mustered black regiments. After the war, Turner, helped organize the Georgia Republican Party. Elected a state representative, but never allowed to serve, Turner's emphasis on black nationalism gradually alienated him from mainstream leaders but made him popular among the masses. Outside of politics, he and other church leaders put their efforts into church organizations. Grammar schools and universities, banks and insurance companies, printing presses, nursing homes and hospitals are all examples of institutions founded and maintained by black religious communities denied access by the society at large. Henry McNeal turner eventually became a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. His philosophy and teachings encouraged followers to find God from within, thereby raising their opinions about themselves and the black race.
Guide My Feet is also the story of Cecil Williams and Thomas A. Dorsey, two men a generation apart, both Southern migrants, united by a vision to take the stark reality of the streets into the church, challenging Christianity to be true to its promise of acceptance. In the black community of Chicago, Thomas Dorsey, a pianist with blues singer Ma Rainey, pioneers a different direction for spiritual expression: gospel music. In San Francisco, the Reverend Cecil Williams strives to pull down barriers with his "come as you are" church. Through their great efforts, Dorsey, Williams, and others create a new faith and a new music.
Faith gave black families a way of insulating themselves from the oppression of segregation in the 1940s and 1950s, and provided the seeds for opposition to Jim Crow. We observe the movement in Georgia and Mississippi from the perspective of Prathia Hall, an eminent black preacher who was born in 1940 and literally grew up as the Movement grew bigger. Chosen for her deep faith and thoughtfulness, Hall's life becomes the lens through which we witness the struggle against Jim Crow, through which we ultimately question the viability of a non-violent and racist American culture. Hall is one of many voices in the film-voices of ordinary people who, through faith, song, and the rituals of the black church - successfully transformed America.
Inheritors of the Faith follows the journeys of other African-Americans who sought a spiritual experience outside of Christianity, in the traditions of Islam and Yoruba. It plots the growth of the Nation of Islam under the leadership of Elijah Muhammad. After his death, his son, Warith, made a departure from his father's teachings and led the Nation of Islam towards a more orthodox Islamic practice. Yoruba is a spiritual tradition that originated in West Africa. It pre-dates Christianity. Yoruba worshipers find a means of gaining strength and spirituality from within.
is religious belief alone enough to hold the pilgrimage together? Rise Up and Call Their Names follows 60 people who joined the Interfaith Pilgrimage of the Middle Passage on a physical and spiritual voyage. They walked from Massachusetts to Florida, then made their way to the Caribbean and ultimately to Africa. Their purpose was to encourage whites to join the conversation about slavery and to pray to heal the societal racial rift. Along the way, they visited the Masjid Khalifah Mosque (part of Imam Wallace Mohammed's Muslim American Society) and the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, which works with black farmers struggling to hold onto their land in Alabama. After months of difficult travel and deep soul-searching, the pilgrims reach Africa with a stronger sense of identity and purpose.