Rhetoric, Religion and the Civil Rights Movement 1954-1965

DAVIS W. HOUCK

DAVID E. DIXON

EDITORS

B3 Baylor University Press Waco, Texas CONTENTS

Preface -xv Introduction 1

' 1954

Mordecai Johnson, Emancipation Day Address 19 Charles P. Bowles, A Cool Head and a Warm Heart 31 A. Powell Davies, The Supreme Court Decision 36 Frank P. Graham, Speech to Council of Christian Relations 42 Mary McLeod Bethune, Full Integration-America's Newest Challenge 49 Benjamin E. Mays, The Church Amidst Ethnic and Racial Tensions 55 J. R. Brokhoff, The Disturbing Christ 65 William Lloyd Imes, The Challenge of Integration... 71

1955

Sarah Patton Boyle, Speech to Calvary Christian Church 79 Sarah Patton Boyle, Speech to Covington Ministerial Association 82 William Lloyd Imes, Abraham Then, and Now 87 James Hudson, Toward World Brotherhood . 93 Mary McLeod Bethune, Spiritual Rearmament .96 , Address at Memorial Meeting for Rev. George W. Lee 99 Albert D'Orlando, Do We Still Need Do-Gooders? \ 107 T. R. M. Howard, Terror Reigns in Mississippi 116 Mamie Till-Bradley, I Want You to Know What They Did to My Boy 131 Robbins Ralph, I'm Glad I was Born White... 145 Sarah Patton Boyle, Feed My Sheep 150

1956

§20 Branch Rickey, One Hundred Percent Wrong Club 157 §21 Paul N. Carnes, Drifting is Dangerous 166 §22 J. R. Brokhoff, A Lesson on Tolerance 171 §23 Horace Mann Bond, A Cigarette for Johnnie Birchfield 177

ix x Contents

§24 James Hudson, Where to Look for Victory §25 T. R. M. Howard, Mississippi's Challenge in this Grave Hour §26 Roy Wilkins, Speech to National Baptist Convention, Denver §27 D. Perry Ginn, Christians and Desegregation

1957

§28 P. D. East, The South, Collectively, is a Patient Most III §29 Martin Luther King, Jr., The Role of the Church... §30 James A. Pike, Report of the Interracial Leadership Conference §31 Mordecai Wyatt Johnson, Address... §32 Adam Clayton Powell, Address at the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom §33 A. Philip Randolph, Address at the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom §34 Fred L. Shuttlesworth, A Faith for Difficult and Critical Times §35 Channing H. Tobias, Address to the 48th Annual NAACP Convention §36 Shad Polier, Walk to Freedom §37 Marion A. Boggs, The Crucial Test of Christian Citizenship §38 A. Powell Davies, The Meaning of Little Rock §39 Marion A. Wright, Integration and Public Morals

1958

§40 James R. Bullock, The Ministry of Reconciliation §41 J. R. Brokhoff, Life's Inevitables—Three Things You Cannot Stop §42 Fred L. Shuttlesworth, Meeting of the Fair Share Organization

1959

§43 Chester Bowles, A Fresh Look at Race Relations §44 Max D. Davidson, Address at the 50th Anniversary of the NAACP §45 Colbert S. Cartwright, The Ministry of Reconciliation §46 Carlos E. Martin, Of This Gospel I was Made a Minister §47 Edward Hughes Pruden, Christianity and Racial Tensions

1960

§48 LeRoy Collins, To the People of Florida on Race Relations §49 , Speech at Shaw University Contents xi

§50 Everett Tilson, Segregation and the Ten Commandments 362 §51 Benjamin E. Mays, Challenge to Overcome... 368 §52 Frank P. Graham, Students "Standing Up" for the American Dream 377 §53 Edler Garnet Hawkins, Behaving Like Ordinary Men 382 §54 Will D. Campbell, Witnessing... 385 §55 LeRoy Collins, Speech to the Anti-Defamation League ofB'Nai Brith 397

1961

§56 Haywood N. Hill, This I Believe 405 §57 Colbert S. Cartwright, Some Stern Words of Jesus 408 §58 William O. Byrd, Mistakes I Have Made in Race Relations 412 §59 Robert J. McCracken, The Christian Way in Race Relations 417 §60 Duncan Howlett, The Untold Story of the Sit-ins 421 §61 Ralph David Abernathy, Trying to Get Home Without Jesus 431 §62 Marion A. Wright, The Minister as Citizen 437 §63 James McBride Dabbs, Who Speaks for the South? 445

