Publisher's Synopsis
The black church has always played a vital role in urban black communities. Clarence Taylor examines the impact of this crucial institution on the city and its efforts to meet the arduous and sometimes devastating demands and sacrifices of urban living.;Taylor contends that the ministers of these churches provided key leadership for a growing and changing community of African Americans. Using Brooklyn as a national example, Taylor takes the reader on a historical tour that begins with a discussion of the mainline churches of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and continues with the black migration to the cities of the 1930s and 1940s.;The establishment of Brooklyn's largest black community in Bedford-Stuyvesant and the stirrings of the civil rights movement are also analyzed. Taylor concludes with the controversy surrounding contemporary, often outspoken ministers such as Reverend Al Sharpton and their influence on the black community.
