Evangelical Christian Literacies and Understandings of Race and Racism in Post–World War II America

• In Event: Race, Religion, and Policy

Abstract

Investigating how White Christian Evangelical religious literacies have informed interpretations of race and racism over time is critical for understanding the historical and current contexts of education. To that purpose, this study explores how members of the Young Woman’s Auxiliary of the Southern Baptist Convention used religious literacies to understand race and racism during the post-WWII era. We collected 200 articles focusing on race from issues of The Window of the YWA magazine from 1945-1965. We used qualitative and archival methods to closely analyze 45 articles focusing on Black Americans published between 1945-1955. The articles contained surprisingly progressive calls to address the race problem, yet these calls most often focused on individual attitudes and prejudices and deemphasized systemic structural inequalities.

Authors

• Carolyn Hunt, Illinois State University

• David Harnish, Illinois State University