hat there can be no examination of the economic position of African-Americans without relationship to the church. The institution of the church in post-emancipation America is the single most important institution in African-American history. Interestingly enough there is a sect of Christianity that is peculiarly similar to Protestantism, except it is regulated to African-Americans. A Protestant model will be employed in this exposition of the church of Father Divine. The Father Divine Peace Mission Movement was centered in the New York area in the period of the Great Depression. Father Divine and twelve of his angels set up an employment agency in which the angels would hire out their services as domestic workers. Father Divine offered free dinners at his church in which he enlisted members. However, The growth of membership in the Peace Mission Movement during the Depression outstripped Father Divines capacity to place his converts in domestic employment. Self-employment provided a practical remedy for Divines supply problem. . .7 In this respect the Church of Father Divine is similar to Protestantism8 in creating a community with a propensity for entrepreneurship. God was regulated away from the individual, for in the Father Divines sect he was God. The rationalization of profit maximization was made evident in hymns like, If you love Him [God], get a job and go to work.9 The Peace Movement was responsible for an African-American entrepreneurial boom in the midst of the Depression. The center of this boom was Harlem, Manhattan. The most abundant category of entrepreneurial endeavors was restaurants. . . .twenty five restaurants in Harlem made a significant contribution to the relief of misery in the Depression. . .restaurants sold thousands of wholesome ten-cent meals to the unemployed.10 In order to foster African-American entrepreneurship the Peace Mission Movement . . .was selective in recruitment. . .demanded a c...
