Legal exclusion forced the black church to become the community’s de facto public space

Evidence

By law, blacks were denied access to public space, such as parks, libraries, restaurants, meeting halls, and other public accommodations. In time the black church—open to both secular and religious groups in the community—came to signify public space. — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 62

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Black churches historically functioned as multipurpose civic institutions — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 798; The black church substituted for every barred public accommodation in segregated America — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 62; For excluded African Americans, the church became the chief arena of black public life — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 71 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• For excluded African Americans, the church became the chief arena of black public life #corroborates (0.97) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 71
• Black institutions arose because white supremacy excluded blacks from civic life #expands (0.90) — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 342
• The Black church physically housed the civil rights movement’s organizing #exemplifies (0.88) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 1043
• The black church functioned as an oppositional counter-public sphere to white society #expands (0.85) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 78
• Black churches served as the organizing infrastructure for political resistance #exemplifies (0.85) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 1031
• The black church was a counterpublic that both opposed and internalized white norms #qualifies (0.78) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 84