Churches play a vital role in African American culture, and not just as houses of worship. They also stand at the center of the political, educational, and social lives of black Americans.
In "Black Churches in Texas, " Clyde McQueen catalogues 374 black congregations, each at least one hundred years old, in the parts of Texas where most blacks were likely to have settled--east of Interstate Highway 35 and from the Red River to the Gulf of Mexico. Ninety-nine counties are divided into five regions: Central Texas, East Texas, the Gulf Coast, North Texas, and South Texas. For each congregation, McQueen provides the year it was organized, the county and town where it is located, and an address or directions for finding it; any other history, lore, or facts available are also given. Information was gathered from interviews, church bulletins, special church programs, historical markers, and building cornerstones.
The catalog is enhanced by sixty-four photographs of some of the churches surveyed, and an introduction by William Montgomery places in historical perspective the importance of McQueen's work.
As the first work documenting the formation of black churches in Texas, historians will find this an indispensable contribution to a little-known but important field of Texas and African American History.