"To End This Day of Strife": Churchwomen and the Campaign for Integration, 1920-1970 Janine Marie Denomme University of Pennsylvania

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2001 "To End This Day of Strife": Churchwomen and the Campaign for Integration, 1920-1970 Janine Marie Denomme University of Pennsylvania Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the American Politics Commons, American Studies Commons, Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Cultural History Commons, History of Religion Commons, Other Religion Commons, Political History Commons, Social History Commons, United States History Commons, and the Women's History Commons Recommended Citation Denomme, Janine Marie, ""To End This Day of Strife": Churchwomen and the Campaign for Integration, 1920-1970" (2001). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. Paper 1536. This dissertation was received through the American Civilization department, which no longer exists. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1536 For more information, please contact [email protected]. "To End This Day of Strife": Churchwomen and the Campaign for Integration, 1920-1970 Abstract "'To End This Day of Strife': Churchwomen and the Campaign for Integration, 1920-1970," explores the development and significance of a race relations agenda within a national interdenominational and interracial organization of women, known today as Church Women United (CWU). This project examines the role the organization played in the expansion of a moral language of race that reached across region, race and denomination. The eysk to this expansion were twofold: First, the participation of African American churchwomen in the organization from its beginnings stimulated dialogue and action; and second, the missionary legacy of white churchwomen, which, despite its initial imperialist assumptions, introduced churchwomen to a religious idiom and intellectual experience that embraced cultural diversity. Black churchwomen pursued membership in CWU as a potential avenue to a more fully integrated American society. As they did, they challenged white churchwomen to take moral responsibility for race relations and supplanted the prominent black stereotypes held by white America. Using primarily the organization's national papers housed at the General Commission on Archives and History at Drew University, Madison, New Jersey, this project contributes to recent scholarship on the civil rights movement. It explores the more intimate aspects of its unknown players and expands the periodization of the struggle as well as the limited literature on women's role in the movement. "To End this Day of Strife" examines the multiple interpretations of racial integration for various groups of citizens. In particular, it considers the moments when white and African American churchwomen's pursuit of racial integration conflicted and coalesced with each other. The ap rticipation by CWU in the antecedents of as well as what is considered the actual civil rights movement provides a valuable context to understand better the place of religion in twentieth century American history. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group History First Advisor Kathleen M. Brown Second Advisor Thomas Sugrue Keywords churchwomen, integration, civil rights movement This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1536 Subject Categories American Politics | American Studies | Civil Rights and Discrimination | Cultural History | History of Religion | Other Religion | Political History | Social History | United States History | Women's History Comments This dissertation was received through the American Civilization department, which no longer exists. This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1536 “TO END THIS DAY OF STRIFE”: CHURCHWOMEN AND THE CAMPAIGN FOR INTEGRATION, 1920-1970 Janine Marie Denomme A DISSERTATION in American Civilization Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2001 Supervisor of Dissertation . Supervisor of Dissertation Graduate Group Chairpei Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. COPYRIGHT Janine Marie Denomme 2001 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Acknowledgments Many academics, including myself, have described the years of writing one’s dissertation, at least in part, in terms that include isolation. The realization that there is no blueprint to follow, no exact formula and no direct path to the conclusion of one’s research, can be experienced with profound angst. Those days when the pages seem to write themselves have been interspersed with just as many days (if not more) of peering at an empty screen and begging for inspiration from a scholarly muse. Those glorious moments when a light bulb goes on, the planets align and another chapter comes to an end often seem distant and too few. On the other hand, although this section of the dissertation is “optional” according to Penn's Dissertation Manual, it is in no way optional for me. Many individuals and institutions have consistently reminded me that I do not work in isolation. Time and again, if I simply reached for the phone or sent a quick plea over the electronic airwaves, calling on someone for help, I was met with kindness, support, encouragement and, on those really good days, a hot meal. It is far too easy to focus on the difficulties involved in such a project as this one but entirely necessary to thank the many people who had a hand in the completion of this work. I shall begin by thanking my advisors who adopted me unofficially into the History Department at Penn when the AmCiv program was flailing. To Kathy Brown and Tom Sugrue, thank you for your hours of reading, editing, advising and cajoling. I have appreciated our conversations about my research and writing and your willingness to work with me across the miles. I know for certain that my thinking and writing has iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. benefited profoundly because of your input. Kathy, I thank you for your personal support as well. I have often thought of you as a midwife as you coached me through this “birthing process.” I will always be grateful to you. Thanks also go to Drew Gilpin Faust for her willingness to work with me despite the many demands upon her. I must also add that I have had the wonderful honor to have taught for Tom, Kathy and Drew. All three have gifted me with superb models of teaching - both in and outside the classroom. I aspire to impact my students as much as they do. Last but not least, I would like to thank Barbara Savage who has also accompanied me on this journey. I want to