Hold On Just a Little While Longer: Spirituals in the Civil Rights Movement (original) (raw)
Related papers
Looking Back is Moving Forward: The Legacy of Negro Spirituals in the Civil Rights Movement
International Journal of English Language, Literature in Humanities, 2016
The following article explores the historical and cultural evolution of Negro Spirituals as they were revised for use in the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Examining the Spirituals, "Wade in the Water" and "Oh, Freedom," this essay seeks to prove that while the legacy of slavery imbued in the Negro Spiritual did serve the purpose of reminding America of its unjust past, these songs took on new meaning in the Civil Rights Era and were put to use as a medium for communication, a salve for spiritual degradation, and above all else, a stepping stone off of which the movement intended to leap into a brighter future of equality for all. This essay challenges the claim that Negro Spirituals were too entrenched in the historical atrocities of the past to offer a revitalized message for the purposes of the CRM.
AFRICAN AMERICAN SPIRITUALS AS A RESPONSE TO THE TRAUMA OF ENSLAVEMENT
Enslavement in the US created a complex context in which several generations of people of African descent experienced collective traumas over the course of two and half centuries. Spirituals, as a genre of music and performative practice, are usually seen as inextricably linked to slavery and can be regarded as many-sided collective responses to the traumatic experiences generated within the context of enslavement. The spirituals and their association with slavery bear a complex relationship to the evolution of collective identity among US people of African descent in a post-slavery era in which racist social structures continued to generate personal and collective traumas that affect them. In this presentation we examine attributes of the spirituals as responses to the traumas of enslavement; we also consider how spirituals might be utilized as responses to traumatic experiences of Black and others in the contemporary world.
Slavery, Freedom, and the Spiritual
This is a look at the origins of the slave spiritual and its relationship with white paternalist control over the slaves' religious expression and practice as seen by the prohibition of prayer in the religious life of slaves. Helps to provide a historical perspective on the current debate surrounding the "appropriate" method of protest by blacks by revealing a historical precedent of white men controlling personal expression of black people.
We Walk By Faith": Religion and Race During the Civil Rights Movement
2000
Proudly Protestant and Evangelical, southerners consider themselves the religious backbone of America. Yet, in historical moments when the nation's attention was centered on the South, few recognized Christian morality in the actions of many. How could a Citizen Council member burn a cross on Saturday and serve as a deacon on Sunday? This question found resonance in particular with southern blacks, whose churches were instrumental in challenging social injustice. This paper looks at the different understandings, not of the radicals, but of the majority of black and white southerners, about the role of religion in society and how this impacted the way they reacted to the civil rights movement. By looking at these groups from an inter-religious perspective, one is able to see how different they truly are and begin to build bridges and heal old wounds.
The Role of the Black Church in the American Civil Rights Movement
2017
This paper seeks to argue that the black church played a pioneering role in the Civil Rights Movement (CRM) in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. To be sure, one cannot think of the CRM without the crucial role played by the black church. The black church not only provided support to various civil rights organizations but also acted as the movement church itself. The church ministers played a vital role in the success of the CRM and the black church mobilized resources and made the CRM practically possible. From the role of the Church in the CRM, one can easily envision the role of religion in social change and identity politics which, in turn, seeks to negate the promise of the project enlightenment. Today, religion has come back as a powerful force and has thus become a reality both in social change and construction of identity not only nationally but also internationally.
