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Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. HIS 265. The Role of the Black Church. After Civil War, black churches established throughout the South Colored Methodist & Colored Presbyterian Churches est. by 1870 National Baptist Convention est. 1895, split 1907

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Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

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  1. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference HIS 265

  2. The Role of the Black Church • After Civil War, black churches established throughout the South • Colored Methodist & Colored Presbyterian Churches est. by 1870 • National Baptist Convention est. 1895, split 1907 • Northern denominations like AME moved south, too • 100,000 black Catholics by 1890 • C.H. Mason founded Pentecostal Church of God in Christ in Memphis, 1897 • Pastors frequently political leaders • Bethel AME in Philadelphia founded National Negro Convention in 1830 • Bishop Henry M. Turner was outspoken black nationalist • Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem elected to U.S. House of Representatives in 1944 • NAACP frequently held meetings in churches

  3. Black Christianity • Black churches have grown steadily since 1920s –faster than population growth • Roughly 4 million Baptists, 4 million Methodists, 4 million Pentecostal, 2 million Catholic & 1.2 million in white mainline Protestant churches • Contrast to mainline white Protestant churches • Blacks more likely than whites to attend church & see it as relevant to daily life • Black Christians traditionally associate with O.T. Israelites, due to similar story of liberation from slavery • Assert equality of all humans as God’s children • Relate especially to redemptive suffering of Jesus Christ • Reject white assertions that biblical freedom is only spiritual

  4. Black Theology • 3 key components: • Justice – emphasize O.T. prophets • Love – all people, including enemies • Hope – God will triumph in the end • More committed to political action because more in need of it • Black Methodists most likely to emphasizre black distinctiveness, then Baptists, then Pentecostals

  5. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. • Son & grandson of pastors of Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta • born Jan. 15, 1929 • King Sr. on boards of Morehouse & local NAACP • Graduated from Morehouse & ordained at age 19 in 1948 • Attended Crozer Seminary in Philadelphia & B.U. for doctorate • Moved by lectures on Gandhi, but agreed with Neibuhr’s critique of pacifism • Influenced by evangelical liberalism • Married Coretta Scott in June 1953 King Family, 1965

  6. The Montgomery Bus Boycott • Became pastor of Dexter Ave. Baptist Church in Montgomery, Sept. 1954 • Lead Montgomery Improvement Association’s bus boycott, Dec. 1955 - Dec. 1956 • Time did cover story in Feb. 18, 1957 issue, & King received the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal in June 1957 Coretta & Martin King after his conviction, March 22, 1956

  7. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference • Based on Christianity & Gandhi’s example • Dramatized evil to shock white consciences • Based on respect for laws & American ideals • Integrationist, not separationist • Deliberately picked virulent racists whom they knew would provide violent drama • Bull Connor in Birmingham, 1963 • Jim Clark in Selma, 1965

  8. March on Washington,Aug. 28, 1963 • A. Philip Randolph orginally planned it to be about jobs • Became rally in support of Kennedy’s civil rights bill • King’s “I Have a Dream” speech appealed to patriotism, using lyrics from “America” Photos from David Cone, Martin & Malcolm & America

  9. Blessed are the Peacemakers • 16th St. Baptist Church bombed 2 weeks later, killing four girls • King urged calm, holding out hope that “unmerited suffering is redemptive” • Earned him Time’s Man of the Year award in 1963 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 King & his son stare at a burned cross left in their front yard

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