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Gandhi-king: Satyagraha to the Civil Rights movement

Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. are among the most venerated figures of the twentieth century. Though worlds apart–South Africa, India and the United States–their fight for social justice and human rights are integral to how the world  has come to view the fight against oppression, discrimination and injustice. Through an unshakable faith in  a universal truth, a transcendental love—ahimsa for Gandhi, agape for King—the two leaders have transformed the lives  of millions. With nothing more than conviction and unbreakable courage, they fearlessly battled injustice with nothing but nonviolent resistance–satyagraha and civil disobedience campaigns. As a result they’ve restored hope, dignity and self-respect to millions of oppressed peoples around the world.

Public Transportation, Indignity, and Seeds of Protest

South Africa,  1893

Mahatma Gandhi Source: Wikimedia Commons

In  April 1893 Mohandas Gandhi, a young lawyer from the northwestern  Indian state of Gujarat, sailed to South Africa to work for an Indian firm [1]. His first  foray into the law profession in his native country had been a dismal failure, and he jumped at the chance to practice his profession abroad for a year.  About a week after arriving in the coastal city of Durban, in what was then the colony of Natal, he boarded a train  for the 333-mile trip northwest  to Pretoria, in the  republic of the Transvaal.  Though holding a first-class ticket he was unceremoniously told to leave the compartment for an inferior one [2]. He refused and was kicked off the train. Indian contacts arranged a berth for him on a train the following day. To complete his journey  he was required to transfer to a stagecoach. There, he was denied  seating in the compartment, and was forced to  sit outside next to the driver. The coachman took his seat with the other passengers in the compartment.   Later, the coachman decided to smoke and climbed out, sat next to the driver, and instructed Gandhi to sit inside, on the floor.  Gandhi refused, and a commotion ensued.

After reaching his destination, Gandhi discussed his hardships with his hosts, and found that the indignities he suffered were not unusual. He  convened a meeting among prominent Indians in Pretoria (Transvaal).  In his first public address he discussed the condition of Indians in that region.  He also suggested the formation of an association  that  would  be responsible for representing the hardships encountered by the Indian population to the authorities. The seeds of protest in South Africa and later, India,  were planted.

Montgomery, AL, 1955

Rosa Parks Source: Wikimedia Commons

On the evening of Thursday, December 1st, 1955,  Mrs. Rosa Parks was riding in the colored section at the back of a municipal bus, on her way home from her job as a seamstress at a  local department store. The White section, up-front, was full. A White man entered. Black riders were compelled to give up their seats to a White passenger when the White section was full [3]. Three Black passengers near Mrs. Parks  stood so the White man could sit. Mrs. Parks, a volunteer for the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), refused.  The police were called. She was taken off the bus and arrested. In response, Black residents of the city agreed to boycott the Montgomery bus lines the following Monday. A group  was formed, and elected to extend the boycott until  a list of conditions, designed to mitigate the humiliation and indignities suffered by Black commuters, were met. They chose a twenty-six-year-old  pastor recently arrived from Atlanta, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., to  lead the protest. The seeds of the modern Civil Rights Movement in the United States were planted.

Mohandas Gandhi

Truth (Satya) implies love, and firmness (agraha) engenders and therefore serves as a synonym for force. I thus began to call the Indian movement ‘Satyagraha’, that is to say, the Force which is born of Truth and Love or non-violence…This then was the genesis of the movement which came to be known as Satyagraha, and of the word used as a designation for it. — Mohandas K. Gandh [4].

South Africa

By 1900, there were about 62,000 Indians living in South Africa.  Most worked as indentured labourers in the British-controlled, coastal colonies of Natal and the Cape, and the Boer republics of Transvaal and the Orange Free State (OFS) [5].

The Second Boer War, between the British and Boers over South African territory, occurred between 1899 and 1902. The British were victorious, and the former Boer-controlled republics of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek or ZAR (later called the Transvaal) and the Orange Free State—both in the interior of the  country–came under British control [6]. (See a map of South Africa  with the provincial breakdown  for reference.)

By April 1894, Gandhi had completed  the  year of employment originally agreed to with his employer. Members of the Indian community  asked him to remain to assist in the  struggles against the blatant discriminatory laws and other injustices faced by his fellow countrymen of Indian descent. Gandhi agreed;  his legal practice then adopted a dual purpose—his ‘private’ practice, for which he was paid, and his ‘public’ practice, which he  contributed free of charge[7]. In  his private practice,  Gandhi represented  Indian merchants as well as dispossessed Indians, winning many of  the cases designed to deprive them of their property. The legal victories also enhanced his stature among his fellow Indian countrymen[8]. In May 1894,  as part of his ‘public’ practice,  he organized the Natal Indian Congress [9] which began a campaign to combat anti-Indian discrimination and  to publicize actions taken  to address those  issues. He  later invested much of his personal finances into the journal, Indian  Opinion launched in 1904, which acted as a communication organ for the Natal Indian Congress.

At the beginning of his public practice in 1894 Gandhi became aware of  the Indian Franchise Bill — proposed legislation ‘designed to  deprive Indians the right to elect members of the Natal Legislative Assembly’ [10]. He helped organize opposition to this bill. Newspapers in India and in Britain carried the story, supporting Gandhi’s efforts. This case, together with Indian Opinion and his leadership of the Natal Indian Congress,  brought the young lawyer to national—and international—prominence [11].

The ‘Black Act’ and the Birth of Satyagraha

In 1906  the Transvaal government introduced the Asiatic Law Amendment Ordinance—dubbed ‘The Black Act’. Every Indian  residing in the Transvaal was required to register with the local government. This applied to all Indians eight years of age or older. All identification marks as well as a thumb and fingerprint were  to be taken.  The certificate of registration was to be presented  to  any law enforcement officer at his discretion [12].

Gandhi met with leading members of the Indian community to defy the ordinance. Of the 13,000 Indians in the Transvaal only 500 obeyed the ordinance.  The leaders of the movement, including Gandhi, were jailed [13]. The resistance also took a financial toll on the protesters. In response Gandhi purchased a piece of land,  with the help of a wealthy backer, where  those participating in the civil disobedience could live.

Gandhi had previously used ‘passive resistance’ to describe the actions his fellow  Indians used to protest what they considered unjust laws. He believed, however, that the term did not adequately describe their movement. He offered  a prize, published in Indian Opinion,  to anyone who could  suggest a name that would more accurately describe the movement. One contestant created the term ‘Sadagraha’ meaning ‘firmness in a good cause’. Gandhi felt that the term did not fully convey the meaning of their struggle and modified it to the Sanskrit and Hindu term, Satyagraha [14].

After the Black Act,  additional pieces of legislations were passed to limit the rights of Indians. In 1907, the Transvaal Immigration Restriction Act placed limitations on Indians entering the  prosperous Transvaal from other provinces, affecting Indians all over the country [15]. Gandhi launched a satyagraha campaign in protest. He was put on trail and sentenced to two moths in jail. A compromise was reached and he was released. He called off the Satyagraha. The British reneged on the compromise and Gandhi relaunched the campaign [16].

Satyagraha and The Marriage Act

Kasturba Gandhi Source: Wikimedia Commons

The Marriage Act – In 1913 a judgment was handed down  that rendered any marriage, not  adhering to Christian rites, illegal [18]. This was an insult to many Indians,  rendering  Hindu, Muslim, and other non-Christian  women, in effect,  ‘concubines.’   Indian women, including Gandhi’s wife, Kasturba, resisted, and were imprisoned. 

The imprisonment of Indian women angered Indians who had not previously participated in the satyagraha movement and motivated them to join [19]. Among those prompted by the women’s imprisonment were  mine workers in the Natal city of Newcastle  who had long suffered  poor working conditions that rendered  them dependent on the mine owners.  Emboldened by the women’s actions, the mine workers went on strike, and solicited Gandhi’s assistance. The strike spread throughout all South Africa [20]. Gandhi was arrested multiple times in support of the Satyagraha [21].

Finally, the British government, represented by one General (Jan Christiaan) Smuts, created a commission to study the Indians’  situation. Gandhi submitted a letter to Smuts, outlining the conditions for putting Satyagraha to an end.  The recommendations were met, resulting in the Indian Relief Bill. It recognized non-Christian marriage, addressed the issues of the mine-workers, abolished the Black Act and relaxed requirements of the Transvaal Immigration Restriction Act [22].

In July 1914, eight years after the implementation of the Asiatic Law Amendment Ordinance was introduced, Gandhi left South Africa forever, and returned to India [23].

India

Satyagraha and the Viramgam Railway Passengers

In 1915 Gandhi was asked to intercede on behalf of  railway passengers in Viramgam, a city in the western Indian state of Gujarat, approximately 585 km north of Bombay (now Mumbai).Third class passengers were ‘treated’ not as people but as ‘sheep’ [24]. After investigating the issue for himself Gandhi concluded that the charges had merit. He  enlisted the support  of  British authorities and made speeches referencing the use of Satyagraha to remedy the situation. Within days of  meeting with the authorities the Viramgam customs were abolished. Gandhi refers to this as the first use of satyagraha in India [25].

Satyagraha and the Indian Immigration Act

Iin  1917  Gandhi launched a campaign to end the practice of  Indians emigrating to foreign countries as  indentured laboured,  a practice he describes as ‘semi-slavery’  [26]. Gandhi met with leaders throughout the country to organize an end to the practice.  On July 31st, the  government stopped the practice [27].

Satyagraha for the Champaran Tenant Farmers

In 1917 Gandhi was contacted to assist in improving the working conditions of tenant farmers/peasants in the Champaran region. Champaran is located  in the state of Bihar, near the Himalayas, on the India-Nepal border [28]. Upon examining the conditions of the peasants firsthand, Gandhi contacted the British authorities.  They responded by ordering him to leave the area, which he refused to do. The authorities soon backed down when crowds gathered in support of Gandhi [29]. His refusal to comply with the British orders was his ‘first act of civil disobedience against the British.’ Gandhi writes, ‘[m]y desire was to establish the principle that no Englishman had the right to tell me to leave any part of my country where I had gone for a peaceful pursuit…It became the method by which India could be made free’ [30]. He was then given a position on a committee created to examine the peasants’ complaints.  Ultimately the committee found in favour of the tenant farmers and recommended landowners ‘refund a portion of extractions…which [were] found to be unlawful, and that the [overall] system should be abolished by law.’  Ultimately an Agrarian Bill was passed abolishing the conditions under which the tenant farmers had endured for over a century [31].

Satyagraha for the Mill Workers of Ahmedabad

In 1918 Gandhi took up the cause of cotton mill workers in the city of Ahmedabad, approximately 530 km north of Bombay. The labourers had long agitated for better working conditions and higher wages. A strike was called and for the first time Gandhi embarked on a fast. Four days later an arbitrator was appointed [32].

Satyagraha for the Kheda Farmers

In 1918 he intervened on  behalf of  farmers in the town of Kheda, approximately 500 km north of Bombay, who were forced to pay  a government tax even though crops had failed for many due to famine [33]. Violence broke out however and Gandhi called off the Satyagraha. He realized the non-violent protest had to be led by trained Satyagrahi [34].

Satyagraha and the Rowlatt Acts

In 1919 the Rowlatt Acts were passed.  These laws were holdovers of legislation instituted during World War I to counter revolutionaries and German-inspired threats.  In 1919 the Rowlatt Acts extended theses laws which allowed for ‘certain cases to be tried without juries, and the internment of suspects without trial’ [35]. Gandhi and other leaders called for a nationwide strike, and a suspension of business, the first all-India Satyagraha. However a group of  protesters took to the streets.  Police opened fire on the protesters and rioting ensued. Gandhi  then called off the Satyagraha.

Satyagraha and Bardoli Farmers

In 1928  the local government in the Bardoli region in Gujarat instituted a 30% increase in land assessment taxes on farmers in the region. This was based on the perception that the land values had increased due to the creation of a local railway line.  The farmers reached out to Sardar Patel, a  member of the Indian National Congress [36] and a colleague of Gandhi who had worked on the  Kheda Satyagraha.  Patel,  under Gandhi’s leadership, organized a Satyagraha. The farmers refused to pay the taxes and stopped working the farms. Indian and British publications sided with the farmers.  Finally the government settled, reducing the tax increase  significantly and returning land that had been confiscated during the protest. While the resolution primarily benefited  farmers who were landowners, it did little to assist farmers who were not.

Satyagraha and The Great Salt March

In March of 1930, Gandhi and almost eighty men and women  embarked on a two hundred-mile, twenty-four-day march to protest  India’s salt laws. Salt was a lucrative product in India, monopolized by the British. Indians were prohibited from producing or selling salt independently and were instead forced to buy the product that was heavily taxed. Gandhi and many followers defied the laws by openly collecting salt. By the end of the year, Gandhi,  the young charismatic leader, Jawaharlal Nehru, and 60,000 others had been arrested. Upon his release  in March of 1931 Gandhi negotiated an end to the Satyagraha, in exchange for the Indians’ right to produce salt for domestic use [37].

Satyagraha in the 1930S and  1940s

In the 1930s and 1940s Gandhi continued  the fight for social justice  on numerous fronts. In 1931, while in prison, he started a ‘fast until death’  in opposition to separate electoral seats for Dalits, or ‘untouchables.’ He believed such a division would weaken India’s bid for independence. The fast ended after the British accepted the ‘Yerwada Pact .’  In 1933 he converted an Ashram into a centre for the removal of untouchability and toured India to end  the class division [38].

 In 1942 Gandhi led the ‘Quit India’ satyagraha, a campaign to achieve full independence from Britain.  Before the campaign even started, in August, the leaders of the Indian National Congress, including Gandhi, were imprisoned.  Detaining the leaders however did not deter a mass uprising. Protests spread throughout India, to large cities, towns and villages.  Students and labourers went on strike. Symbols of British authority– police stations,  courts and post offices–were attacked.  In some areas, bridges were blown up, telegraph wires cut, and  railway lines ripped apart. The British ultimately quelled the rebellion, arresting some 60,000 people.  However the protest signalled a clarion call for Indian independence, which persisted after the crackdown. In February 1944, Gandhi’s wife Kasturba died in prison. Three months later, Gandhi himself was released, due to declining health [39]. This would be the last in a long line of Gandhi’s incarcerations, which began in the first decade of the  century [40].

Rift Between Hindus and Muslims

After World War II, Gandhi devoted more time to mend the riffs between Hindus and Muslims. He strongly opposed the partitioning of India between  the two religions. In 1946 and 1947 he traveled to Bengal and other areas to quell tensions and to preserve an independent India united across religious lines.  However, in August of 1947, India was partitioned into what is now a predominantly Hindu India, and Muslim Pakistan (later Pakistan and Bangladesh).  Mass violence broke out. Gandhi prayed for peace, but there are estimates that up to two million people were killed [41].

Gandhi’s Influence in the United States

By the 1920s Gandhi’s exploits in India  had earned world-wide publicity, and had gained widespread admiration in the Black press in the United States [42]. Early in Gandhi’s career, this admiration—at least, for black Africans–was not reciprocated.  Gandhi is reported to have  harboured racist views of Africans  in the 1890s while in South Africa [43].

These views had clearly dissipated by the 1920s. In Satyagraha in South Africa he empathizes with Black Americans, and spoke respectfully of one  African American in particular:

Even in the United States of America, where the principle of statuary equality has been established, a man like Booker Washington who has received the best Western education, is a Christian of high character and has fully assimilated Western civilization, was not considered fit for admission to the court of President Roosevelt, and probably would not to be so considered even today. The Negroes of the United States have accepted Western civilization. They have embraced Christianity. But the black pigment of their skin constitutes their crime, and if in the Northern States they are socially despised, they are lynched in the southern States on the slightest suspicion of wrongdoing [44]. In 1924 Gandhi wrote in the journal, Young India, that it ‘may be through the Negroes that the unadulterated message of  Non-violence will be delivered to the world’ [45].

W. E. B. DuBois Source: Library of Congress

In the 1920s notable religious and civil rights leaders had begun to take note of Gandhi’s exploits.  John Haynes Holmes, a Unitarian minister and a co-founder of  the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), quoted Gandhi in his sermons [46].  W.E.B DuBois, himself a founding member of the NAACP, was an admirer of Gandhi [47]. The Black press carried stories on his activities protesting British  treatment of Indians; articles appeared in Black U.S. publications such as  The  Chicago Defender and in the NAACP journal, The Crisis. In 1929  W.E.B Dubois , editor of  the publication, requested an article from Gandhi. Gandhi declined, but responded with a ‘love letter’ instead:

Let not the 12 million Negroes be ashamed of the fact that they are the grandchildren of slaves. There is no dishonour in being slaves. There is dishonour in being slave-owners. But let us not think of honour or dishonour in connection with the past. Let us realise that the future is with those who would be truthful, pure and loving. For, as the old wise men have said, truth ever is, untruth never was. Love alone binds and truth and love accrue only to the truly humble. M. K. Gandhi, May 1st, 1929

Gandhi and African American Intellectuals

By early 1956  the non-violent resistance character of the Montgomery Bus boycott had already begun to take shape. While this was the first major instance of non-violent resistance in the United States, it had been well known among religious intellectuals, including African American thinkers,  for years.  Three of these luminaries are presented here. They all knew King personally and  profoundly influenced his view of non-violence. They all made  pilgrimages to India:  Drs. Howard Thurman and Benjamin Mays met separately with Gandhi in 1936, and Dr. Mordecai Johnson met with members of Gandhi’s family and associates  in 1949, almost two years after the Mahatma’s assassination.

Dr. Howard Thurman

Dr. Howard Thurman Source: Getty Images

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came from a family of preachers, including his father and grandfather…While Daddy King guided him into the ministry, his most important theological influence, without a doubt, was a man named Howard Thurman. Howard Thurman dedicated his ministry to writing, preaching and teaching, not only in this country but abroad. His teachings would profoundly shape Dr. King’s prophetic ministry, and his non-violent approach to protest. – Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr [48].

In 1935, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA)  and Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA),  on behalf of the World Student Christian Federation, extended an invitation to Howard Thurman, his wife, Sue Bailey Thurman,  and two colleagues, Reverend Edward Carroll and his wife Phenola Carroll [49]. They were to be guests of the Student Christian Movement of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Burma (now Myanmar) and India, on a ‘pilgrimage of friendship’  to the Indian subcontinent [50]. Thurman would become the first African American to meet with the Mahatma [51].

Howard Thurman was born in Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1899.  There were no public high schools for Blacks in Daytona Beach, so Thurman went north to Jacksonville and attended Florida Baptist Academy [52].  In 1917 he attended his first conference hosted by the YMCA.   The annual conference was held for Black colleges and teachers’ colleges in the South. The following year he began a  lifelong friendship with Mordecai Wyatt Johnson, a graduate of what would become Morehouse College.

In 1919 Thurman was granted a partial scholarship to Morehouse College [53]. While at Morehouse Thurman continued his involvement with the YMCA. He was president of the  campus chapter.  At the time of  Thurman’s involvement at Morehouse, the YMCA was still a segregated organization, but it  proved an invaluable training ground for future Black leaders. The organization also afforded members like Thurman a place on a speaking circuit, where they addressed Black as well as interracial audiences [54].

Thurman graduated valedictorian from Morehouse in 1923 and soon entered Rochester Theological Seminary [55]. In 1926 While at RTS several of his essays were published and he was invited to speak at YMCA conventions and at other seminaries [56]. 

By the mid-1920s Thurman was a ‘prominent’ member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), the ‘preeminent’ Christian pacifist organization [57].

Thurman graduated valedictorian  from RTS in 1926 [58]. He started his career as pastor at a Baptist church in Oberlin, Ohio, [59]. He remained in demand as a speaker.  In 1926 Mordecai Wyatt Johnson became the first African-American president of Howard University and invited Thurman to speak there regularly [60]. In 1928 he resigned his position at  Oberlin and moved to Atlanta, to teach at Morehouse and Spelman colleges. Also, in Atlanta, his first wife, Katie Kelley, then battling tuberculosis, could be near her family [61]. In June 1932, after his wife’s death,  Thurman married long-time friend Sue Bailey and moved to Howard University to  work with his mentor, Johnson, at the school’s faculty of religion [62].

Pilgrimage of Friendship

In February 1936, after traveling through Burma and Ceylon, the Thurman delegation arrived in India. They met with the Nobel-prize winning writer and  personal friend of Mohandas Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, at his university. Tagore was responsible for giving Gandhi the title, ‘Mahatma’ or ‘Great Soul, [63].  Later that month Thurman and his companions arrived at Gandhi’s ‘bungalow tent’  near the town of Bardoli, in the state of Gujarat.  As their car approached his tent, the mahatma came out to meet them. Gandhi’s secretary turned to Thurman and said, ‘This is the first time in all the years that we have been working together that I’ve ever seen him come out to greet a visitor so warmly’ [64].

For three hours Thurman and his colleagues met with Gandhi on the floor of the bungalow tent [65]. Thurman writes:  ‘He had questions.  Never in my life have I been a part of that kind of examination:  persistent, pragmatic questions about American Negroes. About the course of slavery,  and how we had survived it’  [66].  Gandhi enquired why the slaves had not become Moslems, because ‘the Moslem religion is the only religion in the world in which no lines are drawn within the religious fellowship. Once you are in, you are all the way in. This is not true in Christianity, it isn’t true in Buddhism or Hinduism’ [67]. Gandhi, Thurman writes,  questioned him on voting rights, lynching, discrimination, public school education,  the churches and how they functioned [68].

The conversation also included a discussion of the guiding principle of Gandhi’s movement,  ahimsa. Ahimsa meant ‘love’, but because there were different kinds of love in the English language, Gandhi had to specify the type he meant, which was love expressed by non-violence. ‘Non-violence was a term I had to coin in order to bring out the root meaning of ahimsa,’ he is recorded as saying [69]. It is, he adds, the only true force in life, the only permanent thing. Thurman then asked, ‘how are we to train individuals or communities in this difficult art?’ Gandhi replied, ‘living the creed in your life which must be a living sermon.’ This requires ‘great study, tremendous perseverance, and thorough cleansing of one’s self  of all impurities….For if this is the only permanent thing in life, if this is the only thing that counts, then whatever effort you bestow on mastering it is well spent. Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven and everything else shall be added unto you. The Kingdom of Heaven is ahimsa’ [70].

The delegation asked why  Gandhi’s movement had failed  to achieve its primary objective,  to rid India of British rule?  Thurman recollected Gandhi’s response, as best he could:

‘The effectiveness of a creative ethical ideal such as nonviolence, ahimsa, or no killing depends upon the degree to which   the masses of the people are able to embrace such a notion and have it become a working part of their total experience. It cannot be the unique property or experience of its leaders; it has to be rooted in the mass assent creative push’ [71].

Gandhi  added that initially the movement failed because it lacked ‘vitality’ [72] which was manifested in two ways:  Under British conquest the Indian people were prohibited from manufacturing much of their own goods. Secondly, they had lost their self respect—not because of the British, but because of  Hinduism and the untouchables [73]. To combat the first issue, Gandhi encouraged his people to lessen their dependence on the British by  ‘living off the land’ and spinning their cotton [74].  To confront the issue of the untouchables, Gandhi adopted into his family an ‘outcaste’ and referred to him as ‘Harijan’, ‘A Child of God’ [75]. In so doing, he [Gandhi] spearheaded a movement ‘for the building of a new self-respect’, a fresh self-image for the untouchables in Indian society [76]. He felt that this new self image would release the energy required for non-violent direct action [77].

The delegation asked, under  what circumstances would he visit America as a guest of ‘Afro-Americans?’, Gandhi replied:

The only conditions under which I would come would be that I would be able to make some helpful contribution towards the solution of racial trouble in your country. I don’t feel that I would have the right to try to do that unless or until I have won our struggle in India.  He added that after that is accomplished, he would have some suggestions to resolve racial issues in the United  States and around the world [78].

Before Thurman and his friends departed, Gandhi made one final request. He asked them to sing the Negro spiritual, ‘Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord)?’.  “This song,” Gandhi continued, “gets to the root of the entire experience of the entire human race under the spread of the healing wings of suffering’ [79]. Thurman then asked Gandhi: ‘What do you think is the greatest handicap to Jesus Christ in India?’ Gandhi replied: “Christianity as it is practiced, as it has been identified with Western culture, and Western civilization and colonialism. This is the greatest enemy that Jesus Christ has in my country…’ [80].

Years later, in 1953 Thurman became  professor of Spiritual Disciplines and Resources at Boston University. It was at this institution  where Thruman ‘met informally’ with King, then a doctoral student.

Thurman’s status as one of the foremost African-American religious intellectuals of the twentieth century is secure, not only due to a stellar academic career, but because of his contributions as a pastor and an author. He co-founded and was co-pastor of an integrated   church in San Francisco, the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples. He was also the  author of  numerous books,  the best known of which is perhaps Jesus and the Disinherited.

In this  classic work, Thurman draws similarities between  Jesus’  experience as a member of an underprivileged class, yes, even a despised minority, with the lives of African Americans.  He describes four basic principles of Jesus’ life he argues are applicable to the lives of African-Americans.  According to King friend and colleague, Andrew Young, this little book was a favourite of Dr. King’s:

Martin Luther King Jr. always traveled with Jesus and the Disinherited…clean underwear, shirt, and he’d have Howard Thurman in his briefcase. — Andrew Young, Jr. [81].

Dr. Benjamin Mays

Dr. Benjamin Mays Source: Wikimedia Commons

In February 1956, a Montgomery County grand jury found the boycott of the city buses illegal. Close to a hundred protesters were indicted.  King was  with his parents in Atlanta. Daddy King had  called close and influential family friends to determine  what his son’s next actions should be. Among them was Morehouse College president Dr. Benjamin Mays. Initially there was broad agreement that MLK Jr. should not return to Montgomery. King recalls the discussion in his memoir,  Stride Toward Freedom:

There were murmurs of agreement in the room, and I listened as sympathetically and objectively as I could while two of the men gave their reason for concurring. These were my elders, leaders among my people. Their words commanded respect…I looked at Dr. Mays, one of the great influences on my life. Perhaps he heard my unspoken  plea. At any rate, he was soon defending my position strongly[to return to Montgomery] [82]. The following morning King returned to Alabama.

Benjamin Mays was born on August 1, 1894, in Epworth, South Carolina, to former slaves. He attended Virginia Union  University Bates College where he received a BA. An ordained Baptist minister, hr earned  a master’s degree and PhD from the University of  Chicago [83]. Mays accepted an offer from  Howard University president Mordecai Johnson to become the university’s dean of divinity in 1934, where he served for six years. He then accepted  the presidency of Morehouse College.  When King entered Morehouse in September 1944, Mays was president [84].  King developed a close relationship with Dr. Mays, often discussing theology and current events. Mays would frequently have Sunday dinners at the King family home [85].

Benjamin Mays was selected to attend a conference of the YMCA in Mysore, India, in January 1937.  Over 200 official delegates representing thirty-five countries were invited. Of the thirteen Americans, there was one other African American, Dr. Channing Tobias,  a professor of Bible literature,  long-time official of the YMCA, and a future board member of the NAACP [86]. (Tobias later interviewed Gandhi separately on this trip [87].)

Mays arrived in Bombay on Christmas Eve, 1936, ten months after Thurman and his delegation met with Gandhi. He attended the All-India Congress, which was conducting ongoing discussions on obtaining Indian independence from Britain [88]. Mays met briefly with Jawaharlal Nehru, the president of the Congress, and other officials.  The main reason for attending the  Congress, Mays admits, was to meet Gandhi. He was able to secure a meeting with the Mahatma on December 31st [89]. 

Most of the ninety minutes Mays had with Gandhi were spent with Gandhi answering two of Mays’ questions: The first was, what did ‘non-violence mean to him? The Mahatma replied that ‘non-violence’ is not passive resistance but an ‘active force’.  ‘Nonviolence must never be practiced as a technique or strategy  because one is too weak to use violence. It must be practiced in absolute love and without hate. It is better to be violent than be a coward.’ In addition ‘the welfare of the opponent must be taken into consideration. If the method of nonviolence tends to destroy one’s opponent, it is to be called off. If a nonviolent campaign becomes too arduous for  one’s adherents, it should be called off unless one is willing to die for the cause’ [90].

Gandhi touched on several other aspects of nonviolent resistance. He explained that while violence is immediately ‘visible,’  its effect is transitory; whereas the effects of  nonviolence will persist and are likely to grow with time [91].  Mays had believed that nonviolence was a meaningful tool for individuals, but was doubtful of its effectiveness for a mass movement. Gandhi replied that while the nonviolent resistance may at first seem to be ineffective for many,  an unconscious  effect will nonetheless have been planted. Given time, the ‘active’ effect of  the resistance will travel with ‘extraordinary velocity’ — the ‘mass mind is affected first unconsciously, then consciously’ [92]. Gandhi also touched on the ability of non-violent resistance to deprive the oppressor of one of his most potent weapons, the ability to instill fear. Non-violent resistance requires, or perhaps  instills, extraordinary courage and a loss of fear. ‘And when an oppressed race ceases to be afraid, it is free’ [93].

Dr. Mays’ second question was,  why did Gandhi not declare war on the caste system as well as make an attack on untouchability? [94]. Gandhi condemned the caste system as it was practiced, one where ‘one caste had no social concern for anyone outside its own group.’ Gandhi  identified with those on the lowest rung of the social order: the untouchables. The untouchables had no rights which anyone was bound to respect.  ‘All men could with impunity step on and spit upon the untouchables’ [95].

Comparing the untouchables in India with the plight of  African Americans, Mays noted that ‘untouchability’ was abolished in India  upon Indian independence in 1947, whereas legalized segregation in U.S. schools did not occur until the 1954 Supreme Court decision on Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, and the Civil Rights Act ten years later [96].

After his visit with Gandhi, Mays was invited to speak at a school for ‘untouchable’ students. He was introduced as ‘an untouchable who had achieved distinction’…that he had suffered ‘every indignity they had suffered’ and that they too could become ‘somebody worthwhile’ despite being a member of a depressed class…At first I was horrified, puzzled, angry at being called an untouchable, but my indignation was short lived as I realized, as never before, I was  truly an untouchable in my native land, especially in the Southern United Sates [97].

Back at Morehouse, Mays often referred to his experiences in India  at chapel  services, and wrote about them, notably for Howard University [98]. It would not be far-fetched to believe that young, impressionable students at Howard, and at Morehouse,  including a young Martin Luther King Jr., may have become acquainted with May’s admiration of the Mahatma.

King has referred to Mays as his spiritual mentor, [99] and his acknowledgement of the importance Dr. Mays’ support meant in his decision to return to Montgomery and face certain arrest, illustrates the great respect the young civil rights leader accorded the Morehouse president.

Another example of the great respect Dr. King had for Dr. Mays occurred in April 1968, when Dr. Mays was given the honor of delivering the eulogy at King’s funeral. There he drew a direct comparison between Gandhi and King in the nonviolent resistance against injustice. King did not embrace nonviolence out of fear or cowardice,  Mays said. ‘Moral courage was one of his noblest virtues. As Mahatma Gandhi challenged the British Empire without a sword and won, Martin Luther King Jr. challenged the interracial wrongs of his country without  a gun. And he had faith to believe that  he would win the battle for social justice…When Martin Luther King disobeyed an unjust law, he accepted the consequences of his actions. He never ran away, and he never begged for mercy’ [100].

Dr. Mordecai Wyatt Johnson

Dr. Mordecai Wyatt Johnson Source: Library of Congress

While a student at Crozer Theological Seminary near Chester, Pennsylvania,  King traveled to Philadelphia to hear a sermon by Mordecai Wyatt Johnson, then president of Howard University.

 ‘Dr. Johnson had just returned from a trip to India, and, to my great interest, he spoke of the life and teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. His message was so profound and electrifying that I left the meeting and bought a half dozen books on Gandhi’s life and works’ [101].

Mordecai Wyat Johnson was born in Paris, Tennessee, on January 12, 1890.  He earned several degrees from various institutions, including BAs  from what is now Morehouse College and from the University of Chicago, a Bachelor of Divinity (BD) from Rochester Theological Seminary, a Master of Sacred Theology (STM) from Harvard University,  and Doctors of Divinity degrees (DD) from  Howard University and Gammon Theological Seminary. He was an ordained Baptist minister and served as pastor of the  First Baptist Church in Charleston West Virginia [102].

In September 1916, Johnson accepted a position as student secretary of the YMCA. The position provided an opportunity to ‘travel widely’, gain experience as a speaker, and meet  people of national prominence. He resigned  his position within a year however after the organization refused to support him when a hotel  in which he  was attending a conference, refused  to allow him to board with his White colleagues [103].

While at Rochester Theological Seminary,  Johnson was influenced by the teachings of Walter Rauschenbusch, one of the early pioneers of the ‘social gospel’ [104].

Mordecai Wyatt Johnson’s shadow looms large among African American intellectuals.  In 1926 he became the first Black president of Howard University, a position he held for thirty-four years.  During his tenure  a number of the institution’s schools and colleges received accreditation, including the Colleges of Dentistry and Pharmacy, and the Schools of Medicine, Religion, and Law.[105]. At this period in its history, the early 1930s, Howard Law School trained  almost one quarter of  black law students in the United States–future Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Thurgood Marshall among them. Johnson attracted accomplished African Americans to the faculty. Some later became nationally and internationally respected in their fields of expertise.  Notable examples include Dr. Ralph Bunche, a U.N. diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner; Dr. Charles Drew,  surgeon, who pioneered the storage of blood plasma for surgery; historian John Hope Franklin,  academics Dr. Benjamin Mays and Dr. Howard Thurman; and lawyer and educator Charles Hamilton Houston,  the first Black editor of the Harvard Law Review. Houston later became special counsel to the NAACP, where he challenged  Jim Crow laws and argued several civil rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court [106]. In 1957 Dr. Johnson offered Martin Luther King Jr. the  deanship at Howard University’s School  of Religion.  King declined, stating that his work in the South was ‘not yet complete’.

As early as 1930 Mordecai Johnson drew similarities between African Americans’ struggle for basic civil rights in the United States, and  Gandhi’s fight against British imperialism. In 2005, Dennis Dickerson, a professor of history at Vanderbilt University, delivered a paper in which he quotes from Gandhi follower and California State professor,  Dr. Sudarshan Kapur:

[Mordecai Wyatt] Johnson promoted Gandhi as an appropriate subject of black religious inquiry and pushed African Americans to emulate his efforts in the United States. He called Gandhi’s fight against British imperialism “the most significant religious movement in the world, in his effort to inject religion into questions of economics and politics.”  The Indian  leader, said Johnson, was deserving of the Negro’s careful consideration [107].

