The turn of the twentieth century presented profound challenges to the national identity of African Americans and their place in the United States. The growth of the legal doctrine of racial segregation known as Jim Crow, the specter of racialized mob violence and lynching, and the restriction of economic opportunities, especially in the South, dominated discussions among African Americans about how best to chart a path for Black uplift. This paper examines how Black Christians relied on creedal Christianity, which adhered to Nicaean definitions of the faith as opposed to a social gospel that made society the subject of salvation, to persevere in the face of adversity and promote their rights and privileges as Americans. Pastors and laypersons relied on a strong articulation of God’s providence in the face of evil, employed theological anthropology stressing the equality of all persons, and paired these commitments with a form of Christian Republicanism to understand their nationality in theological terms.
African Americans between 1895 and 1915 often situated debates on Black advancement between the positions set by Booker T. Washington (1856–1915), who advocated a gradualist and accommodationist position centered on educational and economic uplift, and W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963), who favored immediacy and protest for top-down political solutions. Most Black Christians adopted a dynamic stance between the two positions. Christian leaders like Francis Grimké (1850–1937) and Nannie Burroughs (1879–1961) encouraged African Americans to commit themselves to Christian morals and educational uplift, much like Washington. And yet, they also participated in the founding of political advocacy groups, such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and National Association of Colored Women (NACW), aligned with Du Bois. Black Christians recognized changing circumstances in these years demanded dynamic responses and combined Christian identity with moderate Republicanism to advocate for citizenship rights.
The turn of the twentieth century has long attracted the interest of scholars of African American history, but creedal Christianity often remains on the sidelines. Jacqueline M. Moore in Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois and the Struggle for Racial Uplift (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003) contextualized the debate between the two figures while arguing that changing material circumstances most often led African Americans to incorporate both approaches, but offered little analysis of the contributions of Christians. Gary Dorrien in The New Abolition: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Black Social Gospel (Yale, 2016) recovered the place of black religious leaders and intellectuals in early twentieth century debates about racial equality, but focused on progressive and radical Christians. This paper considers how African American Christians committed to Nicene orthodoxy responded to early twentieth century challenges to their national identity, from segregation to lynching to restricted economic opportunity, by utilizing theological categories to affirm their God-given dignity as well as their constitutionally protected rights.