Page "fiction" Paragraph 92
from
Brown Corpus
He was stern and overbearing with his flock, but obsequious and conciliatory with the whites, especially the rich who partly supported the church.
The Deacon Board, headed by a black man named Carlson, had practically taken over as the pastor grew old, and had its way with the support of the Amen corner.
It began invariably in low tones, almost conversational, and then gradually worked up to high, shrill appeals to God and man.
And then the Amen corner took hold, re-enacting a form of group participation in worship that stemmed from years before the Greek chorus, spreading down through the African forest, overseas to the West Indies, and then here in Alabama.
With shout and slow dance, with tears and song, with scream and contortion, the corner group was beset by hysteria and shivering, wailing, shouting, possession of something that seemed like an alien and outside force.
It spread to most of the audience and was often viewed by visiting whites who snickered behind handkerchief and afterward discussed Negro religion.
To most of those who composed the Amen corner it was a magnificent and beautiful experience, something for which they lived from week to week.
Page 1 of 1.
1.962 seconds.