Daily Demonstrators: The Civil Rights Movement in Mennonite Homes and Sanctuaries

by Tobin Miller Shearer

Overview

The Mennonites, with their long tradition of peaceful protest and commitment to equality, were castigated by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. for not showing up on the streets to support the civil rights movement. Daily Demonstrators shows how the civil rights movement played out in Mennonite homes and churches from the 1940s through the 1960s.

In the first book to bring together Mennonite religious history and civil rights movement history, Tobin Miller Shearer discusses how the civil rights movement challenged Mennonites to explore whether they, within their own church, were truly as committed to racial tolerance and equality as they might like to believe. Shearer shows the surprising role of children in overcoming the racial stereotypes of white adults. Reflecting the transformation taking place in the nation as a whole, Mennonites had to go through their own civil rights struggle before they came to accept interracial marriages and integrated congregations.

Based on oral history interviews, photographs, letters, minutes, diaries, and journals of white and African-American Mennonites, this fascinating book further illuminates the role of race in modern American religion.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801899430
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	11/01/2010
Series:	Young Center Books in Anabaptist and Pietist Studies
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	392
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Tobin Miller Shearer is an assistant professor of history and the African-American Studies coordinator at the University of Montana.

Table of Contents

Preface
Chapter 1. A Separated History
Chapter 2. Prayer-Covered Protest
Chapter 3. Fresh Air Disruption
Chapter 4. Vincent Harding's Dual Demonstration
Chapter 5. The Wedding March
Chapter 6. Congregational Campaign
Chapter 7. The Manifesto Movement
Chapter 8. A New Civil Rights Story
Appendix. Interview Subjects
Notes
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

Perry Bush

The civil rights movement was, at heart, a religious movement, yet there are relatively few books that locate some of the key developments of that movement in the churches, especially as ably as Shearer has done here.

— Perry Bush, Bluffton University

From the Publisher

The civil rights movement was, at heart, a religious movement, yet there are relatively few books that locate some of the key developments of that movement in the churches, especially as ably as Shearer has done here.
—Perry Bush, Bluffton University

Editorial Reviews

A unique book which brings to light many important events in the life of the Mennonite Church.
—David L. Sauder, Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage

Recommended.
—Choice

One of the most interesting works of Mennonite history in some time.
—Steven P. Miller, Mennonite Quarterly Review

Daily Demonstrators offers a unique examination of under-explored aspects of the American civil rights movement.
—Janis Thiessen, Oral History Forum

Daily Demonstrators is well written, and Shearer's conclusions are sound . . . It is a must read for scholars of the civil rights movement and twentieth-century Mennonite history. It is also recommended for those interested in twentieth-century race relations. With this work, Shearer has taken a difficult subject and woven his evidence into a usable narrative that reveals a striking portrait of resistance, ambivalence,personalized protest, and a concern for justice among American Mennonites during the mid-twentieth century.
—Nicholas A. Krehbiel, Journal of Religion

Admirably argued and well researched.
—Devin C. Manzullo-Thomas, Brethren in Christ Life and Thought

It shows that the accomplishments of the civil rights movement cannot reasonably be attributed to a few charismatic individuals or a few mass-based nationwide organizations.
—Lee Roy Berry, Jr., Conrad Grebel Review

Shearer's focus on the intimate aspects of activism is a scholarly direction to appreciate.
—Rebecca Barrett-Fox, Journal of American History

A careful, compassionate, but critical study of the Mennonites and the civil rights movement from 1918 to 1971.
—Charles W. Eagles, National Political Science Review

Daily Demonstrators presents a new and much-needed perspective on the African American freedom struggle from the 1940s to the 1970s.
—Eric R. Jackson, Journal of African American History

From the Publisher

Daily Demonstrators is well written, and Shearer's conclusions are sound . . . It is a must read for scholars of the civil rights movement and twentieth-century Mennonite history. It is also recommended for those interested in twentieth-century race relations. With this work, Shearer has taken a difficult subject and woven his evidence into a usable narrative that reveals a striking portrait of resistance, ambivalence,personalized protest, and a concern for justice among American Mennonites during the mid-twentieth century.

Journal of Religion - Nicholas A. Krehbiel

A careful, compassionate, but critical study of the Mennonites and the civil rights movement from 1918 to 1971.

National Political Science Review - Charles W. Eagles

One of the most interesting works of Mennonite history in some time.

Mennonite Quarterly Review - Steven P. Miller

Recommended.

Choice

Daily Demonstrators presents a new and much-needed perspective on the African American freedom struggle from the 1940s to the 1970s.

Journal of African American History - Eric R. Jackson

Admirably argued and well researched.

Brethren in Christ Life and Thought - Devin C. Manzullo-Thomas

A unique book which brings to light many important events in the life of the Mennonite Church.

Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage - David L. Sauder

It shows that the accomplishments of the civil rights movement cannot reasonably be attributed to a few charismatic individuals or a few mass-based nationwide organizations.

Conrad Grebel Review - Lee Roy Berry

Daily Demonstrators offers a unique examination of under-explored aspects of the American civil rights movement.

Oral History Forum - Janis Thiessen

Shearer's focus on the intimate aspects of activism is a scholarly direction to appreciate.

Journal of American History - Rebecca Barrett-Fox

Shearer's focus on the intimate aspects of activism is a scholarly direction to appreciate.

— Rebecca Barrett-Fox

Journal of American History

It shows that the accomplishments of the civil rights movement cannot reasonably be attributed to a few charismatic individuals or a few mass-based nationwide organizations.

— Lee Roy Berry, Jr.

Conrad Grebel Review

Admirably argued and well researched.

— Devin C. Manzullo-Thomas

Brethren in Christ Life and Thought

Daily Demonstrators is well written, and Shearer's conclusions are sound... It is a must read for scholars of the civil rights movement and twentieth-century Mennonite history. It is also recommended for those interested in twentieth-century race relations. With this work, Shearer has taken a difficult subject and woven his evidence into a usable narrative that reveals a striking portrait of resistance, ambivalence,personalized protest, and a concern for justice among American Mennonites during the mid-twentieth century.

— Nicholas A. Krehbiel

Journal of Religion

Daily Demonstrators offers a unique examination of under-explored aspects of the American civil rights movement.

— Janis Thiessen

Oral History Forum

One of the most interesting works of Mennonite history in some time.

— Steven P. Miller

Mennonite Quarterly Review

A unique book which brings to light many important events in the life of the Mennonite Church.

— David L. Sauder

Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage