The Negro's church,.

Is the Negro Overchurched?

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environment and freedom in church areas, have all contributed
to the multiplicity of Negro churches. That the Negro has
more churches than he can maintain in healthy condition, no
one can deny. A failure, however, to understand that there
are many Negro churches, not so much because the Negro
desired it but because he was largely forced to it by being
shut out here and there from a larger participation in American life in other areas, is a failure to appreciate the survival
struggles of a minority group in a civilization that has developed primarily to meet the needs of the majority.
But it is not enough to understand why there are so many
Negro churches. Intelligent church planning with respect
to the future is the most urgent need of Negro churches
today.
The Dawn of a New Day
The circumstances that gave rise to the need for so great
a number of Negro churches are not as compelling now as
they were twenty-five or fifty years ago. The Negro is not
as highly proscribed as he was. Before emancipation, and
immediately following it, and on for years after the reconstruction period, the Negro was narrowly confined to two or three
professions. This is not so today. Negroes are now found
in scores of occupations. Many more avenues are open to
them. New centers of culture are available which twentyfive or fifty years ago did not exist. The Negro is no longer
almost wholly confined to the church for expression and
leadership.
Although Negroes are still migrating to urban centers, the
great emergency, for the present at least, is over; and wiser
planning for the church housing of urban Negroes is possible.
Despite the apparent setbacks from time to time, there is
evidence to show that the forces of interracial cooperation are
constantly at work and the restrictions in the American environment are being slowly raised. These facts suggest new