The Black Churches of Brooklyn - Softcover

Taylor, Clarence

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0231099819 ISBN 13: 9780231099813

Publisher: Columbia University Press, 1996

Synopsis

The black church has always played a vital role in urban black communities. In this comprehensive and insightful history, Clarence Taylor examines the impact of this critical institution on city life and its efforts to provide support and leadership for urban African-American communities. Using Brooklyn as a national example, Taylor begins with the history of mainline (Baptist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Methodist) churches of the nineteenth century, which modified the practices of "white" churches to meet the needs of their growing congregations. These churches brought culture to their members as a mode of resistance by establishing church auxiliaries and clubs such as art and literary societies, traditionally reserved for white churches. In addition, they endorsed the education of the clergy, thereby demonstrating to American society at large that African Americans possessed the sophistication and the means to pursue and to promote culture. More exuberant and less formal than the "elite" churches, Holiness-Pentecostal churches formed the next group to influence community life in Brooklyn. By providing a stable space in which people could network, organize church and community groups, and simply socialize, they offered a myriad of activities and programs for entertainment as well as moral uplift. In short, despite the existence of firm denominational lines, the church as an institution actively answered the educational, religious, and social needs of African Americans while remaining fully involved in the general cultural and political events that affected all Americans. On a more controversial note, the book charts the successes and failures of prominent ministers, who led Brooklyncommunities through McCarthyism, the civil rights movement, Johnson's War on Poverty, and the ghettoization of Bedford-Stuyvesant, the largest African-American community in the borough. With an eye on the future, Taylor analyzes the black clergy's response to the problems endemic

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Brooklyn's black churches have played a vital role in the borough since the early nineteenth century. Mr. Taylor quotes contemporary newspaper accounts of church events, using descriptions of concerts and lectures to illustrate nuances of class among various congregations... The Black Churches Of Brooklyn offers a fine overview of a too-long-neglected chapter in New York history.

From Publishers Weekly:

This is an informative though not comprehensive study of black churches. Taylor, who teaches history at LeMoyne College in upstate New York, focuses on Brooklyn because by mid-century, "many of [its] churches had thousands of members, offered a variety of social services to the black community, were important cultural centers, and had nationally renowned pastors." He traces the values, theology and public profile of the late 19th-century churches, noting that while African Methodist and Baptist denominations were initially dominant, by the mid-20th century, Holiness-Pentecostal became the fastest-growing. He charges black ministers in Bedford-Stuyvesant, tied to the major political parties, with doing too little to stem the neighborhood's deterioration in the 1960s, a topic Taylor might have probed further. He also devotes a chapter to the role of black women in the church and concludes with brief sketches of six politically active ministers, including the Reverend Al Sharpton.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0231099819
• ISBN 13: 9780231099813
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 297