Black Baptist women leaders bridged church and secular reform networks

Evidence

The reciprocal relationship between church and secular organizations positioned black women reformers in a variety of contexts. Leaders of the black Baptist women’s movement represented the educated elite of their communities, and they held membership and leadership positions in a variety of secular organizations. — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 829

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the politics of respectability argument — the educated elite status of these reformers underlies their authority to police community conduct. — connects to: Black church women were central to the church’s public role as racial self-help — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 37; Women’s collective labor, not just exceptional preachers, powered black Baptist churches — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 40; Black Baptist women’s church work absorbed secular Progressive-era sociological methods — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 791 (+4 more)