The New Orleans Spiritual Churches constitute a distinctive African American belief system. Influenced by Catholicism, Pentecostalism, Spiritualism, and Voodoo,

the way the sacred is acted out within an African-American aesthetic. During worship, members may be filled by the Holy Spirit, as in Pentecostal churches, or "

Modern American Spiritualism blossomed in the 1850s and continued as a viable faith into the 1870s. Because of its diversity and openness to new cultures and re

Photos of Spiritual Church possession trances, faith healings, social club marches, jazz funerals and more.