Freedom's Coming: Religious Culture and the Shaping of the South from the Civil War through the Civil Rights Era [Hardcover]

Paul Harvey (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 9, 2005

In a sweeping analysis of religion in the post-Civil War and twentieth-century South, Freedom's Coming puts race and culture at the center, describing southern Protestant cultures as both priestly and prophetic: as southern formal theology sanctified dominant political and social hierarchies, evangelical belief and practice subtly undermined them. The seeds of subversion, Paul Harvey argues, were embedded in the passionate individualism, exuberant expressive forms, and profound faith of believers in the region.

Harvey explains how black and white religious folk within and outside of mainstream religious groups formed a southern "evangelical counterculture" of Christian interracialism that challenged the theologically grounded racism pervasive among white southerners and ultimately helped to end Jim Crow in the South. From the folk theology of segregation to the women who organized the Montgomery bus boycott, from the hymn-inspired freedom songs of the 1960s to the influence of black Pentecostal preachers on Elvis Presley, Harvey deploys cultural history in fresh and innovative ways and fills a decades-old need for a comprehensive history of religion and its relationship to the central question of race in the South for the postbellum and twentieth-century period.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[A] rich, complex book. . . . An important contribution to the history of religion and race in the South."
— Anglican and Episcopal History

"Adds much to a rich literature on the South and religion."
— Florida Historical Quarterly

"[A] fascinating study of religion in the post-Civil War South. . . . [Harvey's] insightful, humane book deserves a wide readership."
— American Historical Review

"[T]his book is a testimony to years of serious reflection on a mountain of material."
— The North Carolina Historical Review

"Harvey has produced a beautifully written, detailed, and textured work that history readers will savor."
— Choice

"Harvey has done it again. . . . An outstanding contribution to studies in American cultural and religious history."
— Baptist History-Heritage

"[H]is interpretive theme of illusive freedom proves an effective way to make religion central to the overall southern story."
— Charles Reagan Wilson, University of Mississippi, general editor of The Encyclopedia of Southern Culture

From the Inside Flap

This sweeping portrait of religion in the South puts race and culture at the center of more than a century of spiritual and political strife. Harvey deploys cultural history in fresh and innovative ways and fills a decades-old need for a comprehensive history of religion and its relationship to the central question of race in the South for the postbellum and twentieth-century period.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press (February 9, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807829013
• ISBN-13: 978-0807829011
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.1 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #824,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Paul Harvey is Professor of History and Presidential Teaching Scholar at the University of Colorado and "blogmeister" of the Religion in American History blog at http://usreligion.blogspot.com. His personal webpage is at http://paulharvey.org. You can follow Paul on twitter @pharvey61. Paul is also the co-author of the new book The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in American History.