A praxiological curriculum for a black church to resist voter suppression

Abstract

I contend that a Black Church has the liberative power to overcome voter suppression tactics created by legislative action. This for-ministry project provides Elm Grove District Association affiliated Black Baptist Churches with a creative, practical solution to resist voter suppression. In Texas, as in each of the fifty states in the U.S., local governments manage election administration. County election officials delegate voting to volunteers. During the Civil Rights era, many Black churches served as primary institutions to register African Americans who had been prohibited from the ballot box by southern states' Jim Crow laws. By replicating the Rev. James M. Lawson's historic tenet of nonviolent resistance, which is voting, a Black Church possesses the prophetic presence to resist the sin of voter suppression. Using an inductive pedagogical approach, I created a praxiological curriculum for a Black Baptist Church to recruit and empower (sponsor) members to become Volunteer Deputy Registrars (VDR). An empowered VDR registers voters and practices other proactive actions, such as informing the community about upcoming elections and changes to the election laws and preparing new voters to engage in the sacred, democratic act of voting. Through congregational input, an empowered VDR develops and executes an Action Plan or Voting Strategy that helps the Black Church resist voter suppression in their community.