Interracialism and Christian Community in the Postwar South: The Story of Koinonia Farm

by Tracy E. K'Meyer

Now available in paperback, Tracy K'Meyer's book is a thoughtful and engaging portrait of Koinonia Farm, an interracial Christian cooperative founded in 1942 by two white Baptist ministers in southwest Georgia. The farm was begun as an expression of radical southern Protestantism, and its interracial nature made it a beacon to early civil rights activists, who rallied to its defense and helped it survive attacks from the Ku Klux Klan and others. Based on over fifty interviews with current and former Koinonia members, K'Meyer's book provides a history of the farm during its period of greatest influence. K'Meyer outlines the conceptual flaws that have troubled the community, but finds that Koinonia's enduring effect as a social movement―including Millard Fuller's founding of Habitat for Humanity, prompted by a 1965 visit to the farm―is far more meaningful than its internal conflicts. For anyone in search of a hardy strain of Christian progressivism in the Bible Belt, reading K'Meyer's book is an inspiring and intellectually fulfilling experience in its own right.

Genres: History, Race

256 pages, Paperback

First published June 22, 1997

Reviews

[Annah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The origin story of Koinonia Farm, an intentional community that eventually gave rise to Habitat for Humanity. The task of tracing the history of one community over half a century is unenviable, to be sure, but I found this often reductive, especially around issues of race relations with their neighbors (which seems like a key dynamic for the book’s concern!). It also could've used MUCH editing for repetition.

[Drick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of the three books I have read on Koinonia and Clarence Jordan, this is the most complete because the author approaches the subject from the larger social and cultural context in which Jordan and Koinonia came about. For instance she sets the boycott and harassment that Koinonia faced in the context of heightening racial tensions that occurred after the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court Case. Though Koinonia had been practicing inter-racial mixing for years, with the prospect of integrated schools tensions throughout the South were heightened. She also has a whole chapter explore Clarence Jordan's relationship and views on the Civil Rights movement. Though he was in regular contact with MLK and leaders of SNCC and was well aware of the Albany movement not far from his home, he did not support the tactics of the Civil Rights marchers, though he supported their goals. This book is an excellent resource on Koinonia and shows the distinctly Christian approach Jordan took to the Civil Rights issues of his day

[Marsha Richeson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Story of the man that helped Millard Fuller start Habitat for Humanity. The story of the years before the civil rights movement in Sumtner Co (Plains and Americus) Georgia. Inspiring.