The Civil Rights Movement and the Methodist Church in North Carolina

Abstract

The United Methodist Church and its predecessor denominations have a long and complicated history on the issues of race and civil rights. The denomination has overcome many sectional and social divisions to become a more racially open denomination. One of the biggest periods of change for the denomination was during the Civil Rights Movement. The United Methodist Church, and its direct predecessor the Methodist Church, was swept along by the great social change during the period from 1954 to 1968 to become a desegregated church. In some ways, elements within the church helped to foster that social change. Despite having been deeply divided on the issues of civil rights and race, particular in the South, the denomination offered protection and support for clergy attempting to push for a fairer society, even in southern states such as North Carolina.