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." 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 white people if given an adequate education, and he promoted the importance for slaveholders to permit enslaved peoples to become literate so that they could become more familiar with the instructions of the Bible. 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. Before the American Revolution, the first black Baptist churches were founded in the South in Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia; two Black Baptist churches were founded in Petersburg, Virginia. Scholarly interpretation The idea of a "great awakening" has been contested by historian Jon Butler as vague and exaggerated. He suggested that historians abandon the term Great Awakening because the 18th-century revivals were only regional events that occurred in only half of the American colonies and their effects on American religion and society were minimal. Historians have debated whether the Awakening had a political impact on the American Revolution which took place soon after. Alan Heimert sees a major impact, but most historians think it had only a minor impact. See also American philosophy References Citations Bibliography Further reading Scholarly studies Bonomi, Patricia U. Under the Cope of Heaven: Religion, Society, and Politics in Colonial America Oxford University Press, 1988 Bumsted, J. M. "What Must I Do to Be Saved?": The Great Awakening in Colonial America 1976, Thomson Publishing, . Choiński, Michał. The Rhetoric of the Revival: The Language of the Great Awakening Preachers. 2016, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, . Conforti, Joseph A. Jonathan Edwards, Religious Tradition and American Culture University of North Carolina Press. 1995. Fisher, Linford D. The