profusely thank Mel Hammarberg who, as the chair of the AmCiv program at Penn, has seen me through until the end. In the midst of a collapsing program, Mel has fought for funding to ensure that the last of us finish our degrees. To him and to the University of Pennsylvania, I thank for the financial support including dissertation fellowships. In addition, many thanks go to Deborah Broadnax who has always watched out for me administratively, ensuring that my paper work was in order. This has been especially true since I moved back to Chicago and did not have easy access to the administrative offices on campus. Important credit must go to two women who have made the papers of Church Women United (CWU) available for scholarly use. Dodie Younger and Jane Burton, both former staff members for CWU, have spent the past ten-plus years of their lives organizing boxes and boxes (and boxes) of papers dating back to the turn of the twentieth century. The fact that they were lay-archivists and were working part time did not deter them from climbing what must have seemed like a mountain of papers. The result is a fantastic iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. collection housed at the General Commission on Archives and History, the United Methodist Church at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. The collection is wonderful not only for the purposes for which I have used it but also in regards to the ecumenical movement including the World Council of Churches, women’s work in the church including the institutional obstacles inhibiting them and women’s missionary- related causes. I urge scholars to take a look at the fruit of their work. Dodie and Jane would also. I'm sure, give tribute to the archivists at Drew University for their willingness to house the papers as well as their assistance in cataloguing the collection. I too am most appreciative of the substantial assistance I received at Drew in my many trips there. I would especially like to thank Kristen Turner, an archivist at Drew when I began, and Mark Shenise. Thank you Kristen (my pen pal!) for your scholarly assistance as well as your friendship that continued after you left Drew. Thanks also to the many other librarians and archivists who have assisted me in my research. These institutions include the University of Pennsylvania Van Pelt Library, Garrett Theological Seminary Library, the Presbyterian Historical Society, the Chicago Historical Society, the Detroit Public Library, the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House and the National Council of Negro Women archives in Washington D.C., the Bentley Library at the University of Michigan, the Indianapolis Historical Society, the National YWCA archives in NYC, and the Englewood Library, Englewood, New Jersey. Thanks also to the Rochester, New York and Evanston, Illinois offices of CWU for allowing me to sift through their papers housed on their premises. The generosity of these many people and institutions has made this project possible. v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. In addition to my committee members who read my dissertation, I am very grateful to those people who have read bits and pieces of it along the way.
Recommended publications
  • Black Women, Educational Philosophies, and Community Service, 1865-1965/ Stephanie Y
    University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-2003 Living legacies : Black women, educational philosophies, and community service, 1865-1965/ Stephanie Y. Evans University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Evans, Stephanie Y., "Living legacies : Black women, educational philosophies, and community service, 1865-1965/" (2003). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 915. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/915 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. M UMASS. DATE DUE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST LIVING LEGACIES: BLACK WOMEN, EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES, AND COMMUNITY SERVICE, 1865-1965 A Dissertation Presented by STEPHANIE YVETTE EVANS Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2003 Afro-American Studies © Copyright by Stephanie Yvette Evans 2003 All Rights Reserved BLACK WOMEN, EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOHIES, AND COMMUNITY SERVICE, 1865-1964 A Dissertation Presented by STEPHANIE YVETTE EVANS Approved as to style and content by: Jo Bracey Jr., Chair William Strickland,
    [Show full text]
  • 1 After Slavery & Reconstruction: the Black Struggle in the U.S. for Freedom, Equality, and Self-Realization* —A Bibliogr
    After Slavery & Reconstruction: The Black Struggle in the U.S. for Freedom, Equality, and Self-Realization* —A Bibliography Patrick S. O’Donnell (2020) Jacob Lawrence, Library, 1966 Apologia— Several exceptions notwithstanding (e.g., some titles treating the Reconstruction Era), this bibliography begins, roughly, with the twentieth century. I have not attempted to comprehensively cover works of nonfiction or the arts generally but, once more, I have made— and this time, a fair number of—exceptions by way of providing a taste of the requisite material. So, apart from the constraints of most of my other bibliographies: books, in English, these particular constraints are intended to keep the bibliography to a fairly modest length (around one hundred pages). This compilation is far from exhaustive, although it endeavors to be representative of the available literature, whatever the influence of my idiosyncratic beliefs and 1 preferences. I trust the diligent researcher will find titles on particular topics or subject areas by browsing carefully through the list. I welcome notice of titles by way of remedying any deficiencies. Finally, I have a separate bibliography on slavery, although its scope is well beyond U.S. history. * Or, if you prefer, “self-fulfillment and human flourishing (eudaimonia).” I’m not here interested in the question of philosophical and psychological differences between these concepts (i.e., self- realization and eudaimonia) and the existing and possible conceptions thereof, but more simply and broadly in their indispensable significance in reference to human nature and the pivotal metaphysical and moral purposes they serve in our critical and evaluative exercises (e.g., and after Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, in employing criteria derived from the notion of ‘human capabilities and functionings’) as part of our individual and collective historical quest for “the Good.” However, I might note that all of these concepts assume a capacity for self- determination.