In his book, The Seminarian, where he covers King’s years at Crozer Theological Seminary, Patrick Barr provides background on Johnson’s trip to India:

On November 23, 1949, Howard University president Mordecai Wyatt Johnson flew to Calcutta, India, to learn all he could about the late Mohandas Gandhi and his nonviolent resistance movement, which had won India its independence from Great Britain just two years before. Johnson was there to evaluate, as one newspaper put it, “the possibilities of using the techniques developed by Mahatma Gandhi in an effort to obtain and preserve peace in the world [108].

‘It was with this goal in mind that he gave a talk at Philadelphia’s Fellowship House on a Sunday afternoon in early 1950. As he spoke, a twenty-one-year-old Martin Luther King Jr. sat in the audience, ready to listen [109].

Mordecai Johnson’s sermon triggered an interest in Gandhi that King had not had before. After  Johnson’s sermon, and his subsequent study of Gandhi and exposure to his followers, King’s perspective on  the love espoused by Jesus transitioned from one that was limited to relationships between individuals, to a viable tool for a mass, social movement [110].

Fellowship of Reconciliation

Christian pacifists created the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) at the outbreak of World War I,  as a means to foster peace during the conflict. The  U.S. chapter was created in 1915.  From the 1920s onwards the organization was active in the fight for workers’ rights,  civil rights, and against racist and segregationist policies.  Several members of  FOR  during the 1940s and 1950s — future activists such as James Farmer, Bayard Rustin, Glenn Smiley, and James Lawson — were ardent followers of  Gandhian tactics.  Rustin visited India in the 1940s,  Lawson in the 1950s.  In 1942 Farmer, along with other members of FOR, founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).  From the 1940s CORE utilized  their knowledge of Gandhian philosophy in integrated sit-ins, freedom rides and other nonviolent resistance tactics [111]. During the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Smiley and Rustin conducted workshops on methods of non-violent resistance when violence was visited upon protestors. Lawson was ‘influential’ in the founding  conference of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). During the early 1960s SNCC organized  freedom rides and sit-ins  across the South [112].

Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Source: Wikimedia Commons

The following passage on  Gandhi’s influence on King’s pilgrimage to nonviolence, is taken from the King Papers at the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University.

Like most people, I had heard of Gandhi, but I had never studied him seriously. As I read I became deeply fascinated by his campaigns of nonviolent resistance. I was particularly moved by the Salt March to the Sea and his numerous fasts. The whole concept of “Satyagraha” (Satya is truth which equals love, and agraha is force: “Satyagraha,” therefore, means truth-force or love force) was profoundly significant to me. As I delved deeper into the philosophy of Gandhi my skepticism concerning the power of love gradually diminished, and I came to see for the first time its potency in the area of social reform. Prior to reading Gandhi, I had about concluded that the ethics of Jesus were only effective in individual relationship. The “turn the other cheek” philosophy and the “love your enemies” philosophy were only valid, I felt, when individuals were in conflict with other individuals; when racial groups and nations were in conflict a more realistic approach seemed necessary. But after reading Gandhi, I saw how utterly mistaken I was.

Gandhi was probably the first person in history to lift the love ethic of Jesus above mere interaction between individuals to a powerful and effective social force on a large scale. Love, for Gandhi, was a potent instrument for social and collective transformation. It was in this Gandhian emphasis on love and nonviolence that I discovered the method for social reform that I had been seeking for so many months. The intellectual and moral satisfaction that I failed to gain from the utilitarianism of Bentham and Mill, the revolutionary methods of Marx and Lenin, the social-contracts theory of Hobbes, the “back to nature” optimism of Rousseau, the superman philosophy of Nietzsche, I found in the nonviolent resistance philosophy of Gandhi. I came to feel that this was the only morally and practically sound method open to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom.

King Timeline – Before  Montgomery

(The chronology of events outlined below, unless otherwise indicated,  is based on information at the  Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-resources/major-king-events-chronology-1929-1968 ).

In 1944 historically Black colleges were experiencing difficulties enrolling  young Black men because many were being drafted  into the military. As a result Morehouse College began accepting Grade 11 students.  Martin Luther King Jr. was one of them.  On September 20, at age 15, he entered Morehouse as a Freshman [113].  Dr. Benjamin Mays was president.

In June 1948,  MLK Jr., aged 19, received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Morehouse. Earlier that year he  was ordained an assistant pastor at Ebeneezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

In September 1948, MLK Jr. entered Crozer Theological Seminary near Philadelphia, PA [114].  For the first time, MLK Jr.  attended classes with White students.  Here he studied under Dr. George Washington Davis, an admirer of Gandhi, and was introduced to the  theologian, Walter Rauschenbusch,  author of Christianity and the Social Crisis, considered by many to be the classic work on the ‘Social Gospel’ in the United States [115].

In May 1951, MLK Jr. graduated from Crozer with a Bachelor of Divinity degree, and delivered the valedictory address.

In September 1951 MLK Jr. began graduate  studies in systematic theology at Boston University.  Dr. Howard Thurman was a professor at Boston U at that time [116].  At Boston U., MLK Jr.  met Coretta Scott, then a student at the New England Conservatory of Music [117]. In 1953 MLK  Jr. and  Coretta Scott were married. In September 1954, he. accepted a pastorate at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, AL. In June 1955 he was awarded a doctorate in systematic theology. Five months later, MLK Jr. and Coretta welcomed their first child, Yolanda ‘Yoki’.

King Timeline — Montgomery Boycott

In August 1955, Emmett Till, a Black fourteen-year-old from Chicago, IL, was brutally murdered in Money, Mississippi for allegedly whistling at a White woman. In September, his accused killers were acquitted by an all-white jury. Years later, Rosa Parks was asked why she refused to give up her seat on that Montgomery, AL  bus. She replied: ‘I thought of Emmett Till and I couldn’t go back’ [118].

In 1955, Montgomery, AL was a city of approximately 126,000 residents, of whom 50,000 were Black [119]. Racial segregation was the law, as it was throughout the South. While both Blacks and Whites used the same shopping centres, sometimes Blacks were required to  wait until Whites were served. There were separate taxi systems based on race. Whites entered the public buses from the front and sat at the front; Blacks paid their fares, stepped out, re-entered from the back doors, and sat at the back–if all Whites were seated–otherwise Blacks nearest the ‘white section’ were required to move to another seat—or stand– so that White passengers could sit [120].

Sixty years had passed since Mahatma Gandhi was kicked off a South African train while traveling from Durban to Pretoria. When Mrs. Parks refused to surrender her seat on the Montgomery city bus  that Thursday evening, she was arrested and taken to jail. After being processed she called home. Her mother answered and quickly asked: ‘Did they beat you?’ E.D. Nixon, a  former head of the local NAACP chapter was called.  Nixon phoned the jail and asked the reason for her arrest. He was told it was none of his ‘damn business’. He phoned a White friend, attorney Clifford Durr. Durr enquired. The charge: violating Alabama’s bus segregation laws[121]. Nixon posted bond for Mrs. Parks. In Mrs. Parks’ arrest, he saw the opportunity to test the constitutionality of the Montgomery segregation laws. Durr agreed [122].

Later that evening word of Mrs. Parks’ arrest reached a ‘few influential women’ of the community, members of the Women’s Political Council,  affiliated with the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church [123]. They  suggested a  bus boycott to Nixon, who agreed [124].  Jo Ann Robinson was  one of the leaders of the Women’s Political Council, and a professor of English at Alabama State College. That night, she and  a group of colleagues surreptitiously used the college’s machines to mimeograph thousands of leaflets that were used  the following day to notify Montgomery Blacks of the planned boycott [125].

Early the following morning, Friday December 2,  Nixon made several calls to leaders in the Black community, among them were King, and Ralph Abernathy, active in the NAACP and pastor of  the First Baptist Church. They agreed to gather a group of Montogomery’s ‘leading Negroes’  at King’s church that evening to organize Mrs. Parks’ defense, and  the boycott  [126]. That evening more than forty men and women  crowded the church meeting room. ‘Virtually every organization of the Negro community was represented’ [127]. Additional leaflets were printed endorsing the Monday boycott,  copied on church mimeograph machines [128]. The  group overwhelmingly approved the proposed one-day boycott for the following Monday, and the clergymen agreed to inform their  congregations from their pulpits the day before [129]. They also agreed to a  ‘city-wide’ mass meeting  on Monday evening   to determine  how long they would stay off the buses. They chose the  Holt Street Baptist as the venue for the meeting because of its size and  central location [130].

By Sunday, word  of the planned boycott had leaked to the press, specifically, the Montgomery Advertiser. The newspaper equated the planned boycott with the actions of a White group originating in Mississippi — the White Citizens Council — that had taken up various methods, including boycotts, to intimidate Blacks as well as Whites in the wake of the Brown v. Board of Education decision the previous year [131]. This comparison elicited  serious reflection on King’s part. He was  convinced however that the two situations were entirely different: while the White Citizens  Council’s actions were  created to terrorize  those who had dared to comply with a just decision, the Montgomery action was designed to bring justice to a humiliating, evil system of segregation. ‘Our concern,’ he writes, ‘was not to put the bus company out of business, but to put justice in business’ [my italics] [132].

The following Monday, the buses ran empty. At rush hour sidewalks were crowded as laborers and domestic workers walked to their jobs. Some hitchhiked, others took cabs or  were able to get  rides in private cars. King noted that some people rode mules  or  traveled by horse and buggy [133].

At her trial that morning, Mrs. Parks was found guilty and ordered to pay a fine of $10 plus court costs, $14 in all. Later that day , Nixon,  King, Abernathy, and other influential leaders of the community gathered to prepare for the mass meeting scheduled for later that evening. An organization was required to spearhead the protest going forward. They chose the name, the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), and  unanimously elected King as president [134]. They agreed that, at the meeting later that evening, they’d recommend the protest continue past the one-day action originally planned.

As leader of the new organization, King set about preparing the address he would deliver  that evening.  He usually required fifteen hours to prepare a sermon, now,  he had a mere twenty minutes to put together what would be the most consequential speech of  his life to that point. He was gripped with fear. He prayed, and asked God to be with [him] now when he needed [His] guidance more than ever [135].

That evening the church was packed, with an overflow of three to four thousand people outside [136]. Pastors from multiple churches spoke. Then King took to the pulpit.  He recounted Mrs. Parks’ story, and the humiliations and injustice Blacks  had endured for too long. Continuing the protest was justifiable on both legal and moral grounds. No one, however, would be coerced into joining the boycott. Instead they should be guided by their ‘conscience’.  ‘[O]ur actions must be guided by the deepest principles of our Christian faith. Love must be our regulating ideal. Once again we must hear the words of Jesus echoing across the centuries: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, and pray for them that despitefully use you.” If we fail to do this our protest will end up as a meaningless drama on the stage of history, and its memory will be shrouded with the ugly garments of shame. In spite of the mistreatment we have confronted we must not become bitter, and end up by hating our white brothers. ’If you will protest courageously , and yet with dignity and Christian love, when the history books are written in future generations, the historians will have to pause and say, “There lived a great people—a black people—who injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization.” This is our challenge and overwhelming responsibility’ [137].

After the applause, Abernathy read the MIAs resolutions—three  demands that must be met before the boycott was ended: guaranteed courteous service by drivers; passengers seated on a first-come, first-served basis, Blacks from the back, Whites from the front (this implied that a Black passenger would not have to relinquish his/ her seat for a White passenger when there were insufficient seats in the White section); Negro drivers on predominantly Negro routes. The motion was carried unanimously. ‘Negroes’ agreed to refrain from riding the buses until the conditions were met [138].

King  left the meeting that evening exhilarated. The Negro attendance, the unanimous acceptance of the resolutions to continue the fight meant that, in a way, they had already won.  Reflecting later, he wondered why now, why Montgomery, the cradle of Confederation?  There was a ‘divine dimension’ to this action, he writes. ‘It seems as though God had decided to  use Montgomery as the proving ground for the struggle of triumph of freedom and justice in America’ [139].

Seventy-five percent of the  Montgomery bus ridership were ‘colored’ [140].  It was clear that a prolonged boycott would have a serious economic impact on the bus company and on  the city. A group of Montgomery ‘city fathers’–including Mayor W.A. Gayle (D)–and representatives of the bus company, agreed to meet with the MIA [141].

Two days after the Monday night ‘mass meeting’,  a MIA negotiating committee, with King as its spokesperson, walked into the commissioner’s chambers at city hall [142]. Weeks of negotiations followed. The mayor and his commissioners refused to accept two of the MIA’s three requests, namely the first-come first-served seating arrangement, and the hiring of Negro drivers on predominantly Negro routes. The MIA then amended the request on drivers to allow for  Negro drivers to be added to Negro routes when opportunities became available [143]. They  also revised their first come first-served seating request to one where both races would have to continuously move to either end of the bus as seats became available, Whites to the front, Blacks to the back [144]. The city rejected both concessions. The bus company, they argued, was a private enterprise and could not be forced to hire Negro drivers. They rejected the seating amendment by simply stating it was illegal [145].

Negotiations reached an impasse.  Members of the  mayor’s office  suggested calling off the boycott while negotiations were ongoing [146]. They then attempted to  weaken the MIA, to  ‘divide and conquer’ the leaders [147]. They spread rumors about  MIA leadership, including the lie that King had purchased a brand-new  Cadillac, that  King was the impediment to  reaching a settlement [148]. In mid-January the MIA  learned that a story was about to be published that a settlement had been reached without their knowledge. After desperately digging into the story, the MIA executive  learned that no one in their organization had made such an agreement. It was a story concocted by the mayor and three Black ministers unaffiliated with the protest. The MIA ministers were able to warn their respective congregations of the fraudulent story before it was published. The boycott continued [149].

The protesters were resolute. Women were the unsung heroes of the  boycott. They baked pies, cooked meals  for cash which they’d then donate to the movement.  Maids would walk to and from work, sometimes as much as ten miles a day, rain or shine.  Black taxi drivers picked up passengers and not request a fare. Shoes were donated from all over the country. Young boys accompanied schoolgirls home from school for protection. Teachers refrained from giving homework on Mondays so that families could attend the Monday night meetings.  Churches would take up collections to buy ‘shiny new’ station wagons. They called them ‘Rolling churches.’  Dances were held to raise money. A radio DJ announced  daily carpool pickup locations [150].

After suffering successive failures to halt the boycott, and enduring the humiliation of the failed plot to trick the MIA into abandoning the protest, Mayor Gayle and his ‘city-fathers’ all but abandoned negotiations and instituted what King refers to as a ‘get tough policy.’  The mayor called upon White employers to stop providing rides to their employees [151]. Police were told to ‘toughen up’ on Negroes waiting for rides.  Carpool drivers were harassed—arrested and sometimes jailed [152].   Businessmen voluntarily laid off Black employees [153].  Jo Ann Robinson, who initially suggested the boycott, was targeted. A rock was tossed through a window of her home, and acid was  thrown on her car [154]. Rosa Parks was fired from her department store job weeks earlier, during boxing week, on the premise that business was slow. She received death threats, and the KKK walked past her home replete in robes and carrying torches. Young White men urinated in balloons and tossed them at carpool vehicles as they drove by [155].

King  sometimes took the desperate step  of taking his phone off the hook  for relief from the constant threats and harassment . By the middle of  January  he was receiving between thirty and forty calls a day [156].

At about the same time King became personally impacted by the authorities’ harassment. Driving home one afternoon he was arrested for driving five miles over the speed limit.   He was gripped with panic as he was driven to what appeared to be a secluded location. King prayed to God that he would be able to endure whatever they had planned for him.  Fortunately, they delivered him to the city jail, which, unbeknown to King at the time, was located some distance away from the downtown area, and not near the city center as he had thought. Later that evening he was released on bond paid by the MIA, which then disallowed him  from driving. The experience made him even more determined to continue the struggle [157].

The threatening letters and phone calls continued unabated.  A White friend informed King that there were rumors circulating that he would be killed. On January 27th,  late at night, King received a particularly frightening call.  Despondent, he thought about giving up.  In the silence of the night he turned to God: “’I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right. But now I am afraid. The people are looking to me for leadership, and if I stand before  them without strength and courage, they too will falter. I am at the end of my powers. I have nothing left. I’ve come to the point where I can’t face it alone.’” He felt the presence of the Divine like never before. He seemed to hear a quiet reassuring voice: ‘Stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth; and God will be at your side forever.’  Almost at once, his  fears left him. He was ready for anything [158].

Three nights later, on January 30th, King was at a church meeting. Several sticks of dynamite were tossed on his front porch and exploded. King rushed home. Coretta and the baby were inside but were not hurt. An angry group of  followers gathered outside his damaged home, ready to retaliate. King met with them outside. He raised his hand for attention : “Violence must not come from any of us. We will have walked in vain. Our aim must never be to defeat or humiliate the White man, but to win his friendship and understanding. We must come to see that the end we seek is a society that can live with its conscience, a society at peace with itself.” [159].

Two days later, on February 1st, attorneys Charles Langford, and Fred Gray, part-time minister and the MIA’s chief legal counsel, filed a lawsuit challenging segregation within the Montgomery AL, transportation system.  Browder v. Gayle was a federal court case filed in the U. S. District Court for the Northern (Montgomery) Division of the Middle District of Alabama. It was filed on behalf of four plaintiffs, one of whom was sixteen-year-old Claudette Colvin. All the plaintiffs had either been arrested for refusing to give up their seats to White passengers or harmed by being forced to comply with segregation codes. (Mrs. Parks was not a plaintiff to avoid the perception that she may be attempting to get around her prosecution on other charges.) The defendants included Mayor W. A. Gayle, several of his city commissioners, the bus company,  the chief of the Montgomery police department, and James Blake, the bus driver who had called the police on Mrs. Parks.

Later that evening a stick of  dynamite exploded at E.D.  Nixon’s home. Nixon had bonded Mrs. Parks out of jail at her original arrest on December 1st , and was a member of the MIA executive board.  No one was hurt in the blast [160]. Days later, attorney Fred Gray had his minister’s deferment revoked, was later arrested and charged with barratry. Rumors surfaced that the MIA leadership would  soon be arrested under a thirty-five-year-old statute prohibiting boycotts without a just cause or legal excuse [161]. Surely enough, on February 13th, a grand jury of ‘seventeen Whites and one Negro’ was empanelled. A week later they found the boycott illegal, paving the way for mass arrests. Close to one hundred people, including King, were indicted [162].

If the indictments were designed to crush the spirits of the protesters, it didn’t. It had the opposite effect.  It garnered national and international attention, and additional funds, boosting morale. And prominent individuals outside Montgomery, were now willing to join the protest.

Bayard Rustin and Glenn Smiley

Bayard Rustin Source: Library of Congress

Novelist Lillian Smith was a member of the board of directors of  FOR. Smith, one of the earliest White supporters of the  Montgomery boycott, contacted King and recommended Bayard Rustin, a former member of FOR,  as an advisor to the MIA on Gandhian nonviolent techniques. A. Philip Randolph —  the famed union organize, head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and  mentor to Rustin — supported Smith’s recommendation [163]. Smith’s  position in  FOR–a respected group in social justice circles–no doubt carried  considerable weight.  Randolph’s support would have provided additional heft, particularly with E. D. Nixon, himself  a union organizer and a Pullman Porter. On February 21st, three weeks after Fred  Gray filed suit,  Rustin arrived in Montgomery  [164]. 

By 1956, Rustin had established an international reputation as a pacifist and a purveyor of nonviolent resistance.  He had also developed a professional relationship with James Farmer, a former member of FOR and co-founder of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). In 1947 Rustin collaborated with Farmer and another member of FOR, George Houser, to lead  nonviolent protests targeting restrictive housing policies in the North [165]. They organized ‘freedom rides’ to challenge segregation on interstate buses, which the U.S.  Supreme Court had ruled unconstitutional in a 1946 decision.  Rustin’s exploits had become so well known that Mahatma Gandhi himself  invited him  to participate in an international pacifist conference scheduled for February of 1949 [166].  The Mahatma was assassinated in January of 1948, but the invitation remained, and Rustin made the trip to India [167].

Mary King, an award-winning author and political scientist, states in her book, Mahatma Gandhi and Matin Luther King Jr.: The Power of Nonviolent Action,  Rustin’s mission in Montgomery was to ‘help King develop the steely discipline demanded by Gandhian approaches and to widen the Montgomery  action into a sophisticated, political usage of nonviolence in a broad-based movement’ [168]. Rustin ‘spent a week in Montgomery…and shared his expertise in nonviolent theory and practice during strategy meetings of the Montgomery Improvement Association.’ He assisted with press releases, organized carpools, secured legal assistance, and arranged bail. It was Rustin, she adds, who advised the  MIA on a key Gandhian principle: to accept arrest not as a shameful, degrading experience, but as a celebration, a proud symbol of resistance [169].

On the heels of the grand jury indictment, mass arrests ensued. Gandhian principles of willingly submitting to arrest were immediately put to the test.   On Rustin’s advice, E.D. Nixon did not wait to be picked up, but walked into the county courthouse voluntarily [170].  King was in Tennessee, then Atlanta,  at his father’s house at the time. Daddy King had assembled a group of  his influential friends to persuade his son to stay out of Montgomery. King argued that he had to return. As mentioned above, Dr. Benjamin Mays, the esteemed president of Morehouse College,  was the only voice  who initially agreed with Martin Jr. The following morning, King returned to Montgomery and walked into the county courthouse [171]. There, he found the Gandhian principle–the jiujitsu tactic of accepting arrest for a just cause a badge of honor and not a mark of shame–prevalent in the county jail. ‘Negroes had gone voluntarily to the sheriff’s office to see if their names were on the list, and were even disappointed when they were not. A once-fear-ridden people had been transformed. Those who had previously trembled before the law were now proud to be arrested for the cause of freedom.’  King was processed, and after his bond was paid by a church member, left for home [172].

While a brilliant strategist, controversy soon swirled around Rustin’s presence in Montgomery.  Allegations surfaced that the openly gay civil rights activist had misrepresented himself as a journalist for two foreign publications, allegations Rustin addressed in a letter to King.  A week after arriving  in Montgomery, Rustin left for Birmingham, where he continued to advise the MIA [173]. He was replaced by the national field secretary of FOR, Glenn Smiley.  Smiley, a White Methodist minister and a colleague of Rustin, was also an avid student of Gandhian nonviolent techniques. Both Rustin and Smiley recommended books on Gandhi. They included The Power of Nonviolence, by David Greed, and War Without Violence, by Krishnalal Shridharani [174].

On March 19, King was put on trial for his role in the boycott. He was found guilty and fined $500 or a year in prison. As King left the courtroom, he realized he was now a convicted criminal, but he was proud of his crime. He was convicted of ‘joining my people in a nonviolent protest against injustice…of seeking to instill in my people a sense of dignity and self-respect…of desiring for my people the inalienable right of truth, justice and the pursuit of happiness…of seeking to convince my people that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral duty as cooperation with good’ [175].

 By now King had become a national symbol, and the NAACP agreed to finance the legal fees for the movement, for King’s defence, and for the Browder v. Gayle case [176]. As if in retaliation, on June 1, the Alabama Attorney General obtained a court order prohibiting the NAACP from raising funds, collecting dues, or soliciting for new members, effectively banning the organization in that state [177].

On June 5, 1956, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama ruled  in favour of the plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle. It found that based on the equal protection guaranteed citizens under the Fourteenth Amendment ‘the enforced segregation of Black and White passengers on motor buses operating in the City of Montgomery violates the Constitution and laws of the United States.’  The defence immediately appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and the buses remained segregated pending the appeal.

Throughout the summer, the violence and intimidation continued. In August, Robert Graetz, a Lutheran minister and the only White member of the MIA executive board,  joined the list of protesters whose houses were bombed.

On November 13, an injunction was granted to halt the carpools. The City of Montgomery had sued in state court for the stoppage, claiming it infringed on the bus company’s exclusive franchise [178]. The following day, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the lower court opinion in Browder v. Gayle, declaring Montgomery and Alabama bus segregation laws unconstitutional.The city and state filed an appeal  for the Court to reconsider their decision. On December 17th, the Court denied the appeal and three days later the city of Montgomery was ordered to integrate their bus system. That day, the MIA voted to end the 381-day  action of nonviolent resistance. The following day, Montgomery City Lines resumed full bus service, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was among the first to ride the  buses, sitting next to Glenn Smiley, his White advisor, and behind  his friend , Rev. Ralph Abernathy [179].

King Timeline – Post Montgomery

Mere days after the Supreme Court decision, in the waning days of December 1956, a shotgun blast shattered the windows  of the King parsonage [180]. Days later buses began to be fired upon. A young girl was beaten, and a pregnant woman shot. The violence escalated to the point where bus service was stopped after 5 pm [181].

In early January, King called for a group of Negro leaders to meet in Atlanta.  At 2 am on the day of  the conference, January 10th, Abernathy received a telephone  call from his wife back in Montgomery. Their house had been bombed. This was the first act in a reign of terror that extended for the remainder of the month. Four churches, including Abernathy’s, were bombed. The house of  Robert Graetz–the only White member of the MIA executive board, whose house was bombed the previous summer–was bombed again. Six sticks of  dynamite were thrown on King’s porch but, fortunately, did not detonate [182]. King again pleaded for a nonviolent response to the terror [183]. Finally, several White ministers and organizations condemned the bombings, as well as the local newspaper [184].  Five  men were  eventually indicted for the bombings.  Two of the defendants were found not guilty; King makes no mention of the other three [185].

The Montgomery action of nonviolent resistance was just the opening chapter in the struggle for civil and human rights in the United States. Below is a snippet of subsequent actions  taken by King and others in the Civil Rights struggle.

The SCLC, January 1957  — After interrupting his conference to return to Montgomery when Abernathy’s house was bombed, King quickly returned  to Atlanta and rejoined the gathering. The objective of the meeting was to establish  an organization to  implement the Supreme Court’s decision against bus segregation throughout the South, using nonviolent means [186]. Out of this conference grew an organization that became the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). King became its first president [187].

Washington, D.C., May 1957 — On the third anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, over 20,000 persons assembled on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.  Speakers urged both political parties to do more to fulfill the Court’s landmark decision. King demanded both parties ‘Give Us the Ballot,’ where he exhorted them to combat a slew of  ‘conniving’ methods to prevent African Americans from voting.  In attendance were Bayard Rustin, one of the event’s organizers, and such luminaries as  A. Philip Randolph, New York Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., NAACP president Roy Wilkins, gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, and entertainer Harry Belafonte.

India, February 3, 1959  — King, his wife Corretta, and biographer, Lawrence Reddick, traveled to India for a month-long visit. There they were greeted by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (who had sent King a welcome letter the month before),  members of the Indian government, and several of Gandhi’s relatives.  According to King, the Indian newspapers had covered the Montgomery boycott with ‘a better continuity of our 381-day bus strike than did most of our papers in the United States.’  He spoke at public meetings and before university groups. The Indian people were particularly interested in the race problem in the United States and so the meetings were usually packed [188].

In 2009, National Public Radio (NPR)  broadcasted portions of a long-lost speech Dr. King made while in India. In it he reaffirms his admiration for Gandhi, and his belief that nonviolent resistance is the ‘most potent weapon  available to oppressed people in the struggle for justice and human dignity.’ Find portions of Dr. King’s speech embedded in the NPR broadcast here.

Birmingham,  AL, April 1963 and September, 1963  — In April 1963, King participated in the Birmingham Campaign, to protest segregationist policies in that city. He and Abernathy disobeyed an injunction against the protest and were imprisoned in the City Jail. Behind bars, King penned his Letter from Birmingham Jail. It was addressed to seven clergymen who had published a letter critical of the protest. In his message, King described  his rationale for protest, the steps taken to determine if a protest was warranted,  provided a strident defence on why we can no longer ‘wait’ for justice, and reaffirmed his belief in nonviolent resistance as a vehicle to correct injustice,  for ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’   While King and Abernathy were incarcerated, the civil disobedience campaign continued: mass meetings, lunch counter sit-ins, marches on City Hall, and a boycott of downtown merchants. By May, negotiators reached a compromise-drinking fountains were desegregated, and plans were initiated to desegregate lunch counters, ‘upgrade’ Black employment, and to release jailed protesters.

Segregationists retaliated with violence. Black millionaire and businessman, A.G. Gaston,  who had bailed King out of the Birmingham jail, was targeted. Pro-segregationist bombed his motel. The following day they bombed the home of King’s brother, Alfred.  In September, after a  federal court issued an order to admit the first five Black students to three different public schools [189], Governor George Wallace ‘persuaded’ the mayor to close the schools. Segregationists continued  the reign of violence, bombing the home of Arthur Shores, an eminent Black Alabama attorney and a member of King’s legal team.

The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church was a prominent fixture in the Black community, hosting mass meetings and rallies during the Campaign. At 10:22 A.M. on Sunday, September 15th,  a bomb ripped through one side of the building.  Four little girls were in the basement, attending Sunday School [190].  Denise McNair,  age 11, and Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, and Carole Robertson, all age 14, were killed. Addie Mae’s younger sister, Sarah, lost her right eye in the explosion [191]; she was among twenty others who were injured.  In the unrest that  followed, a Black youth was killed by police and another was murdered by a White mob. Three days after the bombing, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. eulogized three of the girls [192].  In 1977 the first of the perpetrators was put on trial and convicted.  After several  trials, two more suspects were convicted, in 2001 and 2002, and sentenced to life in prison. A fourth suspect died before he was brought to justice [193]. 

Washington, D.C., August 1963 –Several major labor, religious, and civil rights organizations, along with more than 200,000 demonstrators, attended The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Organized by A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin, the peaceful demonstration was  held to pressure the Kennedy administration to initiate a new civil rights bill.  The March on Washington has become  one of the defining events in the quest for civil rights–not only in the United States but around the globe–and King’s I Have a Dream speech has attained almost a mythical status in modern American oratory. Nearly a year later, on July 2, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  It ‘prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal. This document was the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction’[194].

Selma, AL, March 1965 — In 1963,  just 242 out of  15,000 eligible Black residents in Dallas County in central Alabama, were registered to vote. Frustrated with registration efforts, in December 1964, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) initiated a voter registration drive [195].  The Dallas County Voters League requested the SCLC’s assistance in organizing a protest and to register voters. The three organizations also began a campaign to pressure the initiation of a Voting Rights Bill. By mid-February at least 2,000 demonstrators were jailed, and one protestor, Jimmie Lee Jackson, was shot by police, and later died. King and the  SCLC organized a march from Selma, the Dallas County seat, to Montgomery, the Alabama capital, to protest the killing, and the growing violence visited on the protesters.  Governor George Wallace forbade the march. On Sunday, March 7, 1965, 600 marchers started out from Selma to Montgomery. King had not yet joined the march. The protesters were stopped at the Edmund Pettus bridge by sheriff James Clark’s deputies and dozens of state troopers. In the brutal violence that ensued more than fifty protesters suffered injuries that required them to be hospitalized.  The carnage law enforcement visited on the protestors were broadcast all over the United States and around the world.  The following Tuesday, King led a  group of 2,000 to the bridge once again, led them in prayer, and turned around. However, that night, three White clergyman who supported the protest were  assaulted. One died of his injuries. Lawyers for the SCLC went to court to again jumpstart the demonstration.   A week later, a judge ruled the fifty-mile march could be staged. On March 21, King led thousands of marchers out of Selma; four days later they arrived in Montgomery. On August 16, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law.

Views on Vietnam, April 1967 – King delivered his ‘Beyond Vietnam – A Time to Break Silence’ speech, voicing his opposition to the Vietnam War. He condemned U.S. involvement while domestic problems were still so prevalent. In 1963, he had delivered his iconic  ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. Four years later, in a NBC interview, King conceded that, for him, the optimism extant in his famous speech had diminished, that his dream had ‘at many points turned into a nightmare.’ A nightmare because of three evils within the U.S: racism, economic exploitation/ poverty, and militarism. The war in Vietnam made it more difficult for the nation to focus on issues of  equality and social uplift. The three were tied inextricably together, ‘we can’t get rid of one without getting rid of the other.’  (See the full interview here. Dr. King addresses the ‘nightmare’ comment at around the 21-minute mark.)

Memphis, TN, March – April 1968 – On March 28, King led a march of 6,000 protesters in support of striking sanitation workers in Memphis, TN. The march descended into violence and looting, and King was rushed from the scene. On April 3rd he delivered his final public address, the prophetic ‘I’ve Been to The Mountaintop’ speech.

Philosophical Comparisons of  Gandhi and King

Fundamental Beliefs

Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought for social justice and human dignity, and against tyranny  and racial bigotry, with no weapon other than an unshakable, uncompromising  belief in a universal form of love, a love that  demanded respect for all human beings. It was not the mawkish,  banal, sentimental emotion that dominates popular culture. This love, for them, was a fundamental, universal truth. They were  resolute and determined to disobey social laws and norms that defied that truth, and were prepared to suffer the consequences of their actions. There were differences, in their practice of  this universal love, however. Gandhi called it Ahimsa—not causing harm to other living things: human or animal. For King it was, Agape, a transcendental form of love for people–a love that demands nothing in return.

Influences

Gandhi developed his ideas on nonviolence from several sources. The ancient Hindu divine  poem The Bhargavi Gita, struck him as a book of ‘priceless worth’ [196]. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount ‘went straight to [his] heart’ and ‘delighted [him] beyond measure. ’ [197]. Unto This Last, a critique of classical economics, by the writer John Ruskin,  influenced Gandhi’s early thinking on self-reliance [198]. Leo Tolstoy’s The Kingdom of God is Within You, a treatise on non-violence based on Christ’s teachings, ‘overwhelmed’ him [199].

In Stride Toward Freedom  King lists Jesus’ teachings on brotherly love as the force behind his beliefs on nonviolent resistance. Gandhi’s Satyagraha, which influenced his thinking during and after the Montgomery boycott,  was the vehicle used to put Jesus’ teachings into action [200]. He also lists theologians Walter Rauschenbusch [201] and  Reinhold Niebuhr as influences [202].

Tools of Protest — Satyagraha and Civil Disobedience

King and Gandhi used civil disobedience and non-violent resistance to put their perceptions of love into practice when faced with evil,  evil manifested by unjust laws. For Gandhi, banning non-Christian marriages, or  prohibiting Indians from producing a lucrative product like salt, or denying Indian’s self-determination from Britain, were violations of  Ahimsa. For King, robbing African Americans  of  their basic human dignity by forcing them to enter a  bus from the rear, sitting at the back, and standing so that a White person could sit, was a violation of Agape. While they utilized similar forms of protests, there were differences as well. In addition to the civil disobedience tactics later utilized in the civil rights movement, Gandhi personally incorporated fasting, and encouraged his Satyagrahis to be economically self-sufficient. He  purchased land where Satyagrahis could spin their own cotton and grow their own crops. In fact, Gandhi reached out to the  famous African-American scientist, George Washington Carver for advice on developing a vegan diet for his followers, and to lessen Indians’ dependence on British food and companies [203]. Carver responded with a series of pamphlets to assist the Mahatma.

