What ultimately occurred was a great reversal and resurrection. By the end of the century, the American Christ who had come to identify with slaves was transformed into a messiah of former slaveholders whose disciples wore white robes, burned crosses, and terrorized people of color. George Kelly’s vision of a white Jesus who fought for black people faded, and in its place arose a neo-Confederate Christ who subjugated black people in the name of liberty and democracy. Jesus as an overt physical symbol of white supremacy was born only after dreams of Confederate independence died and after
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