Long March Ahead

“[T]he overall research findings of this volume are compelling. This volume highlights the continued importance of African American churches and ministers in the struggle for social justice in the black community and the necessity for further research on the role of African American religious communities and ministers in U.S. public policy.”
- Korie L. Edwards , Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

“It is important to think carefully and comprehensively about the new public role of black churches. . . . This volume and its companion have provided a beginning for that process, but much more needs to be done to provide a full and satisfying picture of what is left to do.” - James Findlay , Journal of American History

“The essays illuminate the now contested boundaries between faith and politics. . . . . Smith’s two contributions will find their place in graduate seminars on African-American church life. The other contributions should find an audience in classroom and church alike.” - Douglas E. Thompson , Religious Studies Review

“The nine essays in this second volume analyze black church activism on such national public policy issues as affirmative action, health care, welfare reform and public education.” - , Digest

“This [is an] excellent and important collection of case studies, undertaken as part of a very large and evidently ongoing project studying the role of African American churches in contemporary public life. . . .” - Paul Harvey , The Historian

"The interdisciplinary and case study approaches employed, along with the focus on both rural and urban congregations, account for much of the uniqueness and appeal of this volume. . . . Long March Ahead sets a high standard for scholarship on the black church and American public life. It is an achievement of epic scope, and it clearly belongs among the great studies of the black church produced by W.E.B. DuBois, Carter G. Woodson, and others." - Lewis Baldwin, Journal of Church and State

“As a board member of the project researching the Public Influences of African American Churches, I am proud of the degree to which the team of researchers, directed by Dr. R. Drew Smith, illuminated the current impact of the African American church on the various forms of political behavior in its community. The very breadth and scope of this project provides a new research baseline for this subject that will be useful to religious institutions, scholars, and the public as they seek to understand the role of the American church in the life of the nation.” - Dr. Ronald Walters, Distinguished Leadership Scholar and Professor of Government and Politics, University of Maryland, College Park

“R. Drew Smith’s Long March Ahead is an excellent collection of essays which points to the strengths and weaknesses of black churches in the public policy arena. While they remain key mobilizing institutions in black communities, the churches have not developed a coherent voice on significant public policy issues such as welfare reform in the post–civil rights era. Everyone concerned about the future of black churches in the twenty-first century needs to ponder the implications of these important case studies.” - Lawrence H. Mamiya, coauthor of The Black Church in the African American Experience