{"id":39,"featured":0,"modified":"2025-01-24 21:05:17","latitude":32.77547287365456440966227091848850250244140625,"longitude":-79.930787197310252167881117202341556549072265625,"title":"St. Michael\u2019s Church, 80 Meeting Street","address":"80 Meeting Street, Charleston, SC 29401","thumbnail":"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/square_thumbnails\/7c8fb07ffe4f1c14c9ef4f47aa681f36.jpg","creator":["Tanesha High"],"description":"

When Anglicanism was made the official religion of the Carolina Colony in 1703, only one parish was established in the city of Charleston: St. Philip\u2019s. Less than fifty years later, the building became too small to adequately serve the numbers wishing to worship there, leading citizens to petition for the division of the parish. In June of 1751, the parish of St. Michael was established, and work quickly began on the construction of a new church.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many of the skilled and unskilled laborers on pre-1865 construction projects in Charleston were enslaved. Due to the scarcity of primary sources, details about most of the building projects have been lost to time. St. Michael\u2019s Church, however, is a rare exception. Still, those records were almost unknown until the South Carolina Historical Society conserved them in 2003.<\/span><\/p>\n

From the records, we learn that between October 1752 and November 1754, Samuel Prioleau Jr., secretary of the Commissioners to Build a New Church at Charles Town, kept track of the names of enslaved laborers and their owners. The purpose of his careful accounting was to enable him to pay owners for the work of their enslaved laborers he hired to build the church\u2014a common practice referred to as <\/span>hiring out<\/span>. Southerners would hire the labor of the enslaved from their masters for seasonal or short term projects (like construction) or to supplement their enslaved labor force (typically at harvest time). Private individuals, churches, and the government used this system to acquire the labor required for a variety of projects without investing in purchasing slaves. Urban enslaved people who were hired out often lived in a state of quasi-freedom that angered many southern whites and undermined the slave system. The enslaved people who participated in the system took full advantage of the benefits of hiring out. Frederick Douglass, for instance, noted how he and others used it as a way to escape slavery. When they were allowed to keep some of the money they earned, they used it to buy their freedom. The hiring out system did not apply to just men; at least one woman is listed on the tally sheets for St. Michael\u2019s.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The white workers and craftsmen hired to build the church likely had enslaved assistants or supervised the work of highly trained enslaved artisans and craftsmen. In Charleston, manual labor was often seen as work that was only to be done by the enslaved. In urban areas, this included construction and also more detailed work such as carving, plastering, and other decorative work.<\/span><\/p>\n

The role of enslaved and free Blacks in the history of St. Michael\u2019s stretches beyond the construction of the church. Many owners required the people they enslaved to attend church with them. The enslaved congregants would watch the services from the gallery or in a segregated seating area. By attending St. Michael\u2019s with their masters, the enslaved were hearing scripture interpreted in a way that told them honoring their masters was their highest service to God. Owners, however, could not monitor the conversations engaged in before and after services in these churches.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The records kept at St. Michael\u2019s and others reveal even more about the religious lives of those who attended. For instance, some contain the names of those who received private communion because they could not participate in regular services. It is noted in those records that \u201cservants\u201d received private communion as well. Black children also attended the Sunday School. These were likely the children of free Blacks since laws prohibited the education of enslaved people.<\/span><\/p>\n

After emancipation, the role of Black congregants in white churches was hotly debated. Some Blacks chose to attend all-Black congregations. In contrast, others were forced to leave or denied membership in churches they had attended prior to emancipation<\/span>. By 1870, only two Black people were eligible to participate in communion at St. Michael\u2019s, and in 1908 the last was buried in the cemetery purchased by the parish for the express purpose of burying the Black members of the congregation. The leaders of St. Michael\u2019s accepted Blacks as members, but when Blacks made an attempt to participate in the Diocese Convention in 1888, St. Michael\u2019s denied them this opportunity. The church would not send Black representatives until the leadership changed in 1895.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

St. Michael\u2019s location on the corner of Broad and Meeting Streets makes it one of Charleston\u2019s iconic Four Corners of Law. Despite the site's loose association with justice, the people who constructed the church building were denied their own freedom and justice. But, they were not nameless. From Samuel Prioleau Jr.\u2019s careful accounting of the labor of enslaved people hired to build the church\u2019s walls, we know who they were; we can find their descendants. Those names provide the content for a potential memorial that would finally give them some measure of recognition for the work they performed in building the cultural landscape of historic Charleston.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","sponsor":null,"subtitle":"An Injustice on the Four Corners of Law","accessinfo":null,"lede":"When Anglicanism was made the official religion of the Carolina Colony in 1703, only one parish was established in the city of Charleston: St. Philip\u2019s. Less than fifty years later, the building became too small to adequately serve the numbers wishing to worship there, leading citizens to petition for the division of the parish.","website":null,"related_resources":["Bernard Edward Powers, Black Charlestonians: A Social History, 1822-1885<\/i>. (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1994).





