3. Individual Responsibility

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we focus in on how the Second Great Awakening was linked to other cultural changes through the idea of individualism. The idea of individual responsibility was rooted in other areas of culture at this time, including: (i) the education system; (ii) the temperance movement; (iii) diet; and (iv) the workplace. While these areas and the religious revival stressed individual responsibility, many of the congregation also attended revival meetings in search of community. For African Americans, the revival offered a message of liberation as the Black Church began to form at the centre of their communities.

Course

In this course, Professor Susan Curtis (Purdue University) explains the causes of the Second Great Awakening. We start by looking at the origins of the movement in the United States and then turn to examine its key characteristics. We then turn to look at how the Second Great Awakening was connected to another change occurring in society at the time - the Market Revolution. After this, we finish by looking at the consequences of the movement and with some concluding remarks.

Lecturer

Susan Curtis in Emeritus Professor of History and American Studies at Purdue University. She specialises in the History of American culture, religion, and race relations; and is the author of four books - A Consuming Faith:  The Social Gospel and Modern American Culture (1991): Dancing to a Black Man's Tune:  A Life of Scott Joplin (1994); The First Black Actors on the Great White Way (1998); and Colored Memories:  A Biographer's Quest for the Elusive Lester A. Walton (2008).