    [Show full text]
  • The Smith Family…
    BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY PROVO. UTAH Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Brigham Young University http://www.archive.org/details/smithfamilybeingOOread ^5 .9* THE SMITH FAMILY BEING A POPULAR ACCOUNT OF MOST BRANCHES OF THE NAME—HOWEVER SPELT—FROM THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY DOWNWARDS, WITH NUMEROUS PEDIGREES NOW PUBLISHED FOR THE FIRST TIME COMPTON READE, M.A. MAGDALEN COLLEGE, OXFORD \ RECTOR OP KZNCHESTER AND VICAR Or BRIDGE 50LLARS. AUTHOR OP "A RECORD OP THE REDEt," " UH8RA CCELI, " CHARLES READS, D.C.L. I A MEMOIR," ETC ETC *w POPULAR EDITION LONDON ELLIOT STOCK 62 PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. 1904 OLD 8. LEE LIBRARY 6KIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY PROVO UTAH TO GEORGE W. MARSHALL, ESQ., LL.D. ROUGE CROIX PURSUIVANT-AT-ARM3, LORD OF THE MANOR AND PATRON OP SARNESFIELD, THE ABLEST AND MOST COURTEOUS OP LIVING GENEALOGISTS WITH THE CORDIAL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS OP THE COMPILER CONTENTS CHAPTER I. MEDLEVAL SMITHS 1 II. THE HERALDS' VISITATIONS 9 III. THE ELKINGTON LINE . 46 IV. THE WEST COUNTRY SMITHS—THE SMITH- MARRIOTTS, BARTS 53 V. THE CARRINGTONS AND CARINGTONS—EARL CARRINGTON — LORD PAUNCEFOTE — SMYTHES, BARTS. —BROMLEYS, BARTS., ETC 66 96 VI. ENGLISH PEDIGREES . vii. English pedigrees—continued 123 VIII. SCOTTISH PEDIGREES 176 IX IRISH PEDIGREES 182 X. CELEBRITIES OF THE NAME 200 265 INDEX (1) TO PEDIGREES .... INDEX (2) OF PRINCIPAL NAMES AND PLACES 268 PREFACE I lay claim to be the first to produce a popular work of genealogy. By "popular" I mean one that rises superior to the limits of class or caste, and presents the lineage of the fanner or trades- man side by side with that of the nobleman or squire.
    [Show full text]
  • The Negro at Work in New York City, by George 2 the Negro at Work in New York City, by George
    1 Part I, the Negro as a Part II, the Negro in Business, were to be Part III, the Negro in the Professions. But the time PART I<p> PAGE CHAPTER I CHAPTER II CHAPTER III CHAPTER IV CHAPTER V PART II<p> THE NEGRO IN BUSINESS IN NEW YORK CITY CHAPTER I CHAPTER II CHAPTER III CHAPTER IV PART I<p> THE NEGRO AS A WAGE EARNER IN NEW YORK CITY CHAPTER I CHAPTER II CHAPTER III Chapter IV CHAPTER IV CHAPTER V PART II<p> THE NEGRO IN BUSINESS IN NEW YORK CITY CHAPTER I CHAPTER II CHAPTER III CHAPTER IV The Negro at Work in New York City, by George 2 The Negro at Work in New York City, by George The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Negro at Work in New York City, by George Edmund Haynes This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Negro at Work in New York City A Study in Economic Progress Author: George Edmund Haynes Release Date: February 28, 2008 [eBook #24712] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEGRO AT WORK IN NEW YORK CITY*** E-text prepared by Jeannie Howse, Suzanne Shell, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations.
