Book excerpt: Drawing on a wide array of sources to document cultural influences from Africa, the author vividly describes the emergence of an independent church tradition among African Americans. L.H. Whelchel demonstrates the struggles of Africans in the United States to build and maintain their own churches before showing how those churches and their ministers were often at the center of seminal events in the history of America. Dr. Whelchel provides an engaging and provocative narrative, and with detailed documentation and end notes for each chapter along with critical analyses which will be of benefit to ministers, scholars, teachers, students and the general reading public.