God and Race in American Politics: A Short History

224 Pages·2008·3.153 MB·English

by  Mark A. Noll

God and Race in American Politics
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Mark A. Noll
God and Race in
American Politics
A Short History
p r i n c e t o n u n i v e r s i t y p r e s s
p r i n c e t o n a n d ox f o r d
Copyright © 2008 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press,
41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street,
Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Noll, Mark A., 1946–
God and race in American politics : a short history / Mark A. Noll.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-691-12536-7 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. United States—Race relations—Political aspects. 2. Christianity and
politics—United States—History. 3. African Americans—Civil rights—
History. 4. African Americans—Religion. 5. African Americans—
Intellectual life. 6. United States—Politics and government—19th
century. 7. United States—Politics and government—20th century.
8. United States—Politics and government—2001–. I. Title.
E185.N65 2008
305.800973—dc22 2008016456
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Janson
Printed on acid-free paper. ∞
press.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
To
David and Bethany
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Contents
List of Illustrations
ix
Acknowledgments
xi
Introduction
1
Chapter I
The Bible, Slavery, and the “Irrepressible Conflict”
13
Chapter II
The Origins of African-American Religious Agency
47
Chapter III
The Churches, “Redemption,” and Jim Crow
60
Chapter IV
Religion and the Civil Rights Movement
102
viii contents
Chapter V
The Civil Rights Movement as the Fulcrum of
Recent Political History
136
Theological Conclusion
176
Notes
183
Index
203
Illustrations
Figures
Figure 1.1 State Democratic Vote as Percentage of
National Democratic Vote, 1836–2004 15
Figure 3.1 State Democratic Vote as Percentage of
National Democratic Vote, 1880–1956 92
Figure 5.1 State Democratic Vote as Percentage of
National Democratic Vote, 1964–2004 154
Tables
Table 1.1 Democratic Victories in Presidential
Elections, 1880–2004 (by state) 18
Table 1.2 National Distribution of
African-American Population (percentage) 20
Table 3.1 Changes in Primary Practical Support for
American Democratic-Republican Government 64
Table 3.2 Baptist and Methodist Proportions of
Church Populations, 1890 (by state) 88
Table 3.3 State Voter Turnout as a Percentage of
National Voter Turnout (fifteen lowest
percentages, plus ties) 91
Table 5.1 Vote of Religious Segments of U.S.
Population as a Percentage Higher or Lower
Than National Republican Vote 155