Southern Baptists and Southern Presbyterians maintained separate denominations as per the book by David Chappell. The religious forebears of the Baptists and Presbyterians broke up and formed the northern and southern spheres. David Chappell argues in his book that slavery was the reason for breaking the churches. This book, “a stone of hope” claims that further propaganda about religious discrimination lead to the civil rights movement. Religion played a major role in describing the blacks and quotes state that the poor in the Bible really fought the rich just as the poor in the civil movement. Those who were involved in the segregation later condemned the churches for not standing up for the separation of the north and the south. A moral crisis then came up, and a movement was formed to solve the issues at hand. The major sections of this book are thus the segregation of two nations, ideas from people about civil rights movement and how the movement went through. The book review aims at summarizing the central arguments of David Chappell’s historical examination of the civil rights movement in the book provided.
Scholars were involved in the discussion and acting for the civil rights movement. This paragraph talks about civil rights movement, those who made civil rights move and the ideas of human nature regarding civil rights. Several scholars are mentioned to have participation in the movement and David has mentioned some of them and their contributions. There is a projection that most Negroes resisted influence from Du Bois and other people who were pessimistic about the movement. The belief that the American creed would come out on top of other beliefs was seen amongst the Negroes. The black people even had more faith as compared to the whites in the magic that education had. Gunnar Myrdal, who projected his optimism to the black Americans for their hopes, is said not to be sure about his belief. The civil rights movement involved major black periodicals in the 1940s that displayed a broad spectrum regarding future attitudes. To be precise, the scholars mention the poor as being more optimistic about the movement as compared to those who are able. The poor had faith held from religion that days would better with adoption of the movement.
The conclusion about the movement in relation to scholars and the Bible is discussed into details. In the late twentieth century, Jennifer Hochschild is said to have come up with a heartbreaking conclusion. Jennifer mentioned the black Americans as being more optimistic than the privileged white and black Americans. In Myrdal’s study, there is criticism that he ignored the black culture and majored on the white culture with regards to civil rights movement. David Chappell argues that the character often develops and mostly occurs out of hardship. David even mentioned Job in the Bible who really had his hopes high in the Lord and Negroes too acted as Job in the movement. The Bible mentioned by David also talks about suffering that is said to teach the sympathy. There were unfortunate conditions that required the civil rights movement and the general information that is discussed argues that the poor will always want change and sympathy.
There was thirst for change and by supporting the movement, less privileged people wanted a shift in their lives. The Negro, who really wanted change from the movement, is mentioned in the book to be desperate. According to Rustin, the Negroes were interested in the civil movement because they wanted immediate change. Rustin only believed in achieving civil rights movement in a practical way as the Bible states. The practical way would be nonviolent direct action in which Rustin had faith in. Rustin had seen nonviolence work and in his conception, there was no moral faith in the conscience of the oppressor. To achieve the civil rights movement, Gandhi stated that the freedom could not drop from the sky. Gandhi further said it was practical for one to struggle and be willing to die for something like Jesus Christ did. The struggle for a change through the movement thus mentions several scholars and David gives their arguments about need for change.
The mode of achieving changes was several, and James Lawson is mentioned to be a supporter of change. David Chappell mentions James Lawson as having even more direct influence on the major subgroups that were involved in the movement. For civil rights issues, Lawson emphasized on moral suasion, and that was more effusive for solving problems. For Lawson, issues of civil rights should have involved nonviolent force. The advent of civil rights movement was a reaction against the insensitiveness of the society.The media could not understand the issue of the civil rights movement and at times misinterpreted it. Momentum of the movement could not be stopped, and David Chappell argues that the merchants mishandled their Negro customers especially when offering their services. A part from slavery, other forms of harassment was also police brutality, integration and improper rule of law. After the segregation of the southern and northern groups, students still went ahead to protest against harassments. The students’ major message was that they wanted an existential moment on the American society. The segregated groups had initial forces of building their power for themselves. The groups still said that armed struggle was never an effective form of political issues that was mass. Individual defense could be best, and David Chappell stated that the support of individual defense was proper for the civil rights movement. Amongst the several styles of change, only non-violence was preferred, and several scholars who wanted nonviolence are discussed by David.
In concluding, the book discusses about the central arguments by David Chappell and some are very practical especially in the present world. The Bible encouraged the movement with lessons about issues of the past. Issues like using nonviolence in achieving what is desired is paramount. The poor are mentioned to support changes especially the quick actions because they suffer. Movements also attract ideas of “those who know” like the scholars, and these people will always give knowledge and ideas during such moments to keep civilians in order. With reference to the Bible, the scholars are able to relate the Biblical happenings with the movement. With support from the Bible, the movement happened to be a success and the goal that became an achievement was narrowing of the differences between the poor and the capable.
Works Cited
Chappell, David L. A Stone of Hope: Prophetic Religion and the Death of Jim Crow. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004. Print.
