Desegregation of the Methodist Church Polity

In this unique landmark book, W. Astor Kirk, Ph.D. describes and analyzes how blacks in the Methodist Church, "inspired by the civil rights movements in the larger society," established the Committee of Five in 1960 to organize, lead, guide, and direct the anti-segregation movement. The author was a member of that committee, serving as its secretary from 1960 to 1965 and chairman from 1965 through 1967.

This is the first and only book to provide a documentary account of the social-change theories, strategies, and tactics blacks employed in the 1960s to change their religious destiny as members of the Methodist Church.