Tools of Protest – Media and Protest Marches

Both Gandhi and King relied on widespread publicity  to further their cause. The very first protests in South Africa garnered  national, then international attention. The outside world was made aware of  the conditions  that ignited the protest through sympathetic coverage, especially in India and Britain. Gandhi sank much of his money into the publication arm of his movement, Indian Opinion. This too  informed the public on his people’s struggles, and the forces determined to ensure their defeat. In the United States, the Montgomery  Boycott garnered national and international coverage, so much so that journalists from several foreign countries eventually covered the protest. The bloody marches in Selma, with water hoses and dogs set upon the  nonviolent protesters, opened a window on the fight for civil rights. These images, in print and later on television, were all highly effective in pressuring  politicians and other government officials to put an end to the protests by granting many of the protesters’ demands.

Costs of Non-violent Resistance

For his numerous satyagraha campaigns, Gandhi was arrested over a dozen times and  served almost six years, cumulatively, in prison, over a span of thirty-six years. His longest  imprisonment was for sedition, for writing three articles in the journal Young India. For this, he served 673 days of  a six-year sentence [204]. His wife, Kasturba,  was also arrested several times and died behind bars in 1944 [205].

Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested  thirty times, beginning in 1956 during the bus boycott. Both leaders, like many of their followers,  have turned the  idea  of imprisonment on its head. Incarceration became an honour,  a stand in defiance of an unjust social, legal and political system.

As noted earlier, King and others who dared to participate in non-violent  resistance protest suffered severe retribution at the hands of law enforcement and civilians alike. Protesters lost jobs, were arrested and imprisoned on trumped-up charges, their homes were shot at and/ or bombed, churches were bombed or set on fire, adults and children alike were murdered. Few perpetrators were brought to justice, and fewer still  were made to pay for their crimes.

Despite such brutal acts of  violence, the leaders refused to respond with in kind.

Loss of Fear and Acquisition of Dignity and Self-worth

Both leaders were successful in pressuring their respective governments to either change existing laws, or to introduce legislation to address  injustice. The results however run much deeper. First, protests eradicated the fear used by the powerful to intimidate and coerce the oppressed. Once  the fear of incarceration was eliminated, the ruling class lost their primary weapon to control the oppressed. Second,  protests instilled a sense of basic human dignity. Preferring to walk miles–sometimes in the rain, to a place of employment–instilled a sense of  personal dignity and pride that was unattainable when vacating your seat and standing for another human being, simply because of their skin color. Likewise, gaining the ability to produce salt in your own country instead of purchasing it from your rulers at inflated prices, for no reason other than your ethnicity, had to have been incredibly self-affirming.

Legacy

Ultimately, both Gandhi and King—and many of their followers–paid for their beliefs with their  lives. Gandhi was assassinated at 78, King at just half that age. Nonetheless, their respective legacies and influence, have grown consistently over time.

Their legacies are profound. These icons demonstrated to the despised and oppressed how to asset their dignity and humanity. Affirming your dignity and self-worth, and forcing your oppressor to accept that worth as well, is an inescapable result of non-violent resistance to an unjust system. This after all is the essence of universal love—ahimsa and agape.

© Weldon Turner, 2021. All rights reserved.

Images

Mahatma Gandhi

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Description: Studio photograph of Mohandas K. Gandhi, London, 1931.

Date: 1931

Attribution: Elliott & Fry

License: Public domain

Page URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mahatma-Gandhi,_studio,_1931.jpg

File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Mahatma-Gandhi%2C_studio%2C_1931.jpg

Rosa Parks

Source: Wikimedia Commons from Ebony Magazine

Description: Photograph of Rosa Parks with Dr. Martin Luther King jr. (ca. 1955)

Date 1955

Attribution: Unknown author

License: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Page URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rosaparks.jpg

File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Rosaparks.jpg

Kasturba Gandhi

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Attribution:  Unknown author

License: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Page URL:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kasturba_Gandhi.jpg

File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Kasturba_Gandhi.jpg

W.E.B. DuBois

Source: Library of Congress

Title W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois, 1868-1963

Summary Photo shows W.E.B. Du Bois, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly right.

Contributor Names Battey, C. M. (Cornelius Marion), 1873-1927, photographer

Created / Published c1919 May 31.

Subject Headings   Du Bois, W. E. B.–(William Edward Burghardt),–1868-1963

Source Collection:  Biographical File filing series (Library of Congress)

Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication.

URL: https://www.loc.gov/item/2003681451/

Howard Thurman

Source: Getty Images

Dr. Howard Thurman. Jesus is A Companion: News Photo

Credit: Dick Darrell / Contributor

Collection: Toronto Star

Date created: 18 July, 1964

Getty license: Editorial (used with permission)

Benjamin Mays

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Description: Benjamin Mays, portrait at the University of Chicago, 1921

Date      3 January 1921

Source  Benjamin Elijah Mays: a Pictorial Life and Times (2006), First Edition. Photo scanned from text.

Attribution: Carrie M. Dumas and Julie Hunter

License: Public Domain

Page URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Benjamin_Mays_Portrait_1921.png

File URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Benjamin_Mays_Portrait_1921.png

Mordecai Johnson

Source: Library of Congress

Title: Mordecai Johnson

Contributor Names:  Harris & Ewing, photographer

Created / Published:  [1937 or 1938]

No known restrictions on publication

URL: https://www.loc.gov/item/2016873245/

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Source Wikimedia Commons

Description: Martin Luther King, 1964

Date: 1964

Attribution: Nobel Foundation

License: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Page URL https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Martin_Luther_King,_Jr..jpg

File URL https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Martin_Luther_King%2C_Jr..jpg

Bayard Rustin

Source: Library of Congress

Title: [Bayard Rustin at news briefing on the Civil Rights March on Washington in the Statler Hotel, half-length portrait, seated at table] / [WKL].

Summary: Photograph shows Bayard Rustin (1912-1987), an American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, nonviolence, and gay rights. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2021)

Contributor Names: Leffler, Warren K., photographer

Created / Published: 1963 Aug. 27.

Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication.

URL: https://www.loc.gov/item/2003688133/

Footnotes

[1] Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform), 2013,  p75

[2] Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, p82. 

[3] History.com, https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/rosa-parks.

[4] M. K. Gandhi, Satyagraha in South Africa, The Selected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume Two, Translated from the Gujarati by Valji Govindji Desai, © Navajivan Trust, 1968 pp106-107 https://www.mkgandhi.org/ebks/satyagraha_in_south_africa.pdf

[5] Global Nonviolent Action Database, https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/indians-south-africa-wage-satyagraha-their-rights-1906-1914

[6] South African History Online,  https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/heritage-and-identity-provinces

[7] Weldonturner.com, https://www.weldonturner.com/gandhi-part-1/ accessed May 14, 2021.

[8] Weldonturner.com, https://www.weldonturner.com/gandhi-part-1/ accessed May 14, 2021 

[9] MkGandhi.org, https://www.mkgandhi.org/africa.htm

[10] Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, 2013,  p105.

[11] Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, p108

[12] M. K. Gandhi, Satyagraha in South Africa, The Selected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume Two,   pp 96-7 https://www.mkgandhi.org/ebks/satyagraha_in_south_africa.pdf

[13] M. K. Gandhi, Satyagraha in South Africa, pp141-142

[14] Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Satyagraha.” Encyclopedia Britannica, February 12, 2015. https://www.britannica.com/topic/satyagraha-philosophy.  

[15] Global Nonviolent Action Database, https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/indians-south-africa-wage-satyagraha-their-rights-1906-1914, accessed Sunday, September 20, 2020.

[16] MkGandhi.org, https://www.mkgandhi.org/africa.htm  accessed May 17, 2021

[17] MkGandhi.org, https://www.mkgandhi.org/africa.htm  accessed May 17, 2021

[18] M. K. Gandhi, Satyagraha in South Africa, P255

[19] M. K. Gandhi, Satyagraha in South Africa, P255

[20]  Global Nonviolent Action Database, https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/indians-south-africa-wage-satyagraha-their-rights-1906-1914, accessed Sunday, September 20, 2020.

[21]  M. K. Gandhi, Satyagraha in South Africa, The Selected Works of Mahatma Gadni, Volume Two,. p260

[22] Global Nonviolent Action Database,  https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/indians-south-africa-wage-satyagraha-their-rights-1906-1914, accessed Sunday, September 20, 2020.

[23] MKGandhi.org, https://www.mkgandhi.org/india.htm

[24] Gandhi Sevagram Ashram, https://www.gandhiashramsevagram.org/on-nonviolence/satyagraha-at-viramgam.php, accessed June 14, 2021.

[25] Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, p300

[26] Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, p323.

[27] Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, p323.

[28] Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, p325  

[29] Mahatma Gandhi, Louis Fischer, ed., The Essential Gandhi, Vintage Books, 1983 p122

[30] Gandhi, The Essential Gandhi p123

[31] Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, p339

[32] Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, p345

[33] Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, p349

[34] MKGandhi.org, https://www.mkgandhi.org/india.htm 

[35] Encyclopedia Britannica Online,  Encyclopedia Britannica Online, s. v. “Rowlatt Acts”, http://www.britannica.com/event/Rowlatt-Acts, accessed September 23, 2020.

[36] Gandhi, The Essential Gandhi, p238

[37] Weldonturner.com, https://www.weldonturner.com/gandhis-experiments-with-truth-part-2, accessed June 17, 2021.

[38] MKGandhi.org, https://www.mkgandhi.org/india.htm 

[39] MKGandhi.org, https://www.mkgandhi.org/india.htm, accessed June 17, 2021.

[40] MKGandhi.org, https://www.mkgandhi.org/chrono/arrestofmahatma.htm, accessed June 17, 2021.

[41] MKGandhi.org, https://www.mkgandhi.org/india.htm 

[42]  Quinton Dixie, Peter Eisenstadt, Visions of a Better World: Howard Thurman’s Pilgrimage to India and the Origins of African American Nonviolence,  Beacon Press, 2011, p96.

[43] Times of India, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Gandhi-on-Africans/articleshow/48839120.cms, accessed September 28, 2020.

[44] Gandhi, Satyagraha in South Africa www.mkgandhi.org  pp 91-92.

[45] Gandhi, The Essential Gandhi, p280

[46] FORUSA.org, https://forusa.org/2020/09/29/gandhis-influence-on-the-civil-rights-movement-in-the-united-states/, accessed July 13, 2021. 

[47] Dixie and Eisenstadt, Visions of a New World, p96.

[48] The Black Church: This is Our Story, This is Our Song. A 2021 documentary hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Produced by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Dyllan McGee., McGee Media, LLC , Inkwell Media, LLC and WETA Washington, DC, 2021  (At about the 33:19 mark)

[49] MKGandhi.org, https://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/Mahatma-Gandhi-and-Martin-Luther-King-Jr.html, accessed May 4, 2021.

[50] Howard Thurman, With Head and Heart: The Autobiography of Howard Thurman, Harvest Books, 1981, p103

[51] Quinton and Eisenstadt, Visions of a Better World, inside dust jacket.

[52] Quinton and Eisenstadt, Visions of a Better World, p12. 

[53] Quinton and Eisenstadt, Visions of a Better World, p15

[54] Quinton and Eisenstadt, Visions of a Better World, p21

[55] Quinton and Eisenstadt, Visions of a Better World, p23.

[56] Quinton and Eisenstadt, Visions of a Better World pp32-33. 

[57] Quinton and Eisenstadt, Visions of a Better World, p59.

[58]. Quinton and Eisenstadt, Visions of a Better World, p25

[59] Quinton and Eisenstadt, Visions of a Better World p43 

[60] Quinton and Eisenstadt, Visions of a Better World p45.

[61] Quinton and Eisenstadt, Visions of a Better World pp51-52.

[62] Thurman, With Head and Heart, p88

[63] Youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpZwCRInrgo. Accessed May 24, 2021. 

[64] Thurman, With Head and Heart, p131

[65] Thurman, With Head and Heart, P131.

[66] Thurman, With Head and Heart, p132. 

[67] Thurman, With Head and Heart, p132 

[68] Thurman, With Head and Heart, p132

[69] King, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., p221.

[70] King, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., p222

[71] Thurman, With Head and Heart, Thurman, With Head and Heart, pp 132-133

[72] Thurman, With Head and Heart, p133 

[73] Thurman, With Head and Heart, p133.

[74] Thurman, With Head and Heart,  p133. 

[75] Thurman, With Head and Heart, p134.

[76]Thurman, With Head and Heart, p134

[77] Thurman, With Head and Heart, p134.

[78] Thurman, With Head and Heart, p132.

[79] Thurman, With Head and Heart, p134.

[80] Thurman, With Head and Heart, p135

[81] The Black Church: this is Our Story, This is Our Song, (at about the 35:00 minute mark)

[82] Martin Luther, King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, Beacon Press, 2010, pp136-137

[83] Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/mays-benjamin-elijah accessed April 5, 2021.

[84] Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-resources/major-king-events-chronology-1929-1968 accessed April 5, 2021.

[85] Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University,  https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/mays-benjamin-elijah accessed April 5, 2021

[86] Benjamin Mays, Born to Rebel, University of Georgia Press, 2003, p149.

[87] O Joyce Smith,  “Channing H. Tobias: An Educational Change Agent in Race Relations” (1993)., Dissertations. 3269, Loyola University Chicago, pp 44-45.

[88] Mays, Born to Rebel, p155.

[89] Mays, Born to Rebel, p155. 

[90] Mays, Born to Rebel, p156

[91] Mary King, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.: The Power of Nonviolent Action, UNESCO Publishing, 1999,  p224

[93] King, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. p226-2276.

[94] Mays, Benjamin E., Born to Rebel, University of Georgia Press, 2003. p156

[95] Mays, Born to Rebel, p157

[96] Mays, Born to Rebel, p157

[97] Mays, Born to Rebel, p158.

[98]. King, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., p226.

[99] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, pp 136-7,

[100] Mays, Born to Rebel, p358.

[101] King Jr. Stride Toward Freedom, pp 83-84.

[102] Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University,

https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/johnson-mordecai-wyatt, accessed June 17, 2021.

[103] Richard I. McKinney, Mordecai: The Man and His Message, Howard University Press, 1997,  p36.

[104] McKinney, Mordecai,  The Man and His Message, p32

[105] McKinney, Mordecai,  The Man and His Message, p96.

[106] Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Charles Hamilton Houston.” Encyclopedia Britannica, April 18, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Hamilton-Houston.

[107] Dickerson, Dennis C. “African American Religious Intellectuals and the Theological Foundations of the Civil Rights Movement, 1930-55.” Church History 74, no. 2 (2005): 217-35. Accessed April 6, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27644548 Sudarshan Kapur, Raising up A Prophet: The African American Encounter with Gandhi, (Boston: Beacon) 1992.

[108] Patrick Parr,  The Seminarian: Martin Luther King Jr. Comes of Age (p. 114). Chicago Review Press. Kindle Edition.

[109] Parr, The Seminarian: Martin Luther King Jr. Comes of Age (p. 116).

[110] King, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., pp 95-96.

[111] Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/congress-racial-equality-core, accessed June 22,  2021.

[112] Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/fellowship-reconciliation, accessed July 12,  2021.

[113] Mays, Born to Rebel p265. 

[114]  Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/crozer-theological-seminary accessed May 19, 2021

[115] Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963, Simon and Schuster Paperbacks,  1989,  p73

[116] Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/mlk-topic/martin-luther-king-jr-education,  accessed July 19, 2021.

[117] Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Coretta Scott King.” Encyclopedia Britannica, April 23, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Coretta-Scott-King.

[118] Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/rosa-parks-in-her-own-words/about-this-exhibition/the-bus-boycott/emmett-till-with-his-mother/  accessed June 4, 2021.

[119]  KING, JR., STRIDE TOWARD FREEDOM, p54.

[120] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p14.

[121] Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963, pp129-130

[122] Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963, p129

[123] Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963,  p131

[124] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p32. 

[125] Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963, , pp 131-32

[126] Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963,  132

[127] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p35

[128]  King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom,  p35

[129] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p33

[130] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p35.

[131] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p38.

[132] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p39

[133] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p42.

[134] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, pp 41-42.

[135] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, pp 47-48

[136] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p49.

[137] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, pp51-52

[138]  King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, pp 52-53.

[139] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p55

[140] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p99. 

[141] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p97.

[142] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p97

[143] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p103.

[144] Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963,  p151

[145] Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963,  P146

[146] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p107

[147] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p112

[148] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p112

[149]  King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, pp115-6

[150]  Mighty Times: The Legacy of  Rosa Parks – HBO Documentary. 2002 Tell the Truth Pictures and  The Southern Poverty Law Center https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1cPWqhbigo, accessed June 9, 2021.   They called them ‘Rolling churches.’  27:20 Dances were held to raise money 28:25

[151] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p116.

[152] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p116   

[153] Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963,  p158. 

[154] Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/robinson-jo-ann-gibson, accessed July 14, 2021.

[155]  Mighty Times: The Legacy of  Rosa Parks – HBO Documentary. 2002 Tell the Truth Pictures and  The Southern Poverty Law Center https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1cPWqhbigo, accessed June 9, 2021, accessed June 9, 2021, at approximately the 26-minute mark

[156] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p122

[157]  Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963,  p160

[158] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p125

[159]The Legacy of Rosa Parks, about the  35:00-minute mark

[160] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p131

[161] Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963, , p168.

[162] Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963,  p175

[163] King, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., pp 119-120.

[164] Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/bayard-rustin-1, accessed June 9, 2021. 

[165] Bayard Rustin, Time on Two Crosses: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin, Devon Carbado and Donald Weise, eds., Cleis Press Inc., 2003, Amazon Kindle Edition,  location 151.

[166] Rustin, Time on Two Crosses, location 163. 

[167] Rustin, Time on Two Crosses, location  170

[168] King, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., p120.

[169] King, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., pp 121-122.

[170] Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963, , p176. 

[171] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p137.

[172] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p138

[173] King, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., p123.

[174] King, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., p124.

[175] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p141.

[176] Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963,  p184

[177]  Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963,  p186

[178] U.S. Census Bureau, https://www.census.gov/history/www/homepage_archive/2018/february_2018.html, accessed June 14, 2021.

[179] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p164

[180] Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963,  p197

[181] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p 165

[182] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, pp 167-170.

[183] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p170.

[184] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p167-8

[185] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p172

[186] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p168.

[187] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p168.

[188] Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/my-trip-land-gandhi, accessed June 21, 2021

[189] Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963,  p888

[190] Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, https://www.16thstreetbaptist.org/our-history/, accessed, July 16, 2021

[191] Parrott-Sheffer, C.. “16th Street Baptist Church bombing.” Encyclopedia Britannica, September 8, 2020. https://www.britannica.com/event/16th-Street-Baptist-Church-bombing

[192] Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963, , p892. 

[193] Parrott-Sheffer, C.. “16th Street Baptist Church bombing.” Encyclopedia Britannica, September 8, 2020. https://www.britannica.com/event/16th-Street-Baptist-Church-bombing. 

[194] OurDocuments.gov, https://www.ourdocuments.gov/  accessed July 5, 2021.

[195] Wallenfeldt, J.. “Selma March.” Encyclopedia Britannica, March 14, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/event/Selma-March. 

[196] Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, p51.

[197] Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, p52.

[198] Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, pp 231-232.

[199] Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, p104.

[200] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p72.

[201] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, p78,

[202] King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, pp 96-87.

[203] Carver, George W., and Gandhi, M.K., 24 February 1929 – 27 July 27 1935. Courtesy of World Food Prize. https://iowaculture.gov/history/education/educator-resources/primary-source-sets/population-and-land-use/letter, accessed September 28, 2020.

[204] MKGandhi.org, https://www.mkgandhi.org/chrono/arrestofmahatma.htm

[205] Routray, B. Prasad. “Kasturba Gandhi.” Encyclopedia Britannica, April 7, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kasturba-Gandhi.

Links

History.com, https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/rosa-parks.

M. K. Gandhi, Satyagraha in South Africa, The Selected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume Two, Translated from the Gujarati by Valji Govindji Desai, © Navajivan Trust, 1968 https://www.mkgandhi.org/ebks/satyagraha_in_south_africa.pdf

Global Nonviolent Action Database, https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/indians-south-africa-wage-satyagraha-their-rights-1906-1914

South African History Online,  https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/heritage-and-identity-provinces

Weldonturner.com, https://www.weldonturner.com/gandhi-part-1/

MkGandhi.org, https://www.mkgandhi.org/africa.htm

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Satyagraha.” Encyclopedia Britannica, February 12, 2015. https://www.britannica.com/topic/satyagraha-philosophy.  

Global Nonviolent Action Database, https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/indians-south-africa-wage-satyagraha-their-rights-1906-1914

MKGandhi.org, https://www.mkgandhi.org/india.htm

Gandhi Sevagram Ashram, https://www.gandhiashramsevagram.org/on-nonviolence/satyagraha-at-viramgam.php

Encyclopedia Britannica Online,  Encyclopedia Britannica Online, s. v. “Rowlatt Acts”, http://www.britannica.com/event/Rowlatt-Acts

Weldonturner.com, https://www.weldonturner.com/gandhis-experiments-with-truth-part-2

MKGandhi.org, https://www.mkgandhi.org/chrono/arrestofmahatma.htm

Times of India, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Gandhi-on-Africans/articleshow/48839120.cms

FORUSA.org, https://forusa.org/2020/09/29/gandhis-influence-on-the-civil-rights-movement-in-the-united-states/

MKGandhi.org, https://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/Mahatma-Gandhi-and-Martin-Luther-King-Jr.html

Youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpZwCRInrgo

Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/mays-benjamin-elijah

Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-resources/major-king-events-chronology-1929-1968

Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/johnson-mordecai-wyatt

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Charles Hamilton Houston.” Encyclopedia Britannica, April 18, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Hamilton-Houston.

Dickerson, Dennis C. “African American Religious Intellectuals and the Theological Foundations of the Civil Rights Movement, 1930-55.” Church History 74, no. 2 (2005): 217-35. Accessed April 6, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27644548 Sudarshan Kapur, Raising up A Prophet: The African American Encounter with Gandhi, (Boston: Beacon) 1992.

Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/congress-racial-equality-core

Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/fellowship-reconciliation

Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/crozer-theological-seminary

Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/mlk-topic/martin-luther-king-jr-education

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Coretta Scott King.” Encyclopedia Britannica, April 23, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Coretta-Scott-King

Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/rosa-parks-in-her-own-words/about-this-exhibition/the-bus-boycott/emmett-till-with-his-mother/ 

Mighty Times: The Legacy of  Rosa Parks – HBO Documentary. 2002 Tell the Truth Pictures and  The Southern Poverty Law Center https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1cPWqhbigo

Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/robinson-jo-ann-gibson

Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/bayard-rustin-1

U.S. Census Bureau, https://www.census.gov/history/www/homepage_archive/2018/february_2018.html

Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/my-trip-land-gandhi

Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, https://www.16thstreetbaptist.org/our-history/

[Parrott-Sheffer, C.. “16th Street Baptist Church bombing.” Encyclopedia Britannica, September 8, 2020. https://www.britannica.com/event/16th-Street-Baptist-Church-bombing

Parrott-Sheffer, C.. “16th Street Baptist Church bombing.” Encyclopedia Britannica, September 8, 2020. https://www.britannica.com/event/16th-Street-Baptist-Church-bombing. 

OurDocuments.gov, https://www.ourdocuments.gov/  accessed July 5, 2021.

Wallenfeldt, J.. “Selma March.” Encyclopedia Britannica, March 14, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/event/Selma-March. 

Carver, George W., and Gandhi, M.K., 24 February 1929 – 27 July 27 1935. Courtesy of World Food Prize. https://iowaculture.gov/history/education/educator-resources/primary-source-sets/population-and-land-use/letter

MKGandhi.org, https://www.mkgandhi.org/chrono/arrestofmahatma.htm

Routray, B. Prasad. “Kasturba Gandhi.” Encyclopedia Britannica, April 7, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kasturba-Gandhi.

Bibliography

Branch, Taylor, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963, Simon and Schuster Paperbacks,  1989

Dixie, Quinton, Peter Eisenstadt, Visions of a Better World: Howard Thurman’s Pilgrimage to India and the Origins of African American Nonviolence,  Beacon Press, 2011

Gandhi, M. K., Satyagraha in South Africa, The Selected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume Two, Translated from the Gujarati by Valji Govindji Desai, © Navajivan Trust, 1968 https://www.mkgandhi.org/ebks/satyagraha_in_south_africa.pdf

Gandhi, Mahatmai, Louis Fischer, ed., The Essential Gandhi, Vintage Books, 1983

Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform), 2013

King, Martin Luther, King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, Beacon Press, 2010

King, Mary, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., The Power of Nonviolent Action, UNESCO Publishing, 1999

Mays, Benjamin, Born to Rebel, University of Georgia Press, 2003

\McKinney, Richard I., Mordecai: The Man and His Message, Howard University Press, 1997

Parr, Patrick,  The Seminarian: Martin Luther King Jr. Comes of Age  Chicago Review Press. Kindle Edition

Rustin, Bayard, Time on Two Crosses: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin, Devon Carbado and Donald Weise, eds., Cleis Press Inc., 2003, Amazon Kindle Edition

Smith, O Joyce,  “Channing H. Tobias: An Educational Change Agent in Race Relations” (1993) Dissertations. 3269, Loyola University Chicago,

Thurman, Howard, With Head and Heart: The Autobiography of Howard Thurman, Harvest Books, 1981

Documentary Video

The Black Church: This is Our Story, This is Our Song. A 2021 documentary hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Produced by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Dyllan McGee., McGee Media, LLC , Inkwell Media, LLC and WETA Washington, DC, 2021

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New Post has been published on Weldon Turner

New Post has been published on https://www.weldonturner.com/reflections-on-c-s-lewis-the-great-divorce/

Reflections on c. s. lewis' the great divorce

C.S. Lewis, Author and Scholar, 1898-1963

In the preface to The Great Divorce, C. S. Lewis presents his allegory  as a kind of counterpoint to William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.  Blake, a celebrated artist and poet, supported the idea of ‘spirituality,’ and was a fierce critic of organized religion. According to the British Library, in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,  Blake develops the idea that the sensual world can lead to the spiritual, and that the repression of desire destroys the spirit. He says, ‘Man has no Body distinct from his Soul … Energy is the only life, and is from the Body.’ [1]

Lewis declines to  launch a full frontal attack on Blake’s ideas–he isn’t even convinced that he knew what Blake meant [2] — but he does take issue with the idea that there may be a direct path between carnal desire and the spiritual, and by extension, between Heaven and Hell–that there is a way by which both alternatives can somehow be reconciled without a rejection of past sinful behavior, where ‘mere development or adjustment or refinement will somehow turn evil into good without being called on for a final and total rejection of anything we should like to retain.’ [3] Lewis categorically rejects these ideas. He argues we live in a world  where all roads do not eventually lead to a common destination, a centre if you will, where some degree of good coexists with a tinge of evil; instead, all roads diverge, leading to distinct destinations of  good or evil—where good and evil continually diverge, grow farther and farther apart: ‘Good, as it ripens, becomes continually more different not only from evil but from other good’ [4], that is, where Good is definitively and categorically  divorced from Evil—where Heaven is divorced from Hell. 

This does not mean that those who chose the wrong roads inevitably perish, but to be put back on the right path requires finding one’s errors and correcting them. ‘Evil can be undone, but it cannot develop into good.’ [5]

At the centre of The Great Divorce is the idea of  a second chance, that those in Hell (or Purgatory, depending on their life choices)  are given an opportunity to reject  the wrong path, and return to the correct one.  Lewis accomplishes this through the idea of the Refrigerium,  an idea propagated in a sermon by the English clergyman Jeremy Taylor. The Refrigerium describes a brief respite from Hell, where  the departed are allowed a day in  Heaven. Lewis takes this idea  and introduces us to a group of the Departed, who take a bus ride to the outskirts of  Heaven and are met by former  family and colleagues, who offer them the opportunity to reject their ways and accept the opportunity to join them in Heaven.

Through these encounters, we learn about  former  relationships: relationships with family and colleagues, and with God. Lewis uses these events to examine several themes, including, self-interest, selfishness, pride, lust, love—love for self disguised as love for others—reliance on self vs. reliance on God.  Underlying many of these encounters however is Milton’s theme in Paradise Lost: ‘It is better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.’ [6]

Chapter 1 — The Bus to the Outskirts of Heaven

Its raining and in a twilight that never progresses to night our narrator, Lewis himself, wanders the streets of an unnamed, nearly deserted town, a drab, grey town.  He comes across what appears to be a group of people at a bus stop. He joins the queue.  Ahead of him a man and a woman argue; two men get into a fight; a woman is bilked out of her spot in line to the amusement of the crowd.  The bus arrives and the group scrambles onboard, fighting ‘like hens’ though there’s lots of room. The bus literally takes flight.  So begins C.S. Lewis’ allegory, The Great Divorce.

Chapter 2 –Characters

We are immediately introduced to a group of characters whose interest in the trip to the outskirts of heaven is not to receive a shot of redemption, but an opportunity to replicate, even enhance, their current worldview in Purgatory (symbolized by the grey town). A ‘tousle-haired’ young man believes  his ideas of morality will finally be appreciated; a man wearing a bowler hat will bring back commodities that will improve the lives of the town’s  residents; a man with a cultured voice  believes that his acceptance of Purgatory and rejection of Heaven will be vindicated.

Reflection on Chapter 2

Here we see, I suggest, the self-interest, maybe even arrogance, of  humankind.   Implicitly the characters are saying:  ‘I will  use the idea, or even the gifts, of Heaven to my advantage.’ They see no reason to accept the opportunity they will be given to reject their  current lifestyles, and embark on an entirely different way of  living.

Chapter 3 – Diamond Flowers

The bus comes to rest on a large grassy plain with a wide river running through it. Now in the light, Lewis’ fellow passengers are revealed to be ghosts, fully transparent in the light, ‘smudgy and imperfectly opaque’ when in the shadow of a tree.  The grassy plain is different from Earth. ‘The light, the grass, the trees…were different, made of some different substance, so much solider than things in our country that men were ghosts by comparison’. Lewis attempts to pluck a daisy, but the stalk won’t twist or break. ‘The little flower was hard, not like wood nor even like iron, but like a diamond.‘ A leaf was as heavy as a sack of sand. [7] One ghost screams and darts to the bus.

 ‘Solid’ people, or spirits, approach. (Those from the grey tow/ Purgatory/ Hell are called ghosts; those from Heaven are called spirits, ‘bright people’ or ‘solid people.’) ‘The earth shook under [the tread of the spirits]  as their strong feet sank into the wet turf. A tiny haze and a sweet smell went up where they had crushed the grass and scattered the dew. Some were naked, some robed. But the naked ones did not seem less adorned, and the robes did not disguise in those who wore them the massive grandeur of muscle and the radiant smoothness of flesh. Some were bearded but no one in that company struck me as being of any particular age.’ [8]

Chapter 4 – The Murderer

One of the ghosts from the bus, named the ‘Big Ghost’ meets a bright spirit named Len.  The Big Ghost is incredulous that Len has made it to Heaven, for on Earth Len had committed a murder. The Big Ghost contrasts his life on Earth with Len’s: ‘“I gone straight all my life. I don’t say I was a religious man and I don’t say I had no faults, far from it. But I done my best all my life, see. I done my best by everyone, that’s the sort of chap I was. I never asked for anything that wasn’t mine by rights. If I wanted a drink I paid for it and if I took my wages I done my job…”‘

Len had worked for the Big Ghost on Earth. He responds to the Ghost’s justification, comparing his own actions to the Ghost’s: ‘“Murdering old Jack wasn’t the worst thing I did. That was the work of a moment and I was half mad when I did it. But I murdered you in my heart, deliberately, for years. I used to lie awake at night thinking what I’d do to you if I ever got the chance. That was why I have been sent to you now: to ask your forgiveness and to be your servant as long as you need me, and longer if it pleases you. I was the worst. But all the men who worked under you felt the same. You made it hard for us, you know. And you made it hard for your wife too and for your children.”‘ [9]

Paradise offered

Len asks his old boss to go with him to the mountains, back to Heaven, since he “will never get there alone”.   

Paradise lost

To accompany Len, the Big Ghost realizes he must humble himself  and surrender his moral outrage to enter Heaven. He flatly refuses and, with ‘triumph’ in his voice, says: ‘“Tell them I’m not coming, see. I’d rather be damned than go along with you. I came here to get my rights., see? Not to go snivelling along on charity tied to your apron strings. If they’re too fine to have me without you, I’ll go home…I didn’t come here to be treated like a dog. I’ll go home. That’s what I’ll do. Damn and blast the whole pack of you…”‘ [10]

Reflection on Chapter 4

Its interesting that the man for whom the Big Ghost has the utmost contempt has become the means through which he can enter  Heaven. It is not someone with whom the Ghost had felt some degree of respect, or even equality. He must therefore revoke his old way of thinking in order to enter Heaven—a price, he’s convinced, that is  much too high to pay.

Chapter 5 – The Intellectuals

Lewis then overhears an exchange between the ghost–described in Chapter 2 as having a ‘cultured’ voice–and a spirit named Dick.  Dick describes the grey town as Hell—if the ghost choses to return–and Purgatory, if he does not.

On Earth, they were fellow intellectuals who at times discussed matters of faith. We learn the cultured ghost had been  both a priest in the Anglican Church, [11] and an apostate. [12]  He argues that opinion, born of intellect, is not sinful, but heroic. Additionally, he postulates the ‘doctrine’ of Jesus’ Resurrection vitiated against the ‘critical faculties which God had given me’, and therefore rejected the Resurrection.

Dick admonishes the ghost, charging his writings and lectures were for popularity, prestige, and book sales, adding: ‘“We were afraid of crude salvationism, afraid of a breach with  the spirit of the age, afraid of ridicule,  afraid (above all) of real spiritual fears and hopes.”‘

The ghost insists that his ideas were honestly formed, but Dick returns that, even so, they had drifted so far away from their faith, they began to believe their own lies, the way a drunk believes he has no problem with alcohol. [13]

Paradise offered

Dick implores the ghost to ‘repent and believe.’ ‘“We are not playing now,”’ he says, ‘“I have been talking of the past in order that you may turn from it forever. One wrench and the tooth will be out. You can begin as if nothing had ever gone wrong. White as snow…You have seen Hell: you are in sight of Heaven. Will you, even now, repent and believe?”’ [14]

Paradise lost

The ghost considers the spirit’s request, and responds with a series of demands –including a ‘wider sphere of influence’ where he can, he believes, exercise the talents that ‘God’ has given him.  