1962

§64 Heslip "Happy" Lee, Hidden Persuaders in Human Relations 457 §65 Fred L. Shuttlesworth, Call for Reason ... 464 §66 Robert H. Walkup, Not Race but Grace 469 §67 Robert H. Walkup, Speech at the University of Mississippi 472 §68 Charles L. Stanford, Jr., Love Disqualified 476 §69 Duncan M. Gray, Jr., Paranoia, Guilt, and Atonement 478 §70 George A. Chauncey, The Worship God Wants I 483 §71 James McBride Dabbs, The Moving Finger Writes in Mississippi 489 §72 James McBride Dabbs, To Define Our Love 502 §73 Marion King, Reflections on the Death of a Child 510

1963

§74 J. Claude Evans, The Christian Faith and Race 515 §75 James A. Pike, Speech at a Church and Race Relations Conference 522 §76 Edler Garnet Hawkins, This Is the Mood and This Is the Time 527 §77 , Broadcast on KPFA, Los Angeles May 28,1963 533 §78 J.V. Cosby Summerell, The Testing of Our Faith 543 xii Contents

§79 , Speech at the Flamingo Club . 547 §80 Bruce William Klunder, Untitled Sermon 559 §81 Eugene Carson Blake, Law and Order and Christian Duty 566 §82 Francis Gerald Ensley, On Loving One's Neighbor as Oneself 574 §83 Eugene Carson Blake, Late We Come "'581 §84 Patrick O'Boyle, Invocation ... 583 §85 , Speech at the March on Washington ... 584 §86 Charles Morgan, Jr., Who Is Guilty in Birmingham? 587 §87 George H. Woodard, Some, important Differences 591 §88 , Speech at Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church 596 §89 Arthur E. Shelton, Let s Face the World 622 §90 Frank T. Wilson, Golgotha 1964 627 §91 , Speech at the Freedom Vote Rally 631 §92 Dave Dennis, A Modern Day Moses 634 §93 , Speech at the Freedom Vote Rally 637 §94 James McBride Dabbs, The Myth, the Movement... 647 §95 Duncan Howlett, The Two Way Barrier 656 §96 David G. Colwell, As if in a Foreign Country 662 §97 Robert W. Spike, Division of Home Missions 667 §98 Lawrence Campbell, Danville Christian Progressive Association 6761964 §99 Ella Josephine Baker, Address at the Hattiesburg Freedom Day Rally 685 §100 Edward W. Harris, A Methodist Pastor and Race Relations 689 §101 L. Wilson Kilgore, Countdown on Human Worth 698 §102 Duncan Howlett, Report from the South 705 §103 James McBride Dabbs, Christian Response to Racial Revolution 713 §104 Mildred Bell Johnson, Deep are the Roots 719 §105 Ralph David Abernathy, Love and Race Relations 729 §106 Fred L. Shuttlesworth, The National Civil Rights Crises... 738 §107 Thomas Merton, Some Points... 743 §108 Robert W. Spike, Address to the 55th Annual NAACP Convention , 752 §109 Albert D'Orlando, The Long, Hot Summer 758 § 110 Fred L. Shuttlesworth, Address at Memorial Service 766 § 111 Robert W. Spike, Sermon at Deering Community Church 768 §112 Dave Dennis and Edwin King, Funeral Service for 774 §113 , Untitled Speech 784 §114 Theodore M. Hesburgh, Moral Dimensions... 794 § 115 Robert J. McCracken, Civil Rights and Christian Duties 813 Contents xm 1965

§116 , The Misfits 821 § 117 Civil Rights Hearings, Religious Panel, February 20,1965 826 §118 Charles F. Wittenstein, Jews, Justice and Liberalism 852 §119 Duncan Howlett, Report from Alabama and Mississippi 857 §120 Albert D'Orlando, In Memoriam ... 864 §121 RoyWilkins, Eulogy at Memorial Service for James Reeb 870 §122 Robert A. Reed, To Be a Man 873 §123 Duncan Howlett, The Moral Stature of the Civil Rights Movement 877 §124 Morris B. Abram, Address... 884 §125 , Untitled Paper Read Posthumously 891 §126 Daniel Berrigan, Dear Friends in Christ 898 §127 Ralph David Abernathy, A Christian Movement in a Revolutionary Age 902 §128 Kelly Miller Smith, Trek Toward the Dawn 908 §129 Gardner C. Taylor, Some Comments on Race Hate 914 §130 Theodore Parker Ferris, Civil Rights from a Christian Point of View 920

Bibliography 925 Permissions Acknowledgments 973