The Rise to Respectability: Race, Religion, and the Church of God in Christ
AChoiceOutstanding Academic Title"Calvin White Jr. provides an engaging treatment of COGIC's development under Charles Harrison Mason and Charles Price Jones, and a superb review of the scholarship on Pentecostal studies ….contributes significantly to American religious history and should be on undergraduate syllabi everywhere."--Jonathan L. Walton in theJournal of American History"A valuable history of the Church of God in Christ."--Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Autumn 2013"White provides a thoughtful, well-researched, and engaging narrative that moves COGIC from the margins to the center of African American religious history."--Julius H. Bailey,The Journal of Southern History, February 2014"An indispensable work in African American religious history."--Choice"A complex, important, and amazing story of religion, race, class, civil rights, and history. Required reading for all serious students of the black church."--Reginald F. Hildebrand, author ofThe Times Were Strange and Stirring: Methodist Preachers and the Crisis of Emancipation"In his prudently revisionist account of the early career of Charles H. Mason and the origins of the Church of God in Christ, Calvin White Jr. shows that the church has on several key occasions tentatively engaged worldly concerns, including opposition to World War I, social-uplift missionary efforts in Africa, and cautious cooperation with Dr. King in the Memphis garbage workers strike of 1968. A valuable addition to the historiography of COGIC."--John B. Boles, Rice University"A timely and valuable contribution to the fields of African American history, religious studies, and southern history. White's work sheds light on the dynamic interplay between religion, class dynamics, race, culture, and evolving notions of uplift and conformity. Will be enjoyed by readers of all levels and interests."--Charles W. McKinney Jr., author ofGreater Freedom: The Evolution of the Civil Rights Struggle in Wilson, North Carolina"Uncovers a great deal of valuable historical data and provides one of the very few full-length examinations of the most important group in black Pentecostalism."--Paul Harvey, author ofThrough the Storm,Through the Night: A History of African American Christianity