Dick replies that there is no need for his ‘talents’ in Heaven; instead, he can receive ‘forgiveness’ for perverting them. [15]

The Ghost refuses to give up his intellect, his ‘inquiring mind’. To return to the childishness of ‘faith’ is ‘preposterous.’ Suddenly he remembers he can’t go with the spirit to Heaven anyway, he must return to a Theological Society (in Hell), where, he implies, he is a member of some status. He will be delivering a paper that examines what Jesus’ ‘mature’ views would have been had he lived. The ghost turns away, back to Hell, humming softly to itself. [16]

Chapter 6 – Apples of Gold

Lewis walks along a river of solid water, painful to the feet. He happens upon an area resembling an amphitheatre, with green slopes, and a waterfall tumbling into a lake. There is a tree of golden apples. With much effort, a ghost — the bowler-hatted one mentioned in Chapter 2 who intended to  bring commodities back to the grey town and sell them — attempts to steal a handful of apples that have fallen to the ground. He is unable to do so but, with great ‘agony’, pockets a small one.

Paradise offered

A voice commands him to put it down. It’s the voice of the waterfall, which is also an angel.  ‘“Fool…put it down. You cannot take it back. There is no room for it In Hell. Stay here and learn to eat such apples. The very leaves and the blades of grass in the wood will delight to teach you.”‘

Paradise lost

The ghost continues on his tortuous way until he is out of sight. [17]

Chapter 7 — The Cynic: The ‘Hard-Bitten’ Ghost

At the river Lewis encounters the ‘Hard-Bitten’ Ghost. The ghost automatically dismisses the new environment, ‘“You can’t eat the fruit and you can’t drink the water and it takes you all your time to walk on the grass.”‘ Humans couldn’t live there; it was no more than an ‘advertisement stunt.’“ He claims he’s been all over the world, seen several of the Great Wonders and was suitably unimpressed–they, too, were nothing more than ‘advertisement stunts.’  [18]

He sees little difference between the grey town—his ‘Hell,’ and his present location, the outskirts of Heaven. They’re managed by the ‘same old Ring’ and the managers are ‘just laughing at us.’

When asked about becoming ‘more solid’ and enjoying the soft grass and liquid water like the spirits do–in short, change his ways and enter Heaven—his response implies that its not he, but this new environment,  that should change, should accommodate him: ‘“What would you say if you went to a hotel where the eggs were all bad and when you complained to the boss, instead of apologizing and changing his dairyman, he just told you that if you tried you’d get to like bad eggs in time.”’   [19]

Paradise lost

He wanders off and is not seen again.

Reflection on Chapter 7

Does the  hard-bitten ghost represent the person with no self-awareness—he’s got ‘it’ all figured out? Anyone who does not see life his way is wrong and needs to change?

Chapter 8 — Riches to Rags

Lewis leaves the river and walks towards a cluster of trees.  As he enters a clearing a ghost hobbles across. Her Earthly clothes now appear ‘ghastly in the morning light’ and she runs from bush to bush, trying desperately to avoid being seen.

A Bright Spirit appears and offers to help her. ‘“If you have the least trace of decent feeling left…you’ll keep away,”‘ she replies. ‘“I don’t want help. I want to be left alone. Do go away.”‘

Paradise offered

The Spirit implores her to go with him to the mountains, to Heaven. ‘“You can lean on me all the way. I can’t absolutely carry you, but you’ll have absolutely no weight on your own feet: and it will hurt less at every step.”‘

She hesitates, ashamed of her appearance compared to the Spirit’s. ‘“Can’t you understand anything?”‘ she asks. ‘“Do you really suppose I’m going out there among all those people, like this?”‘

He asks why. She replies,  ‘“How can I go out like this among a lot of people with real solid bodies? Its far worse than going out with nothing on would have been on Earth. Have everyone staring through me.” (Lewis’ italics.)  He replies: ‘“Don’t you remember on Earth—there were things too hot to touch with your finger but you could drink them all right? Shame is like that. If you will accept it—if you will drink the cup to the bottom—you’ll find it very nourishing: but try to do anything else with it and it scalds.” [20]

Paradise unknown

She initially considers accepting his offer, but then refuses: ‘“No, I can’t. I tell you I can’t…You’ve no right to ask me to do a thing like that. It’s disgusting. I should never forgive myself if I did.”‘

‘“Friend,” said the Spirit. “Could you, only for a moment, fix your mind on something not yourself?”‘ She again refuses. ‘“Then only one expedient remains,”” he says.  He puts a horn to his lips and blows. A herd of unicorns thunders through the clearing. Lewis flees and hears the ghost scream, but is unsure if she runs towards the spirit or away from him. [21]

Reflection on Chapter 8

My takeaway. Chapter 8 contrasts the love of Earthly possessions with the beauty of  Heaven.   While alive the woman was probably a  member of the upper-class–the ‘elite’, fashionably dressed— but now appears ghastly in Heaven, so much so that she is ashamed to be seen, and it is unbearable. She’s challenged to swallow her pride, discard her past lifestyle, i.e. her once beautiful, now  ‘ghastly’ clothes—even though it will initially be difficult—and enter Heaven. This is a choice that is  agonizingly difficult for her.

Chapter 9 – The Teacher: George MacDonald

George MacDonald, Clergyman and Writer, 1824-1905

Lewis’ flight from the unicorns takes him to a little knoll with pine trees and large rocks. On one of the rocks sits a man for whom he has had the greatest admiration– a ‘very tall man…with a flowing beard’—George MacDonald. He appears as both an ‘enthroned and shining god’ and an ‘old weather-beaten’ man. MacDonald asks Lewis to sit and talk. Lewis recounts the life-changing impact MacDonald’s writings has had on his life.  Phantastes, to him, was what ‘Beatrice’ was to Dante.[22]

Lewis then asks a series of questions. [23]

Do any of the ghosts stay? Can they stay? MacDonald refers him to the Refrigerium. ‘“It means the damned have holidays—excursions…[to the outskirts of Heaven].”‘ He adds that ‘of course’ most of the ‘silly creatures’ don’t take the opportunity.

Is judgement not final? Is there a way out of Hell into Heaven?  ‘“it depends,”‘ MacDonald replies.  For those who chose to leave, it was not Hell, it was Purgatory. Those who chose to stay, it was always Hell. This goes for the Earthly past as well: For the Saved, all of their Earthly past would have been Heaven—even suffering will be turned into glory; For the Lost however,  all of their past will have been Hell – ‘damnation will spread back and back and contaminate the pleasures of their sin.’

Heaven and Hell are a state of mind, then?  ‘“Hell  is a state of mind…[a]nd every state of mind, left to itself, every shutting up of  the creature within the dungeon of its own mind…is, in the end, Hell. But Heaven is not a state of mind. Heaven is reality itself. All that is fully real is Heavenly. For all that can be shaken will be shaken and only the unshakeable remains.”’

What do they choose, those who go back (to the grey town)? And how do they choose it?  ‘“Milton was right…The choice of every lost soul can be expressed in the words ‘Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.’  There is always something they insist on keeping even at the price of misery.”

There is no one lost through the undignified vices, Sir? Through mere sensuality? MacDonald warns of the pursuit of pleasure. The pleasure becomes less and less and the cravings become more and more fierce, so great in fact, that even though he knows that true joy cannot be achieved he yet prefers the ‘mere fondling of unappeasable lust and would not have it taken from him.’  These snares of obsession are not limited to sensuality. For example, the Christian is so obsessed with spreading Christianity ‘they never give a thought to Christ’ or an organizer of charities becomes so caught up in  his charity he forgets about the poor.

Why don’t the Solid people, full of love, go down to Hell and rescue the ghosts? MacDonald replies that the Solid people have come as far as they can, i.e. the green plain, the Valley of the Shadow of Life, the outskirts of Heaven. It would do them no good to go any further: ‘“The sane would do no good if they made themselves mad to help madmen.”‘

What about the ghosts who never get to the omnibus?  ‘“Everyone who wishes it does…All that are in Hell chose it. Without that self choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find.  To those who knock it is opened.”‘

They are interrupted by the grumbling of a ghost, who in rapid fashion complains about her former life – people she despised (and, presumably, still does), the unfairness of life, her hardships.  Lewis is perplexed as to why she is here. MacDonald  replies that she may not be damned, she may yet  enter Heaven, but it depends on whether she  is in control of her attitude, or is controlled by it. [24]

Several ghosts cross their path. Some wish to tell the ‘Celestials’ about Hel,  as if their misery conferred a sort of superiority to the ‘sheltered’ lives of the spirits. Other ghosts include decaying ghosts eager to frighten,  ‘grotesque phantoms’ who came to the Valley of the Shadow of Life to spit ‘hatred’, ‘envy’ and ‘contempt for joy.’ Nonetheless some of these may be converted, says MacDonald, because those that ‘hate goodness are sometimes nearer [to Heaven] than those that know nothing at all about it and think they have it already.’

An artist wishes to paint the Valley of the Shadow of Life but is constrained by a spirit, who warns of conflating his gift with the love of the recognition he receives: ‘“Every…artist, but for Grace, is drawn away from love of the thing he tells, to love of the telling till…they cannot be interested in God at all but only in what they say about Him…They sink lower—become interested in their own personalities and then  in nothing but their own reputations.”‘ [my italics]  [25]

Reflection on Chapter 9

My takeaway. We all have free will,  and even after a second chance to escape the consequences of past bad decisions,  many will prefer to remain as they are. Lewis seems to argue that for some, ‘misery’ is seen as a form of maturity, even superiority.  Does this resonate in a society and culture where the negative is often seen as serious, credible; the positive is often considered light, childish, Pollyannaish?

Chapter 10 — The Overbearing Spouse

Lewis and MacDonald overhear another exchange.

Paradise offered

A ghost receives an offer to enter Heaven if she agrees to meet with her former husband who is already there. She refuses, considering how ungrateful the husband, Robert, had been. She speaks, without interruption, of how she had made him the ‘success’ he’d been on Earth, of how she’d made ‘a man’ out of him. She was the driving force behind a higher paying job; she spent many hours making their home a nice place to live–with  no appreciation from him;  she broke up friendships because they were ‘no good’ for him;  she initially disavowed him of his ‘silly idea’ of writing a book;  she prompted him to buy a larger house though  it was ‘a little more’ than they could afford. He had become a ‘richer man than he’d ever dreamed of being.’ His subsequent emotional withdrawal and sulking were nothing short of  ‘wicked, senseless hatred,’ and even though he eventually suffered a nervous breakdown her ‘conscience [was] clear.’

On reflection, she has a change of heart and agrees to stay in Heaven and meet with Robert—if she is given a ‘free hand’ to ‘take charge’ of him again. ‘“Give him to me, do you hear…There’s lots, lots, lots of things I still want to do with him…Please, please! I’m so miserable. I must have someone to—to do things to. Its simply frightful down there.”‘

Paradise lost

Like a ‘towering candle-flame’ she suddenly ‘snaps’ and disappears, leaving a ‘sour, dry smell’ in the air. [26]

Chapter 11 – Selfish ‘Love’

Lewis overhears another ‘painful’ exchange between a ghost, Pam, and her bright spirit brother, Reginald, who has come to meet her. Pam confronts him about her beloved son, Michael., who is in Heaven, but did not come to meet her. 

How dare God take Michael away from her, she asks.   She will do whatever it takes to see her boy. But her attitude is futile. Reginald replies: ‘”You’re treating God only as a means to an end”’ and ‘”You cannot love a fellow creature until you love God.”‘  ‘“[Mother-love] is the highest and holiest feeling in human nature,”‘ she says.  Reginald replies, ‘“[n]o natural feelings are high or low in themselves. They are all holy when God’s hand is on the rein. They all go bad when they set up on their own and make themselves into false gods.”‘

The obsession with her dead son eventually ruined her relationship with her husband, Dick, and daughter, Muriel. The spirit, Reginald, makes clear that the relationship with her husband and daughter did not fall apart because of their indifference to Michael’s death as she believes. No, they revolted against her, ‘“against having their whole life dominated by the tyranny of  the past: and not really even Michael’s past, but your past.”’

 Pam is undeterred. She must have her son. ‘“No one has the right to come between me and my son. Not even God…I want my boy, and I mean to have him. He is mine, do you understand? Mine, mine, mine. Forever and ever.”’ [27]

Shortly after, the Teacher, George MacDonald, places a hand on Lewis’ arm, and escorts him away. Then comes a contrast between Pam’s ‘mother-love’ (which has turned into a ‘poor, prickly, astringent sort of thing’) and lust, presented in the next encounter.  MacDonald: There is one good, which is God. Everything is good when it looks to Him and bad when it turns from Him. And the higher it is in the natural order, the more demonic it is when it rebels. Archangels become demons, not ‘mice or fleas.’  ‘“The false religion of lust is baser than the false religion of mother-love or patriotism or art: but lust is less likely to be made into a religion.”’ [28]

They come across a ‘dark oily ghost’ with a ‘red little lizard’ on his shoulder. The lizard is twitching its tail and incessantly whispering in the ghost’s ear. The ghost starts on  its way back to the bus, apparently aggravated by the lizard, which won’t stop needling him. [Later, we learn that the lizard symbolizes the ghost’s struggles with lust.]

A ‘flaming spirit’ appears and turns out to be an angel. The angel asks the ghost if he’d like the lizard to be quiet. When the ghost replies, yes he would, the angel responds: ‘“Then I will kill him.”‘  Clearly ambivalent about the lizard’s demise, the ghost meets the declaration with several awkward excuses: I’d just like it silenced…Maybe some other time…It’s going to sleep of its own accord…I’ll be able to keep it in order now.

Paradise offered

Each excuse is met with the question: “May I kill it?”

The lizard challenges the ghost: ‘“Be careful. He can kill me…and you’ll be without me forever and ever…How could you live…You’d only be a sort of ghost, not a real man as you are now.”‘

‘“Do I have your permission [to kill it].”‘

“‘ It will kill me,”‘ the ghost replied.

‘“It won’t, but supposing it did?”‘

‘“You’re right. It would be better to be dead than to live with this creature.”‘

‘“Then may I?”‘

Paradise accepted

“Damn and blast you! Go on, can’t you!  Get it over! Do what you like…”‘

The angel grabs the lizard, and while it was yet twisting, biting and writhing, breaks its neck and throws it to the turf.

The ghost quickly becomes solid and is transformed into  a man. The lizard is magically transformed into a magnificent stallion–‘[s]ilvery white…with a mane and tail of gold.‘ The man throws himself at the angel’s  feet, then rises,  his face shining with tears.  He jumps onto the stallion and they gallop into the sunrise, to the mountains of Deep Heaven.  The whole plain shook with the sound of the very ‘earth’ and the ‘woods’ and the ‘waters’ rejoicing.

The lizard had to die before it became the stallion, MacDonald says to Lewis. ‘“Nothing…can go [to Heaven] as it is now.”’ Anything can go to the mountains if it submits to death. ‘”What is a lizard compared with a stallion? Lust is a poor, weak, whimpering, whispering thing compared with that richness and energy of desire which will arise when lust has been killed.”‘ [29]

Reflection on Chapter 11

MacDonald reflects on the two encounters.  The man’s sensuality was destroyed. He was delivered and given a beautiful stallion instead of a lizard; the woman’s  ‘love’ for her son–which was not love at all, but a form of selfish control—was not destroyed, and she quickly met her demise. [30]

Chapter 12 – The Joy of Sarah Smith

A procession approaches. Spirits, ‘youthful shapes’ of boys and girls dancing, young men and women, animals, celebrate one woman, Sarah Smith.  She was apparently an ordinary but faithful  woman on Earth, and is celebrated in Heaven. MacDonald reminds Lewis: ‘“[F]ame in this country and fame on Earth are two quite different things.”‘ The abundance of her life in Christ flows outwards, like ripples in a pond. ‘“There is joy enough in the little finger of a great saint  as yonder lady to waken all the dead things of the universe into life.”‘

In the procession’s  path are two phantoms – one tall, ‘horribly thin and shaky’, reminiscent of an ‘old school’ Tragedian actor; the other no larger than an ‘organ grinder’s monkey.’ The ‘Dwarf’ holds a chain attached to a collar around the Tragedian’s neck. The Tragedian addresses the lady, but she responds only to the ‘Dwarf’.  Later, we learn the two phantoms are in fact the remnants of one person, Frank, (we assume} Sarah’s husband.

She explains their relationship on Earth. Theirs was not a relationship based on love, but on a ‘need’ to be loved. She says to the Dwarf: ‘“[W]hat we called love down there was mostly the craving to be loved. In the main I loved you for my own sake: because I needed you.”‘

She is now truly ‘full.’  ‘”in Love Himself, not lonely. Strong, not weak.”’ ‘“We no longer have a ‘need’ for one another, ‘we can begin to love truly.”‘ [31]

Chapter 13 — The Light and the Darkness

Sarah Smith implores the Dwarf to let go of the chain, to experience joy with her: “”Here is all joy. Everything bids you to stay.”‘ ‘“Yes,”‘, the Tragedian responds. ‘“On terms you might offer to a dog.”‘ The Dwarf has begun to shrink, growing ever smaller and smaller. 

MacDonald makes clear Sarah Smith’s dilemma. She was tormented by her husband while on Earth.  Her husband chose misery, wretchedness, symbolized  by the pathetic ‘Tragedian.’ Her husband solicited her compliance through Pity. Now, she implores him: ‘“Stop it. Stop it at once.” Stop ‘“[u]sing pity, other people’s pity, in the wrong way. Pity was meant to be a spur that drives joy to help misery. But it can be used the wrong way round. It can be used for a kind of blackmailing. Those who chose misery can hold joy up to ransom, by pity.”‘  She  can no longer live under a blanket of misery and wretchedness:  ‘“You made yourself really wretched…But you can no longer communicate your wretchedness…Here is joy that cannot be shaken. Our joy can swallow up your darkness: but your darkness cannot infect our light. No, no, no. Come to us. We will not go to you. Can you really have thought that love and joy would always be at the mercy of frowns and sighs?”‘  [32]

By now the Dwarf has .shrunk so much that it is indistinguishable from the chain to which it has clung for so long. Finally, it disappears, and  the Tragedian vanishes.

Lewis (as the narrator) is unsure of the exchange he has just witnessed. Should Sarah Smith not have been touched by Frank’s misery, his wretchedness?  Should she have had no pity at all? MacDonald responds by differentiating between the ‘action’ of Pity and the ‘passion’ of Pity.

The passion of Pity is ‘the ache that draws men to concede what should not be conceded and to flatter when they should speak truth…”‘ That form of pity will die, MacDonald says. ‘“The ‘action’ of Pity ‘brings healing and joy, whatever the cost to itself. It changes darkness into light and evil into good.”‘’ [33]

The Great Divorce of Heaven from Hell

Then George MacDonald contrasts the infinite vastness of Heaven and the infinitesimal smallness of Hell. He bends down and, using a blade of grass, identifies a crack in the soil. He surmises—he can’t be sure—that crack is where the bus had come through from the grey town.

Similarly, all the ‘loneliness, angers, hatreds, envies’ of Hell, when weighed against the least moment of joy that is felt by the least in Heaven, would have no weight that could be registered at all.

Who can enter Hell? Only the Greatest of all can make himself small enough to enter Hell.  For the higher the thing is, the lower it can descend—a man can sympathize with a horse, but a horse cannot sympathize with a rat. Only One has descended into Hell. [34]

Chapter 14 – A Dream

Lewis is told that all he has seen and learned is just a dream.  If he relates his experiences to anyone, MacDonald instructs him,  he is to make clear that it was a dream. He is not a philosopher, clergyman, or ‘spiritualist,’ nor is he to act like one.  

He awakens on the floor, at  the feet of his study table. [35]

A Note on the Real-Life George MacDonald

George MacDonald (1824-1905) was a clergyman, college professor,  poet and writer. Lewis was a great admirer of  his fantasy work and his Christian lectures.

In his anthology of MacDonald’s work, Lewis writes:  ‘I know hardly any other writer who seems to be closer, or more continually close, to the Spirit of Christ Himself…Nowhere else outside the New Testament have I found terror and comfort so intertwined. [36] ‘I have never concealed the fact that I regarded him as my master; indeed I fancy I have never written a book in which I did not quote from him. [37]

Of MacDonald’s 1858 fantasy novel,  Phantastes, Lewis writes:  I bought…the Everyman edition of Phantastes. A few hours later I knew I had crossed a great frontier…What it actually did to me was to convert…even to baptise my imagination…[T]he quality which had enchanted me in his imaginative works turned out to be the quality of the real universe, the divine, magical, terrifying, and ecstatic reality in which we all live. I should have been shocked in my teens if anyone had told me that what I learned to love in Phantastes was goodness. [37]

The real-life student-teacher relationship Lewis had with MacDonald is echoed in their relationship in The Great Divorce. In the story, though,MacDonald does not teach with words, but through a guided tour of the Valley of the Shadow of Life,  as Virgil guides Dante through hell in The Divine Comedy, a comparison Lewis scholar, Walter  Hooper, makes in his book, C. S. Lewis, A Companion and Guide. [38]

Final Thoughts

In the preface to The Great Divorce  C.S. Lewis makes clear that the work is not speculative, it does not attempt to predict what  awaits us after death. Instead, it is an allegory,  and does not claim to be anything more.

Hooper, in his Companion to The Great Divorce, outlines three central ideas  of the work.

There is a point beyond which a person cannot repent and be saved, but we cannot fix that point

God cannot overrule free will

Evil is fissiparous (reproduces itself)  and cannot arrest its own reproduction; hell is a tourniquet to  bind that reproduction

I argue the themes above are undergirded by George MacDonald’s reference to  Paradise Lost in Chapter 10—that is, man preferring to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven. That the vast  majority of characters we meet on that grassy plain chose to turn their backs on Heaven and return to their lives  in the grey town, I believe, supports this idea.  Today,  examples of  Lewis’ message are ubiquitous. Popular culture,  social  constructs,  our economic and political structures,  notions of morality, science, justice,  all cater to the here and now,  of man-made fixes to the world’s problems, to the exclusion of a higher power—regardless of   how dire those challenges may be. The Great Divorce  warns us of such a worldview, and it does so in a way that is universal:  accessible yet cerebral, entertaining yet profound, timely yet timeless.

Images

C. S. Lewis

Flickr.com

Copyright: Public Domain

Page URL: https://www.flickr.com/photos/levanrami/28494302577/in/album-72157669055337657/

Attribution: Levan Ramishvili

Accessed: April 13, 2020

George MacDonald

Wikimedia Commons

Copyright: Public Domain

Page URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:George_MacDonald_c1880.jpg

File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/George_MacDonald_c1880.jpg

Attribution: Robert White Thrupp

Accessed: April 13, 2020

References

[1] The British Library, https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-marriage-of-heaven-and-hell-by-william-blake , accessed April 6, 2020.

[2] C.S. Lewis,  C.S. Lewis Complete Signature Classics, Harper Collins, 2007, p465

[3] Lewis, Signature Classics, p465

[4] Lewis, Signature Classics, p465

[5] Lewis, Signature Classics ,p466

[6] Lewis, Signature Classics, p504

[7] Lewis, Signature Classics, pp476-7

[8] Lewis, Signature Classics, p478

[9] Lewis, Signature Classics, pp479-81

[10] Lewis, Signature Classics, p481

[11] Lewis, Signature Classics, p486

[12] Lewis, Signature Classics, p484

[13] Lewis, Signature Classics, pp484-6

[14] Lewis, Signature Classics, p486

[15] Lewis, Signature Classics, pp486-7

[16] Lewis, Signature Classics, pp487-9

[17] Lewis, Signature Classics, pp490-2

[18] Lewis, Signature Classics, pp493-4

[19] Lewis, Signature Classics, pp493-5

[20] Lewis, Signature Classics, p498-9

[21] Lewis, Signature Classics, pp499-500

[22] Lewis, Signature Classics, p502

[23] Lewis, Signature Classics, pp503-6

[24] Lewis, Signature Classics, pp506-7

[25] Lewis, Signature Classics, pp508-11

[26] Lewis, Signature Classics, pp514-6

[27] Lewis, Signature Classics, pp518-20

[28] Lewis, Signature Classics, p522

[29] Lewis, Signature Classics, pp522-6

[30] Lewis, Signature Classics, p526

[31] Lewis, Signature Classics, pp529-32

[32] Lewis, Signature Classics, pp534-5

[33] Lewis, Signature Classics, pp536-7

[34] Lewis, Signature Classics, pp537-8

[35] Lewis, Signature Classics, p541

[36] Lewis, C.S., ed., George MacDonald: An Anthology, Harper Collins, 2001, pxxxv

[37] C.S. Lewis, George MacDonald, pxxxvii 

[38] Hooper, Walter, C. S. Lewis A Companion and Guide,  Fount, 1997, p284

Bibliography

Hooper, Walter, C. S. Lewis A Companion and Guide,  Fount, 1997

Lewis,  C.S., C.S. Lewis Complete Signature Classics, Harper Collins, 2007

Lewis, C.S., ed., George MacDonald: An Anthology, Harper Collins, 2001

Links

The British Library, https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-marriage-of-heaven-and-hell-by-william-blake , accessed April 6, 2020

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Slowhand at the crossroads

 ‘In order to keep what I had, I had to give it away. In order to stay sober, I had to help others get sober. This is the main principle that governs my life today.’ Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton performs on stage at Royal Albert Hall on May 17, 2011 (Photo by Marc Broussely/Redferns) Getty Images Standard editorial license

On September 20th and 21st 2019, Eric Clapton held his fifth Crossroads Guitar Festival.  The event was held to raise funds for the Crossroads Centre in Antigua.  An extraordinary array of guitar talent, seldom seen in one location at one time, appeared before packed audiences at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.   The audiences were treated to two days of extraordinary musicianship and musical collaboration.  Many of the performers seemed just as starstruck as members of the audience.

Crossroads Guitar Festival, September 20-21, 2019 Credit: Weldon Turner, September 20, 2019

While the Festival was an extraordinary event from a musical perspective, what made the event even more special was the cause—funding for the treatment of substance and alcohol addiction.

Mr. Clapton’s story, as chronicled in Clapton: The Autobiography and the feature length documentary Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars, is marked by rejection, emotional pain, despair, and tragedy that fueled a decades-long addiction to drugs and alcohol. It is also a story of ultimate victory and triumph. The Festival, and the rehabilitation centre it supports, symbolizes a journey where gut-wrenching tragedy was transformed into a positive and inspiring force for good.

‘On My Own’

On March 30, 1945, a sixteen-year old girl, Patricia (Pat) Clapton, gave birth to a baby boy in the wooded county of Surrey, just south of London, England. The baby’s father was not present.  The 24-year old married Canadian soldier had returned to his native country while Pat was pregnant.

Pat’s mother and stepfather, Rose and Jack Clapp, unofficially adopted the baby. Pat eventually married another Canadian and moved to his native country. Young Eric grew up thinking Rose and Jack were his parents, and Pat, his sister.

When Eric was nine his mother returned to Surrey for a visit with her family in tow. Eric was told the truth.  He aske her: “You’re my mum--are you going to be my mum?’ She replied: ‘No, I think it’s best we leave it the way it is.’   When his half brother asked, ‘Are you my brother?’ His mother, overhearing the question, replied, ‘He’s not your brother.’   ‘I was so angry with her. I didn’t talk to anybody. I just felt rejection. I was more on my own than I had ever been.’ — Eric Clapton. (Note: Unless otherwise referenced, all direct quotes in this article are taken from the documentary film, Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars.)

A radio broadcast for children aired every Saturday morning. It featured ‘novelty’ songs, but also played an eclectic mix of music, including tunes by American Blues musicians: B.B. King, Albert King, Muddy Waters and others. The pain expressed in the music resonated with Eric. ‘I thought, “Oh, man, this is for me!”’ ‘Something about it got me. Something about it stirred me without me even being aware of it…it took all the pain away.’

In his mid-teens Eric and his grandparents visited Pat’s family in Germany, where her husband was stationed with the Canadian military.  This visit with his mother’s family, like the first, had an emotionally devastating effect on Eric.  Coming into his own as an adolescent, he grew his hair long as a sign of his emerging identity as a young man. He had also become inseparable from his guitar, which he played relentlessly. He brought his prized possession with him on the trip.  While in Germany, Pat’s husband suggested Eric cut his hair. Eric objected, but was forced to have a crewcut anyway.  He cried. Days later, his younger half-brother sat on his beloved guitar and broke the neck.  ‘It was as though everything was done to demolish my personality and make me null and void. I was full of hatred and anger and resentment. So I thought, “Okay, that’s the last time I trust anyone.”’

He became obsessed with the Blues—and developed a ravenous appetite for listening and playing the music. The album that ‘started it all’ for him as a player was B.B. King’s ‘Live at the Regal.’  He also listened to Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters, [1] but  ‘[t]he main one for me was Big Bill Broonzy, and I tried to learn his technique.’ [2] He was also influenced by ‘Little Walter’, whose harmonica playing he would later attempt to emulate with his guitar playing. Robert Johnson, the Delta Blues virtuoso and influencer of other rock ‘n’ roll giants like the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, was a different matter. Eric immediately identified with the shy Bluesman, given his own ‘paralyzing’ shyness as a kid, but he initially put Johnson’s music aside. The complexity of Johnson’s technique–playing bass lines, rhythm, and lead all at the same time—made the music impossible to duplicate.  Nonetheless the raw, ‘intense’, ‘hard-core’ nature of the music made him realize he had ‘found the master, and that following this man’s example would be my life’s work.’ [3]

Slowhand

In 1963 Clapton joined the Yardbirds and became a full-time musician. The Yardbirds, five members strong, had earned a regular gig at a London nightclub called CrawDaddy’s, owned by the Rolling Stones’ first de facto manager, Giorgio Gomelsky.  The Yardbirds replaced the Stones after Mick, Brian, Keith and Co. signed with an associate of Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein. By 1964 Gomelsky obtained a recording contract for the Yardbirds with Columbia records. [4]

Clapton expresses disappointment with their first recording ‘[A]s exciting as it was to be actually making a record, when we listened back and compared it to the stuff we were supposedly modeling ourselves on, it sounded pretty lame.’ [5] Playing live was different. Their first LP, ‘Five Live Yardbirds,’ a live album, proved to be quite ‘groundbreaking.’ ‘What singled us out from other bands was the way we were experimenting with band dynamics…’. For instance, they would jam in the middle of a song, with a bass line getting progressively louder and louder, ‘rising to a crescendo before coming back down into the body of the song.’ [6]

The band’s performances would drive the audiences crazy, and it was not uncommon for Clapton to break at least one string during the more frenetic bits of playing.  While there was a pause in the performance as he replaced his string, ‘the frenzied audience would break into a slow handclap’, inspiring the band’s manager, Giorgio Gomelsky, to dream up the nickname, ‘Slowhand.’ [7]

The Yardbirds soon received their first commercial hit, ‘For Your Love’, but Clapton, forever the Blues purist, was disenchanted with the commercialization of their sound and soon quit the band.

In 1965 he joined John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and firmly established his reputation as a guitarist. It was while with the Bluesbreakers an intrepid admirer spray painted ‘Clapton is God’ on the wall of a London Tube station. [8]

‘Blues Breakers: John Mayall and Eric Clapton’ was the breakthrough album that brought my playing to peoples’ attention. It was made at a time when I’d really felt I’d found my niche, in a band where I could remain in the background yet at the same time develop my skills, driving the band in the direction I thought it ought to go.’  [9] The album was recorded in three days and had a ‘raw edgy quality…It was almost like a live performance.’  It was a record that would come to define his signature sound:

‘What I would do was use the bridge pickup with all of the bass turned up, so the sound was very thick and on the edge of distortion. I also always used amps that would overload. I would have the amp on full, with the volume on the guitar also turned up full, everything was on full volume and overloading. I would hit a note, hold it, and give it some vibrator with my fingers, until it sustained, and the distortion would turn into feedback, It was all of those things, plus the distortion, that created what I suppose you could call my sound.’ [10]

He became restless again.  A band with three members—a guitarist, a drummer and a bass player—appealed to him after seeing Buddy Guy perform with a similar lineup. Soon after he, drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce–both of whom were playing in another band—began rehearsing secretly. [11]

After an interview with a local music magazine, word of the budding group became public. They met with a flamboyant Australian,  Robert Stigwood, who became their manager. Then, what should the band be called?  Clapton came up with a name that captured the central idea of the group: the best in their respective fields, three virtuosos, the cream of the crop. [12] In 1966 Cream released their first album, ‘Fresh Cream.’ The following year they produced the commercially successfully ‘Disreali Gears’ and the smash hit single, ‘Sunshine of Your Love.’ [13]  A year later, ‘Wheels of Fire,’ with the Robert Johnson cover, ‘Crossroads,’ was released.

By now he had become friends with George Harrison, and the success of Cream created the opportunity to work with several established musicians, including Aretha Franklin and B.B. King.  It also provided his first contact with LSD. [14]

In October 1966 a new guitar phenome visited the UK for the first time and jammed with Cream at London’s Regent Street Polytechnic. ‘He got up and blew everyone’s mind. I just thought “ahh, someone that plays the stuff I love in the flesh, on stage with me.”’ – Eric Clapton. [15] A deep friendship developed between Clapton and Jimi Hendrix. The two young virtuosos developed a mutual respect for each other’s talents, and hung out together when Hendrix visited London or when Clapton visited New York’s Greenwich Village.

‘Its so lovely now, I kissed Eric Clapton. I kissed him right on the lips. I kissed the fairest soul brother in England.’ – Jimi Hendrix

‘(Jimi) used to come ‘round to the flat a lot and stay there. We had a great time, really. He was so shy and quiet, withdrawn, and gentle. We’d talk about everyday kind of ambitions, you know, and the way we’d want to be. The conversation never stayed that way for very long ‘cause Jimi had such a surreal mind. Once he’d started going, talking about anything, he’d end up talking about flying saucers, you know, and of purple velvet moons…You couldn’t keep him on the ground for any length of time.’ – Eric Clapton

‘You see, music and life itself go together so closely.  Its sort of like a parallel that turns on. Music is nothing but imagination, sent out from somebody’s soul, man, sent out from somebody’s real heart…that they can only express through notes.’ – Jimi Hendrix

‘The only thing you can give to anyone, like the only thing I can give to my darling Jimi here, is time.’ – Eric Clapton

Restless again with the direction of the band and the stress of touring, Clapton left Cream in 1968. He spent time with George Harrison and his wife Pattie Boyd. The Beatles were recording the follow-up to their ground-breaking ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band’. ‘George said, I’m gonna do this song, I want you to play the guitar.’

The song,  ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, was featured on the 1968 double album ‘The Beatles (The White Album).’

After George Harrison was arrested for drug possession [16] — the documentary, Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars,  charges the drugs were planted by the police — Clapton retreated to Surrey, and purchased  a home, Hurtwood Edge, not far from the estate George Harrison shared  with his wife. [17] There the two friends hung out, jammed, and wrote songs. Clapton however soon fell in love with his friend’s wife.

