The black church simultaneously united and divided men and women by gender
Evidence
Black Baptist women became increasingly convinced that a national arena of their own would best advance both themselves and their people. This arena was perceived always within the context of a larger male-female community, namely, within a black denomination. Thus women’s demands for participatory equality remained dependent upon the approval of men. On two occasions, once in 1890 and again in 1895, black Baptist women succeeded in winning such approval only to see it rescinded. The black church, the preeminent site of racial solidarity and self-determination, proved, as well, a site of gender division and conflict. — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 702
Categorization
- XREF: Parallels Du Bois’s ‘double consciousness’; the church is both the seat of racial freedom and gender subordination, mirroring the double-edged ‘respectable’ front. — connects to: Black Baptist women faced pulpit and voice denial even among supportive male leaders — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 340; Black Baptist women held a double consciousness of simultaneous separateness and alliance — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 390; Black women leaders contested the equation of church authority with ordination — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 367 (+15 more)
Broader Connections
- The Black church simultaneously advances liberation and conserves piety that undermines it
#exemplifies(0.92) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 1058 - Shared sexism bonded militant black men and white men across racial divides
#expands(0.82) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 277 - Sexism unites black and white men across the racial divide that racism creates
#expands(0.80) - Diverse theological traditions converged on a single template of Christian masculinity
#expands(0.78) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 364 - A male leaders’ network unified around gendered authority above doctrinal differences.
#expands(0.75) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 463 - Racial divisions historically eclipsed interdenominational religious divisions in American life
#exemplifies(0.72) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 464