Church leaders aimed not merely to preserve but to reshape the black community.

Evidence

Those who sought to make the church the flagship of black dignity espoused strong race-conscious views concerning the preservation of the black community, and, just as important, they sought to shape the community so that preservation could become progress. — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 54

Categorization

• XREF: ‘Shape the community so that preservation could become progress’ is the doorway into how internal policing (‘respectability’) is framed as forward-moving racial strategy. — connects to: Spiritual salvation and political racial advancement were fused in black church tradition — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 565; The Black church simultaneously advances liberation and conserves piety that undermines it — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project: A New American Origin…, 1058; Church leaders converted the masses’ race consciousness into an assertive collective will — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 243 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Church leaders converted the masses’ race consciousness into an assertive collective will #expands (0.88) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 243
• Black ministers deliberately fused churches with Auburn Avenue financial institutions to build community power #exemplifies (0.85) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 76
• Black Baptist leadership believed respectable conduct could disarm white prejudice #exemplifies (0.82) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 1617
• The Black church simultaneously advances liberation and conserves piety that undermines it #complicates (0.78) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 1058
• Black nationalism competed with the church for leadership of Black resistance #qualifies (0.72) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 1046