He played on George Harrison’s solo album, ‘All Things Must Pass,’  which featured  the unforgettable ‘My Sweet Lord’  and ‘What is Life’ . Recording started in May of 1970.  During the recording sessions ‘this guy’ would drop by with bags of cocaine and ‘smack’ (heroin).’ [18]

He and four musicians contributing to the album formed ‘Derek and the Dominoes’ [19] and started work on their first album. The record included a track written by his friend, Jimi Hendrix – ‘Little Wing.’ Also on the album was a song based on a famous Persian love story. A friend with an interest in Sufism introduced him to the story of Majnun and Layla—a story of unrequited love. Majnun is in love–literally possessed–with Layla, but Layla is married off to another, leaving Majnun alone with his obsession, which he expresses in elegiac poetry. [20] For Clapton, Layla and Majnun was his story with the unattainable Pattie Boyd. The anguish of the impossible situation made its way into the title song, ‘Layla’, and throughout the entire album, ‘Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.’

In August 1970, Jimi Hendrix performed at the Isle of Wight Music Festival. On Friday, September 18th, ‘darling’ Jimi Hendrix was found in a coma in a flat in the Notting Hill section of London. Nine sleeping pills were missing from a bottle found in the flat. He was pronounced dead on arrival at a nearby hospital. [21]

Already experiencing emotional trials for being in love with the wife of his friend, the one woman he could not have, Clapton had now lost his musical soul-mate, his musical ‘soul brother’:  ‘I went out into the garden and cried all day, because he’d left me behind. Not because he’d gone, but because he hadn’t taken me with him. This made me so fucking angry.’ – Eric Clapton

George Harrison’s three-LP ‘All Things Must Pass’ was released on November 27th. [22] It went to number one in the U.S.A and number four the U.K. [23]

 ‘Layla and Other Associated Love Songs’ was released two weeks earlier.  It was billed as a Derek and the Dominoes album, not an Eric Clapton work, and it did not do well.  Pattie Boyd, the woman who inspired the record, retreated from Clapton, to the arms of her husband, George Harrison.  

Six weeks after Hendrix’s death, Clapton learned that his step-grandfather had been taken to the hospital. The suspected cause was cancer. Seeing his grandfather in the hospital bed, ‘diminished’ by illness, paralyzed from a stroke suffered the previous year, he was ‘stricken’ by guilt, telling himself he had taken away his grandfather’s pride by providing for him financially. [24]

Pink Cotton Wool

The death of Jimi Hendrix, the death of his step-grandfather, the rejection of Pattie Boyd. By the end of 1970 Clapton retreated to his home in Surrey. ‘I feel much more alone these days. What I want right now is ‘”out” – out of everything. All I can see is the suffering of today and the suffering of tomorrow.’ There he remained in seclusion with three constant companions:  girlfriend Alice Ormsby-Gore, his guitar, and heroine.

 ‘All the time I was taking heroin, I thought I knew exactly what I was doing. In no way was I the helpless victim. I did it mostly because I loved the high, but on reflection, also partly to forget the pain of my love for Pattie and the death of my grandfather. I also thought I was endorsing the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle…I enjoyed the mythology surrounding  the lives of the great jazz musicians  like Charlie Parker and Ray Charles, and bluesmen like Robert Johnson, and I had a romantic notion of  living the kind of life that had led them to create their music.’ [25]

Heroin came first. ’[I]t’s like surrounding yourself in pink cotton wool, you know.  Nothing bothers you…nothing will phase you out in any way. I also have this death wish…I didn’t like life. I’m not going to live very long.’ 

Playing in public was rare, and when he did play, the appearances were fraught with problems: late for concerts and missing rehearsals. In the summer of 1971, in New York for a benefit concert with George Harrison to aid victims of unrest in Bangladesh, he was unable to score the usual high-quality heroine he was used to in England, and went into involuntary withdrawal, missing rehearsals. [26]

Alice became his ‘runner’, ensuring a constant supply, a supply that cost a ‘crippling’ thousand British pounds a week. [27] This equates to 14,400 British pounds in 2019 [28] (or $18,000 U.S) [29].  Because of a fear of needles, the drug was always snorted, never injected.

He was finally given an ultimatum by Alice’s father, British ambassador to the United States during the Kennedy administration, David Harlech (David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron of Harlech). Either get help or be turned in to the police.  Clapton agreed, and began treatment with a doctor recommended by Lord Harlech.  ‘Treatment’ was electrical acupuncture that mimicked the euphoric effects of heroin, and, supposedly, slowly weaned you off the drug.  But patients appear to be treated like children. Clapton, who was made to live with the doctor and her family, relates one episode where his host, who, unbeknownst to him, had rifled through his private belongings and found methadone syrup he had smuggled into his room. He was humiliated in front of her family for the offence. [30]

He was shipped off to a farm near the Welsh border, run by Alice’s younger brother. [31] With the distractions of farm life, and getting fit by basically becoming a farm hand, he finally kicked heroine for good. Even so the ‘treatment’ met with mixed results at best: one form of addiction was soon replaced with another.

In July, 1974 he released ‘461 Ocean Blvd’, featuring the Bob Marley cover and  number one hit single, ‘I Shot the Sheriff.‘ His band then went on tour to promote the album. Pranks with his friends and management team became common, together with a growing dependence on alcohol. ‘I was drunk most of the time and having fun, fooling around and playing with the guys. Brandy was my drink of choice. Like most alcoholics I have met since, I didn’t like the taste of alcohol, so I would mix it with something sweet, like ginger ale or Seven-Up. I drank round the clock, and it didn’t matter to me whether or not there was a show that night, because I was always convinced I could handle it.’ [32]

In 1979 he married Pattie Boyd [33] who had been divorced from George Harrison for five years. [34] But the drinking continued. By the summer of 1979, while promoting the album ‘Backless’ he was ‘drinking at least two bottles of anything’ a day. [35]

Predictably, relationships suffered: ‘We would do all sorts of things together, and he would say he loves me, but he’d wanted to drink all the time, and it just increased. But then when he’d had too much to drink or became really seriously unpleasant and I felt he didn’t love me either. So this was really ghastly, until the next day, and he’d be loving again. He was quite scary and would scream at me across hotel lobbies. He was just listening to a different drummer when he was that drunk.’ – Pattie Boyd

His performances suffered as well. His drummer at the time, Jamie Oldaker, wondered: ‘What’s up with this guy? I’ve got to lock my doors every night. I’ve got to hide from this guy cause he’s out of his mind.’ 

At concerts, some with up to thirty thousand people, Clapton would berate and curse members of the audience, some of whom would respond by throwing bottles and other debris on stage.  On occasion he would play for a mere thirty minutes of the ninety he was contractually obligated to play, then simply walk off the stage.

He has characterized his behavior as ‘chauvinistic’, ‘fascistic’ and ‘semi-racist’.  At one concert he’s reported to have expressed support for the Conservative MP, Enoch Powell, who called for the repatriation of African, Pakistani and West Indian immigrants, whose increasing numbers, he claimed, would eventually lead to a ‘bloody race war.’ [36] Clapton is reported to have said of the foreigners: ‘get them out…get the coons out…send them all back…the black wogs and coons!’

‘When I realized what I said, I was just so disgusted with myself. I was so fucking angry and I thought, I needed to apologize to the people I said that to, because it was shocking and unforgivable, and I was so ashamed of who I was….I  mean, half of my friends were black. I dated black women and listened to black music and championed black music. But it didn’t matter at all. They could have all gone to the wall as long as I had the bottle. I hated everything, everything…The only reason I didn’t commit suicide was the fact that I wouldn’t be able to drink anymore if I was dead.’ – Eric Clapton

The dependence on alcohol was so acute that going without it had disastrous results.  One weekend he visited friends who, aware of his problem, refused to have alcohol. The involuntary withdrawal caused a ‘grand mal seizure’ and he collapsed at the dinner table. [37]

After a few embarrassing episodes in front of family, friends and strangers, the ‘last vestiges’ of his ‘self-respect’ were ‘ripped away’. In January, 1982 he checked himself into the Hazelden treatment centre (since 2014, part of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation) near Minneapolis, Mn [38]

The month-long program required residents to become a part of a ‘democratic’ community. He was not allowed to have his guitar, which was a new experience. Prior to Hazelden ‘[I] was either towering above as Clapton the guitar virtuoso, or cringing on the floor, because if you took away my guitar and musical career, then I was nothing. Hazelden incorporated the 12-Step approach for treating alcohol and substance abuse. Alcoholism was treated as a disease, not a moral failing. The patient had to complete a medical detox program followed by group activities, where he or she was expected to be ‘accountable’ and not unethical or abusive. ‘We were expected to be honest and supportive, love one another, act with decorum…’ There was also a family component to the program, where family members were taught ‘what to expect, and how to approach their relationships when the patient finally returned home.’ [39]

After treatment the clinic assigned him a ‘sponsor’, an AA counselor in his area with whom they recommended he live ‘until he had a little time under [his] belt.’ [40] They also recommended that he not embark on any ‘momentous voyages’ of work for about a year. Within four months however, he was back on tour. [41]

Unable to adapt to a life of sobriety, he grew resentful of his wife. ‘[I] started to blame Pattie for everything— “After all, hadn’t I got sober for her? Where was her gratitude” …I missed drinking and jealous of her for being able to do all that stuff in moderation.’ [42] They agreed to a trial separation. He embarked on a path of ‘controlled social drinking.’ [43]

In 1984 Clapton was in Montserrat with Phil Collins working on new material at AIR (Associated Independent Recording) studios. AIR was owned by Beatles producer George Martin.  The music would eventually be released on the album ‘Behind the Sun.’ Clapton, who was still married to Pattie Boyd,  managed to ‘seduce’ the studio’s young ‘manageress’, Yvonne Kelly. Yvonne, also married, wished to keep the affair a secret. [44] After recording, the tapes were sent off to the record company, and he went on tour with Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, who was promoting his own album, a follow-up to ‘The Wall’. By this time Clapton had started drinking heavily again, and had suffered two ‘mini’ seizures.’ [45]

The record company initially rejected the Clapton album, citing the lack of potential hit singles.  Later that year he learned that Yvonne was pregnant with his child. He found out, too, that while he had been away, Pattie had been having an affair. [46]

In January 1985, Yvonne gave birth to Clapton’s first child, Ruth.

Surrender

In the fall of 1985, while on tour in Milan, Italy, he was introduced to Lori del Santo, a TV personality and fashion photographer. They moved in together.  Soon after he realized the relationship would not work and told her he was returning to his wife. She then informed him that she was pregnant. After hearing the news, and given her own failure to conceive, Pattie was ‘devasted’ and their relationship was over.  Now, faced with a pregnant mistress, and the loss of his wife to another man, Clapton contemplated what felt like the only viable solution. He had a full bottle of Valium in his possession. He ‘drowned them all. The whole bloody lot.’ Ten hours later however, amazingly, he awoke ‘stone cold sober.’ [47]

On August 21, 1986, Lori del Santos gave birth to Conor Clapton. [48] Clapton had then relapsed and had become a ‘full blown’ alcoholic again.  [49] He couldn’t live with a drink and couldn’t live without one. As far as his playing was concerned, he was just ‘scraping by’ [50] It was obvious he required treatment, if only for his son.  ‘Conor was the first thing that happened to me, in my entire life, that really got to my core and told me “time to grow up.” I could not fuck around any longer. I could not damage this.’

Fifteen months after Conor’s birth he again checked into Hazelden for a month of treatment. On the last day of treatment, he realized that very little had changed within, and was struck with a sense of panic.

‘The noise in my head was deafening, and drinking was in my thoughts all the time. It shocked me to realize that here I was in a treatment center, a supposedly safe environment, and I was in serious danger. I was absolutely terrified, in complete despair.

‘At that moment, almost of their own accord, my legs gave way and I fell to my knees. In the privacy of my room I begged for help. I had no notion who I thought I was talking to, I just knew that I had come to the end of my tether, I had nothing left to fight with. Then I remembered what I had heard about surrender, something I thought I could never do, my pride wouldn’t allow it, but I know that on my own I wasn’t going to make it, so I asked for help, and, getting down on my knees, I surrendered.

‘Within a few days I realized that something had happened for me. An atheist would probably say it was just a change of attitude, and to a certain extent that’s true, but there was much more to it than that. I had found a place to turn to, a place I’d always known was there but never really wanted, or needed, to believe in. From that day until this, I have never failed to pray in the morning, on my knees, asking for help, and at night, to express gratitude for my life and, most of all, for my sobriety. I chose to kneel because I feel I need to humble myself when I pray, and with my ego this is the most I can do.’ [51]

Crossroads

After release from Hazelden Eric finally began to enjoy his sobriety. ‘The best times I had in those early years of sobriety were in the company of my son and his mother.’ [52]

Four and a half years after Conor’s birth his world would be turned upside down. The tragic story of his son’s death is well known. Conor fell through the open window of a Manhattan skyscraper on March 20, 1991. The story garnered worldwide attention.

He battled through this tragic period with the support of  friends in a 12-Step recovery program he had joined in London.

‘I cannot deny that there was a moment when I did lose faith, and what saved my life was the unconditional love and understanding that I received from my friends and my fellows in the twelve-step program. I would go to a meeting and people would just quietly gather round and keep me company and let me talk about what had happened. I was asked to chair some meetings, and at one of these sessions,  when I was doing a chair on the third step, which is about handing your will over to the care of God, I recounted the story of how, during my last stay in Hazelden, I had fallen upon my knees  and asked for help to stay sober. I told the meeting that the compulsion was taken away at that moment, and as far as I was concerned, this was physical evidence that my prayers had been answered. Having had this experience…I knew I could get through this.’ [53]

He believed the horrendous tragedy of his son’s death could be turned into a force for good: ‘I would consider living my life from this point on to honour the memory of my son.’

He continued recovery treatment at the alcohol and addiction unit at Priory Psychiatric Clinic in South West London.  The results were so positive he took a training course and engaged in peer support work at the clinic. ‘I loved it,’ he writes, ‘it gave me a sense of real responsibility…and the results could be extremely positive, sometimes miraculous.’ [54]

Antigua, too, played a significant role in his recovery. It had become a retreat, a place of spiritual healing, ‘one of the only places on earth where I can completely discard the pressures of my life and blend into the landscape.’ [55] He had however become disillusioned with several drunks and addicts who sometimes accosted him near one of his favourite hangouts. It was getting to the point where he was seriously considering not returning to the island. He confided to the director of the addiction and alcohol unit at Priory about this, not knowing what to do. She replied, ‘” Well, why don’t you take the program to Antigua…You’ve got the money, build a treatment centre.”’ [56]

Obstacles presented themselves as construction got underway.  The project had to be restarted after shoddy workmanship was discovered. A business partner bowed out of the agreement leaving Eric to carry the financial burden on his own. [57] He had a falling-out with his long-time manager. [58] But he was committed, governed by an over-riding principle: ‘In order to keep what I had, I had to give it away. In order to stay sober, I had to help others get sober. This is the main principle that governs my life today…’ [59]

Crossroads Centre Antigua opened in 1998.  Treatment for alcohol and drug addiction is based on the 12-Step program made famous by Alcoholics Anonymous and practiced at the Priory Clinic and at the Hazelden Betty Ford treatment center.  It is a non-profit institution, catering to both foreign patients and others from around the Caribbean.  There is a ‘scholarship’ bed system where those who can’t afford the full cost of treatment are subsidized by those who can.

‘The objective would be to build the clinic…with a view to servicing the entire Caribbean area. It  was accepted that few  clients would initially come in from the local communities, and that we would need to promote the centre elsewhere, drawing on people from America and Europe who would pay to come there and thus fund scholarship beds  for the locals who couldn’t afford it. It was a Robin Hood scheme really, take from the rich to feed the poor…’ [60]

Then came the task of funding and promoting the Centre.   On June 24, 1999 Christie’s, New York, auctioned a hundred of his guitars, several amplifiers and Versace guitar straps. The event netted $5 million U.S.  Six days later he performed at a benefit concert at Madison Square Garden with Bob Dylan, Sheryl Crow and Mary J. Blige to raise funds.

A second guitar auction in 2004 and a third in 2011 netted $6 million (U.S.)  and $1.25 million (U.S.) respectively.

In 2004 a three-day guitar festival was held in Dallas, Texas, to raise funds. Subsequent fund-raising festivals were held in 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2019.

There is an ongoing effort to engage the general public in the fight against alcohol and substance abuse. Visitors to the Crossroads Centre Antigua website are encouraged to get involved with the  Turn Up For Recovery Movement, aimed at battling alcohol and  substance addiction in local communities. At the guitar festival on September 20 and 21, 2019, Eric’s beloved wife, Melia, encouraged fans to get involved with TUFR.

2019 Crossroads Guitar Festival, Dallas Texas

The festival featured over thirty acts over two days–a mix of extraordinary guitar talent: young ‘up and comers’, long-time journeymen players, and artists with household names.

Final Thoughts

In 1972 Mr. Clapton was twenty-seven years old and was in the grip of a vicious heroin addiction. Two years earlier his friend Jimi Hendrix, then twenty-seven, died of a drug-related overdose. Three years earlier, in 1969, Brian Jones, a contemporary and founding member of the Rolling Stones, was found dead in his swimming pool, with drugs and alcohol in his system. He too was twenty-seven.  Thirty-four years earlier, in 1938, the ‘master’, the King of the Delta Blues, Robert Johnson, died at twenty-seven.  Its easy to imagine that Eric Clapton could have become another member of the infamous  ‘27 Club’.

He was able to avoid entry into that club for a variety of reasons, but there is one trait that seems indispensable to his survival, a personal trait that is never mentioned explicitly in his writing or in the documentary, but one that weaves its way quietly through the subtext of his story. That trait is humility. After being deified with ‘Clapton is God’, he mustered the humility (and courage) to heed the threats of his girlfriend’s father and seek treatment— ‘treatment’ which at times would have been humiliating for a famous rock star. He was also humble enough to seek help, and to eventually fall to his knees and surrender to a higher power, for deliverance from The Bottle.

Almost fifty years later, music lovers have benefited not only from an extraordinary career but have born witness to a living example of how multiple, horrendous tragedies can be transformed into an inspiring force for good.

© Weldon Turner 2019 All Rights Reserved

Images

Eric Clapton at Royal Albert Hall

Credit: Marc Broussely 

Getty Images

Standard editorial license

Crossroads Guitar Festival, September 20-21, 2019

Credit:  Weldon Turner, September 20, 2019

The Gibson ES-335

In Eric Clapton’s possession for 40 years

Played on ‘al lot of albums’ including a recording of ‘Crossroads’

Auctioned at Christie’s NY, 2004, for $847,500

Credit:  Weldon Turner, September 20, 2019

Guitarist Andy Fairweather Low, Eric Clapton and Bassist Nathan East

Crossroads Guitar Festival

Credit:  Weldon Turner, September 20, 2019

Bonnie Raitt and Sheryl Crow

Crossroads Guitar Festival

Credit:  Weldon Turner, September 20, 2019

Gary Clark Jr.

Crossroads Guitar Festival

Credit:  Weldon Turner, September 20, 2019

Bonnie Raitt, Guitarists Alan Darby and Keb’ Mo’

Crossroads Guitar Festival

Credit:  Weldon Turner, September 20, 2019

Melia Clapton

Introducing Turn Up for Recovery

Crossroads Guitar Festival

Credit:  Weldon Turner, September 20, 2019

Bassist Nathan East

Crossroads Guitar Festival

Credit:  Weldon Turner, September 20, 2019

Billy Gibbons of Z Z Top and Jimmie Vaughan

Crossroads Guitar Festival

Credit:  Weldon Turner, September 20, 2019

References

[1] Eric Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, Broadway Books, 2007, p37

 [2] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p29

[3] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p40

[4] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p48 

[5] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p48

[6] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p49

[7] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p49

[8] EricClapton.com, https://www.ericclapton.com/bio, accessed, November 11, 2019.

[9] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p72

[10] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p76

[11] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p75

[12] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p77

[13] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p98 

[14] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p84

[15] PlaentRock.com, https://www.planetrock.com/news/rock-news/eric-clapton-on-jimi-hendrix-performing-with-cream-he-blew-everyones-mind/  accessed, November 30, 2019

[16] History.com, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/london-police-conduct-drug-raid-at-home-of-george-harrison, accessed, November 18, 2019

[17] Eric Clapton: A Life in 12 Bars, Produced and Directed by Lili Fini Zanuck, Universal Music, 2018

[18] Eric Clapton: A Life in 12 Bars

[19] udiscovermusic.com, www.udiscovermusic.com, https://www.udiscovermusic.com/behind-the-albums/george-harrison-all-things-must-pass/, accessed, November 20, 2019, 

[20] Laylaandmanjun.org, http://laylaandmajnun.org/the-story, Layla and Majnun, accessed, November 18, 2019

[21] Rolling Stone.com, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/jimi-hendrix-1942-1970-93969/, accessed November 18, 2019  

[22] GeorgeHarrison.com, http://www.georgeharrison.com/albums/all-things-must-pass/, accessed November 18, 2019

[23] udiscovermusic.com, https://www.udiscovermusic.com/behind-the-albums/george-harrison-all-things-must-pass/, accessed, November 20, 2019

[24] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p130

[25] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p;135

[26] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, pp 136-137

[28] cpi inflation calculator, https://www.in2013dollars.com/uk/inflation/1971?amount=100 accessed November 23, 2019

[29] oanda.com,  https://www1.oanda.com/currency/converter/, accessed, November 23, 2019 

[30] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p144 

[31] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p144

[32] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, pp 156-157

[33] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p180

[34]  Biography.com, https://www.biography.com/musician/george-harrison, Biography.com, accessed November 23, 2019

[35] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p188

[36] Britannica.com, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Enoch-Powell, accessed November 23, 2019 

[37] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p193

[38] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p199

[39] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, pp 200-203

[40] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p204 

[41] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p 207

[42] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p206

[43] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p216

[44] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p219 

[45] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p217

[46] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p219

[47] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, pp 227-228

[48] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p232 

[49] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p233

[50] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p234

[51] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, pp 235-236

[52] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p238

[53] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p246

[54] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p258

[55] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p264

[56] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p264

[57] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p266

[58] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p270

[59] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p266

[60] Clapton, Clapton: The Autobiography, p265

Links

EricClapton.com, https://www.ericclapton.com/bio

PlaentRock.com, https://www.planetrock.com/news/rock-news/eric-clapton-on-jimi-hendrix-performing-with-cream-he-blew-everyones-mind/ 

History.com, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/london-police-conduct-drug-raid-at-home-of-george-harrison

Udiscovermusic.com, www.udiscovermusic.com, https://www.udiscovermusic.com/behind-the-albums/george-harrison-all-things-must-pass/

Laylaandmanjun.org, http://laylaandmajnun.org/the-story

Rolling Stone.com, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/jimi-hendrix-1942-1970-93969/

GeorgeHarrison.com, http://www.georgeharrison.com/albums/all-things-must-pass/

cpi inflation calculator, https://www.in2013dollars.com/uk/inflation/1971?amount=100

Oanda.com,  https://www1.oanda.com/currency/converter/

Biography.com, https://www.biography.com/musician/george-harrison

Britannica.com, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Enoch-Powell

[weldonturner]

New Post has been published on Weldon Turner

New Post has been published on https://www.weldonturner.com/richard-allen-and-the-ame-church-part-2-legacy/

Richard Allen and the AME Church, Part 2: Legacy

Early Bishops of the A.M.E Church

When Richard Allen established the African Methodist Episcopal Church–the first religious denomination established by African Americans in the United States–he set in motion an organization that would play a critical role in driving the spiritual, social and educational advancement for millions of  followers—both in the United States and around the world.

The Early Years

The Free African Society and Social Activism

In 1787 Richard Allen, his friend and colleague Absalom Jones, and leaders from several religious denominations founded the Free African Society (FAS). [1]

‘The Society provided…valuable social services of looking after the sick, the poor, the dead, the widowed, and the orphaned of their marginalized membership.’ [2] The moral uplift of the Black community was also a key objective of the Society—in fact one of the duties of the leaders within the FAS was to visit the more ‘dissipated’ areas of Philadelphia and offer instruction and advice on issues of ‘moral uplift’. [3] The FAS also focused on promoting ‘thrift and savings to build wealth in the Black community.’ [4]

In a 1903 social study of the Negro Church, none other than Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, a founding member of the NAACP, described the impact of the FAS on future social, self-help organizations: ‘How great a step this was, we of to-day scarcely realize. We must remind ourselves that it was the first wavering step of a people toward organized social life.’ [5]

Allen, a devout Methodist, left the interdenominational FAS in 1789. [6] In his autobiography, Allen stresses his allegiance to the Methodist Church—they were the first to bring ‘glad tidings’ to the coloured people. [7] He would always be a Methodist–even as those in leadership failed to live up to the church’s teaching. [8] He also dreamed of a church managed by and focused on serving and uplifting his people.

Bethel AME Church Philadelphia

Mother Bethel

On July 29, 1794, with donations from several benefactors, including President George Washington, [9]  and Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and an eminent Philadelphia physician, [10] an old converted blacksmith shop was dedicated as a place of worship. Francis Asbury,  the famed bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) and former assistant to John Wesley, led the dedication and preached the opening sermon. [11]

The church that would become Mother Bethel was born, but this was merely the beginning of a bitter struggle with the wider MEC conference of Philadelphia. Allen felt he had no choice but to remain within the MEC—to maintain legitimacy and to secure preachers to administer sacraments and blessings. [12] A representative of the MEC drew up Articles of Association between Bethel and St. George’s church of the Methodist conference, where the conference retained much control over Bethel’s property and operations, [13] albeit in association with trustees from Bethel. [14] According to MotherBethel.org:

From 1794 to 1816, the relationship between Bethel Church and St. George’s was a mixed bag…At times, it was amicable and all got along just fine. At other times, however, it was so tense that the St. George’s leadership sought to take the books and keys of the church, insisting that the congregation and all property belonged to them. At times… members of Bethel sat in the aisles of the church to prevent the pastors of St. George’s from taking the pulpit to preach. It was this rocky interaction that led Allen and the officers to amend the articles of incorporation to include the “African Supplement” in 1807. Rather than set them free, the supplement led to a final showdown in the Pennsylvania courts. In 1815, St. George’s successfully managed to auction off Bethel, and Allen was required to buy back his own church for $10,125. A series of rulings in lower courts led to an 1816 hearing before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, where Richard Allen and the members of Bethel were declared free from MEC control. [15]

African Methodist Episcopal Church

On April 9th, 1816, Rev. Allen and 15 African American representatives from MEC congregations in Baltimore, Maryland; Wilmington, Delaware; Salem, New Jersey; and Attleboro, Pennsylvania convened the first General Conference at the newly freed Bethel Church in Philadelphia to establish and organize the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. [16]   Though not the initial nominee for bishop, by the end of the conference delegates laid hands on Rev. Richard Allen, and the former slave was ordained the first bishop of a religious denomination in the United States established by African Americans. [17] [18]

Like the FAS, the AME Church was focused not only on the spiritual health of its congregants but on the social well being of the Black community as well.

According to the AME website: The Mission of the African Methodist Episcopal Church is to minister to the spiritual, intellectual, physical, emotional, and environmental needs of all people by spreading Christ’s liberating gospel through word and deed. At every level of the Connection and in every local church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church shall engage in carrying out the spirit of the original Free African Society, out of which the AME Church evolved: that is, to seek out and save the lost, and serve the needy. [19]

Social justice was a cornerstone of Richard Allen’s beliefs. In an online article on the AME Church, the Social Welfare History Project at Virginia Commonwealth University states: ‘The church was dedicated to continued social protest, and Allen stressed social justice as the unifying and driving force of his church. The struggle for social justice was analogized with the Exodus story of the Bible…The Exodus typology evoked a feeling that their community transcended the here-and-now, and similar Biblical connections would be made by civil rights leaders of the 20th century. [20]

The formation of the AME Church as the first national Black church in the United Sates, and the ordination of Richard Allen as its first bishop foreshadowed the AME Church’s legacy of many firsts in the African American populace. Along with its work on social uplift, pioneering work in education and publishing soon became part of that legacy.

In 1817 Rev. Allen and Jacob Tapisco, a member of the congregation, published The Doctrines and Disciplines of the AME Church. [21] It was one of the first volumes published by African Americans in the United States. [22] The Doctrines and Disciplines of the AME Church as written for the ‘African Methodist Connection’ in the United States’ [23] became the blueprint for the Church going forward. It includes the history of the AME Church, twenty-five ‘Articles of Religion’, including the ‘Trinity, the Word of God, scripture, original sin and free will, works, sacraments, baptism, Lord’s Supper, church ceremonies, and government.’ [24] Following the Articles is a four-part catechism explaining the meaning and implication of the Doctrines. Finally it outlines ‘practical matters’ of the organization, including guidelines for the composition of the ‘General Conference’ and Yearly Conferences, qualifications for superintendents, elders and preachers, as well as advice for the education of children. [25]

The publication of the Doctrines and Disciples was merely the first step in a plethora of pioneering accomplishments. In 1818 the AME Church published its second volume–the African Methodist Pocket Hymn Book.  It contained hymns, spirituals, anthems, and songs from the global community. It has been described as the ‘first book of songs published by the Children of Oppression.’ [26]

The AME Church also created the very earliest institutions of   higher learning for African Americans in the U.S. From the beginning there was an insistence on training African Americans to carry out the Church’s functions.  The lack of qualified individuals to meet leadership requirements underscored the need for schools equipped to meet this challenge. Educational institutions of higher learning were needed.   Starting with Wilberforce College in Ohio in 1856, the AME Church would eventually establish more than twenty educational institutions for Blacks throughout the United States. [27]

Early Leaders and Expansion

A mere eight years after its founding, membership reached 9,888 [28] and at the time of Bishop Allen’s death in 1831, the AME Church had spread throughout the Northern States. Baltimore, Charleston, North Carolina, Chicago [29] and a church had been established in Haiti. [30]

Instrumental to the expansion of the AME Church in the years after Bishop Allen’s death were Morris Brown and William Paul Quinn.

Morris Brown

Morris Brown was born ‘a free mulatto’ in Charleston, South Carolina in 1770. [31]

Bishop Morris Brown

He was a shoemaker by trade, and by 1817 had become a prominent church leader among that city’s Methodist Episcopal congregation. [32] Opportunities to worship were limited for Brown—as they were for all Blacks–in Charleston. City and state ordinances restricted services to daylight hours, and mandated church congregations have a majority White membership, though Blacks could have separate services, ‘usually in the basements.’

In 1817 a former slave from St. Thomas in the West Indies, Denmark Vesey, joined Morris Brown’s church and preached to small groups in his home. [33]

In 1818  Brown led 4,000 African Americans from the city’s three Methodist Episcopal churches and founded Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. [34] That year, city officials arrested 140 Black church members and sentenced eight church leaders to fines and lashes. [35]

In 1822 Vesey planned a slave revolt in Charleston, becoming one of three men to plot a slave rebellion in the United States. [36] (The others, also preachers, were Nat Turner and Gabriel Prosser.) [37] [38] The Vesey-led rebellion was to take place in July, but several slaves informed their masters of the plot. By June, Vesey and several of his co-conspirators were arrested and brought to trial. By August, he and thirty-four others were executed. [39] Others were deported from the state. Their original church was burned down by a crowd of angry Whites.

Morris Brown was imprisoned, though never convicted. After several months he was released and, with several prominent members of his church, fled to Philadelphia. [40]

In Philadelphia Brown became a member of Mother Bethel, and one of Allen’s closest colleagues, [41] and contributed to the creation of the Doctrines and Disciplines of the AME Church. [42]

In 1828 Morris Brown was elected the second bishop of the AME Church, and in 1831, after Richard Allen’s death, became the sole bishop. [43]

Under Bishop Brown, the AME Church expansion continued, primarily in the Northeast, the Midwest and in Canada. By 1846, there were 298 churches in six AME Church districts located throughout 14 states and Canada. [44] Major congregations were established in ‘large Blacksmith shop cities’ of Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Washington, DC, Cincinnati, Chicago, Detroit. [45]

At the time of Bishop’s Brown’s death in May 1849, AME Church membership had risen to more than seventeen thousand.  [46]

William Paul Quinn

William Paul Quinn was born near Calcutta, India in 1788. (Another source claims Honduras as his country of birth.) [47] He   was among the delegates at the inaugural conference of the AME Church in 1816. Active with the Underground Railroad, he helped to establish AME Churches in Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Louisiana, and California, and as far south as New Orleans. [48]

Education and Daniel Alexander Payne

The early AME Church was concerned with social uplift for African Americans like the former FAS, but it would also significantly impact the lives of many African Americans in education–particularly higher education.

Daniel Payne

Daniel Alexander Payne was born to free persons of color on February 24, 1811 in Charleston, South Carolina. [49] At age eight he attended his first class at the Minor’s Moralist School. The school, which he attended for two years, was ‘owned and operated by free men of color’ and was designed to ‘provide educational opportunities for orphaned and indigent children.’ [50] He also attended–and taught–at a Methodist Sunday school in the Charleston area. [51]

Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne

In his book, Daniel Alexander Payne, Nelson T. Strobert of the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, PA, describes a ‘prayerful’ session at age eighteen where Payne heard the words: ‘II have set thee apart to educate thyself in order that thou mayest be an educator to thy people. [52]

Payne opened his first school in 1829 with just three students. He also taught slaves at night.  Beset with low income Payne was initially forced to close his school but later reopened and, according to Strobert, was ‘very successful’ with his second attempt. [53]

An 1835 South Carolina law made it illegal to educate slaves, and on March 31st of that year Payne again was forced to close his school. [54]

He traveled to New York and soon became friends with a Lutheran minister, Pastor Strobel. [55] Payne was soon offered a scholarship to attend the Gettysburg Theological Seminary, an affiliate of the Lutheran Church, in Gettysburg Pennsylvania. Initially he was not interested in theology but after acquainting himself with the Lutheran Church, and the abolitionist writings of the Seminary’s president, Samuel Simon Schumcker, he accepted. [56]

According to Strobert, Payne underwent three significant changes at Gettysburg: he was confirmed in the Lutheran church, made connections with an AME  church  in Pennsylvania,  and  became heavily influenced by the  Pietist movement. The Pietists ideology, with its emphasis on everyday Christian living—and on education [57]—would influence Payne for the remainder of his life.

