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The Civil Rights Movement succeeded in large measure because of rhetorical appeals grounded in the Judeo-Christian religion. While movement leaders often used America's founding documents and ideals to depict Jim Crow's contradictory ways, the language and lessons of both the Old and New Testaments were often brought to bear on many civil rights events and issues, from local desegregation to national policy matters. This volume chronicles how national movement leaders and local activists moved a nation to live up to the Biblical ideals it often professed but infrequently practiced.
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RHETORIC, RELIGION AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT 1954–1965
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Studies in Rhetoric and Religion 1
EDITORIAL BOARD MARTIN J. MEDHURST Editorial Board Chair Baylor University VANESSA B. BEASLEY University of Georgia RANDELL L. BYTWERK Calvin College MICHAEL W. CASEY Pepperdine University JAMES M. FARRELL University of New Hampshire JAMES A. HERRICK Hope College MICHAEL J. HYDE Wake Forest University THOMAS M. LESSEL University of Georgia
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Rhetoric, Religion and the Civil Rights Movement 1954–1965 DAVIS W. HOUCK DAVID E. DIXON EDITORS
Baylor University Press Waco, Texas
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© 2006 by Baylor University Press Waco, Texas 76798 All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of Baylor University Press. Book Design by Helen Lasseter Cover Design by Cynthia Dunne, Blue Farm Graphics Permission acknowledgments are to be found on page 973 and are a continuation of the copyright page.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rhetoric, religion, and the civil rights movement, 1954-1965 / Davis W. Houck, David E. Dixon, editors. p. cm. -- (Studies in rhetoric and religion ; 1) Includes index. ISBN-13: 978-1-932792-54-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. African Americans--Civil rights--History--20th century--Sources. 2. Civil rights movements--United States--History--20th century--Sources. 3. United States--Race relations--History--20th century--Sources. 4. Civil rights--Religious aspects--Christianity--History--20th century--Sources. 5. Race relations--Religious aspects--Christianity--History--20th century--Sources. 6. Rhetoric--Political aspects--United States--History--20th century--Sources. 7. Speeches, addresses, etc., American. 8. Sermons, American. I. Houck, Davis W. II. Dixon, David E. E185.61.R48 2006 323.1196’073--dc22 2006021173 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper, with a minimum of 30% pcw recycled content.
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DEDICATION To Raymond Fleming and H. Stephen Whitaker: Freedom fighters and friends—who fought so that I didn’t have to. AND
Out of gratitute for the world emerging from our contributors’ sacrifice, in the hope I can keep that world spinning for Nick, Jano, and Nora until they can shoulder it on their own.
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And they were saints in that most effective and telling way: sanctified by leading ordinary lives in a completely supernatural manner, sanctified by obscurity, by usual skills, by common tasks, by routine, but skills, tasks, routine which received a supernatural form from grace within, and from the habitual union of their souls with God in deep faith and charity. — Thomas, Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain
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CONTENTS
Preface Introduction<