    [Show full text]
  • Rethinking Pauline Hopkins
    Rethinking Pauline Hopkins: Plagiarism, Appropriation, and African American Cultural Production Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/alh/article/30/4/e3/5099108 by guest on 29 September 2021 Introduction, pp. e4–e8 By Richard Yarborough The Practice of Plagiarism in a Changing Context pp. e9–e13 By JoAnn Pavletich Black Livingstone: Pauline Hopkins, Of One Blood, and the Archives of Colonialism, pp. e14–e20 By Ira Dworkin Appropriating Tropes of Womanhood and Literary Passing in Pauline Hopkins’s Hagar’s Daughter, pp. e21–e27 By Lauren Dembowitz Introduction Richard Yarborough* Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/alh/article/30/4/e3/5099108 by guest on 29 September 2021 I recall first encountering Pauline Hopkins in graduate school in the mid-1970s. Conducting research on her work entailed tolerat- ing the eyestrain brought on by microfilm and barely legible photo- copies of the Colored American Magazine. I also vividly remember the appearance of the 1978 reprint edition of her novel Contending Forces (1900) in Southern Illinois University Press’s Lost American Fiction series. I experienced both gratification at the long-overdue attention the novel was garnering and also no little distress upon reading Gwendolyn Brooks’s afterword to the text. While acknowl- edging our “inevitable indebtedness” to Hopkins, Brooks renders this brutal judgment: “Often doth the brainwashed slave revere the modes and idolatries of the master. And Pauline Hopkins consis- tently proves herself a continuing slave, despite little bursts of righ- teous heat, throughout Contending Forces” (409, 404–405). This view of the novel as a limited, compromised achievement reflects the all-too-common lack at the time of a nuanced, informed engage- ment with much post-Reconstruction African American literature broadly and with that produced by African American women in particular.
    [Show full text]
  • More Than Mrs Robinson: Citizenship Schools in Lowcountry South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia, 1957-1970
    More Than Mrs Robinson: Citizenship Schools in Lowcountry South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia, 1957-1970 (A Dissertation submitted in requirement for the Degree of Doctor in Philosophy, The University of Nottingham, October 2009) Clare Russell 1 Abstract The first ―citizenship school‖ (a literacy class that taught adults to read and write in order that they could register to vote) was established by Highlander Folk School of Monteagle, Tennessee on Johns Island, South Carolina in 1957. Within three years, the schools were extended across the neighboring Sea Islands, to mainland Charleston and to Savannah, Georgia. In 1961, after Highlander faced legal challenges to its future, it transferred the schools to the fledgling Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), who extended the program across the South. Historians have made far-reaching claims for the successes and benefits of the schools. For example, they claim that they recruited inexperienced but committed people and raised them to the status of community leaders; that they encouraged civic cooperation and political activism and formed the ―foundation on which the civil rights movement‖ was built and they argue that the schools were an unprecedented opportunity for women to develop as activists and as leaders. Yet, they base these claims on certain myths about the schools: that the first teacher Bernice Robinson was an inexperienced and uneducated teacher, that her class was a blueprint for similar ones and that Highlander bequeathed its educational philosophy to the SCLC program. They make claims about female participation without analyzing the gender composition of classes. This dissertation challenges these assumptions by comparing and contrasting programs established in Lowcountry South Carolina and in Savannah.
