National pro-civil-rights white church bodies concealed congregational white supremacy

Evidence

White evangelicals have captured most of the historical spotlight because of their overt support for slavery, Jim Crow laws, and segregation, and because of their concentration in the former states of the Confederacy. And it is true that white mainline Protestants and white Catholics—due to both geographic and theological divergences from white evangelicalism—do have different historical stories they can tell about their relationships to white supremacy and black claims to equality in America. But these differences at the national institutional level hide similarities among white Christians at the congregational level. … However, the pro–civil rights orientation of white mainline Protestant and white Catholic leaders is not an accurate barometer of the influence of white supremacy among white Christians sitting in the pews. Declarations on racial justice by national institutions and hierarchies were more often than not ignored or actively flouted by local clergy and their congregations. For example, in late 1940s Los Angeles, Reverend W. Clarence Wright, the pastor of Wilshire Presbyterian Church, headed the fight to keep the well-to-do Wilshire district all white. When an African American war veteran moved into the elite, Waspy neighborhood, the clergyman personally sued to evict him. Wright lost the case. In one of the few early cases where courts held that racially restrictive neighborhood covenants were unconstitutional, the judge issued a sharp rebuke to the pastor, declaring that there was “no more reprehensible un-American activity than to attempt to deprive persons of their own homes on a ‘master race’ theory.” — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 185

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: White denominations’ national leaders ran ahead of their local congregations on civil rights — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 121; White churches morally legitimized and protected white supremacy through state power — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 125; White churches tolerated black presence in outreach roles but panicked at black worship participation — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 157 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• White churches historically functioned as agents upholding racist social structures #expands (0.85) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 1055
• White churches actively produced white supremacy rather than merely tolerating it #expands (0.85) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 102
• White Christian churches constructed the American project protecting white supremacy #expands (0.80) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 30
• Christian theology and institutions served as the central support for American white supremacy #expands (0.80) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 32
• White Christianity’s function was protecting white racial innocence #expands (0.75) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 69