The black church was the basis of the black community. It's impossible to talk about black thought without talking about black religious values and notions. African-Americans have constructed their own historical narrative relying on motifs from the Exodus story, for instance. They were a chosen people in a land where they were enslaved and their mission was to redeem themselves and the land. There is a millennial quality to African-American thought and a hope for that day of deliverance.
Religious values permeate black thought on every level.
It was rather challenging. I was teaching my first real classes. I was expecting a lot of questions that I didn't get and got questions I wasn't expecting. I've come to appreciate close interactions with students. It's such a great place to teach, with two courses per semester rather than three or four.