    [Show full text]
  • The Politics of the Chicago Urban League, 1916-1940
    University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-1990 The limitations of racial democracy : the politics of the Chicago Urban League, 1916-1940. Preston H. Smith University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Smith, Preston H., "The limitations of racial democracy : the politics of the Chicago Urban League, 1916-1940." (1990). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 1805. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/1805 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. UM ASS/ AMHERST Ill IIIHill 31EQbbD13fllDlb5 MMIHKIB THE LIMITATIONS OF THE RACIAL DFMOrp apv POLITICS OF THE CfflCAGO Sffi^ijE, 1916-1940 A Dissertation Presented by PRESTON HOWARD SMITH, II Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 1990 Department of Political Science Copyright by Preston Howard Smith, II 1990 AH Rights Reserved THE LIMITATIONS OF THE RACIAL DFMDPR apv- POLITICS OF THE CHgAGO URBAN L^GUE, A Dissertation Presented by PRESTON HOWARD SMITH, II Approved as to style and content by: Jear^l Elshtain, Chairperson of Committee Nicholas Xenos, Member Adolph L. Reed, Jr., Member George T. Sulzner, Department Head Department of Political Science ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I like to thank my dissertation committee, Nicholas Xenos, Adolph L Reed Jr and especially the chairperson, Jean B.
    [Show full text]
  • Centennial Bibliography on the History of American Sociology
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Sociology Department, Faculty Publications Sociology, Department of 2005 Centennial Bibliography On The iH story Of American Sociology Michael R. Hill [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/sociologyfacpub Part of the Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, and the Social Psychology and Interaction Commons Hill, Michael R., "Centennial Bibliography On The iH story Of American Sociology" (2005). Sociology Department, Faculty Publications. 348. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/sociologyfacpub/348 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Sociology, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Sociology Department, Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Hill, Michael R., (Compiler). 2005. Centennial Bibliography of the History of American Sociology. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association. CENTENNIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN SOCIOLOGY Compiled by MICHAEL R. HILL Editor, Sociological Origins In consultation with the Centennial Bibliography Committee of the American Sociological Association Section on the History of Sociology: Brian P. Conway, Michael R. Hill (co-chair), Susan Hoecker-Drysdale (ex-officio), Jack Nusan Porter (co-chair), Pamela A. Roby, Kathleen Slobin, and Roberta Spalter-Roth. © 2005 American Sociological Association Washington, DC TABLE OF CONTENTS Note: Each part is separately paginated, with the number of pages in each part as indicated below in square brackets. The total page count for the entire file is 224 pages. To navigate within the document, please use navigation arrows and the Bookmark feature provided by Adobe Acrobat Reader.® Users may search this document by utilizing the “Find” command (typically located under the “Edit” tab on the Adobe Acrobat toolbar).
    [Show full text]
  • Bishop Richard Allen and His Spirit
    287.80924 A2546 GITUDINALEN OAK ST . HDSF UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA - CHAMPAIGN BOOKSTACKS The person charging this material is re sponsible for its return to the library from which it was withdrawn on or before the Latest Date stamped below . Theft , mutilation , and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University . To renew call Telephone Center , 333-8400 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA - CHAMPAIGN NOV 3 1994 DEC 02 1905 NOV 1 71909 DEC 1 8 1998 FERO 9 2000 SEP 1 2 2000 skal DEC 1. 4. 2001 L161-0-1096 Baxter Rex . I. M. Bishop Richard Allen and His Spirit Ву REV . DANIEL MINORT BAXTER , D. 0 . Author of " Christian Tradition and Heathen Mythology , " " Has the United States Gov ernment in it the Elements of Per manency ? " " The Pastor and His Officers . " Etc. Introduction by Rev. J. M. Henderson , M.D. , Pastor of St. John's A. M. E. Church , 1 Philadelphia , Pa . PRINTED BY Uhr A. M. E. Book Concern D. 4. Baxter , Brarral Business Manager 631 PINE STREET PHILA . , PA . Copyright , 1923 BY DANIEL M. BAXTER All rights reserved DEDICATORY To Bishop Richard Allen , his wife Sarah , and the sons and daughters of African Meth odism the world over , the cause for which the fathers so valiantly struggled to establish her principles , and to the memory of Dr. Benjamin Rush and Mr. Robert Ralston , this volume is affectionately dedicated . + 1 . ! 1 - . 28750924 Al 54b INTRODUCTION “ Philosophers tell us that one dominant idea was the basal influence in the develop ment in each of the ancient kingdoms of Egypt , Greece and Rome .
