Author: Allyn Maxfield-Steele, Michael K. Honey, Alison Collis Greene, Robert Korstad.

Date Published: 2020

Institution: Wendland-Cook

Resource Type: Interventions Forum

Overview: The role of religion in radical and progressive social movements in the South has been surprisingly under-appreciated. Because most people associate the South with conservative and fundamentalist Christianity -- and not progressive or radical Christian movements or other traditions -- this in fact perpetuates an erasure of the progressive and radical traditions, whose stories urgently need to be told and retold. The Highlander Research and Education Center has been one hub of such movements and work. With founders shaped both by tenets of the Social Gospel movement and the radical labor movements of the early 20th century, Highlander served as a meeting place for working people to imagine new ways of practicing social and economic democracy together, often across racial lines. Taking a leaf from this history this forum explores the role of religion in radical movements in the South. Eschewing the textbook history or accounts of religion, contributors to this forum tells stories of forgotten strikes, uprisings, and massacres. A key question at the heart of this forum is how religion can play a role today in supporting radical liberation movements in the South.

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