Storefront Churches
In the 1990's, I explored the institution of the storefront church on the South Side of Chicago. During the Great Migration, such churches proliferated in Chicago. Established by small groups united by common social origins and religious beliefs, the storefronts provided a refuge from urban life and a setting more comfortable for many than the big middle-class black churches. Accompanied by a friend, who taught in the ministry program at the University of Chicago Divinity School, I spent many Sundays visiting these churches, where we were welcomed into the sacred spaces our hosts had created.