Damned Whiteness

How White Christian Allies Failed the Black Freedom Movement

David F. Evans

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English

The University of North Carolina Press
28 October 2025

History of the Americas; History of religion; Christianity; Ethnic studies; Black & Asian studies

The memory of the long civil rights movement often celebrates white men and women who drew on their religious faith to support Black demands for racial justice. However, the visions and actions of these leaders and their organizations often conflicted with those of Black leadership. While Black activists fought for a broad vision of freedom, white allies focused more narrowly on cultivating interracial friendship, marching in parallel to Black movement leaders rather than alongside them.

Damned Whiteness offers an unflinching history of white-led efforts at interracial organizing gone astray. Considering the examples of Dorothy Day, cofounder of the Catholic Worker Movement

Clarence Jordan, spiritual father of Habitat for Humanity

and Ralph Templin, a Christian missionary who studied nonviolence in Gandhi's India, David F. Evans reveals how religious white progressives inherited strategies that remained disconnected from the ideas and actions of Black communities. These disconnects have often been cloaked as disagreements over religious doctrine and practice, but Evans reveals how they stem from refusals to acknowledge Black leaders' philosophies and freedom dreams. Though these patterns persist, Evans offers a way out of this legacy of white allyship and into a future where freedom is possible.

By: David F. Evans
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 25mm, Spine: 155mm
ISBN: 9781469691473
ISBN 10: 1469691477
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 28 October 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

David F. Evans is professor of history and intercultural studies at Eastern Mennonite Seminary.

Reviews for Damned Whiteness: How White Christian Allies Failed the Black Freedom Movement

""Riveting and necessary . . . our present is a creation of the past. Evans's powerful historical excavation confronts us with the future, creating implications of choosing (or not) solidarity today. A must read."" --Jennifer Harvey, author of Antiracism as Daily Practice: Refuse Shame, Change White Communities, and Help Create a Just World ""David Evans recounts in exquisite detail how white progressives failed Black freedom fighters in earlier decades, and how that history informs our current situation. Damned Whiteness is a provocative study that demonstrates how history repeats--or at least rhymes--when it comes to the struggle for racial justice in the USA. Everyone who claims to support the dismantling of racism--especially Christians--needs to read this book."" --Rev. Dennis R. Edwards, Seminary Dean of North Park Theological Seminary