It is my argument that the early Seventh-day Adventist missionaries resisted both the racist beliefs and racist practices of the South, then -- pressured by custom and escalating violence -- they began accommodating the racism of the South by racially segregating yet continuing to resist the oppression of Blacks. Over time, however, that segregation which began as accommodation was accepted and normalized; in effect, it became part of the Adventist culture in America. Though racial segregation was a temporary expediency, the church's failure began when it ceased to question the policy (and it started righting these wrongs when it began again to corporately challenge both the assumptions and practices of racial segregation).

I think I've got the thesis paragraph of my thesis project down.
If you want to know what I've been laboring on for months and will continue to work on for more months, there you have it, folks.

moves and removes