While at the seminary Payne accepted the opportunity to preach and teach Sunday School in the Gettysburg area. He also established a Sunday School for Black children, assisted in the formation of a Society for Moral and Mental Improvement, and lectured on grammar and geography. [58]

Payne was forced to leave the seminary in 1837 for medical reasons. [59] In May of 1837 he became a licensed preacher in the Lutheran church. [60] On June 6th, 1839, in Carlisle, PA, Payne was elected Bishop of the Franckean Synod within the Lutheran church. He was ordained three days later. [61] Payne, an abolitionist, preached against slavery, not only because it enslaved ‘the black man’, but because it enslave[d] man.’ [62] In 1840 Payne moved to Philadelphia, where a large Black population existed. [63]

Upon leaving the Gettysburg Seminary, Payne was encouraged by one of his Lutheran mentors to affiliate with the AME Church. [64] Strobert suggests that the history and the underlying principles of the AME Church, the long struggle to establish itself as one independent body, attracted Payne to the denomination. [65]

Payne joined the Quarterly Conference of Bethel AME Church in Philadelphia. [66] In 1842 he was accepted as a preacher on a trail basis. A year later   he was accepted into ‘full connection’, then as an itinerant pastor to Israel Church in Washington, D.C, by Bishop Morris Brown [67]

In 1843 Payne wrote a series of five influential articles on ministry for the AME Magazine. [68] The articles expressed his views on education and training of the clergy. The first two covered what Payne saw as the causes of incompetency among ministers, and the reasons for that incompetency. These included a deficient curriculum, the lack of a rigorous examination for qualifying clergy, and a ‘contempt for solid education’, by clergy, for ministry. Additionally, there was a basic belief that inspiration, and not education, was the key driver of ministry. The other articles centered on the role of the Annual Conferences in examining candidates, the preparation for itinerant ministry, and the role of learning classical languages such as Hebrew and Greek in the training of ministers. [69]

To finance the education of candidates for ministry, Payne advocated the creation of educational societies among congregations, scholarships, and the establishment of various seminaries among the different conferences. One of Payne’s strongest supporters was Bishop Morris Brown, who invited him to the 1844 AME General Conference, and appointed him chair of the Committee on Education. He introduced a resolution to implement a course of study for pastors. It was passed unanimously. [70]

In 1845 Payne was transferred to Baltimore’s Bethel Church. There, in addition to pastor’s duties he resumed teaching, eventually establishing a school of about fifty students. [71] While in Baltimore, he organized a concert to pay the note on the mortgage for a new building.  Different musical instruments were used, and the concert was a success. Thereafter, musical instruments became a fixture in the AME Church. [72]

Payne’s influence in the church grew and at the 1848 General Conference he was appointed the Church’s historiographer. [73] The 1848 Conference also addressed educational needs within the church. Pastors of every church were empowered to establish a high school wherever ‘practicable’ and sanctioned and approved by the Conference. [74] During his tenure as historian, Payne wrote the History of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. [75]

On May 13th, 1852 Daniel Payne was ordained a bishop in the AME Church. He was one of only three bishops within the entire AME Church. He was assigned the First District, comprising the Philadelphia and New England Conferences. [76] Education was always high on his list of priorities, and he encouraged pastors to speak on the issue at least every six moths. He also encouraged parents to keep their children in schools, read books, and attend scientific lectures. [77]

By 1854 Bishop Payne, who by now was a widower and in charge of the Ohio Conference, moved to Cincinnati, and embarked on his second marriage. [78]

Wilberforce University

A strong tenet of the early AME Church was education. Most ministers in the antebellum U.S. had little or no formal education, and Black schools were shackled by poverty and a paucity of trained teachers. [79] Payne set himself two tasks to alleviate this:  first, “to improve the ministry; the second, to improve the people.” He introduced resolutions requiring church leaders to study English grammar, geography, arithmetic, ancient history, modern history, ecclesiastical history, and theology. Educated ministers, he said, would lift “the mass of general ignorance” from the Black community. [80]

In 1856 the Methodist Episcopal Church opened Wilberforce College, an institution specifically built for ‘Negro’ children. [81] That year in anticipation of the new institution, Bishop Payne and his wife moved from Cincinnati to Tawana Springs, Ohio, the site of the new school. [82] [83] Bishop Payne was a member of Wilberforce’s original Board of Trustees. [84]

For six years Wilberforce was supported financially by southern slaveholders who sent their slave offspring there for an education. [85] At the height of the Civil War however, enrollment and financial support ended, and Wilberforce was forced to close its doors. A year later, Bishop Payne negotiated the purchase of Wilberforce’s facilities for the AME Church. [86]

On June 11, 1863, the deed for Wilberforce University was transferred to the AME Church, making the school the first institution of higher learning owned by African Americans. Bishop Payne was elected president, becoming the first Black president of an institution of higher learning in the United States. [87] The University was incorporated on July 10, 1863. [88]

According to Virginia Commonwealth University:

Wilberforce…drew scholars and students of high regard from around the country.  It became the base for the renewed Christian Recorder publication in 1884, and one department received the high endorsement of the Ohio legislature in the allotment of state funding. [89]

The University gave rise to a ‘Normal and Industrial Department’, which eventually became Central State College in 1851, and Central State University five years later. [90] The Wilberforce Theological Department also gave rise to the Payne Theological Seminary, which started operations in 1891 [91] [92]

Within three decades the AME Church  created academic institutions in several states, including Paul Quinn College in Texas, Allen University in South Carolina, Morris Brown College in Georgia, and  Western University in Kansas (1865-1943).  [93] Institutions of higher learning were also established outside the United States– in Liberia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. [94]

The rapid growth in AME Church membership after the Civil War facilitated the building of these institutions.  Virginia Commonwealth University states: The dynamic growth in membership in the decades following the Civil War was an important factor in the ability to create these institutions.  From 1856-1866, membership increased from 20,000 to 75,000, and more than doubled in the decade following. A subsequent increase in funds resulting from the expansion was instrumental in the development of educational institutions in a multitude of former slave-holding regions.  [95]

Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne died of natural causes at his home in Wilberforce, Ohio, on November 29th, 1893. He was eighty-two. [96]

The Civil War and Henry McNeal Turner

The AME Church had 20,000 members in 1858 when Henry McNeal Turner joined; four decades later it had over 450,000. [97]

Bishop Henry McNeal Turner

Henry McNeal Turner was born free on February 1, 1834 in Newberry, South Carolina. [98] He was raised by his mother–a teenager at the time of his birth–and his maternal grandmother. In his biography of Turner, Professor Stephen W. Angell of the Earlham School of Religion, Richmond, Indiana, [99] states, even as a boy, Turner had visions of being a leader for his people. [100] One of the most accessible paths to leadership was through the church. At 14, Turner and his family became members of the Southern Methodist Episcopal Church (SMEC) [101]

Literacy was an important qualification for ministry. In slave states, a group to which South Carolina belonged, teaching Blacks to read and write was illegal. Nonetheless at around age 15 while sweeping floors at a lawyer’s office, Turner so impressed his employers with his knowledge of scripture and a desire to learn they agreed to instruct him in arithmetic, astronomy, geography, history, law and theology. [102]

In 1853 [103] Turner became a licensed preacher in the SMEC,  ‘unusual’ for that demonization, which allowed Black exhorters, but not preachers. [104] His extraordinary gifts as a preacher became apparent.

In an article in Christianity Today, University of Memphis Professor Andre E. Johnson describes Turner’s preaching style.

 [His] preaching combined not only Scripture but also outside readings of classics, such as John Milton’s Paradise Lost and the writings of popular theologian Thomas Dick. Turner also remembered much of what he read and used it in his extemporaneously delivered sermons. Additionally, Turner presented his erudite sermons in a powerful and eloquently delivered oratory. His preaching earned Turner the nickname “Negro Spurgeon,” nodding to the eloquent English Baptist pastor who was a contemporary of Turner’s.  [105]

Aware of the limited prospects for advancement within the SMEC, Turner joined the AME Church because he ‘heard that within that church Black men could become bishops.’ He was mentored by Bishop Daniel Payne [106] and pastored in Baltimore, from 1858 to 1862, and at Washington D.C.’s Israel Church from 1862-1863. By then he had achieved the status of elder. [107]

The early years at the AME Church saw Turner contributing articles to the Church’s weekly newspaper, ‘The Christian Recorder’, advocating for church projects. [108]   In Washington D.C. he made powerful allies, including U.S. Representative Thaddeus Stevens, Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase, and Senator Benjamin Wade. [109]

The Civil War

On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected the sixteenth President of the United States. The following April, the Confederate Army fired at Fort Sumter in Charleston harbour, South Carolina, and the Civil War had begun.  [110]

During the conflict, affiliates of the AME Church became places of refuge for the ‘contrabands’–slaves fleeing their masters to states held by Union forces. [111] Turner’s Israel Church was not an exception. He used his church as a place of spiritual revival and for political and social organization. [112]

First African American Chaplain in the U.S. Military

On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation [113] effectively marking the beginning of the end of slavery in the United States. The Proclamation included a provision that freed slaves could serve in the Union Army. [114] Turner’s Israel Church in Washington D.C.  became a recruiting station for Black soldiers. By the summer of 1863 Turner and his associates had organized the First Regiment of United States Colored Troops. (USCT) [115] Congress had enacted legislation drafting young men into the Armed Forces.  While Black men were not exempt, they were prevented from becoming commissioned officers. (This policy was ‘softened’ to allow Black chaplains and surgeons, and by the end of the War, there were at least eighty-seven African American officers in the Union Army.) [116]

Turner applied for the chaplaincy of the First Regiment of United States Colored Troops. His application was accepted and Abraham Lincoln offered him the position, making him the first Black chaplain in any branch of the military, and the only officer in the USCT. [117]

Turner cared for the physical as well as the educational and spiritual needs of his regiment [118] Though a chaplain, Turner was often in the thick of combat with his men. However, when there was a lull in the fighting, Turner would conduct as many as three church services on the ‘Sabbath’, and prayer meetings during the week. He also used his position to encourage his soldiers to convert to Christ. [119] He also encouraged literacy. He was able to secure several texts for his men, as well as weekly installments of the leading Black newspapers of the day, The Christian Recorder and the Anglo African. [120] He also published articles in the Christian Recorder, effectively becoming a war correspondent. [121]

In addition to his duties as chaplain, Turner tried to plant churches where his regiment was stationed.  In February 1865, he arrived in North Carolina intending to set up churches in that state. However the lack of preachers, and an already established African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ) church, rendered his efforts largely unmet. [122]

On Sunday, April 9, 1865, Palm Sunday, General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate Army surrendered at Appomattox, Virginia, ending the Civil War. The following Friday, April 14, Good Friday, President Lincoln was shot at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. He died the next morning. [123] [124] The following September, Henry McNeal Turner’s First Regiment of the United States Colored Troops was dissolved. [125]

In North Carolina Turner encountered the desperate plight of the newly freed men and women. Angell argues that Turner was ‘overwhelmed…by the enormous needs of rural North Carolina freed people’ and that ‘most black North Carolinians had ‘very limited horizons’ and ‘had been unable to cultivate habits of industry and thrift’, and their principles of ‘morality [were] at a very low ebb.’ The responsibility of elevating the Black population of the South, Turner believed, rested with other African Americans, like the men of his own regiment, with the ability to treat both Whites and Blacks with ‘respect and impartiality.’ [126]

When the Civil War ended, The Freedmen’s Bureau,  established to assist former slaves and poor Whites in the aftermath of the Civil War,  assigned him to Georgia as an army chaplain. [127] He was also instructed by Bishop Daniel Payne to fill a leadership vacuum caused by the departure of one pastor and the sudden death of another in Georgia. [128] In December 1865 Turner resigned his army commission and by 1866 had become a[n] AME Church superintendent (or presiding elder) in North Georgia. [129]

Growing the church in Georgia was his ‘most pressing objective.’ [130] He encouraged African American congregants of the White-led Methodist Episcopal Church, South to join.  During his ‘peak’ year, probably 1866, he is reported to have traveled over fifteen thousand miles, delivering more than five hundred addresses.  Turner and his AME Church partners, including Pastor Wesley Gaines (who would later establish Atlanta’s Morris Brown College) and theologian and pastor, Theophilus G. Steward, planted churches in several large Georgia cities, including Atlanta, Columbus and Macon. [131] The AME Church spread rapidly, and Turner found it difficult to find qualified pastors for the congregations, sometimes assigning, to the new congregations, preachers who were unlicensed, illiterate or who may not have a ‘thorough acquaintance’ with the Bible. [132]

Angell argues that one reason for the success of the church immediately following the Civil War was that it was a ‘practical means of celebrating the advent of freedom.’ The Black church represented a ‘social order’ in which Blacks were not subject to being perpetually subjugated to Whites. [133]

Supposedly Turner claimed credit for bringing in five thousand new members per month [134] Angell disputes this number but agrees that Turner was responsible for bringing in about ‘two-fifths’ of new Georgia AME Church members during its first five years in in that state. [135] “I Seek My Brethren,” the title of an ‘often-repeated’ sermon by pastor and Turner associate, Theophilus G. Steward, ‘became a clarion call to evangelize fellow blacks in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Texas, and many other parts of the south. In 1880 AME membership reached 400,000 because of its rapid spread below the Mason-Dixon line.’ [136]

In the 1890s Turner expanded the reach of the AME Church to the African continent, to Liberia and Sierra Leone in 1891 and into South Africa in 1896. [137]

After many of the gains made by African Americans during Reconstruction were reversed, Turner became more pessimistic about race relations in the United States. After the 1896 Supreme Court Plessy v. Ferguson decision that affirmed the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine  he declared’ that there was no place for Black people in the United States. [138]

On May 8th, 1915 he was in Windsor, Ontario, attending an AME General Conference. He suffered a ‘massive’ stroke and died hours late. [139] At the time of his death, Turner had numerous major accomplishments to his credit.  He was the first Black chaplain and officer in the U.S. military [140], a Republican Party Organizer, and Gregoria State representative (a position that was cut short when Georgia lawmakers passed a law making it illegal for Blacks to hold elected positions).  He was also a publications manager in the AME Church and later a bishop. In 1885 he ordained the first female deacon in the AME Church (though the decision was reversed two years later by the General Conference. [141]

By the beginning of the 20th century, the AME Church had thirteen districts, and  at the 1904 Annual Conference,  President Theodore Roosevelt addressed an organization that had grown to include eleven bishops and  almost 300 ministers. [142]

Publishing

AME Book Concern

The church’s emphasis on education–spearheaded by Bishops Daniel Payne, Henry McNeal Turner and others in the latter half of the nineteenth century—created a need for more outlets for intellectual expression among laypeople and clergy.   Elders looked to the Church’s publishing capabilities as a tool to educate their followers.  But   publishing became far more than a vehicle for educating the Church’s clergy.

Throughout its history the AME Church has published much of its own material, to train, inform and educate members and non-members alike.  One year after its founding, the AME Book Concern was established, the country’s first publishing enterprise founded by Blacks. [143]

The AME Book Concern’s first publications included the Doctrines and Disciplines of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1817, and the Methodist Pocket Hymn Book a year later. [144]

At the 1836 conference a quarterly magazine for the ‘use and benefit’ of the connection was ‘decreed.’ [145] In 1847 the first issue of The ‘Christian Herald’ was published; the name was changed to the Christian Recorder in 1852—a journal devoted to ‘religion, morality, science, and literature’. Carter Woodson, in his book, the History of the Negro Church,  states that some articles show  a  devotion ‘to religion, morality, science, and literature’, some showing  ‘an intelligent insight into conditions, a deep interest in intellectual forces effective in the uplift of the people, and a general knowledge of the great factors which have made the history of the world.’ [146]

Other journals include the A.M.E Review–the ‘oldest journal in the world published by Black people, [147] and the ‘Western Christian Recorder’.

In addition to journals and newspapers, the AME Book Concern published books in a variety of genres–religious and secular, nonfiction and fiction.  Religious books sought to assist ‘clergy in their performance and understanding of the church’ and to document the history of the denomination and its leaders. Secular publications documented African American history, described the social, economic and political life of Afro-Americans, portrayed ‘some aspect’ of Afro-American life and culture. [148]

The AME Church Sunday School Union

In 1882 the AME Church Sunday School Union was founded. [149] It ‘was established to promote Sunday School curriculum to students and teachers of African Methodism.’  Beyond the publication of Sunday School literature, the Union printed books on general denominational affairs. Among its publications was Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne’s 1891 work, History of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.  The AME Church Sunday School Union became the publishing arm of the AME Church.  The Union would eventually operate a full functioning printing plant, and supply the church’s school material, General Conference material, Combined Minutes, Episcopal District Conference Guides, and souvenir journals.

In 1883, Dr. B.T. Tanner suggested a quarterly publication.  At the General Conference of 1884, the idea took form as the A.M.E. Review, with Tanner as editor.  The scholarly journal would become a focal point for Black intellectual life leading up to the Civil Rights movement

In 1886 and 1891, two other journals commenced publication. The ‘Southern Christian Recorder’ was a church magazine organized for the growing AME Church communities in the newly emancipated areas.  The ‘Western Christian Recorder’ held a similar purpose for distant communities, like California, some of which had been established just before the chaos of the Civil War. [150]

The Union has associate bookstores around the United States country, with stores in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, D.C.

Civil Rights

The AME Church continued the fight for social justice when the dream of Reconstruction devolved into the nightmare of lynching and Jim Crow.  In 1889 the Ohio Conference declared the only thing remaining for Blacks was to let the law of self-defence take its course if neither the state nor national government would stop lynching in the South. An 1893 Review article called for the formation of an armed secret organization of Black self-defence.  In 1894 the Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, D.C. hosted Frederick Douglass (of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church) when he gave his last great speech, “The Lesson of the Hour” on the injustice of lynching. [151]

A. Philip Randolph

The quest for justice and Civil Rights, as a direct outgrowth of the church’s core beliefs, continued with increased ferocity in the first half of the 20th century.

Asa Philip Randolph was born on April 15, 1889 in Crescent City Florida. The son of an ordained AME Church minister, Randolph was a lifelong member of the AME Church. [152]

Randolph became a member of the Socialist Party. By 1917 he was editing ‘The Messenger’ a journal dedicated to African American issues. In 1925 he began a ten-year fight to unionize the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP).  After a bitterly fought campaign the BSCP was finally certified in 1935 as the ‘exclusive collective bargaining agent of the Pullman porter.’  [153]

In 1940, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt refused to issue an executive order banning anti-black discrimination in the defence industry, Randolph threatened a  march on Washington D.C. Six days before the march was scheduled to  take place, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, which  ‘mandated the formation of the Fair Employment Practices Commission to investigate racial discrimination charges against defense firms.’ [154]

Six years later Randolph pressed for desegregating the U.S. military – a ‘Jim Crow conscription service.’  Faced with a widespread civil disobedience campaign, on July 26, 1948 President Harry Truman ‘ordered an end to military discrimination “as quickly as possible.”’ [155]

Nineteen sixty-three marked the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation.  In May of that year Randolph contacted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and several other civil rights leaders regarding a March on Washington ‘for Negro job rights.’ [156] ‘The stated goals of the protest included “a comprehensive civil rights bill” that would do away with segregated public accommodations; “protection of the right to vote”; mechanisms for seeking redress of violations of constitutional rights; “desegregation of all public schools in 1963”; a massive federal works program “to train and place unemployed workers”; and “a Federal Fair Employment Practices Act barring discrimination in all employment.” [157]

On August 28th more than 200,000 protesters participated on the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Towards the end of the program, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech.  The following year the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. It ‘prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal. This document was the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction.’ The following year the Voting Rights Act of 1965 ‘outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting.’ [158]

Randolph continued to be involved in trade union and social justice issues until his death in 1979 [159]

Rev. J. A. DeLaine

In 1946 Joseph Armstrong DeLaine was a teacher and an AME Church minister in Clarendon County, S.C. A hydro electric dam was nearing completion and roads in the area were under water. While White students were bused to school, Black students–including those of his Society Hill AME Church–were left to fend for themselves. This crystalized the crushing inequality of the busing system in his state. A year later, in July 1947, Rev. DeLaine with the assistance of an associate, Levi Pearson, filed a petition to ‘test’ the discriminatory practices of the school busing system in South Carolina.  The petition reached Federal Court in S.C .in February 1948 but was dismissed the following June on a technicality. [160]

The following year Rev. DeLaine prepared to file another lawsuit. On March 12th he arrived at the ‘Teacher’s Building in Columbia, S.C.’  At the meeting were ministers, teachers, and members of the NAACP legal team, headed by chief counsel, Thurgood Marshall. [161]

Marshall insisted that Rev. DeLaine persuade other litigants to pursue the case. On June 8th, Rev. DeLaine was asked to lead the group organizing the lawsuit—a suit they were willing to take ‘all the way to the Supreme Court’ if necessary.  Twenty parents, all of whom affiliated with the AME or Baptist churches [162] filed the suit requesting equal educational facilities for their children [163] At the top of the list, alphabetically, was Harry Briggs of the St. Mark’s AME Church, who filed for five children.  That suit, ‘Briggs v. Elliot’, ‘was heard in federal district court in Charleston, SC  in May 1951. [164]

The plaintiffs lost the case. [165] Under the guidance of Marshall and the NAACP, it was then combined with four other cases and appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.   One of those cases was brought by another AME minister, Oliver Brown of Topeka, Kansas, on behalf of his daughter, Linda. In 1952 the Supreme Court agreed to hear the cases collectively. [166] The case became known as Brown v. Board of Education. The landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision ‘ruled that separating children in public schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional. It signaled the end of legalized racial segregation in the schools of the United States, overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case.’

The Decision and the events leading up to it cost Rev. Delaine dearly. The AME Church where he pastored was destroyed.   By 1951 his wife Mattie, also a teacher, and he lost their jobs, and their credit was cancelled.  Their home was fire bombed. One October night in 1955, night riders again attacked his home, this time with bullets. DeLaine returned gunfire but hit no one. He fled the state that night. [167] A warrant was issued for his arrest. He spent the remainder of his life in New York and North Carolina, and never returned to his native South Carolina. He died on August 3rd, 1974. [168]

It would be more than twenty-five years later, on October 10, 2000, when SC.  state officials cleared Rev. J.A. DeLaine of all charges. [169]

In 2004 Rev. DeLaine, along with the other principals in the Briggs v. Elliot case—Harry and Eliza Briggs, and Levi Pearson–were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal [170] the highest civilian honor awarded by the Congress of the United States. [171]

Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks, ca. 1955

Mrs. Rosa Parks was a NAACP youth leader [172] and a member of the St. Paul’s AME Church in Montgomery, AL. [173] She was also a seamstress at the Montgomery Fair department store. [174] In the early evening of Thursday, December 1st, 1955, Mrs. Parks was on a Montgomery municipal bus, on her way home from work. [175] She was seated in the colored section. Three Black passengers were sitting nearby.  Mrs. Parks recalls the events of that evening.  ‘All of the front seats in the bus were occupied by white passengers, the driver wanted the four people, a man in the seat with me, and two women across the aisle, to stand in order for this white man to be accommodated with a seat. The other three people did stand up, and when I refused to stand up, the policemen were called. Two came, placed me under arrest, and had me taken to jail. [176]

She was released on bond later that evening.  Her husband, Raymond Parks, and the head of the local NAACP, E. D. Nixon, drove her home. Nixon spent the rest of the evening on the phone and began organizing a civil action in protest.

The following evening, a meeting was held at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, where a twenty-six-year-old, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was the pastor.  The next day, Saturday, young people and women working for the civil rights movement, were on the streets of Montgomery, handing out flyers publicizing a planned boycott of the city’s bus system. On Sunday, December 4th, Black pastors informed their congregations of Mrs. Park’s arrest and of the planned boycott of the bus system. On Monday, approximately 40,000 Black riders refused to ride the Montgomery bus system. That evening, Black leaders from across the city held a meeting at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. The Montgomery Improvement Association elected Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. its leader and spokesperson—and the face of the boycott. The Association’s demands included ‘hiring of black drivers, and a first-come, first-seated policy, with Whites entering and filling seats from the front and African Americans from the rear’ [177] (Previously Blacks were required to give up their seats to a White person if the white section was full.) Subsequently, a lawsuit was filed by attorney Fred Gray and the NAACP seeking to remove segregation entirely form the city’s bus system on the grounds the practice violated the Fourteenth Amendment, which guaranteed equal rights under state and federal laws.  The district court found for the plaintiffs in June of 1956. The ruling was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court which upheld the lower court’s ruling the following December. On December 21st, 1956, the Montgomery bus system was desegregated.

Rosa and Raymond Parks struggled to make ends meet after the boycott. They lost their jobs and in 1957 moved to Detroit, Michigan. In 1964, Mrs. Parks became a deaconess in the AME Church. In 1987 she co-founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development. The Institute’s objective is to ‘motivate and direct youth not targeted by other programs to achieve their highest potential.’ [178]

Mrs. Parks has received numerous honorary degrees and awards [179], including the Congressional Gold Medal. [180]

Mrs. Parks died on October 24th, 2005. She was the first woman in U.S. history to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol [181]

James Cone

Professor James Cone (1938-2018) was an ordained minister in the AME Church. [182] A renowned theologian and scholar, Professor Cone is known for his work in the area of Black Liberation Theology. Two of his twelve books, Black Theology & Black Power (1969) and A Black Theology of Liberation (1970) are considered seminal works in that area.

Bryan Stevenson

Bryan Stevenson was born in Milton, Delaware in 1959. By age 10 he was accompanying his local AME choir on piano. [183] In 1985 Mr. Stevenson graduated Harvard Law School. [184] In 1989 he founded the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), a non-profit organization based in Montgomery, AL. The EJI describes him as a ‘widely acclaimed public interest lawyer who has dedicated his career to helping the poor, the incarcerated and the condemned’…[185] The organization ‘provides legal representation to people who have been illegally convicted, unfairly sentenced, or abused in state jails and prisons. [It challenges] the death penalty and excessive punishment and…provide[s] re-entry assistance to formerly incarcerated people. [186] In April 2018, it opened The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration, which utilizes technology to ‘dramatize the enslavement of African Americans, the evolution of racial terror lynchings, legalized racial segregation and racial hierarchy in America.’

Charleston, S.C., June 2015

The AME Church has realized extraordinary accomplishments since its establishment in 1816. In many ways the world is a different place for the poor, the powerless, and the marginalized. However the environment of bigotry and intolerance that forced Bishop Allen to leave the MEC still resides in the hearts of men and women to this day.

It was the evening of Wednesday, June 17th–almost two centuries after Morris Brown fled his Mother Emanuel church in the wake of Denmark Vesey’s attempted rebellion. A stranger entered the doors of Mother Emanuel and joined a Bible study group. The stranger was a white supremacist. Later that evening nine members of the congregation lay between the pews. Slaughtered. [187]

Richard Allen’s vision of a church where African Americans can worship freely, attain spiritual fulfillment, fight for social justice and equality, and against intolerance, bigotry and hate, is as relevant today as it was in 1794 and in 1816.

The Emanuel Nine.

Sharonda Coleman-Singleton Cynthia Hurd Susie Jackson Ethel Lance DePayne Middleton-Doctor Clementa Pinckney Tywanza Sanders Daniel Simmons Myra Thompson

© 2019 Weldon Turner. All Rights reserved.

  Media

Bishops of the AME Church

Bishops of the A.M.E. Church. , ca. 1876. Boston: J.H. Daniels. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/98501269/.

Bethel AME Church Philadelphia

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. “Bethel A.M.E. Church, the first Colored Methodist Church in Philadelphia, established in 1787.” New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 14, 2019. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47df-9d9d-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

Morris Brown

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. “The Rev. Morris Brown of Philadelphia. Second Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States.” New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 14, 2019. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-7658-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

Daniel Alexander Payne

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library. “Daniel Alexander Payne (Bishop Payne).” New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 14, 2019. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e1-cdbb-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

Henry McNeal Turner

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library. “Bishop Henry McNeal Turner of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.” New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 14, 2019. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/ad8be6ae-50e2-9cc5-e040-e00a18061a94

Rosa Parks

USIA / National Archives and Records Administration Records of the U.S. Information Agency Record Group 306. ‘Photograph of Rosa Parks with Dr. Martin Luther King jr. (ca. 1955)’ Wikimedia Commons Accessed April 14, 2019 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Rosa_Parks_%28detail%29.tiff

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[2] Virginia Commonwealth University, https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/religious/african-methodist-episcopal-a-m-e-church/, accessed, December 31, 2018.

[3] Richard S. Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, New York University Press, 2008, pp 153-154.

[4] The Partnership for Progress, a program for minority owned institutions in the Federal Reserve System,  https://www.fedpartnership.gov/minority-banking-timeline/free-african-society accessed, December 31, 2018.

[5] Documenting the American South, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,

The Negro Church. Report of a Social Study Made under the Direction of Atlanta University; Together with the Proceedings of the Eighth Conference for the Study of the Negro Problems, held at Atlanta University, May 26th, 1903:

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[6] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p61

[7] Richard Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2015, p22

[8] Allen, The Life, Experiences and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p21.

[9]  Motherbethel.org, https://www.motherbethel.org/content.php?cid=112 accessed January 16, 2019,

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[13] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p131

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[18] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p176

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[21] Donald Franklin Joyce, Black Book Publishers in the United States: A Historical Dictionary of the Presses, 1817-1990, Greenwood Press, 1991, p14. Electronic Edition. https://books.google.com.ag/books?id=Jk4QlCxeMNAC&pg=PA14&lpg=PA14&dq=jacob+tapisco&source=bl&ots=aofzg1LCZJ&sig=_wc57YCJZ2IxEsSCK5ZHIVh5qSc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwivtdrEoPPfAhUuTt8KHQCJBvoQ6AEwBXoECAYQAQ#v=onepage&q=jacob%20tapisco&f=false accessed February 24, 2019

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[23] Richard Allen and Jacob Tapisco, Doctrines and Disciplines of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, 2017, Digital edition, p 1

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[25] Documenting the American South, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, https://docsouth.unc.edu/church/ame/ame.html accessed February 18, 2019.

[26] Melva Wilson Costen, In Spirit and In Truth, The Music of African American Worship, Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, p 146

[27] C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya, The Black Church in the African American Experience, Duke University Press, 1990, p53

[28] Carter G. Woodson, The History of the Negro Church, Associated Publishers, 1921, Amazon Kindle edition, location 1052

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[31] South Carolina Encyclopedia, http://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/brown-morris/  accessed March 11, 2019

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[37] Woodson, The History of the Negro Church, loc 1378

[38] Lincoln and Mamiya, The Black Church in the African American Experience, p202

[39] PBS.org,    http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/people/denmark_vesey.html,  accessed, August 15th, 2018

[40] Emanuel Church.org, https://www.emanuelamechurch.org/staff/, accessed February 10, 2019.

[41] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, pp 243-245

[42] Bethel AME Church and Chapel AME, https://www.bethelame62901.org/history-of-the-african-methodist-episcopal-church.html accessed, July 14, 2018.

[43] South Carolina Encyclopedia, http://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/brown-morris/   accessed March 11, 2019

[44]  Virginia commonwealth University, https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/religious/african-methodist-episcopal-a-m-e-church/  accessed March 11, 2019.

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[48] Indiana Historical Bureau, https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4412.htm accessed March 23, 2019.

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[50] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p1

[51] Strober, Daniel Alexander Payne, p4.

[52] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p3.

[53] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p5.

[54] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p8

[55] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p11.

[56] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p13

[57] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p17

[58] Strober, Daniel Alexander Payne, p19

[59] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p21

[60] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p30

[61] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p36

[62] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p36

[63] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p37

[64] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p38

[65] Strober, Daniel Alexander Payne, p42

[67] Strober, Daniel Alexander Payne, p39

[68] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p45

[69] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, pp 45-47

[70] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p48

[71] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p49

[72] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p49

[73] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p52.

[74] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p52

[75] BackPast.org, https://blackpast.org/aah/payne-daniel-alexander-1811-1893  accessed October 7, 2018.

[76] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p59.

[77] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p60

[78] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p61

[79] Lincoln And Mamiya, The Black Church in the African American Experience, p53.

[80] PBS.org, http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/people/daniel_payne.html  accessed October 7, 2018.

[81] PBS.org,   http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/people/daniel_payne.html  accessed October 7, 2018.

[82] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p73

[83] RemarkableOhio.org, http://www.remarkableohio.org/index.php?/category/1638 accessed, October 6, 2018.

[84] Wilberforce.edu, http://www.wilberforce.edu/about-wilberforce/#link_tab-1473019207889-4  accessed October 6, 2018.

[85] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p79.

[86] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p75

[87] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, p81.

[88] Wlberforce.edu, http://www.wilberforce.edu/about-wilberforce/#link_tab-1473019207889-4,  accessed October 6, 2018.

[89]  Virginia Commonwealth University, https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/religious/african-methodist-episcopal-a-m-e-church/ , accessed March 11, 2019.

[90] CentralState.edu, http://www.centralstate.edu/PR/index11.php?num=70, accessed September 2, 2018.

[91] Wilberforce.edu, http://www.wilberforce.edu/about-wilberforce/#link_tab-1473019207889-4,  accessed September 2, 2018.

[92] Wilberforce.edu, http://www.wilberforce.edu/about-wilberforce/#link_tab-1473019207889-4,  accessed October 6, 2018.

[93]  Virginia Commonwealth University, https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/religious/african-methodist-episcopal-a-m-e-church/ , accessed March 11, 2019

[94] African Methodist Episcopal Church, https://www.ame-church.com/directory/institutions-of-higher-education/ accessed March 23, 2019.

[95] Virginia Commonwealth University,  https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/religious/african-methodist-episcopal-a-m-e-church/ , accessed March 11, 2019.

[96] Strobert, Daniel Alexander Payne, pp 124-125.

[97] Stephen Ward Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner and African American Religion in the South, The University of Tennessee Press, 1992, p3

[98] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, p7.

[99] Earlham School of Religion, http://earlham.academia.edu/StephenAngell/CurriculumVitae  accessed October 7, 2018,

[100] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, p9.

[101] ChristianityToday.com, https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2017/september/henry-mcneal-turner-church-planter-politician-and-public-th.html, accessed October 8, 2018.

[102] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, p10

[103] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, p12

[104] Christianity Today, https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2017/september/henry-mcneal-turner-church-planter-politician-and-public-th.html, accessed October 8,  2018.

[105] Christianity Today, https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2017/september/henry-mcneal-turner-church-planter-politician-and-public-th.html, accessed October 8, 2018.

[106] PBS.org, https://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/people/henry_mcneal_turner.html,  accessed, October 7, 2018,

[107] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, p33

[108] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, p33.

[109] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, p36.

[110] History, com, https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/fort-sumter, accessed October 7, 2018.

[111] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, p39.

[112] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, p40.

[113] National Archives, https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation accessed October 7, 2018

[114] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, p51.

[115] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, p51.

[116] National Archives, https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/blacks-civil-war/article.html, accessed March  24, 2019.)

[117] Christianity Today, https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2017/september/henry-mcneal-turner-church-planter-politician-and-public-th.html, accessed October 8, 2018.

[118] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, p54.

