The Role of Religion and the Problem of Belonging

For African American southerns migrating to the North, the church and religion played an integral part of their adjustment. The church was an important way of life for Southerners. It was primarily the only institution in which they had complete freedom. Once the Southern migrants found their way to the North, they found they Northen churches to be quite different from the ones in the South. Not only were they different in physical structure--meaning they were a lot larger--they were also different in how they worshipped. Southerners often found themselves uncomfortable in well established churches in Chicago.

Storefront Churches

A vast majority of storefront churches during the inception of Bronzeville