“What Were Some Ways The Mother Church Responded to Racial Unrest in the 1960s?”

Mary Baker Eddy Library, The. “What Were Some Ways The Mother Church Responded to Racial Unrest in the 1960s?” Released 13 July 2020.

In 2020, after the deaths of George Floyd and other Blacks, The Mary Baker Eddy Library felt compelled to look into the Christian Science church’s history with Black Americans, and its response specifically to the national racial unrest in the 1960s. The article details interactions Black members had with Christian Science early in its history, pointing out notable figures including Leonard Perry, Jr. and Marietta Webb. The article also records its history of officially segregating the races in their churches, a practice that did not stop until 1956. Responding to the racial ferment of the 1960s, the article notes the response by the Board of Directors to the demands from the Metropolitan Boston Committee of Black Churchmen for financial aid and conferral of some of the church property to Black neighborhoods. The article provides links to various responses by the Directors in the 1960s that focused on the challenges of racial inharmony.

View this resource on The Mary Baker Eddy Library website.

See also annotations:

“Negro Ministers and the Color Line in American Protestantism” by Jessee Atwood Howell