[119] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, p54.

[120] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, p56

[121] Christianity Today, https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2017/september/henry-mcneal-turner-church-planter-politician-and-public-th.html  accessed, March 16, 2019.

[122] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, p65

[123] History.com, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lincoln-is-shot accessed October 7, 2018

[124] Time.com, http://time.com/4738248/good-friday-palm-sunday-civil-war-appomattox/ accessed April  13, 2019.

[125] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, p58

[126] Angel, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, pp 60-61

[127] Christianity Today, https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2017/september/henry-mcneal-turner-church-planter-politician-and-public-th.html, accessed March 24, 2019.

[128] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, p69.

[129] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, pp 68-69

[130] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, p69.

[131] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, pp 70-71.

[132] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, p72

[133] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, p75

[134] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, p78.

[135] Angell, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, p78

[136] African Methodist Episcopal Church, https://www.ame-church.com/our-church/our-history/, accessed March 24, 2019.

[137] African Methodist Episcopal Church, https://www.ame-church.com/our-church/our-history/, accessed March 24, 2019.

[138] Christianity Today, https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2017/september/henry-mcneal-turner-church-planter-politician-and-public-th.html , accessed March 16, 2019.

[139] Christianity Today, https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2017/september/henry-mcneal-turner-church-planter-politician-and-public-th.html , accessed March 16, 2019.

[140] Christianity Today, https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2017/september/henry-mcneal-turner-church-planter-politician-and-public-th.html , accessed March 16, 2019

[141] Christianity Today, https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2017/september/henry-mcneal-turner-church-planter-politician-and-public-th.html , accessed March 16, 2019. ).

[142] Virginia Commonwealth University, https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/religious/african-methodist-episcopal-a-m-e-church/ accessed March 16, 2019.

[143] Joyce, Black Book Publishers in the United States: A Historical Dictionary of the Presses, 1817-1990, p14. Electronic Edition. https://books.google.com.ag/books?id=Jk4QlCxeMNAC&pg=PA14&lpg=PA14&dq=jacob+tapisco&source=bl&ots=aofzg1LCZJ&sig=_wc57YCJZ2IxEsSCK5ZHIVh5qSc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwivtdrEoPPfAhUuTt8KHQCJBvoQ6AEwBXoECAYQAQ#v=onepage&q=jacob%20tapisco&f=false accessed February 24, 2019

[144] Documenting the American South, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, https://docsouth.unc.edu/church/ame/summary.html  accessed March 31, 2019.

[145] Woodson, The History of the Negro Church, location 1065.

[146] Woodson, The History of the Negro Church, location 1071.

[147] Lincoln and Mamiya, The Black Church in the African American Experience, p53

[148] Donald Franklin Joyce, Black Book Publishers in the United States, A Historical Dictionary of the Presses 1817-1990, p14

https://books.google.com.ag/books?id=Jk4QlCxeMNAC&pg=PA14&lpg=PA14&dq=jacob+tapisco&source=bl&ots=aofzg1LCZJ&sig=_wc57YCJZ2IxEsSCK5ZHIVh5qSc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwivtdrEoPPfAhUuTt8KHQCJBvoQ6AEwBXoECAYQAQ#v=onepage&q=jacob%20tapisco&f=false  accessed March 9, 2019.

[149] AMEC Publishing House Sunday School Union, https://www.amecpublishing.com/about-us accessed, March 9, 2019.

[150] Virginia Commonwealth University, https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/religious/african-methodist-episcopal-a-m-e-church/

[151] Virginia Commonwealth University, https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/religious/african-methodist-episcopal-a-m-e-church/  accessed March 31, 2019.

[152] AFLCIO.org, https://aflcio.org/about/history/labor-history-people/asa-philip-randolph accessed, March 16, 2019.

[153] AFLCIO.org, https://aflcio.org/about/history/labor-history-people/asa-philip-randolph accessed, March 16, 2019.

[154] Stanford University, Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/march-washington-jobs-and-freedom , accessed March 16, 2019.

[155] AFLCIO.org, https://aflcio.org/about/history/labor-history-people/asa-philip-randolph , accessed March 16, 2019.

[156] Stanford University, Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/march-washington-jobs-and-freedom  accessed March 16, 2019

[157] Stanford University, Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/march-washington-jobs-and-freedom  accessed March 16, 2019.

[158] Stanford University, Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/march-washington-jobs-and-freedom accessed March 16, 2019.

[159] AFLCIO.org, https://aflcio.org/about/history/labor-history-people/asa-philip-randolph,  accessed March 16, 2019.

[160] University of South Carolina, http://digital.tcl.sc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/jad/id/101,  accessed September 6, 2018.

[161] University of South Carolina, http://digital.tcl.sc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/jad/id/101,  accessed September 6, 2018.

[162] University of South Carolina,  http://digital.tcl.sc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/jad/id/755, accessed, September 6, 2018, filed  the suit requesting equal educational facilities

[163] South Carolina Encyclopedia,  http://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/delaine-joseph-armstrong/, accessed September 6, 2018.

[164] South Carolina Encyclopedia,  http://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/delaine-joseph-armstrong/,  accessed, September 6, 2018.

[165] South Carolina Encyclopedia, http://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/briggs-v-elliott/, accessed, September 6, 2018.

[166] National Archives,  https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/brown-v-board, accessed April 7, 2019.

[167] Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2000/10/11/after-45-years-sc-pioneer-of-civil-rights-is-cleared/1b107f48-8d2e-4e4e-85f9-5c3b82e22195/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.0f6d2aae99dd  accessed March 16, 2019.

[168] South Carolina Encyclopedia, http://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/delaine-joseph-armstrong/, accessed September 7, 2018.

[169] Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2000/10/11/after-45-years-sc-pioneer-of-civil-rights-is-cleared/1b107f48-8d2e-4e4e-85f9-5c3b82e22195/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.9579e88dd733, accessed September 7, 2018.

[170] Congressman James Clyburn,  https://clyburn.house.gov/press-release/south-carolina-desegregation-heroes-receive-congressional-gold-medal,  accessed March 31, 2019

[171] Senate.gov,  https://www.senate.gov/senators/Senators_Congressional_Gold_Medal.htm,  accessed March 17, 2019

[172] RosaParks.org, http://www.rosaparks.org/biography/ accessed March 17

[173] StPaulMontogmery.com, https://www.stpaulamemontgomery.com/history, accessed March 17, 2019

[174] MontgomeryAdvertiser.com, https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2018/06/21/site-where-rosa-parks-worked-becomes-park-montgomery-fair-dexter-avenue-city-redevelopment/721905002/ accessed March 31, 2019.

[175] History.com,  https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/rosa-parks accessed March 31, 2019.

[176] Studs Terkel Radio Archive, https://studsterkel.wfmt.com/programs/rosa-parks-and-myles-horton-discuss-importance-highlander-folk-school-montgomery-bus, accessed September 8, 2018.

[177] History.com,  https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/montgomery-bus-boycott accessed  March 17, 2019.

[178] RosaParks.org, http://www.rosaparks.org/biography/ accessed March 17, 2019.

[179] RosaParks.org, http://www.rosaparks.org/biography/ accessed March 17, 2019,  including the Congressional Gold Medal

[180] Senate.gov, https://www.senate.gov/senators/Senators_Congressional_Gold_Medal.htm,  accessed March 17, 2019.

[181] History.com,  https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/rosa-parks accessed March 31, 2019.

[182] Union Theological Seminary, https://utsnyc.edu/faculty/james-h-cone/  accessed March 24, 2019.

[183] NYU.edu, https://blogs.law.nyu.edu/magazine/2007/bryan-stevenson%E2%80%99s-death-defying-acts/, accessed April 7, 2019.  In 1985 Mr. Stevenson graduated Harvard Law School

[184] NYU.edu, https://its.law.nyu.edu/facultyprofiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile.biography&personid=20315  accessed April 7, 2019.

[185] EJI.Org, https://eji.org/bryan-stevenson, accessed April 7, 2019.

[186] EJI.org, https://eji.org/about-eji,  accessed April 7, 2019.

[187] United States Civil Rights Trail, https://civilrightstrail.com/attraction/emanuel-ame-church/  accessed April 7, 2019.

Bibliography

Allen, Richard, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2015

Allen, Richard and Jacob Tapisco, Doctrines and Disciplines of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, 2017, Digital edition

Angell, Stephen Ward, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner and African American Religion in the South, The University of Tennessee Press, 1992

Joyce, Donald Franklin, Black Book Publishers in the United States: A Historical Dictionary of the Presses, 1817-1990, Greenwood Press, 1991, Electronic Edition.

Lincoln, C. Eric, and Lawrence H. Mamiya, The Black Church in the African American Experience, Duke University Press, 1990

Newman, Richard S., Freedom’s Prophet, New York University Press, 2008

Strobert, Nelson T., Daniel Alexander Payne, University Press of America, 2012

Wilson Costen, Melva, In Spirit and In Truth, The Music of African American Worship, Westminster John Knox Press, 2004

Woodson, Carter G., The History of the Negro Church, Associated Publishers, 1921, Amazon Kindle edition

Links

Historical Society of Pennsylvania, https://hsp.org/history-online/exhibits/richard-allen-apostle-of-freedom/the-free-african-society

Virginia Commonwealth University, https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/religious/african-methodist-episcopal-a-m-e-church/

The Partnership for Progress, a program for minority owned institutions in the Federal Reserve System,  https://www.fedpartnership.gov/minority-banking-timeline/free-african-society

Documenting the American South, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,

The Negro Church. Report of a Social Study Made under the Direction of Atlanta University; Together with the Proceedings of the Eighth Conference for the Study of the Negro Problems, held at Atlanta University, May 26th, 1903:

Electronic Edition. Dubois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963, Ed. https://docsouth.unc.edu/church/negrochurch/dubois.html#p123

Motherbethel.org, https://www.motherbethel.org/content.php?cid=112

University of Pennsylvania, http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/paharc/timeline/1751/tline7.html

African Methodist Episcopal Church, https://www.ame-church.com/

Black Book Publishers in the United States: A Historical Dictionary of the Presses, 1817-1990, Donald Franklin Joyce, Greenwood Press, 1991, p14. Electronic Edition. https://books.google.com.ag/books?id=Jk4QlCxeMNAC&pg=PA14&lpg=PA14&dq=jacob+tapisco&source=bl&ots=aofzg1LCZJ&sig=_wc57YCJZ2IxEsSCK5ZHIVh5qSc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwivtdrEoPPfAhUuTt8KHQCJBvoQ6AEwBXoECAYQAQ#v=onepage&q=jacob%20tapisco&f=false

Bethel A.M.E. and Shaffer Chapel A.M.E, https://www.bethelame62901.org/history-of-the-african-methodist-episcopal-church.html

Documenting the American South, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, https://docsouth.unc.edu/church/ame/ame.html

African Methodist Episcopal Church, https://www.ame-church.com/our-church/our-history/

South Carolina Encyclopedia, http://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/brown-morris/

PBS.org, http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/people/denmark_vesey.html accessed March 23

EmanuelChurch.org, https://www.emanuelamechurch.org/staff/

Bethel AME Church and Chapel AME, https://www.bethelame62901.org/history-of-the-african-methodist-episcopal-church.html

Indiana Historical Bureau, https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4412.htm

BackPast.org, https://blackpast.org/aah/payne-daniel-alexander-1811-1893

RemarkableOhio.org, http://www.remarkableohio.org/index.php?/category/1638

Wilberforce.edu, http://www.wilberforce.edu/about-wilberforce/#link_tab-1473019207889-4  CentralState.edu, http://www.centralstate.edu/PR/index11.php?num=70

Earlham School of Religion, http://earlham.academia.edu/StephenAngell/CurriculumVitae  ChristianityToday.com, https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2017/september/henry-mcneal-turner-church-planter-politician-and-public-th.html,

History, com, https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/fort-sumter

National Archives, https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation Time.com, http://time.com/4738248/good-friday-palm-sunday-civil-war-appomattox/

AMEC Publishing House Sunday School Union, https://www.amecpublishing.com/about-us

AFLCIO.org, https://aflcio.org/about/history/labor-history-people/asa-philip-randolph

Stanford University, Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/march-washington-jobs-and-freedom

University of South Carolina, http://digital.tcl.sc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/jad/id/101

National Archives,  https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/brown-v-board, accessed April 7, 2019.

Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2000/10/11/after-45-years-sc-pioneer-of-civil-rights-is-cleared/1b107f48-8d2e-4e4e-85f9-5c3b82e22195/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.0f6d2aae99dd

South Carolina Encyclopedia, http://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/delaine-joseph-armstrong/

Congressman James Clyburn,  https://clyburn.house.gov/press-release/south-carolina-desegregation-heroes-receive-congressional-gold-medal

Senate.gov,  https://www.senate.gov/senators/Senators_Congressional_Gold_Medal.htm

RosaParks.org, http://www.rosaparks.org/biography/

StPaulMontogmery.com, https://www.stpaulamemontgomery.com/history,

MontgomeryAdvertiser.com, https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2018/06/21/site-where-rosa-parks-worked-becomes-park-montgomery-fair-dexter-avenue-city-redevelopment/721905002/

History.com,  https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/rosa-parks

Studs Terkel Radio Archive, https://studsterkel.wfmt.com/programs/rosa-parks-and-myles-horton-discuss-importance-highlander-folk-school-montgomery-bus,

Union Theological Seminary, https://utsnyc.edu/faculty/james-h-cone/

NYU.edu, https://blogs.law.nyu.edu/magazine/2007/bryan-stevenson%E2%80%99s-death-defying-acts/,

EJI.Org, https://eji.org/bryan-stevenson,

United States Civil Rights Trail, https://civilrightstrail.com/attraction/emanuel-ame-church/

[weldonturner]

New Post has been published on Weldon Turner

New Post has been published on http://www.weldonturner.com/richard-allen-and-the-ame-church-part-1-richard-allen/

Richard Allen and the AME Church, Part 1: Richard Allen

Bishop Richard Allen (1760-1831)

The African Methodist Episcopal Church is one of  America’s most venerable African-American institutions. With 2.5 million members [1] in thirty-five countries on five continents [2] it is one of the most populous and oldest  black churches  founded in the United States.  When a young talented preacher and former slave named Richard Allen led a small group of African American worshipers out of a Philadelphia Methodist church in the late 1700s, the seeds were planted for what would become the AME Church—a refuge and spiritual home for millions in the United States and around the world.

Childhood and Conversion

“I was born in the year of the Lord 1760, on February 14th, a slave to Benjamin Chew, of Philadelphia. My mother and father and four children of us were sold into Delaware State, near Dover, and I was a child and lived with him until I was upwards of twenty years of age, during which time I was awakened and brought to see myself poor, wretched, and undone, and without the mercy of God would be lost. Shortly after I obtained mercy through the blood of Christ and was constrained to exhort my old companions to seek the Lord.” [3]

Despite the autobiographical account of the date and place of his birth, there has been debate on Allen’s birthplace. In his book, Freedom’s Prophet Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church, and the Black Founding Fathers, professor of history Richard Newman presents competing locations for Allen’s birth—Philadelphia and Delaware. There seems to be a consensus that Allen was born on February 14th, 1760 however.

Benjamin Chew was a prominent attorney who owned property in Pennsylvania and Delaware. [4] In 1868 Allen and his family were sold to Stokely Sturgis, one of Chew’s Delaware neighbours.  [5]

On Sturgis’ farm the young Allen would likely have planted corn, wheat and flax. He got to know his master personally, as would many of their neighbours, since Delaware farms were small–ten persons or fewer, including the master’s family. [6]

Nine years later, Sturgis sold Allen’s mother and three of his siblings. [7] This would be a watershed event in Allen’s life. One scholar suggests the sale of his mother precipitated a spiritual crisis for the teenage Allen, one that was addressed by faith, specifically, faith practiced by the Methodist denomination. [8] Allen and his remaining siblings on the Sturgis farm, embraced religion, namely, Methodism. [9]

Methodist preachers held prayer meetings which some slaveholders allowed their slaves to attend. Allen and his brother attended such meetings every other Thursday evening. Aware of the neighbours’ talk–that religion would ruin their master–Allen and his brother ensured that their religious meetings did not impact their work. “[M]y brother and myself held a council together that we would attend more faithfully to our master’s business, so that it should not be said that religion made us worse servants, we would work night and day to get our crops forward, so that they should be disappointed” [10]

One day Allen asked for his master’s permission for a Methodist minister to preach at his house. Sturgis agreed. [11] The meetings eventually migrated from the kitchen to the parlour. After ‘some months’ Sturgis became convinced of the evils of slavery and agreed to allow Allen and his brother to purchase their freedom for $2,000. [12] This amounts to $20,000 and $30,00 in today’s money, depending on how you calculate it.

Allen worked at several jobs to earn the funds to purchase his freedom. He cut ‘cord wood’ (“The first day my hands were so blistered and sore, that it was with difficulty that I could open or shut them.  I kneeled down upon my knees and prayed that the Lord would open some way for me to get my living.” [13] He worked in a brick-yard, was employed as a wagon driver during the Revolutionary War, and ‘drew salt’ in Sussex county in Delaware. While working to purchase his freedom, Allen also preached at night and on Sundays. He worked for three and half years and was able to purchase freedom for himself and his brother in 1783. [14] The paper detailing Richard’s freedom would become the first manumission document to be held as a public file, having been donated to the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. [15]

In September of 1783 he left Delaware for New Jersey, and by 1784 was in Pennsylvania. “I walked until my feet became so sore and blistered the first day, that I could scarcely bear them to the ground.” [16] As he traveled Allen was invited to stay at the homes of fellow believers, where he was often asked to preach, at times to ‘a large congregation of different persuasions’.  Few in the congregation were ‘coloured’ – the most of my congregation was white. [17]

As his reputation grew he was asked to travel with established ministers, including the Rev. Richard Whatcoat [18] and Bishop Francis Asbury who ‘gave him assignments to preach’. [19]

Bishop Francis Asbury and the Methodist Episcopal Church

Bishop Francis Asbury (1760-1816)

Methodism grew out of an evangelical style of preaching that appealed to the impoverished peoples of London in the 1720s. [20] Charles and John Wesley travelled to America in 1736 and started preaching in Georgia. Methodism gradually spread along the eastern seaboard and through the Appalachian region through the work of Methodist itinerant preachers.  The denomination’s roots among the poor and marginalized extended to those in bondage as well, and its official opposition to slavery was affirmed in its General Rules in 1743. [21]

During the Revolutionary War (1775-1783) many Anglican clergy returned to England, resulting in a shortage of Anglican ministers in America. At the quadrennial conference in Baltimore, Maryland, in December, 1784, known as the Christmas Conference, Methodist and Anglican clergy untied to form the Methodist Episcopal Church. [22] The church became the United Methodist Church in 1968).  Present at the 1784 conference was Francis Asbury and Richard Whatcoat. [23]

Francis Asbury (1745-1816) was an itinerant preacher in England when, in 1771, responding to John Wesley’s call for a preacher to go to America, [24] he volunteered. Wesley designated him ‘General Assistant’, later, Bishop of what would become the first independent Methodist denomination [25]. Asbury would eventually be recognized as one of the founding fathers of American Methodism.

Enforcing John Wesley’s rules for preachers and societies, Asbury required all preachers to travel a circuit. [26] He asked Allen to travel with him.  “He told me he wished me to travel with him. He told me that in the slave countries, Carolina and other places, I must not intermix with slaves, and I would frequently have to sleep in his carriage, and he would allow me victuals and clothes.” Allen refused for fear of what would happen to him should he fall sick and require medical attention in a slaveholding region. [28]

Allen did, however, travel with another founding father, Richard Whatcoat. Whatcoat was appointed to the Baltimore Circuit. Allen writes, “I believe [he was] a man of God, I found great strength in traveling with him…” [29]

By 1786 Allen’s itinerant preaching on different circuits took him back to Philadelphia, and to the Methodist church there, St. George’s. [30] There were five black congregants when he arrived [31]. “I strove to preach as well as I could, but it was a great cross to me; but the Lord was with me. We had a good time, and several souls were awakened, and were earnestly seeking redemption in the blood of Christ…I frequently preached twice a day, at 5 o’clock in the morning and in the evening, and it was not uncommon for me to preach from four to five times a day. I established prayer meetings; I raised a society in 1786 of forty-two members.” [32] Allen found it necessary for a place of worship for the ‘coloured’ people but met with stiff opposition. However three black colleagues agreed with him, including the Rev. Absalom Jones [33].

They established prayer meetings for the black members, whom the St. George’s elders, Allen suggests, considered mere ‘nuisances’ [34].  As black membership grew so did hostility directed at them from the church hierarchy.

St. George’s Walkout and Mother Bethel

One sabbath morning in 1787 Allen, Jones and other black members of St. George’s attended service as they usually did. The events that day would spark the creation of what would become the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

“[O]n Sabbath morning we went to church and the sexton stood at the door and told us to go to the gallery. He told us to go and we would see where to sit. We expected to take the seats over the ones we formerly occupied below, not knowing any better. We took those seats. Meeting had begun, and they were nearly done singing, and just as we got to the seats, the elder said ‘Let us pray.’ We had not been long upon our knees before I heard considerable scuffling and low talking. I raised my head up and saw one of the trustees, Mr. H- M-, having hold of the Rev. Absalom Jones, pulling him off of his knees, and saying, ‘You must get up,–you must not kneel here.’ Mr. Jones replied, ‘wait until prayer is over.’ Mr. H- M- said, ‘no, you must get up now, or I will call for aid and I force you away.’ Mr. Jones said, ‘wait until prayer is over and I will get up and trouble you no more.’ With that he beckoned to one of the other trustees, Mr. L- S—to come to his assistance…By this time prayer was over, and we all went out of the church in a body, and they were no more plagued with us in the church.” [35].  When Allen retells the story he makes sure the reader is aware that black members helped build St. George’s– finishing the building, including the floors and the very gallery from which they were driven out. [36].

After leaving St. George’s, the black members held worship services in a rented store room and made plans to build a church of their own [37]. They raised funds among their members and from white benefactors, including a prominent physician, Benjamin Rush, [38] one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. [39]

Free African Society

On April 10, 1787 Richard Allen and Absalom Jones founded the Free African Society, a ‘quasi-religious’, nondenominational mutual aid organization. Members were required to pay one shilling per month and ‘abstain from feasts, drinking, and gambling.’ [40] In return they would receive educational and financial, support in sickness, and receive assistance if the member was a widow or a fatherless child. The Society also functioned as an 18th century ‘lobbying’ group, for example, petitioning for a burial ground for blacks. [41]

Allen soon became disillusioned with the FAS however. In Freedom’s Prophet, Newman suggests Allen’s strong Methodist’s beliefs and his desire to found a Methodist church within the nondenominational structure of the FAS caused severe tensions with the Society. [42]

Allen remained determined to build a church for Philadelphia’s black population. He and his friend Absalom Jones raised funds and finally purchased a plot of land.   In March 1793, after being hounded and threatened by elders of St. George’s Methodist church for leaving, Allen, “the first proposer of the African church…put the first spade in the ground to dig a cellar…This was the first African church or meeting house that was erected in the United States of America.” [43] Later a vote was taken to determine the denomination of the church. Jones and Allen voted Methodist, the majority picked the Church of England. Allen, being the only ‘coloured’ preacher at the time in Philadelphia, was chosen to lead the congregation, but he declined. The Rev. Absalom Jones accepted when he was offered the position. The church became St. Thomas African Episcopal Church. [44]

Despite the treatment he and fellow members received at St. George’s Allen remained devoted to the doctrine and principles of the Methodist Church. He explains his decision to decline the invitation to pastor the Episcopal church: “I was indebted to the Methodists, under God, for what little religion I had; being convinced they were the people of God… I could be nothing but a Methodist, as I was born and awakened under them…” [45]

After the financial obligations incurred for establishing St. Thomas were paid, Allen purchased an old blacksmith’s shop and had it moved to a lot he had bought prior to the purchase of the St. Thomas site. “I employed carpenters to repair the old frame and fit it for a place of worship. In July, 1794, Bishop Asbury, being in town I solicited him to open the church for us which he accepted…The house was called bethel agreeable to the prayer that was made.” [46]

The name refers to the ‘Bethel’ of Genesis, 28, the place where Jacob dreams of a stairway to heaven, where the Lord promises him the land on which he is lying, to bless his offspring, and to “not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Richard Allen’s Marriage and Careers

In October 1790, Richard Allen married his first wife, Flora. Professor Richard Newman depicts her as a helpmate, who aided his ascent as a pastor not only by supporting his vision of African Methodism but by establishing a respectable home. Flora’s role in Allen’s life mirrored the role of women in the early AME church–they were less likely to join the men on the frontlines but provided invaluable support in the background [47]. Flora Allen died on March 11, 1801, after a nine-month illness. Later that year, Allen married Sarah Bass, a member of the Bethel congregation.

One woman who defied the traditional role of helpmate and confidant, was Jarena Lee, who felt called by God to preach. Initially rebuffed by Allen to take the pulpit, he later relented, to the displeasure of the elders of Bethel.

While building his church during the 1790s Allen took on a variety jobs to support himself and his family. At various times he listed himself as a trader, grocer, dry-goods dealer, and ‘mastersweep’ (chimney sweep) [48]. He was also an entrepreneur. In 1793 he, Absalom Jones and another associate applied to a group of abolitionists for a loan to establish a nail factory. On July 10th, 1793 the Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society granted Allen and Jones a $50 loan, and the enterprise was off on running by September. [49]

Yellow Fever Epidemic

At about that time, the summer of 1793, Philadelphia experience the initial pangs of what would become one of the worst public health crisis to hit the nation’s capital to date.    White refugees fleeing a slave revolt in Saint Domingue (now Haiti) arrived. Then, residents began to display symptoms of Yellow Fever. The highly regarded Dr. Benjamin Rush, who had assisted Allen and Jones financially to build their church, initially blamed the outbreak on unsanitary conditions on the Philadelphia docks.  On August 19, Philadelphia recorded its first fatality. [50] The disease spread rapidly and many of the city’s wealthiest and most prominent citizens fled. (Thomas Jefferson reportedly wrote to James Madison that everyone who could escape the city was doing so. [51]

Dr. Rush believed that blacks were immune to the disease and enlisted the help of the city’s 2,000 black residents to address the crisis. Richard Allen and Absalom Jones were asked to volunteer, and they complied.  They procured five hundred men to inter the dead, but, as more physicians died, Dr. Rush asked them to attend to the sick, by bleeding and administering copious quantities of mercury.

The outbreak reached its peak in October when about 100 people per day were dying. Dr. Rush’s theory on black’s immunity proved incorrect for blacks began to die at the same rate as whites. [52] Others fell ill, including Allen. Finally a cold front swept through Philadelphia and reduced the mosquito population. The epidemic abated. When it was over, of Philadelphia’s pre-epidemic population of 45,000 residents, 5,000 were dead, including 250 blacks.

The heroic efforts of the city’s black citizens were criticized by some whites, whose comments affirmed long-held negative stereotypes:  black’s stealing from white citizens, charging exorbitant fees for their services, price gouging to the point of extortion, and otherwise profiting from the tragedy. Mathew Carey, a Philadelphia publisher, produced a pamphlet chronicling the epidemic. In one section he echoed the charges made against the black volunteers. In January 1794, Absalom Jones and Allen published a pamphlet of their own ‘A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Coloured People During the Awful Calamity in Philadelphia, in the year 1793; and A Refutation of Some Censures Thrown upon Them in Some Publications.’  [53]

The pamphlet described their activities over a span of seventy days:  burying the dead, encounters with the afflicted, a detailed record of monies received (they relied on the good graces of the persons they attended to), expenses incurred. They claimed to be out of pocket, £178.

For Allen, the attack by Carey was yet another slight on the black people of Philadelphia, and no doubt confirmed his belief that the coloured people of the city needed their own permanent place of worship.

The AME Church’s Founding and Growth under Allen

Mother Bethel AME Church Philadelphia, PA

By 1794 Bethel was officially ‘organized.’ [54]   It had forty members and a Sunday school. To achieve the stamp of approval, not only within the Methodist church, but within the wider community of Philadelphia and beyond, Bethel had to incorporate. In 1796 a Methodist elder, Ezekiel Cooper, offered to draw up the articles of incorporation. [55]

Thirteen articles of association were crafted, two of which would cause particular anguish for Allen and Mother Bethel for two decades.  Article 2 held the property of Bethel church in trust to the Methodist Conference: “The corporation and their successors do and shall have and hold the said building called ‘Bethel Church’ and all other churches which are now, or shall become, the property of the corporation, in trust for the religious use of the ministers and preachers of the Methodist Episcopal Church who are in connection with the General Conference of the said church.” Article 4 prohibited the use of Bethel property to be used as payment of any debts without the consent of Bethel’s trustees or of the larger Methodist conference.

In his account of the Articles of Association, Allen writes “[Cooper] offered to draw up the incorporation himself, that it would save us the trouble of paying for it to get drawn. We cheerfully submitted to his proposal plan. He drew the incorporation, but incorporated our church under the Conference, our property was then all consigned to the Conference for the present Bishops, Elders, and Ministers, etc., that belonged to the white Conference, and our property was gone.” [56]

For two decades the Articles of Association would create considerable conflict between the upstart Mother Bethel, under Allen, and the Methodist Conference–a conflict that would involve ‘teams of lawyers’, Allen’s personal financial resources, and legal battles that would eventually extend all the way to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. [57]

Bishop Asbury dedicated the building and ordained Allen deacon in 1799. [58] The struggle with the Methodist elders in Philadelphia continued. In 1805 Rev. James Smith was appointed to “take charge in Philadelphia”. He “demanded the keys and books of the church, and [forbade] us holding any meetings except orders from him.” [59] Allen and the Bethel trustees refused. Allen writes, of Rev. Smith’s response: “He observed he was elder appointed to the charge, and unless we submitted to him, he would read us all out of meeting, we told him the house was our’s, we had bought it, and paid for it. He said he would let us know it was not our’s, it belonged to the Conference, we took council on it; council informed us we were taken in, according to the incorporation, it belonged to the white connexion.” [60]

In defiance of the Conference, Allen added an ‘African Supplement’ to the original articles of incorporation. The Supplement reversed the Methodist Conference’s claim on Bethel’s property and of control over Bethel’s membership. [61] In 1807 the ‘African Supplement’ was ratified by the Bethel trustees but was not recognized by elders of the Methodist conference. Instead the Methodist hierarchy demanded a fee of $600 a year ($7,000 in 2010 dollars) to be paid to the Conference for the new relationship specified by the African Supplement.  Bethel declined to pay. The Methodist Conference then refused to preach at Bethel, and threatened any local minister who did so, with expulsion. [62] Several preachers, however, demanded to preach at Bethel, albeit ignoring Bethel’s claims of sovereignty.  Concomitantly, the Methodist Conference put up Bethel church for auction, with little notification to the congregants. Allen succeeded in buying back the church he built, with an offer of $9,600, the equivalent of $112,000 in 2010 dollars [63]. In addition a series of lawsuits were brought against Bethel, challenging its authority. Finally, at the beginning of 1816, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court found in favour of Bethel.  Allen and his congregation were finally free to take full control of Bethel Church. [64]

By 1816 members of other A.M.E. churches had suffered similar experiences as Bethel. Allen invited delegates to gather in Philadelphia. They passed a resolution that “the people of Philadelphia, Baltimore, &c. &c. should become one body, under the name of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.” The church was to be based on “a form of discipline, whereby we may guide our people in the fear of God, in the unity of the Spirit, and in the bonds of peace, and preserve us from that  spiritual despotism which we have so recently experienced—remembering  that we care not  to lord it over God’s heritage…[b]ut with longsuffering, and bowels of compassion to bear each other’s burdens,  and so fulfill the life of Christ, praying that our mutual striving together for the promulgation of the Gospel may be crowned with abundant success.” [65]

On April 11th, 1816, Richard Allen was consecrated the first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal church [66] and the first Black person to hold that position in the United States. In 1817 Allen and Jacob Tapisco published the first edition of The Doctrines and Disciplines of the AME Church. The document provided a brief history of the Church, and an outline of its beliefs, teachings and practices. It is reportedly one of the oldest books published by American blacks. [67]

Allen’s Social Views and the Impact of the AME During His Lifetime

Several tenets were key to the early A.M.E church under Allen: moral uplift, racial solidarity, and abolitionism were not least among them.  Professor Newman suggests, for example, that the most important actions taken at quarterly meetings was   penalizing or banishment of members for such moral infractions as ‘public drunkenness, gambling, domestic abuse, sexual affairs.’   Morality— ‘hard work, piousness in the face of hardship’—furthered the anti-slavery cause, whereas ‘laziness’ and ‘idle conduct’ only strengthened the ‘bands of oppression.’ [68]

Judgement on those who violated church rules was final. For example, Jonathan Tudas, a Bethel member, was summarily expelled after allegedly exposing himself to a female parishioner, fathering a child with a white woman out of wedlock, then offering to assist her to abort the pregnancy [69]

Allen was also a proponent of ‘black solidarity’. Just as establishing a black church was important to him, so too was the idea of establishing a black community, free from the shackles of slavery and oppression. During the 1810s and 1820s Allen supported efforts to establish black communities in Canada [70] and Haiti, [71] the site of the first successful slave rebellion in the Western World.

Into his late sixties, Allen was instrumental in organizing for black uplift. He helped organize the National Convention of Coloured Persons to ‘systemize the struggle for racial justice among black leaders’ and advocated for the Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania, which fought for free labour (contrasted with slave labour) in the production of goods [72]. Bethel also became a meeting place for black organization, and black conventions. [73]

By 1816 Bethel Church had grown to 1,400 members, and by the 1820s the A.M.E church had spread to Pittsburgh, Ohio, Buffalo, and Charleston, SC. [74]

On March 26, 1831, a few days before Easter, Bishop Richard Allen passed away.  To his family and friends, Allen–the man who was born a slave on Benjamin Chew’s farm more than seventy-one years earlier—bequeathed his considerable assets, assets for which he had literally slaved, worked and sacrificed for, for so many years. The assets included his Spruce Street residence, a multiple-rent, three story building, a series of land lots, and two houses–all in the city of Philadelphia–and a country home [75]. He was survived by his second wife, Sarah, and children: Ann, James, John, Peter, Richard Jr. and Sarah. [76]

© 2018 Weldon Turner, All Rights Reserved

Next Month

Richard Allen and The A.M.E.  Church, Part 2: Legacy

Media

Bishop Richard Allen (1760-1831)

Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2016712432/

Title: [Richard Allen, founder of A.M.E. Church]

Creator(s): C.M. Bell (Firm : Washington, D.C.), photographer

Date Created/Published: [between 1873 and ca. 1916]

Medium: 1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in.

Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-bellcm-24994 (digital file from original)

Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication.