    [Show full text]
  • Barber Final Dissertation
    The Gospel Horse in the Valley: Evangelical Slavery and Freedom in the Chattahoochee Valley, 1821-1877 by Stephen Presley Barber A dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Auburn University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Auburn, Alabama May 9, 2011 Keywords: Slavery, Religion, Baptists, Methodists, Georgia Copyright 2011 by Stephen Presley Barber Approved by Charles A. Israel, Chair, Associate Professor of History Kenneth W. Noe, Draughon Professor of History Anthony G. Carey, Associate Professor of History Abstract This dissertation examines the introduction of evangelical religion into the Chattahoochee Valley of Georgia during the frontier era, the formation and characteristics of biracial churches during the antebellum period, and the post-bellum racial separation and organization of independent black churches. It will document the attitudes, ideas, and actions of evangelicals as they formed, organized, and maintained biracial churches in the Chattahoochee Valley. In these churches, black and white evangelicals practiced “evangelical slavery,” defined as the manifestation of chattel slavery in the context of evangelical Christianity as practiced by slaveholders and slaves. This study also discloses the complexities of interactions of blacks and whites and their experiences as they grappled with the uncertainties and conflict brought about by emancipation. This dissertation is the first narrative of the religious history of the Chattahoochee Valley from the beginnings of white settlement to the end of Reconstruction. It is a subset of larger works on southern religion, but uniquely examines the continuity of southern evangelical religion between the time of the invasion of the Chattahoochee Valley by Methodist missionaries in 1821 and the practically complete institutional religious separation by 1877, thus augmenting and challenging previous interpretations of processes and chronology by revealing local patterns of behavior by black and white southern evangelicals.
    [Show full text]
  • American Book Awards 2004
    BEFORE COLUMBUS FOUNDATION PRESENTS THE AMERICAN BOOK AWARDS 2004 America was intended to be a place where freedom from discrimination was the means by which equality was achieved. Today, American culture THE is the most diverse ever on the face of this earth. Recognizing literary excel- lence demands a panoramic perspective. A narrow view strictly to the mainstream ignores all the tributaries that feed it. American literature is AMERICAN not one tradition but all traditions. From those who have been here for thousands of years to the most recent immigrants, we are all contributing to American culture. We are all being translated into a new language. BOOK Everyone should know by now that Columbus did not “discover” America. Rather, we are all still discovering America—and we must continue to do AWARDS so. The Before Columbus Foundation was founded in 1976 as a nonprofit educational and service organization dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of contemporary American multicultural literature. The goals of BCF are to provide recognition and a wider audience for the wealth of cultural and ethnic diversity that constitutes American writing. BCF has always employed the term “multicultural” not as a description of an aspect of American literature, but as a definition of all American litera- ture. BCF believes that the ingredients of America’s so-called “melting pot” are not only distinct, but integral to the unique constitution of American Culture—the whole comprises the parts. In 1978, the Board of Directors of BCF (authors, editors, and publishers representing the multicultural diversity of American Literature) decided that one of its programs should be a book award that would, for the first time, respect and honor excellence in American literature without restric- tion or bias with regard to race, sex, creed, cultural origin, size of press or ad budget, or even genre.
    [Show full text]
  • Jeanne Theoharis a Life History of Being Rebellious
    Want to Start a Revolution? Gore, Dayo, Theoharis, Jeanne, Woodard, Komozi Published by NYU Press Gore, Dayo & Theoharis, Jeanne & Woodard, Komozi. Want to Start a Revolution? Radical Women in the Black Freedom Struggle. New York: NYU Press, 2009. Project MUSE., https://muse.jhu.edu/. For additional information about this book https://muse.jhu.edu/book/10942 Access provided by The College Of Wooster (14 Jan 2019 17:21 GMT) 5 “A Life History of Being Rebellious” The Radicalism of Rosa Parks Jeanne Theoharis In all these years . it’s strange . but maybe not . nobody asks . about my life . if I have children . why I moved to Detroit . what I think . about what we tried . to do. Something needs to be said . about Rosa Parks . other than her feet . were tired. Lots of people . on that bus . and many before . and since . had tired feet . lots of people . still do . they just don’t know . where to plant them. Nikki Giovanni, “Harvest for Rosa Parks”1 On October 30, 2005, Rosa Parks became the first woman and second African American to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol. Forty thou- sand Americans—including President and Mrs. Bush—came to pay their respects. Thousands more packed her seven-hour funeral celebration at the Greater Grace Temple of Detroit and waited outside to see a horse- drawn carriage carry Mrs. Parks’s coffin to the cemetery.2 Yet what is com- monly known—and much of what was widely eulogized—about Parks is a troubling distortion of what actually makes her fitting for such a national tribute.
    [Show full text]