The Bible Told Them So: How Southern Evangelicals Fought to Preserve White Supremacy. By J. Russell Hawkins

Abstract

J. Russell Hawkins frames his remarkable book, The Bible Told Them So: How Southern Evangelicals Fought to Preserve White Supremacy, with two gatherings at the White House five years apart. In June 1963, John F. Kennedy summoned nearly 250 religious leaders to the East Room to enlist their help in passing civil rights legislation. Following the president’s appeal to emphasize “the moral position of racial equality,” he took questions from the audience (p. 2). Most of the comments were friendly, but a Baptist pastor from Florida dissented, arguing that he and other southerners held a “strong moral conviction” that racial integration defied the will of God (p. 2). When Lyndon B. Johnson convened a group of Southern Baptist ministers five years later, following the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, the appeal was different. Whereas Kennedy had sought help to pass legislation, Johnson wanted the assistance of clergy to help change hearts and minds on the matter of racial inclusion.