Quietly in the night, under Reverend George Leile’s guidance, enslaved women carefully rolled freshly made bricks in their aprons. Men carried wooden planks on their shoulders and nails in their mouths.
What they were building could get them killed - but still, they persisted.
The next day, the blazing sun seared their necks as they quickly picked cotton. They needed to give the master overflowing bags so he had no excuse to deny Leile’s request.
He had let the master know that they were determined to do something audacious. What were they up to?
Though it was forbidden for enslaved people to gather, the slave master had seen their determination, and granted them permission to work on their project during the night.
Eventually, they successfully erected the very first Black church in 1773! But their self-determination not only freed their souls, it literally freed our people.
They used their church to secretly house their escaped, enslaved brethren under the floorboards as part of the Underground Railroad!
What they built - a place to worship, cry, and laugh in peace - meant everything. Building community was a crucial means to survive the horrors of enslavement.
Like our ancestors, who practiced self-determination to build the first Black church, we too can accomplish anything we set our minds to in the service of ourselves and our people.