Segregation.

American churches in the 1940s were almost entirely segregated. A 1946 estimate suggested that no more than one-half of 1 percent of blacks attended church with whites. Instead, African Americans actively promoted and supported their own churches. There were thirty-four predominately black denominations, the largest of which, the National Baptist Convention of America, possessed 4.4 million members. The heart of black church strength was in the Baptist and Methodist churches of the South. Led by a segregated middle class of black professionals, they unified community life, mitigated the difficulties of poverty, and provided a distinct culture and identity for African Americans. Black congregations were far more engaged in services than their white counterparts, and black spirituals and gospel music bound the churches together. In the 1940s southern black churches remained important, but as more and more African...