The Bible Told Them So

How Southern Evangelicals Fought to Preserve White Supremacy

Why did southern white evangelical Christians resist the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s? Simply put, they believed the Bible told them so. When the civil rights movement ultimately triumphed in the 1960s, it fundamentally changed southern society. But it didn’t change white evangelicalism. Instead, the segregationist Christianity that fought against the civil rights movement lived on after the movement’s success. Turning their attention to institutions they still controlled–churches, denominations, homes, and private high schools–white evangelicals continued to preach and practice segregationist Christianity, disguising it in language of colorblindness and family protection.