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God with Us: Lived Theology and the Freedom Struggle in Americus, Georgia, 1942-1976 PDF

253 Pages·2018·2.37 MB·English
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God with Us ANSLEY L. QUIROS God with Us Lived Theology and the Freedom Struggle in Americus, Georgia, 1942–1976 The University of North Carolina Press Chapel Hill This book was published with the assistance of the Authors Fund of the University of North Carolina Press. © 2018 The University of North Carolina Press All rights reserved Set in Arno Pro by Westchester Publishing Services Manufactured in the United States of America The University of North Carolina Press has been a member of the Green Press Initiative since 2003. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Quiros, Ansley Lillian, author. Title: God with us : lived theology and the freedom struggle in Americus, Georgia, 1942–1976 / Ansley L. Quiros. Description: Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018016975 | ISBN 9781469646756 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781469646763 (pbk : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781469646770 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Civil rights movements—Georgia—Americus—History—20th century. | African Americans—Civil rights—Georgia—Americus—History— 20th century. | Religion and sociology—Southern States. | Americus (Ga.)— Religion—20th century. | Americus (Ga.)—Race relations. Classification: LCC F294.A5 Q5 2018 | DDC 323.1196/0730758913—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018016975 Cover illustration: Ida Berman’s Koinonia Farm Camp at Highlander (Koinonia Farm Photographs, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia Libraries; used by permission of Karen Berman). A version of chapter 5 was previously published as “The Road to Charlottesville Runs through Americus, Georgia,” The Activist History Review (October 2017), https://activisthistory.com/2017/10/06/the-road-to-charlottesville-runs-through- americus-georgia/. Used here with permission. For Amanda Paul Miller Privette, and Marilyn Miller Privette Quiros, and all those who long for justice in the South Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: Sweet Jesus and Unbearable Madness Part I CHAPTER ONE Demonstration Plot for the Kingdom: The Radical Orthodoxy of Koinonia Farm CHAPTER TWO Lee Street Theology: White Southern Protestantism in Americus, 1945–1963 CHAPTER THREE Jesus, He’s My Brother: The Black Church, Black Theology, and the Black Freedom Struggle in Americus Part II CHAPTER FOUR Marching to Eternity: Theology Takes to the Streets of Americus CHAPTER FIVE The Devil Won, Hands Down: Opposition in Americus CHAPTER SIX Kneeling-In: The Theological Struggle Comes to Church Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index Illustrations and Map ILLUSTRATIONS Clarence Jordan and Bo Johnson at Koinonia Farm 28 Integrated group at Camp Koinonia 30 Charles Sherrod and Randy Battle in Southwest Georgia 89 Girls in the Leesburg Stockade 105 Rev. J. R. Campbell and Rev. R. L. Freeman leading a march 113 Lester Maddox speaking at the Sumter County Courthouse 114 Police in front of the Sumter County Courthouse 119 Kneel-in at First Methodist Church in Americus 152 Los Angeles Times cartoon 158 Teresa Mansfield at Americus High School 168 Clarence Jordan and Millard Fuller 189 MAP City map of Georgia 9 Acknowledgments Among the many things I have learned in writing this book is the common grace of generosity. So many have helped along the way, sharing documents, expertise, insight, and time. To y’all, I offer my sincerest thanks. Many institutions and communities of scholars have supported and sustained this work over the years. Thank you to all at Furman University who fostered a love of history, especially Tim Fehler, Savita Nair, David Shi, Courtney Tollison, and Dianne Vecchio. Early stages of the work were presented at conferences at Drew University, Emory University, the University of Memphis, and the Association for the Study of African American History and Life, where conversations and questions improved it mightily. Librarians and archivists at the National Southern Baptist Archive in Nashville, the Pitts Library and Rose Library at Emory University, the Hargrett Library at the University of Georgia, and the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta also helped along the way, and they deserve recognition for their work in cataloguing the past. I have found historians of the South, wherever they may be found, particularly collegial and helpful, notably, Jim Auchmutey, Ed Blum, Joe Crespino, Bob Elder, Paul Harvey, and Hank Klibanoff. Steve Haynes’s ecclesiastical repentance group brought together thoughtful, supportive laypeople and scholars interested in race and religion. Participating in this group, and meeting Anthony Bradley, Carolyn Dupont, Dalton Lyon, and Joe Reiff, proved to be an unmitigated blessing.

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