Winner of the 2021 Book of the Year Award from the Religious
Communication Association
Winner of the 2021 Top Book Award from the National Communication
Association's African American Communication and Culture Division &
Black Caucus
No Future in This Country: The Prophetic Pessimism of Bishop Henry
McNeal Turner is a history of the career of Bishop Henry McNeal Turner
(1834-1915), specifically focusing on his work from 1896 to 1915.
Drawing on the copious amount of material from Turner's speeches,
editorial, and open and private letters, Andre E. Johnson tells a 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. Unlike many of his
contemporaries during this period, Turner did not opt to proclaim an
optimistic view of race relations. Instead, Johnson argues that Turner
adopted a prophetic persona of a pessimistic prophet who not only spoke
truth to power but, in so doing, also challenged and pushed African
Americans to believe in themselves.
At this time in his life, Turner had no confidence in American
institutions or that the American people would live up to the promises
outlined in their sacred documents. While he argued that emigration was
the only way for African Americans to retain their "personhood" status,
he also would come to believe that African Americans would never
emigrate to Africa. He argued that many African Americans were so
oppressed and so stripped of agency because they were surrounded by
continued negative assessments of their personhood that belief in
emigration was not possible. Turner's position limited his rhetorical
options, but by adopting a pessimistic prophetic voice that bore witness
to the atrocities African Americans faced, Turner found space for his
oratory, which reflected itself within the lament tradition of prophecy.
