" Milwaukee's White Protestant Churches Respond to the Second Great Migration
Marten, James
Marquette University
2020
272
Ph.D.
Marquette University
2020
In 1963 Dr. King observed that America was most segregated on Sunday mornings when its churches were filled with worshippers. My dissertation investigates the response of Milwaukee's white urban Protestant churches to the Second Great Migration, which led to tremendous growth in the city's African American population. The difficulty caused by many white members living in the suburbs while still attending church in racially transitioning city neighborhoods was compounded in some cases by the negative influence exerted by denominational history and polity. While those realities were often far more significant than theology in determining how individual congregations reacted to the first instances of racial diversity in their midst, churches that viewed demographic transition solely as a spiritual opportunity were the ones able to successfully become integrated congregations.