Document Type
Book Review
Publication Date
Fall 2011
Abstract
Historians’ understandings of race have changed dramatically in the last two decades. Earlier generations of historians tended to assume that racial categories were both natural and unchanging. More recently, however, many have begun to see racial categories as socially constructed and dynamic. In this engaging new book, Derek Chang builds upon recent historical and social scientific research to examine how race was made in the years following the Civil War. Acknowledging the centrality of religion in U.S. society in this period, Chang focuses specifically on two Baptist missions as sites of racial formation. One of these missions, begun in 1865 in Raleigh, North Carolina, eventually became Shaw University. The other, the Chinese Mission School in Portland, Oregon, was established in 1874.
Publication Title
Western Historical Quarterly
Volume
42
Issue
3
First Page
411
Required Publisher's Statement
Western Historical Quarterly currently allows posting of their content to open-access institutional repositories FIVE YEARS from original publication.
Published by: Western Historical Quarterly, Utah State University on behalf of The Western History Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/westhistquar.42.3.0411
Recommended Citation
Leonard, Kevin Allen, "Review of: Citizens of a Christian Nation: Evangelical Missions and the Problem of Race in the Nineteenth Century, by Derek Chang" (2011). History Faculty and Staff Publications. 58.
https://cedar.wwu.edu/history_facpubs/58
Subjects - Topical (LCSH)
Home missions--United States--History--19th century; Baptists--Missions--United States--History--19th century; Evangelistic work--United States--History--19th century
Subjects - Names (LCNAF)
Chang, Derek, 1969-. Citizens of a Christian nation
Geographic Coverage
United States
Genre/Form
reviews (documents)
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
