Editing First Great Awakening (section)

==Social effects==
===Women===
The Awakening played a major role in the lives of women, though they were rarely allowed to preach or take leadership roles.{{Sfn|Brekus|1998|pp=27–33}} A deep sense of religious enthusiasm encouraged women, especially to analyze their feelings, share them with other women, and write about them. They became more independent in their decisions, as in the choice of a husband.{{Sfn|Matthews|1992|p=38}} This introspection led many women to keep diaries or write memoirs. The autobiography of [[Hannah Heaton]] (1721–1794), a farm wife of [[North Haven, Connecticut]], tells of her experiences in the Great Awakening, her encounters with [[Devil in Christianity|Satan]], her intellectual and spiritual development, and daily life on the farm.{{Sfn|Lacey|1988}}

[[Phillis Wheatley]] was the first published black female poet, and she was converted to Christianity as a child after she was brought to America. Her beliefs were overt in her works; she describes the journey of being taken from a Pagan land to be exposed to Christianity in the colonies in a poem entitled "On Being Brought from Africa to America."<ref>Wheatley, Phillis. "[http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/Wheatley/phil.htm On Being Brought From Africa to America.]" (London: 1773). Poems By Phillis Wheatley.</ref>{{primary source inline|date=April 2020}} Wheatley became so influenced by the revivals and especially George Whitefield that she dedicated a poem to him after his death in which she referred to him as an "Impartial Saviour".<ref>Wheatley, Phillis. "[http://www.masshist.org/database/viewer.php?item_id=783 An Elegiac Poem On the Death of that celebrated Divine, and eminent Servant of Jesus Christ, the Reverend and Learned Mr. George Whitefield.]" (London: 1773). Massachusetts Historical Society.</ref>{{primary source inline|date=April 2020}} Sarah Osborn adds another layer to the role of women during the Awakening. She was a Rhode Island schoolteacher, and her writings offer a glimpse into the spiritual and cultural upheaval of the time period, including a 1743 memoir, various diaries and letters, and her anonymously published ''The Nature, Certainty and Evidence of True Christianity'' (1753).{{Sfn|Brekus|2013}}

===African Americans===
The First Great Awakening led to changes in Americans' understanding of God, themselves, the world around them, and religion. In the southern [[Tidewater (region)|Tidewater]] and [[South Carolina Lowcountry|Low Country]], northern [[Baptist]] and [[Methodist]] preachers converted both white and black people. Some were enslaved at their time of conversion, while others were free. Caucasians began to welcome dark-skinned individuals into their churches, taking their religious experiences seriously while also admitting them to active roles in congregations as exhorters, deacons, and even preachers, although the last was a rarity.{{Sfn|Kidd|2008|p=19}}

The message of spiritual equality appealed to many enslaved people, and, as African religious traditions continued to decline in North America, black people accepted Christianity in large numbers for the first time.{{Sfn|Lambert|2002}}

Evangelical leaders in the southern colonies had to deal with the issue of slavery more frequently than those in the North. Still, many leaders of the revivals proclaimed that slaveholders should educate enslaved people so that they could become literate and be able to read and study the Bible. Many Africans were finally provided with some sort of education.{{Sfn|Butler|1990}}{{page needed|date=April 2020}}

George Whitefield's sermons reiterated an egalitarian message but only translated into spiritual equality for Africans in the colonies, who mostly remained enslaved. Whitefield was known to criticize slaveholders who treated enslaved people cruelly and those who did not educate them, but he had no intention to abolish slavery. He lobbied to have slavery reinstated in Georgia and proceeded to become a slaveholder himself.<ref name=Kidd2008>Whitefield, George. ''To the Inhabitants of Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina'' (Philadelphia: 1740); quoted in {{harvnb|Kidd|2008|pp=112–115}}</ref> Whitefield shared a common belief held among evangelicals that, after conversion, slaves would be granted true equality in heaven. Despite his stance on slavery, Whitefield became influential among many Africans.{{Sfn|Kidd|2007|p=217}}

[[Samuel Davies (Presbyterian educator)|Samuel Davies]] was a Presbyterian minister who later became the fourth president of [[Princeton University]].<ref>[http://www.princeton.edu/pub/presidents/davies/ Presidents of Princeton] from princeton.edu. Retrieved April 8, 2012.</ref> He was noted for preaching to African enslaved people who converted to Christianity in unusually large numbers, and he is credited with the first sustained proselytization of enslaved people in Virginia.<ref name=reading>[http://www.historicpolegreen.org/resources/slave_literacy.php "Samuel Davies and the Transatlantic Campaign for Slave Literacy in Virginia,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304103510/http://www.historicpolegreen.org/resources/slave_literacy.php |date=2016-03-04 }} an abridged version of Jeffrey H. Richards' article. from historicpolegreen.org. Retrieved April 8, 2012.</ref> Davies wrote a letter in 1757 in which he refers to the religious zeal of an enslaved man whom he had encountered during his journey. "I am a poor slave, brought into a strange country, where I never expect to enjoy my liberty. While I lived in my own country, I knew nothing of that Jesus I have heard you speak so much about. I lived quite careless what will become of me when I die; but I now see such a life will never do, and I come to you, Sir, that you may tell me some good things, concerning Jesus Christ, and my Duty to GOD, for I am resolved not to live any more as I have done."<ref>''Letters from the Reverend Samuel Davies'' (London, 1757), p. 19.</ref>

Davies became accustomed to hearing such excitement from many black people who were exposed to the revivals. He believed that black people could attain knowledge equal to that of white people if given an adequate education, and he promoted the importance of allowing slaveholders to permit enslaved people to become literate so that they could become more familiar with the instructions of the Bible.{{Sfn|Lambert|2002|p=14}}

The emotional worship of the revivals appealed to many Africans, and African leaders started to emerge from the revivals in substantial numbers soon after they converted. These figures paved the way for the establishment of the first black congregations and churches in the American colonies.{{Sfn|Butler|Wacker|Balmer|2003|pp=112–113}} Before the [[American Revolution]], the first [[Black church|black Baptist churches]] were founded in the South in Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia; two black Baptist churches were founded in Petersburg, Virginia.{{Sfn|Brooks|2000}}