Let Us Not Kiss the Hand That Smites Us: Black Methodists on Lynching, 1890-1902

Malcolm Foley, Baylor University

During the height of racialized terror lynchings in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, some scholars have suggested that Black Christians were largely silent or acquiescent in the face of brutal violence. Contrary to this assumption, this presentation will outline the range of responses to lynching from Black Methodists in the pages of the Christian Recorder, the oldest continuously published newspaper run by African Americans. In the pages of this periodical, one finds calls to prayer, calls for votes, calls for preaching and calls for violence. These manifold responses serve as ample evidence that white supremacy and the violence that always attends it never advance without resistance.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 127. Narrative and Counter-Narratives of White Supremacist Violence in the Postbellum South