Coming of Age

This chapter begins by discussing the death of Church Sr. and Church Jr.’s initial years as a local black Republican leader and his eventual ascendance within the GOP. It also highlights the beginning of Church’s approximately three-decade-long relationship with Boss E.H. Crump and his political machine. In 1916, Church launched the Lincoln League of Tennessee, a Republican faction designed to promote black interests and oppose the party’s lily-white faction. It later grew into the Lincoln League of America. Through this organization Church was launched into the national spotlight after he ushered over 10,000 black Memphians to the polls in November of 1916. This chapter also sees the birth of Church’s daughter, Sarah Roberta Church, who would follow in her father’s footsteps as a Republican leader and promoter of the black vote.