t of the position of the black community in general and the black church in particular vis-a-vis the mainstream culture as a whole.
This research suggests certain patterns of historical change in the role of the black church in modern society, and the means by which the functions of the black church may have shifted over the last half of the twentieth century will be set forth with reference to a review of literature. The process of institutional change within the structure of the black church, as well as the changing position of the black church in the overall social system, will be analyzed with a view toward forecasting possible future lines of development in the culture.
In the American South at the beginning of the century, the black person was subject to the tradition of slavery in America. The situation was aggravated in the 1890s by the rise of statutory segregation (Jim Crow Laws) and of (recorded) lynchings. Booker T. Washington's "Atlanta Compromise"
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