Mt. Calvary Church,

Ben Hill County, Georgia, 2003.

c. Brian Brown

In recent history, African-Americans were prohibited, by the use of "Jim Crow" laws, from public assembly, though these laws were not applied to their places of worship. As a result, churches were generally the center of African-American social and cultural life. Most African-Americans worshipped very near their homes, often on the lands they cultivated.