A Stone Of Hope Prophetic Religion And The Death Of Jim...

Speaking from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C, the face of the National Civil Rights Movement delivered, arguably, the most renowned and recited speech of the past sixty years. The infamous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. In this historic moment, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr famously stated, â€Å"he was going back to the South with faith that his people could hew a stone of hope from a mountain of despair.† (1) An effort considered by many to be the greatest, most successful social movement in our nation’s history, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s-60s ushered in accomplishments of equality in areas of social issues and liberal ideology at pace never witnessed before in American society. In A Stone of Hope: Prophetic Religion and the Death of Jim Crow, author David L. Chappell analyzes how this feat was accomplished in such a short period. In doing so, Chappell reconsiders the roots of the movement itself and comes to a shocking conclusion. Rather giving credit to the success of the movement to black leaders and northern liberals, Chappell argues that it was actually the neutrality of the southern, white churches that helped to steer our country toward an era of national change. (5) â€Å"Unlike white southern social conservatives before and after them, segregationists in the 1950s-60s tended to identify their own white southern churches as the enemy.† (5) According to Chappell, this was the â€Å"Achilles’ heel† for segregationists during the movement. (6) It was this very failureShow MoreRelatedLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 Pagesdecision, too. He wants to stay, but not by himself. Still, he isnt convinced by Juanitas reasons. Look, he says, if the stream were poisonous, everything in it would look dead. There are water spiders and plants living in the stream. Its no death trap. At this point you are faced with one of lifes little decisions: What do you do about the water situation? Go or stay? Someone else might make this decision by flipping a coin. A logical reasoner is more rational. 4 A first step in