Gospel of Disunion
Gospel of Disunion

Author: Mitchell Snay

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1993-10-29

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 9780521431224

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Gospel of Disunion examines the ways in which religion influenced the development of a distinctive Southern culture and politics before the Civil War, translating the secessionist movement into a struggle of the highest moral significance. It explores such topics as the religious pro-slavery argument and the slaveholding ethic for Christian masters, the denominational schisms of the 1830s and 1840s that divided Southern Protestants along sectional lines, and the distinctive religious rationale for secession. This book is the first major attempt to fully explore the relationship between religion and the origins of Southern nationalism in all these manifestations.

A Most Stirring and Significant Episode
A Most Stirring and Significant Episode

Author: H. Paul Thompson, Jr.

Publisher: Northern Illinois University Press

Published: 2012-10-15

Total Pages: 357

ISBN-13: 1501756672

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When Atlanta enacted prohibition in 1885, it was the largest city in the United States to do so. A Most Stirring and Significant Episode examines the rise of temperance sentiment among freed African Americans that made this vote possible—as well as the forces that resulted in its 1887 reversal well before the 18th Amendment to the Constitution created a national prohibition in 1919. H. Paul Thompson Jr.'s research also sheds light on the profoundly religious nature of African American involvement in the temperance movement. Contrary to the prevalent depiction of that movement as being one predominantly led by white, female activists like Carrie Nation, Thompson reveals here that African Americans were central to the rise of prohibition in the south during the 1880s. As such, A Most Stirring and Significant Episode offers a new take on the proliferation of prohibition and will not only speak to scholars of prohibition in the US and beyond, but also to historians of religion and the African American experience.

Civil Wars, Civil Beings, and Civil Rights in Alabama's Black Belt
Civil Wars, Civil Beings, and Civil Rights in Alabama's Black Belt

Author: Bertis D. English

Publisher: University Alabama Press

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 592

ISBN-13: 0817320695

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How the 1863 elections in Perry County changed the course of Alabama's role in the Civil War In his fascinating, in-depth study, Bertis D. English analyzes why Perry county, situated in the heart of a violence-prone subregion, enjoyed more peaceful race relations and less bloodshed than several neighboring counties. Choosing an atypical locality as central to his study, English raises questions about factors affecting ethnic disturbances in the Black Belt and elsewhere in Alabama. He also uses Perry County, which he deems an anomalous county, to caution against the tendency of some scholars to make sweeping generalizations about entire regions and subregions. English contends Perry County was a relatively tranquil place with a set of extremely influential African American businessmen, clergy, politicians, and other leaders during Reconstruction. Together with egalitarian or opportunistic white citizens, they headed a successful campaign for black agency and biracial cooperation that few counties in Alabama matched. English also illustrates how a significant number of educational institutions, a high density of African American residents, and an unusually organized and informed African American population were essential factors in forming Perry's character. He likewise traces the development of religion in Perry, the nineteenth-century Baptist capital of Alabama, and the emergence of civil rights in Perry, an underemphasized center of activism during the twentieth century. This well-researched and comprehensive volume illuminates Perry County's history from the various perspectives of its black, interracial, and white inhabitants, amplifying their own voices in a novel way. The narrative includes rich personal details about ordinary and affluent people, both free and unfree, creating a distinctive resource that will be useful to scholars as well as a reference that will serve the needs of students and general readers.