The Black Churches of Brooklyn - (Columbia History of Urban Life) by Clarence Taylor (Paperback)

Book 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

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.

Review Quotes

This detailed history surveys a vital force within the Bedford-Stuyvesant community, showing how 19th-century black churches emulated the white mainstream. Pentecostalism became a major force in the early 20th century, and civil rights issues came to the fore.-- "Library Journal"