A Luminous Brotherhood A Luminous Brotherhood

A Luminous Brotherhood

Afro-Creole Spiritualism in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans

    • $19.99
    • $19.99

Publisher Description

In the midst of a nineteenth-century boom in spiritual experimentation, the Cercle Harmonique, a remarkable group of African-descended men, practiced Spiritualism in heavily Catholic New Orleans from just before the Civil War to the end of Reconstruction. In this first comprehensive history of the Cercle, Emily Suzanne Clark illuminates how highly diverse religious practices wind in significant ways through American life, culture, and history. Clark shows that the beliefs and practices of Spiritualism helped Afro-Creoles mediate the political and social changes in New Orleans, as free blacks suffered increasingly restrictive laws and then met with violent resistance to suffrage and racial equality.

Drawing on fascinating records of actual seance practices, the lives of the mediums, and larger citywide and national contexts, Clark reveals how the messages that the Cercle received from the spirit world offered its members rich religious experiences as well as a forum for political activism inspired by republican ideals. Messages from departed souls including Francois Rabelais, Abraham Lincoln, John Brown, Robert E. Lee, Emanuel Swedenborg, and even Confucius discussed government structures, the moral progress of humanity, and equality. The Afro-Creole Spiritualists were encouraged to continue struggling for justice in a new world where "bright" spirits would replace raced bodies.

GENRE
Religion & Spirituality
RELEASED
2016
August 26
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
280
Pages
PUBLISHER
The University of North Carolina Press
SELLER
Ingram DV LLC
SIZE
2.6
MB

More Books Like This

Exodus and Liberation Exodus and Liberation
2013
Radicals In Their Own Time Radicals In Their Own Time
2010
The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790 The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790
2012
Fighting for the Higher Law Fighting for the Higher Law
2021
Temperance and Cosmopolitanism Temperance and Cosmopolitanism
2019
Crown of Thorns Crown of Thorns
1990

More Books by Emily Suzanne Clark