WHITE PROTESTANTISM AND THE NEGRO

by David M. Reimers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 14, 1965

This study offers a thoroughly documented, detailed account of the slow progress of the Protestant churches toward acceptance of integration of the races in their membership and structures. Historically, the study begins with the three decades preceding the Civil War, when the rise of the cotton economy brought the issue of slavery to the fore. It then surveys the way in which both Southern and Northern churches ""solved"" the racial problem in the period between 1865 and World War I. Not until the second World War is upon us do the churches seem to have taken seriously the dimension of their responsibility for racial integration; and even in the past two decades, according to the record reported here, it would seem doubtful that the churches have done much more than follow where society is leading. This should be a very valuable addition to the growing literature on the racial problem, even though it will give little comfort to those who believe that somehow progress toward the solution of that problem has been brought about the the Protestant churches.

Pub Date: Oct. 14, 1965

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Oxford

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1965

Categories: NONFICTION