<\/span>","George Walton Williams, St. Michael\u2019s Charleston, 1751-1951: With Supplements 1951-2001<\/i>. (Charleston, S.C.: College of Charleston Library, 2001).
<\/span>","\u201cHistory.<\/a>\u201d St. Michaels Church | Downtown Charleston, SC | Anglican.<\/i>
<\/span>","John B. Boles, <\/span>Masters and Slaves in the House of the Lord\u202f: Race and Religion in the American South, 1740-1870<\/span><\/i>. (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2015).<\/span>","Maurie D. McInnis, <\/span>The Politics of Taste in Antebellum Charleston<\/span><\/i>. (Chapel Hill North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 2005).<\/span>","NCC Staff. \u201cRemembering Frederick Douglass\u2019 Escape from Slavery.\u201d (<\/span>National Constitution Center<\/span><\/i>, September 3, 2019).
<\/span>","Nicolas M. Butler, \u201cThe Builders of St. Michael\u2019s Church, Charleston, 1752-1754.\u201d (Carologue<\/i>, Fall 2007).
<\/span>","\u201cThe Men Who Built St. Michael\u2019s Church, 1752\u20131754.\u201d (<\/span>Charleston County Public Library<\/span><\/i>, July 6, 2018).<\/span>"],"factoids":[],"files":{"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/fullsize\/7c8fb07ffe4f1c14c9ef4f47aa681f36.jpg":{"id":288,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","title":"North and East Elevations","thumbnail":"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/square_thumbnails\/7c8fb07ffe4f1c14c9ef4f47aa681f36.jpg","description":"1963 HABS image of the north and east elevations of St. Michael's. Facing southwest. The 1896 post office can be seen in the background across Meeting Street. The two buildings make up two of the Four Corners of Law. Courtesy of Library of Congress."},"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/fullsize\/70fdf61500eb251b1f7facc6d049abb2.jpg":{"id":284,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","title":"Washington McLean Gadsden","thumbnail":"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/square_thumbnails\/70fdf61500eb251b1f7facc6d049abb2.jpg","description":"Image of bell ringer Washington McLean Gasden. He served in the positions from 1837-1898. He is the first found in the church records. Other African Americans also filled the role of bell ringer. Source: <\/span>St. Michael\u2019s Charleston, 1751-1951: With Supplements 1951-2001, <\/em>page 260.<\/span>"},"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/fullsize\/8353ad468b52ad74a73ecc73b05244d3.jpg":{"id":285,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","title":"Glimpse of Charleston and Bay","thumbnail":"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/square_thumbnails\/8353ad468b52ad74a73ecc73b05244d3.jpg","description":" \u201c<\/span>A glimpse of Charleston and Bay, from St. Michael's Church from <\/span>Picturesque America<\/em>.\u201d Image created to represent Charleston in an 1870s travel magazine. Shows and African American man with a mop taking a break from his work to take in a view of the harbor. Courtesy of College of Charleston Libraries, Speical Collections. <\/span>"},"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/fullsize\/33666313afe8cb0c9db2f2e70f8f8e86.jpg":{"id":280,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","title":"Saint Michael's Church Full","thumbnail":"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/square_thumbnails\/33666313afe8cb0c9db2f2e70f8f8e86.jpg","description":"This is a full view photograph of the church from the Historic Buildings of America Survey. Courtesy of the Library of Congress."},"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/fullsize\/e2f47de427c938c50aed0bfdaf3398e9.jpg":{"id":282,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","title":"North and West Elevations","thumbnail":"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/square_thumbnails\/e2f47de427c938c50aed0bfdaf3398e9.jpg","description":"1963 HABS image of the north and west elevations of St. Michael's. Facing southeast. The 1896 post office can be seen in the forground across Meeting Street. The two buildings make up two of the Four Corners of Law. Courtesy of Library of Congress."},"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/fullsize\/5612720edd082a7e694437002621343e.jpg":{"id":283,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","title":" South and West Elevations","thumbnail":"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/square_thumbnails\/5612720edd082a7e694437002621343e.jpg","description":"1963 HABS image of the south and west elevations of St. Michael's. Facing northwest. Courtesy of Library of Congress."},"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/fullsize\/87d5ca7505707419f2edd6079cafa5a2.jpg":{"id":286,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","title":"Saint Michael's Interior","thumbnail":"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/square_thumbnails\/87d5ca7505707419f2edd6079cafa5a2.jpg","description":"Pictured here is the interior of St. Michael's in 1963. Courtesy of Library of Congress."},"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/fullsize\/4c0232777b380f2bf5877695e393a3cd.jpg":{"id":287,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","title":"Pews of St. Michael's","thumbnail":"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/square_thumbnails\/4c0232777b380f2bf5877695e393a3cd.jpg","description":"In this 1963, the church's pews and organ can be seen. Courtesy of the Library of Congress."}}}