My dissertation examines the origins, dynamics, and consequences of the civil rights movement in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1945 to 1975. The city is used as a microcosm to comment on a wide array of issues that historians frequently treat as isolated questions. More specifically, it investigates how two crucial components of Nashville’s distinct make-up, the city’s powerful religious institutions and its civil rights leadership (itself powerfully rooted in religious faith), interacted with each other to create and block racial change. By emphasizing the religious dimensions of the wider cultural mentalities of Nashvillians (black and white), I analyze the attitudes of both races and how they mirror wider societal fissures. The project endeavors to recalibrate the extent to which scholars should understand religion as a factor in Movement activism, both for whites and blacks. My research also demonstrates the possibilities and obstacles in using religion to overturn real-world social issues.