No Future in This Country: The Prophetic Pessimism of Bishop Henry McNeal Turner
Andre E. Johnson
University Press of Mississippi
Focusing on Turner's work from 1896 to 1915, Johnson tells the story of how Turner provided rhetorical leadership during a period in which America defaulted on many of the rights and privileges gained for African Americans during Reconstruction. Turner opted not for optimism, but for adopting a prophetic persona of pessimism that challenged and pushed African Americans to believe in themselves.