This Worldwide Struggle: Religion and the International Roots of the Civil Rights Movement

by Sarah Azaransky

Overview

This Worldwide Struggle: Religion and the International Roots of the Civil Rights Movement identifies a network of black Christian intellectuals and activists who looked abroad, even in other religious traditions, for ideas and practices that could transform American democracy. From the 1930s to the 1950s, they drew lessons from independence movements around for the world for an American racial justice campaign. Their religious perspectives and methods of moral reasoning developed theological blueprints for the classical phase of the Civil Rights Movement. The network included professors and public intellectuals Howard Thurman, Benjamin Mays, and William Stuart Nelson, each of whom met with Mohandas Gandhi in India; ecumenical movement leaders, notably YWCA women, Juliette Derricotte, Sue Bailey Thurman, and Celestine Smith; and pioneers of black Christian nonviolence James Farmer, Pauli Murray, and Bayard Rustin. People in this group became mentors and advisors to and coworkers with Martin Luther King and thus became links between Gandhi, who was killed in 1948, and King, who became a national figure in 1956. Azaransky's research reveals fertile intersections of worldwide resistance movements, American racial politics, and interreligious exchanges that crossed literal borders and disciplinary boundaries, and underscores the role of religion in justice movements. Shedding new light on how international and interreligious encounters were integral to the greatest American social movement of the last century, This Worldwide Struggle confirms the relationship between moral reflection and democratic practice, and it contains vital lessons for movement building today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190262228
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/16/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	929,176
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Sarah Azaransky is Assistant Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary. She is the author of The Dream is Freedom: Pauli Murray and American Democratic Faith and the editor of Religion and Politics in America's Borderlands.

Table of Contents

Introduction Part of This Worldwide Struggle Chapter 1 Spiritual Recognition of Empire (1930s) Chapter 2 Passing Through a Similar Transition (1930s) Chapter 3 We Can Add to the World Justice (1940s) Chapter 4 An Admixture of Tragedy and Triumph (1940s) Chapter 5 Opposing Injustice, First of All in Ourselves (1940s & 1950s) Chapter 6 Moral Leadership of the World (1950s)

Editorial Reviews

"Azaransky's book is both an inspiration and a caution to those interested in the ongoing struggle for justice anywhere—economic, racial, gender or environmental. Her exploration of her subjects' early lives gives the reader a way to connect with their own sources of spiritual, religious and moral energy, stamina and courage. Her depiction of the huge network of connections and relationships across cities, countries and continents reminds activists and allies of the importance of the need for solidarity, humility and communication with allies." — Robin Wardlaw, Touchstone Journal

"Sarah has written an exceptional text tracing the personal, political, and intellectual exchange of ideas between liberation movements in India and West Africa and the religious leaders and activists who would provide the foundations for and lead the Civil Rights Movement in the United States ... Those interested in the history of the Civil Rights Movement, Black theology in the 20th century, and global anticolonial networks in the first half of the 20th century will find this text indispensable." —James McCarty, Reading Religion

"[A] rewarding historical study This Worldwide Struggle makes several interventions in religious and social ethics. It addresses the gap in histories of black internationalism which overlook religious intellectuals and in peace movement histories which ignore racial specicity. It contributes to civil rights studies' consideration of this generation of religious thinkers, further expanding what Jacquelyn Dowd Hall calls the 'long civil rights movement' through an international moral geography."—Tyler Davis, Reviews in Religion & Theology

"Azaransky's sterling book represents nothing less than a significant reframing of the US Civil Rights Movement. Her lucid telling renders visible the conditions that made the King era of civil rights possible Of special note, too, is the role the Howard University School of Religion plays as an intellectual and activist center. Any future account of the academic study of religion in the US must now include Howard's role in shaping the field. Highly recommended."—J. Kahn, CHOICE

"The long civil rights movement has needed an expansive religious history. This is it and so much more. Inventively following this set of Christian thinkers and activists across the globe and toward various religions, Sarah Azaransky has shed new light on the most pivotal innovation of the twentieth-century: genuine democracy. This Worldwide Struggle is not just great history; it's religious, moral, and ethical reflection for all lovers of democracy and justice."—Edward J. Blum, co-author of The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America

"Azaransky offers a savvy, cogently written understanding of the internationalism of early twentieth-century black Christian intellectuals and activists. She comprehensively details previously neglected history of African American religious contributions to global moral commitments challenging white supremacy and socioeconomic inequalities. This book is an inspiring primer in deliberately crafted frontiers of justice-oriented black Christianity, so timely for anyone seeking hopeful roadmaps for similar contemporary forms of religious solidarity supporting human dignity across borders."— Traci C. West, Professor of Christian Ethics and African American Studies, Drew University

"More than any other, this book reveals the many extensive international relationships that African American religious scholars and civil rights activists established between the 1930s and1950s. This much needed book, rich in historical data, will be welcomed by all its readers for its compelling evidence concerning the world-wide significance of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States through its connection with anti-colonial movements in Asia and Africa." — Peter J. Paris, Elmer G. Homrighausen Professor Christian Social Ethics, Emeritus, Princeton Theological Seminary

From the Publisher