Nashville

Liberating Black Church History:

Making It Plain

Copyright © 2014 by Abingdon Press

All rights reserved.

No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission can be addressed to Permissions, The United Methodist Publishing House, P.O. Box 801, 201 Eighth Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37202-0801, or emailed to permissions@umpublishing.org.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Floyd-Thomas, Juan Marcial.

 Liberating black church history : making it plain / Juan M. Floyd-Thomas.

 1 online resource.

 Includes bibliographical references.

 Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

 ISBN 978-1-4267-8682-2 (epub) — ISBN 978-0-687-33275-5 (print) 1. Black theology—History. 2. African American churches—History. 3. United States—Church history. I. Title.

 BT82.7

 277.30089'96073—dc23

2014005581

Scripture quotations unless noted otherwise are from the Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by the Common English Bible. All rights reserved. Used by permission. www.CommonEnglishBible.com.

Scripture quotations marked (NRSV) are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

To my dearest Stacey

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Lessons the Dark Past Has Taught Me

Chapter 1.

Waking the Nations Underground: The Black Church

Tradition from Enslavement to Emancipation

Chapter 2.

Making America Again: The Black Church Tradition from

Segregation to the Civil Rights Movement

Chapter 3.

We Have Been Believers in the New Jerusalem: The Black

Church Tradition from Black Liberation Theology to

Barack Obama

Notes

Back to Contents Page

Without question, writing a book is an elaborate process that typically consists of varying degrees of inspiration, frustration, perspiration, and determination, but rarely is it ever done in isolation. I want to thank my editor at Abingdon Press, Kathy Armistead, who did an exceptional job bringing this book to fruition. What most impressed me about working with Kathy was how deeply concerned she was about the project from its title to its main themes to its cover art. Her passionate commitment to this project kept me motivated to seeing the work to its completion. I am also grateful for Kelsey Spinnato, who copyedited the manuscript as well as guided the book through the final stages of production. Her straightforward attention to detail and evenhanded approach to the logistical details of the publishing process have been invaluable. I also reserve special thanks for Bob Ratcliff ...