2014
Having assumed black Pentecostals are "otherworldly" or detached from politics and this-worldly concerns, many religious and civil rights scholars have ignored black Holiness-Pentecostals' involvements in the Civil Rights Movement and instead focused on the roles of black Baptists and Methodists. Primarily guided by historical, sociological, theo-ethical, and hermeneutical methods, this dissertation examines Church of God in Christ (COGIC) members' engagements in the Civil Rights Movement in Memphis, Tennessee, 1954-1968. I chose Memphis as the location to examine these assumptions because the most renowned Civil Rights leader, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., delivered his last sermon at Mason Temple Church of God in Christ (COGIC), the headquarters of the largest and oldest black holiness-Pentecostal denomination. The dissertation argues that Memphis COGIC members were not divorced from the Memphis Movement but endeavored to combat racial injustice and inequality through a diversity of means, including through politics, nonviolent direct action, and spiritual quest. I contend that despite being marginalized and treated as outsiders on account of their race and religious faith, prior to the Civil Rights Movement early saints affirmed their identity as United States citizens, valued American democratic ideas of freedom and equality, and endeavored to advance democratic principles through participating in civic life. Additionally, when the Civil Rights Movement came to Memphis in the 1950s, COGIC members joined and worked alongside black church leaders from other denominations and engaged in nearly every aspect of the struggle, including political campaigns, desegregation efforts, and the Sanitation Workers Strike. Furthermore, I argue that Holiness-Pentecostal theology informed the activism of Memphis COGIC Civil Rights activists. Affirming his Holiness-Pentecostal heritage, Bishop J.O. Patterson Sr., a prominent Memphis Civil Rights activist, sought to persuade blacks in general and to remind black Christian activists in particular of the indispensability of spiritual presence and empowerment for social struggle. My research findings provoke scholars of religion to rethink the meaning and implications of otherworldliness. Additionally, this research indicates that there is greater complexity to black churches involvement in the Civil Rights Movement besides the contributions of black Baptists and Methodists. This dissertation is dedicated to my wife, Courtney Miller-Chism, my companion and friend who has encouraged and supported me greatly during my years of graduate study; to my son, Jonathan Chism Jr., who was born as I began writing and who has provided me with smiles and inspiration; to my parents-Moses Chism Sr. and Forrestine Chism, who have given me a strong foundation rooted in love; my older siblings-Anthony, Felicia, Moses Jr., David, and Daniel, who have been positive role models; to my mother-in-law, Gloria Miller and my Aunt Charlotte for your support with childcare during these past few years; and to all of my sister-in-laws, brother-in-law, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, and cousins. This dissertation would not have been possible without the many people who have contributed to my intellectual development and growth. First, I want to thank to my advisor, Dr. Anthony B. Pinn. Thanks for pushing me intellectually, for being a friend, and for patiently showing me the ropes. I appreciate each of the members of my dissertation committee who have helped me to grow during coursework. I appreciate Dr. Michael Emerson for providing tips for conducting qualitative interviews and for reading the full draft of the dissertation. I am thankful to all of my colleagues past and present in the Religious Studies Department and in the African American Religion concentration at Rice. I appreciate all of my professors in the Religious Studies Department,
AAS 417.01: Prayer and Civil Rights
2012
Prayer and Civil Rights With knees bent and heads bowed, a group of fervent African-American activists prepared to pray on the sidewalks of Albany, Georgia, in 1963. A few minutes later, dour-faced police officers arrested the young people and removed them from the sidewalk to a local jail. Such pious action deserves careful scrutiny. Built around the question, "Does religion help or hinder the pursuit of social change?" this class combines historical and religious studies methods to trace changes in civil rights activists' efforts to make use of religion. By focusing on a particular religious practicein this case prayer-in a specific but limited period of time, this course challenges students to examine African-American history and religion from two primary perspectives. First, students will consider how historical action forms meaning, in this case through the public recitation of appeals to divine authority. Secondly, students will study the social significance of religious practice by examining how African-American Christians articulated a rationale for change, appealed to commonly held ethical values, and evoked the assurance of divine support. This course thus complicates prevailing ideas about the normalcy of African-American religious practitioners' prayer, invites students to examine their assumptions about the nature of prayer, and traces how religion spilled out of sanctuaries into the streets.
Pneuma, 2013
Although black Pentecostal leaders are known for their emphasis on holiness and spiritual empowerment, they are not renowned for having led and spearheaded political protest struggles during the Civil Rights movement. In this paper I discuss black Pentecostals’ postures toward political protest struggles, and I analyze reasons why some black Pentecostals participated in the Civil Rights movement while others did not. My central argument is that critical consciousness formation played an integral role in motivating a minority of Church of God in Christ (COGIC) clergy and leaders to engage in Civil Rights protest struggles. That is to say, many black Pentecostals who took part in the movement reconciled their strivings for spiritual empowerment against evil with critical reflection upon complex social, political, and economic realities. They recognized the utility of opposing structures of oppression through direct, nonviolent means.