Call Number: LC-B5- 820734 [P&P]

Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

  Bishop Francis Asbury (1745-1816)

Wikimedia Commons

Page URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Appletons%27_Asbury_Francis.jpg

File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Appletons%27_Asbury_Francis.jpg

Attribution: By Jacques Reich (undoubtedly based on the work of another artist) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

  Bethel Church

Wikimedia Commons

Page URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mother_Bethel_Philly_a.JPG

File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Mother_Bethel_Philly_a.JPG

Attribution: By Smallbones [CC0], from Wikimedia Commons

  References

[1] World Methodist Council, http://worldmethodistcouncil.org/about/member-churches/statistical-information/ accessed May 21, 2018

[2] African Methodist Episcopal Church, https://www.ame-church.com/our-church/our-history/  accessed May 21, 2018

[3] Richard Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2015, p9

[4] Richard S. Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, New York University Press, 2008, p29

[5] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p33

[6] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, pp 33-34

[7] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p34

[8] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p40

[9] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p10

[11] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p10

[12] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p11

[13] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p12

[14] Historical Society of Pennsylvania, hsp.org,  https://hsp.org/history-online/exhibits/richard-allen-apostle-of-freedom/path-to-glory-path-to-god accessed May 12, 2018

[15] Biography.com, https://www.biography.com/people/richard-allen-21056735 , accessed, May 20, 2018

[16] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, pp 12-13

[17] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, pp 13-14

[18] Allen, Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p15

[19] Carter G. Woodson, The History of the Negro Church, The associated Publishers, Washington D.C., 1921, Kindle Edition, 2014, loc 772

[20] C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya, The Black Church in the African American Experience, Duke University Press, 1990, p49

[21] Lincoln and Mamiya, The Black Church in the African American Experience, p50

[22] http://www.umc.org/who-we-are/why-united-methodist-general-conference-history-and-highlights, accessed May 20, 2018

[23] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p15

[24] umc.org, http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/glossary-asbury-francis, accessed May 20, 2018

[25] umc.org, http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/glossary-asbury-francis, accessed May 12, 2018

[26] Britannica.com, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francis-Asbury accessed, May 12, 2018

[27] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p16

[28] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p16

[29] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p15

[30] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p17

[31] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p50

[32] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p17

[33] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p17

[34] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p17

[35] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p18

[36] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p18

[37] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p19

[38] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p68

[39] ushistory.org, http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/signers/index.html  accessed May 12, 2018.

[40] Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, http://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/free-african-society/  accessed May 12, 2018.

[41] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, pp 60-61

[42] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p62

[43] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p21

[44] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p70

[45] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p23

[46] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p23

[47] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p74

)[48] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p83

[49] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p85

[50] Penn State University, Psu.edu http://pabook2.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/YellowFever.html  accessed May 13, 2018

[51] Harvard.edu, http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/contagion/yellowfever.html accessed May 13, 2018.)

[52] Penn State University, Psu.edu http://pabook2.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/YellowFever.html, accessed May 20, 2018.

[53] Harvard.edu, https://iiif.lib.harvard.edu/manifests/view/drs:6483355$1i , accessed May 20, 2018.

[54] Virginia Commonwealth University, https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/religious/african-methodist-episcopal-a-m-e-church/, accessed May 16, 2018

[55] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p32

[56] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p24

[57] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p132

[58] Christianity Today, https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/denominationalfounders/richard-allen.html, accessed May 19, 2018

[59] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p24

[60] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p24

[61] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p155

[62] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p26

[63] Virginia Commonwealth University, https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/religious/african-methodist-episcopal-a-m-e-church/ , accessed May 19, 2018

[64]   Virginia Commonwealth University, https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/religious/african-methodist-episcopal-a-m-e-church/

[65] Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, p27

[66] Richard Allen, Jacob Tapisco, Doctrines and Disciplines of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Kindle, loc 113, p11, https://www.amazon.ca/Doctrine-Discipline-African-Methodist-Episcopal-ebook/dp/B00KXCZUQO/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1520133397&sr=8-13&keywords=ame+church

[67] Bethel A.M.E Church and Shaffer Chapel A.M.E., BehtelAME62091.org, https://www.bethelame62901.org/history-of-the-african-methodist-episcopal-church.html, accessed May 21, 2018

[68] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p213

[69] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p212

[70] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p272

[71] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p253

[72]. Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p266

[73] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p268

[74] Virginia Commonwealth University, https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/religious/african-methodist-episcopal-a-m-e-church/ , accessed May 20, 2018

[75] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p274

[76] Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, pp197-198

  Bibliography

Richard Allen, The Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2015

Eric Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya, The Black Church in the African American Experience, Duke University Press, 1990

Carter G. Woodson, The History of the Negro Church, The Associated Publishers, Washington D.C., 1921, Kindle Edition, 2014

Links

World Methodist Council, http://worldmethodistcouncil.org/about/member-churches/statistical-information/

African Methodist Episcopal Church, https://www.ame-church.com/our-church/our-history/

Historical Society of Pennsylvania, hsp.org,  https://hsp.org/history-online/exhibits/richard-allen-apostle-of-freedom/path-to-glory-path-to-god

Biography.com, https://www.biography.com/people/richard-allen-21056735

Umc.org,  http://www.umc.org/who-we-are/why-united-methodist-general-conference-history-and-highlights

Umc.org, http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/glossary-asbury-francis

Umc.org, http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/glossary-asbury-francis

Britannica.com, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francis-Asbury

Ushistory.org, http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/signers/index.html

Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, http://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/free-african-society/

Penn State University, Psu.edu http://pabook2.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/YellowFever.html

Harvard.edu, http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/contagion/yellowfever.html accessed May 13, 2018.)

Penn State University, Psu.edu http://pabook2.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/YellowFever.html

Harvard.edu, https://iiif.lib.harvard.edu/manifests/view/drs:6483355$1i , accessed May 20, 2018.

Virginia Commonwealth University, https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/religious/african-methodist-episcopal-a-m-e-church/

Christianity Today, https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/denominationalfounders/richard-allen.html,

Virginia Commonwealth University, https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/religious/african-methodist-episcopal-a-m-e-church/

Virginia Commonwealth University, https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/religious/african-methodist-episcopal-a-m-e-church/

Richard Allen, Jacob Tapisco, Doctrines and Disciplines of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Kindle, loc 113, p11, https://www.amazon.ca/Doctrine-Discipline-African-Methodist-Episcopal-ebook/dp/B00KXCZUQO/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1520133397&sr=8-13&keywords=ame+church

Bethel A.M.E Church and Shaffer Chapel A.M.E., BehtelAME62091.org, https://www.bethelame62901.org/history-of-the-african-methodist-episcopal-church.html

Virginia Commonwealth University, https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/religious/african-methodist-episcopal-a-m-e-church/

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New Post has been published on Weldon Turner

New Post has been published on http://www.weldonturner.com/how-mainstream-is-mainstream-news/

How 'Mainstream' is Mainstream News?

What does ‘mainstream’ mean in a deeply divided political environment? Is there a liberal bias in mainstream news?  In an op-ed written for the Christian Post I examine recent news coverage of CNN and other ‘mainstream’ outlets, and its potential impacts on a free flow of ideas between groups with opposing viewpoints.

https://www.christianpost.com/voice/the-leftward-slant-cnn-and-the-mainstream-medias-blind-spot.html

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New Post has been published on Weldon Turner

New Post has been published on https://www.weldonturner.com/the-origins-of-christmas-carols/

The Origins of Christmas Carols

Carolers on Christmas Eve, 1891. Original Artwork: Drawn by Arthur Hopkins. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A Brief History

The First Carols

On a trip from Rome in 1223,  Francis  of Assisi and his followers stopped at the small village of Grecia, near his birthplace. At the time, in some parts of the Christian Church, a system of beliefs, associated with the Paulician sect, had taken hold. While Paulicians believed the Gospel of Luke, and the letters of Paul, they did not believe that Jesus was indeed the son of Mary, because a good God could not have taken flesh and become man, who in their view, was fundamentally evil. Eager to combat this heresy and dramatize the Incarnation of God through the birth of Jesus Christ, St. Francis and his followers created what would become the first Nativity Scene, and sang hymns to the Lord Jesus [1]. As they sang songs (canticles) one of Francis’ followers had a vision of the saint (Francis) bending over a baby, laying in a trance, in the manger that he had constructed. As they sang the baby slowly awoke, symbolizing Christ bringing life to a dead and ‘wicked’ world [2]. The drama of that episode would later be captured in what later became known as the Christmas Mystery Play, and the songs that were sung  are said to be the precursor of the Christmas Carol.

Mystery Plays dealt with religious subject matter, and were one of three dramatic forms (together with Morality Plays and Miracle Plays) performed outside of churches.  The subject matter of Mystery Plays often centered on significant events depicted in the Bible, like the fall of Satan, the Birth of Jesus, or Judgement Day [3].

Carols came into prominence during the Middle Ages with the popularity of these plays. Mystery Plays could be quite lengthy, and performers serenaded audiences with carols during breaks in the performances [4]. By the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries carol singers and their music became so popular that they were incorporated into the play itself.

In time the Mystery Plays drifted away from their religious roots and fell out of favour with the religious authorities of the day [5]. They became more secular, and in some instances, even mocked religious figures like monks and priests. By the time of the Reformation and the Puritan Era, the public performance of Mystery Plays, effectively over.

Another era in the development of the Christmas Carol is the practice of wassailing.  The Anglo-Saxon tradition of wassailing came into vogue during the Middle Ages [6]. At the beginning of each year, groups of merry-makers would go from house to house, wassail drink in hand, singing songs, wishing good cheer [7]. This practice would eventually evolve into caroling.

The golden age of carols was from the 1400s to the mid 17th century. However there seems to be an extended struggle between the performance of the Carol, with its origins in drama and later in dance music and its association with merry-making and drinking, and the emergence of Puritanism and the staunch Calvinist, Olive Cromwell–statesman, and lord protector of England, Scotland and Ireland [8]. In 1647 Cromwell and his Puritan Parliament abolished Christmas celebrations and other festivals altogether [9].

The Nineteenth Century

By the early 1800s Britain was in the middle of the Industrial Revolution.  Inventions such as the spinning jenny and the power loom lead to the development of a textile industry. Innovations in the production of iron and steel led to the manufacture of products as diverse as appliances and tools, to ships and infrastructure [10]. The Revolution also gave rise to a manufacturing industry and a need for workers. Persons from the rural areas, particularly the young, migrated to the cities in search of work. With the migration to urban areas came the fear that rural traditions may be lost, a mere memory among the old who remained in the countryside. Among these traditions was the folk carol, and several prominent figures in music and literature set about to ensure this did not happen.

Mark Connelly, Professor of Modern British History at the University of Kent, in his book, Christmas, A History, chronicles the efforts of the men who collected and published the English folk carol, in so doing, preserving them for generations to come

He cites British MP Davies Gilbert as the first to systematically collect carols and render a basic description of the same, namely, music derived from folk songs, sung, not written, emanating from the south-western part of England, an area known as the West Country [11].  In 1822 Davies published A Collection of Ancient Christmas Carols, which included, ‘Whilst Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night’ and ‘The First Nowel That The Angel Did Say’ [12]. In 1833 William Sandys, a lawyer by profession, published Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern, which included ‘God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen’; ‘Hark, the Herald Angels Sing’, ‘I Saw Three Ships’; and ‘The First Noel’ [13].

Another factor in the resurgence of the Christmas carol, Connelly argues, is the rise of Methodism. The Wesleys (John and Charles) used hymn singing as an integral part of their services, which were squarely directed at the common man and woman.  Connelly suggests reaching back to the choral tradition of the carol and its folk song history was useful in relating to their followers [14].

The mid-nineteenth century saw the return of a choral tradition in the Anglican Church with the publication of Hymns Ancient and Modern [15].   A committee of clergymen, originally under the chairmanship of Sir. Henry Williams Baker, compiled and arranged the volume [16].

William Henry Monk, organist and director of music at King’s College, London, and ‘H. W. Baker, hymn writer, directed the compilation and arrangement of hymns [17].

The volume contained such Christmas favourites as ‘Oh Come, All Ye Faithful’, ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’ and ‘While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks by Night.’

In 1853 Reverends J. M.  Neale and T. Helmore published Carols for Christmas [18] but it was Christmas Carols New and Old, published in 1869 by Reverend H.R. Bramley ad Dr. John Stainer, that was the next significant development in the publication of Christmas carols, and was the ‘first large-scale circulation of a Christmas Carol collection [19].

In 1911 Cecil Sharpe, published English Folk Carols, a collection from southwest of England. [20]. Like many of his predecessors, Sharp’s rationale for compiling the collection was simply to preserve the history of the folk carol.  Notable among English Folk Carols is ‘God Bless You, Merry Gentlemen’ and ‘I Saw Three Ships’ [21].

In 1919 Percy Dearmer, Canon of Westminster and professor of Ecclesiastical Art at King’s College London, and Martin Shaw, composer, arranger,  educator, and T. S. Eliot collaborator, published The English Carol Book. The Great War had been fought, the Allies were victorious, and English ‘values’ (as opposed to British ones) had been protected, or so Connelly argues. The publication of Deamer’s and Shaw’s volume, with its affirmation of the ‘Englishness’ of the Christmas carol, fit neatly into this narrative [22].  The collection included ‘I Saw Three Ships’, ‘The First Nowell’, ‘Good King Wenceslas’, ‘What Child Is This’, among others. Dearmer and Shaw worked on several projects together with Ralph Vaughan Williams, including 1925s successful hymnal, Songs of Praise. However it was their 1928 volume that has become a classic, the definitive compilation of English Christmas carols, The Oxford Book of Carols.

In 1928 The Oxford Book of Carols was published. Edited by Dearmer, Shaw and Williams—composer and professor of music composition at Trinity College–it has been a commercial and critical success. At 480 pages it has undergone over forty editions, and currently contains 197 carols. It is known not only for its sheer breadth of songs but for its scholarly content as well.  Dearmer’s preface has been specifically cited for documenting the source of the texts and the music, and in some cases, the history of the carols themselves [23].

Selected Carols

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Phillips Brooks was ordained in 1860 and would become one of the most prominent preachers of his era [24]. He became the Rector of Trinity Church in Boston in 1869 and Bishop of Massachusetts in 1891, a little more than a year before he died [25]. He was one of the clergymen to address the congregation at President Lincoln’s funeral in 1865.

Brooks believed in congregational hymn singing and wrote both Easter and Christmas carols  [26]. He published the words to’ O Little Town of Bethlehem’ in 1891.

Ralph Vaughan Williams has been called one of England’s greatest composers. He together with Percy Dearmer is responsible for editing a number of significant books of praise. For his book, The English Hymnal, he matched the words of ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ to a tune he had first heard in the village of Forest Green [27].

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

While many Christmas carols are like orphaned pieces of music—whose authors are not known, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing is not a member of this group, boasting a pedigree few carols can match. Charles Wesley, one of the best known and prolific hymn writers of all time–and with is brother, John—founded Methodism, wrote the words to this hymn, originally written as a poem.  Charles Wesley has written close to 9,000 hymns [28] reportedly, ten times more than that other giant of  hymn writing, Isaac Watts.

The original version of the poem was published in a collection of hymns in 1739 [29]. Modifications were made in subsequent years. Among those editing the piece was the famous evangelist and Wesley friend and colleague, George Whitefield [30].

Almost a hundred years later, in 1840, classical composer Felix Mendelssohn completed a cantata celebrating the 400th anniversary of Gutenberg’s invention of movable type [31]. Mendelssohn’s publisher had the cantata’s second movement translated into English.

William Hayman Cummings was an organist, a gifted tenor and admirer of Mendelssohn. As a boy he sang at St. Paul’s Cathedral, one of Mendelssohn’s favourite ‘haunts’.   Cummings came across the second movement of Mendelssohn’s Cantata and realized that Charles Wesley’s Hark! The Herald Angels Sing fit the music. He transcribed the poem and music. He received so many requests for copies he took his arrangement to the publisher, Ewer and Co.—who happened to be Mendelssohn’s publisher as well. Cumming’s version was published it in1856, six years after Mendelssohn’s death [32].

Cummings marriage of Wesley’s and Mendelssohn’s work was included in the landmark publication, Hymns Ancient and Modern, in 1861 [33].

Silent Night

Silent Night was written in the village of Oberndorf, about 17 km north of the city of Salzburg in Austria [34]. According to an article in the Telegraph, Joseph Mohr, a Catholic priest, asked his friend and organist of his church to put music to a poem he had written a few years earlier called Stille Nacht. In a small Austrian village, on Christmas Eve, 1818, the two men sang Stille Nacht for the first time. In 1859, John Freeman, a priest at New York City’s Trinity Church, translated the hymn into English [35].

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Common, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40855054

O Come, All Ye Faithful

The creators of some of our best known and most beloved carols are unknown.  This is true for one of the most popular carols, ‘O Come All Ye Faithful.’ The words are from a Latin hymn (author unknown) entitled, Adeste Fideles.

John Francis Wade was the son of a cloth merchant based in Leeds, England. He was a devout Catholic who, in 1731 at age 20, fled the rising anti-Catholic sentiment of the early days of the Reformation, to an Abbey village outside of Paris. He became the monks’ musical scribe. He transcribed the Latin hymn, Adeste Fideles and to this day, he is credited by some as the author of the piece. It proved popular and in 1791 was published in a manual for teaching elements of music such as scales, intervals and clefs [36].

The music has been attributed to several individuals, among them King John IV of Portugal, the ‘Musician King.’ The author of the first English translation is not known definitively, but Francis Oakley persists as a possible candidate. Oakley was a member of the Oxford Movement and a canon at Westminster Abbey [37].

O Holy Night

Placide Cappeau was born in 1808 in the small town of Roquemaure on the banks of the Rhone in southern France. He wrote poetry, including an epic about his hometown, running to nine thousand verses [38].

In 1847 the cure (parish priest) of Roquemaure, asked Chapeau to write a piece for the church’s Christmas pageant. On December 3rd, the French poem that would become ‘O Holy Night’ was completed.  Through a mutual friend, opera signer, Emily Laurey, Cappeau got his poem into the hands of Adolphe Adam, a leading opera composer of the day. Adam put the poem to music and on Christmas Eve, 1847, the soprano Emily Laure performed the song, now called Noel d’Adam, in public for the first-time [39].

John Sullivan Dwight was a Unitarian minister who trained at Harvard Divinity School [40]. He became involved in the transcendental movement and joined one of their communes as a music teacher [41]. He later became a music critic and founded a music publication, Dwight’s Journal of Music. In 1855 Dwight translated Cappeau’s Noel into English [42]. By 1860 Dwight’s version was published in France, England and the United States.

In 1906 the Canadian engineer, inventor, and former associate of Thomas Edison, Reginald Fessenden, successfully completed the first two-way radio communication between his home in Brant Rock, Massachusetts and Machrihanish, Scotland. On Christmas Eve of that year he made the first AM radio broadcast, which was heard as far away as Norfolk, Va.  He played one of Handel’s compositions on a phonograph, read a Bible text and personally played ‘O Holy Night’ on the violin. In so doing Fessenden made the carol the first piece of music ever performed live on radio [43].

Final Thoughts

Christians have complained for years about the commercialization of Christmas, the secular nature of the holidays, a disregard for Jesus Christ, the person for whom the celebration is supposedly held. What may be surprising is that this is not necessarily anything new. There has always been a mixing of the secular and sacred around Christmas. And this misalignment of the Holiday and Jesus Christ applies to Christmas carols themselves. St. Francis of Assisi instigated the original carol to combat the heresy of the day, but his efforts were replaced by secular songs. Later, poems were written to celebrate the birth of the Christ child but much of the music that brought these words to life were not originally written to celebrate Jesus’ birth at all.  Moreover many of the songs played at Christmas time in recent years have nothing at all to do with Jesus.

Nonetheless Christmas is not entirely lost for the Christian.  The religious Christmas carol, and the people who wrote and preserved them, have ensured that the  Holiday’s namesake is still welcomed at the party.

© 2018 Weldon Turner. All Rights Reserved.

Media

Amateur Waits24th December 1891:  A country house party serenade their neighbours with Christmas carols on Christmas Eve. Original Artwork: Drawn by Arthur Hopkins.  (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Details Credit:Hulton Archive / Stringer Editorial #:3095656 Collection:Hulton Archive Date created:24 December, 1891 Licence type:Rights-managed Release info:Not released. More information Source:Hulton Archive Barcode:JF1832 Object name:99t/18/huty/13418/02 Max file size:3839 x 2712 px (135.43 x 95.67 cm) – 72 dpi – 2.1 MB https://www.gettyimages.ca/license/3095656 Stille Nacht

By Rettinghaus – Volksliederbuch für gemischten Chor, Leipzig 1915, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40855054

References

[1] Percy Dearmer, R. Vaughan Williams, Martin Shaw, Oxford Book of Carols, Oxford University Press, 1999, pv

[2] William J. Phillips, Carols, Their Origin, Music, and Connection with Mystery Plays, Forgotten Books, 2015, pi.

[3] Western Drama Through The Ages, A Student Reference Guide, Vol 1, edited by Kimball King, Greenwood Press, 2007, p85 https://books.google.ca/books?id=94LDaZ3efUYC&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq=%22vernacular+drama%22&source=bl&ots=RJIUKJHytJ&sig=poA6kW1h6JdRCCWpEN47i7gq0Jw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwid7b-S-rLYAhXs6YMKHTIcAPA4ChDoAQgqMAE#v=onepage&q=%22vernacular%20drama%22&f=false

[4] Phillips, Carols, p24.

[5] Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/art/mystery-play, accessed January 6, 2018.

[6] http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Wassailing/

[7] History.org, http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/holiday06/wassail.cfm

[8] Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Oliver-Cromwell, accessed, December 31, 2017

[9] Dearmer, Oxford Book of Carols, p ix

[10] History.com, http://www.history.com/topics/industrial-revolution, accessed January 7, 2018.

[11] Mark Connelly, Christmas,  A History,  i=I.B. Tauris & Co., 1999,  p62.

[12] Hymns and Carols of Christmas, https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/Biographies/davies_gilbert.htm, accessed January 7, 2018.

[13] British Library, https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/christmas-carols-ancient-and-modern-by-william-sandys, accessed January 7, 2018

[14] Connelly, Christmas, p65

[15] Connelly, Christmas, p66.

[16] University of Rochester, https://urresearch.rochester.edu/institutionalPublicationPublicView.action?institutionalItemVersionId=26596. accessed January 1, 2018

[17] W.H. Monk, Hymns Ancient and Modern, J. Alfred Novello, 1861.  Digitized version accessed, January 1, 2018, https://ia801701.us.archive.org/33/items/modeance00chur/modeance00chur.pdf

[18] Connelly, Christmas, p67

[19] Connelly, Christmas, p67

[20] Connelly, Christmas, p73

[21] Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed January 1, 2018. https://www.britannica.com/art/carol.

[22] Connelly, Christmas, p75.

[23] Connelly, Christmas, p87

[24] Trinity Church Boston, http://www.trinitychurchboston.org/about/history, accessed January 2, 2018.

[25] Andrew Gant, The Carols of Christmas, Nelson Books, 2015, p39.

[26] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p39.

[27] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p44

[28] Christian History, http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/poets/charles-wesley.html accessed, January 4, 2018,

[29] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p107

[31] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p111

[32] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p113

[33] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p113

[34] Silent Night Museum, https://www.salzburg.info/en/sights/excursions/stille-nacht-museum-oberndorf, accessed January 2, 2018.

[35] The Telegraph, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/12062012/Silent-Night-A-short-history-of-Britains-favourite-Christmas-carol.html , accessed January 2, 2017

[36] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p57

[37] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p59

[38] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p79

[39] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p77

[41] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p79

[42] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p79

[43] The Canadian Encyclopedia, http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/reginald-fessenden/  accessed January 6, 2018

Bibliography

Percy Dearmer, R. Vaughan Williams, Martin Shaw, Oxford Book of Carols, Oxford University Press, 1999, pv William J. Phillips, Carols, Their Origin, Music, and Connection with Mystery Plays, Forgotten Books, 2015 Mark Connelly, Christmas, A History, I.B. Tauris & Co., 1999 Andrew Gant, The Carols of Christmas, Nelson Books, 2015

Links

Western Drama Through The Ages, A Student Reference Guide, Vol 1, edited by Kimball King, Greenwood Press, 2007, p85 https://books.google.ca/books?id=94LDaZ3efUYC&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq=%22vernacular+drama%22&source=bl&ots=RJIUKJHytJ&sig=poA6kW1h6JdRCCWpEN47i7gq0Jw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwid7b-S-rLYAhXs6YMKHTIcAPA4ChDoAQgqMAE#v=onepage&q=%22vernacular%20drama%22&f=false Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/art/mystery-play, accessed January 6, 2018. Historic-UK.com, http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Wassailing/ History.org, http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/holiday06/wassail.cfm Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Oliver-Cromwell, accessed, December 31, 2017 History.com, http://www.history.com/topics/industrial-revolution, accessed January 7, 2018. Hymns and Carols of Christmas, https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/Biographies/davies_gilbert.htm, accessed January 7, 2018. Bitish Library, https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/christmas-carols-ancient-and-modern-by-william-sandys, accessed January 7, 2018 University of Rochester, https://urresearch.rochester.edu/institutionalPublicationPublicView.action?institutionalItemVersionId=26596. accessed January 1, 2018 Hymns Ancient and Modern, J. Alfred Novello, 1861.  Digitized version accessed, January 1, 2018, https://ia801701.us.archive.org/33/items/modeance00chur/modeance00chur.pdf Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed January 1, 2018. https://www.britannica.com/art/carol. Trinity Church Boston, http://www.trinitychurchboston.org/about/history, accessed January 2, 2018. Christian History, http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/poets/charles-wesley.html accessed, January 4, 2018, Silent Night Museum, https://www.salzburg.info/en/sights/excursions/stille-nacht-museum-oberndorf, accessed January 2, 2018. The Telegraph, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/12062012/Silent-Night-A-short-history-of-Britains-favourite-Christmas-carol.html , accessed January 2, 2017 The Canadian Encyclopedia, http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/reginald-fessenden/  accessed January 6, 2018

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The Origins of Christmas Carols

Carolers on Christmas Eve, 1891. Original Artwork: Drawn by Arthur Hopkins. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A Brief History

The First Carols

On a trip from Rome in 1223, St. Francis and his followers stopped at the small village of Grecia, near Assisi. At the time, in some parts of the Christian Church, a system of beliefs, associated with the Paulician sect, had taken hold. While Paulicians believed the Gospel of Luke, and the letters of Paul, they did not believe that Jesus was indeed the son of Mary, because a good God could not have taken flesh and become man, who in their view, was fundamentally evil. Eager to combat this heresy and dramatize the Incarnation of God through the birth of Jesus Christ, St. Francis and his followers created what would become the first Nativity Scene, and sang hymns to the Lord Jesus [1]. As they sang songs (canticles) one of Francis’ followers had a vision of the saint (Francis) bending over a baby, laying in a trance, in the manger that he had constructed. As they sang the baby slowly awoke, symbolizing Christ bringing life to a dead and ‘wicked’ world [2]. The drama of that episode would later be captured in what later became known as the Christmas Mystery Play, and the songs that were sung  are said to be the precursor of the Christmas Carol.

Mystery Plays dealt with religious subject matter, and were one of three dramatic forms (together with Morality Plays and Miracle Plays) performed outside of churches.  The subject matter of Mystery Plays often centered on significant events depicted in the Bible, like the fall of Satan, the Birth of Jesus, or Judgement Day [3].

Carols came into prominence during the Middle Ages with the popularity of these plays. Mystery Plays could be quite lengthy, and performers serenaded audiences with carols during breaks in the performances [4]. By the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries carol singers and their music became so popular that they were incorporated into the play itself.

In time the Mystery Plays drifted away from their religious roots and fell out of favour with the religious authorities of the day [5]. They became more secular, and in some instances, even mocked religious figures like monks and priests. By the time of the Reformation and the Puritan Era, the public performance of Mystery Plays, effectively over.

Another era in the development of the Christmas Carol is the practice of wassailing.  The Anglo-Saxon tradition of wassailing came into vogue during the Middle Ages [6]. At the beginning of each year, groups of merry-makers would go from house to house, wassail drink in hand, singing songs, wishing good cheer [7]. This practice would eventually evolve into caroling.

The golden age of carols was from the 1400s to the mid 17th century. However there seems to be an extended struggle between the performance of the Carol, with its origins in drama and later in dance music and its association with merry-making and drinking, and the emergence of Puritanism and the staunch Calvinist, Olive Cromwell–statesman, and lord protector of England, Scotland and Ireland [8]. In 1647 Cromwell and his Puritan Parliament abolished Christmas celebrations and other festivals altogether [9].

The Nineteenth Century

By the early 1800s Britain was in the middle of the Industrial Revolution.  Inventions such as the spinning jenny and the power loom lead to the development of a textile industry. Innovations in the production of iron and steel led to the manufacture of products as diverse as appliances and tools, to ships and infrastructure [10]. The Revolution also gave rise to a manufacturing industry and a need for workers. Persons from the rural areas, particularly the young, migrated to the cities in search of work. With the migration to urban areas came the fear that rural traditions may be lost, a mere memory among the old who remained in the countryside. Among these traditions was the folk carol, and several prominent figures in music and literature set about to ensure this did not happen.

Mark Connelly, Professor of Modern British History at the University of Kent, in his book, Christmas, A History, chronicles the efforts of the men who collected and published the English folk carol, in so doing, preserving them for generations to come

He cites British MP Davies Gilbert as the first to systematically collect carols and render a basic description of the same, namely, music derived from folk songs, sung, not written, emanating from the south-western part of England, an area known as the West Country [11].  In 1822 Davies published A Collection of Ancient Christmas Carols, which included, ‘Whilst Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night’ and ‘The First Nowel That The Angel Did Say’ [12]. In 1833 William Sandys, a lawyer by profession, published Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern, which included ‘God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen’; ‘Hark, the Herald Angels Sing’, ‘I Saw Three Ships’; and ‘The First Noel’ [13].

Another factor in the resurgence of the Christmas carol, Connelly argues, is the rise of Methodism. The Wesleys (John and Charles) used hymn singing as an integral part of their services, which were squarely directed at the common man and woman.  Connelly suggests reaching back to the choral tradition of the carol and its folk song history was useful in relating to their followers [14].

The mid-nineteenth century saw the return of a choral tradition in the Anglican Church with the publication of Hymns Ancient and Modern [15].   A committee of clergymen, originally under the chairmanship of Sir. Henry Williams Baker, compiled and arranged the volume [16].

William Henry Monk, organist and director of music at King’s College, London, and ‘H. W. Baker, hymn writer, directed the compilation and arrangement of hymns [17].

The volume contained such Christmas favourites as ‘Oh Come, All Ye Faithful’, ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’ and ‘While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks by Night.’

In 1853 Reverends J. M.  Neale and T. Helmore published Carols for Christmas [18] but it was Christmas Carols New and Old, published in 1869 by Reverend H.R. Bramley ad Dr. John Stainer, that was the next significant development in the publication of Christmas carols, and was the ‘first large-scale circulation of a Christmas Carol collection [19].

In 1911 Cecil Sharpe, published English Folk Carols, a collection from southwest of England. [20]. Like many of his predecessors, Sharp’s rationale for compiling the collection was simply to preserve the history of the folk carol.  Notable among English Folk Carols is ‘God Bless You, Merry Gentlemen’ and ‘I Saw Three Ships’ [21].

In 1919 Percy Dearmer, Canon of Westminster and professor of Ecclesiastical Art at King’s College London, and Martin Shaw, composer, arranger,  educator, and T. S. Eliot collaborator, published The English Carol Book. The Great War had been fought, the Allies were victorious, and English ‘values’ (as opposed to British ones) had been protected, or so Connelly argues. The publication of Deamer’s and Shaw’s volume, with its affirmation of the ‘Englishness’ of the Christmas carol, fit neatly into this narrative [22].  The collection included ‘I Saw Three Ships’, ‘The First Nowell’, ‘Good King Wenceslas’, ‘What Child Is This’, among others. Dearmer and Shaw worked on several projects together with Ralph Vaughan Williams, including 1925s successful hymnal, Songs of Praise. However it was their 1928 volume that has become a classic, the definitive compilation of English Christmas carols, The Oxford Book of Carols.

In 1928 The Oxford Book of Carols was published. Edited by Dearmer, Shaw and Williams—composer and professor of music composition at Trinity College–it has been a commercial and critical success. At 480 pages it has undergone over forty editions, and currently contains 197 carols. It is known not only for its sheer breadth of songs but for its scholarly content as well.  Dearmer’s preface has been specifically cited for documenting the source of the texts and the music, and in some cases, the history of the carols themselves [23].

Selected Carols

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Phillips Brooks was ordained in 1860 and would become one of the most prominent preachers of his era [24]. He became the Rector of Trinity Church in Boston in 1869 and Bishop of Massachusetts in 1891, a little more than a year before he died [25]. He was one of the clergymen to address the congregation at President Lincoln’s funeral in 1865.

Brooks believed in congregational hymn singing and wrote both Easter and Christmas carols  [26]. He published the words to’ O Little Town of Bethlehem’ in 1891.

Ralph Vaughan Williams has been called one of England’s greatest composers. He together with Percy Dearmer is responsible for editing a number of significant books of praise. For his book, The English Hymnal, he matched the words of ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ to a tune he had first heard in the village of Forest Green [27].

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

While many Christmas carols are like orphaned pieces of music—whose authors are not known, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing is not a member of this group, boasting a pedigree few carols can match. Charles Wesley, one of the best known and prolific hymn writers of all time–and with is brother, John—founded Methodism, wrote the words to this hymn, originally written as a poem.  Charles Wesley has written close to 9,000 hymns [28] reportedly, ten times more than that other giant of  hymn writing, Isaac Watts.

The original version of the poem was published in a collection of hymns in 1739 [29]. Modifications were made in subsequent years. Among those editing the piece was the famous evangelist and Wesley friend and colleague, George Whitefield [30].

Almost a hundred years later, in 1840, classical composer Felix Mendelssohn completed a cantata celebrating the 400th anniversary of Gutenberg’s invention of movable type [31]. Mendelssohn’s publisher had the cantata’s second movement translated into English.

William Hayman Cummings was an organist, a gifted tenor and admirer of Mendelssohn. As a boy he sang at St. Paul’s Cathedral, one of Mendelssohn’s favourite ‘haunts’.   Cummings came across the second movement of Mendelssohn’s Cantata and realized that Charles Wesley’s Hark! The Herald Angels Sing fit the music. He transcribed the poem and music. He received so many requests for copies he took his arrangement to the publisher, Ewer and Co.—who happened to be Mendelssohn’s publisher as well. Cumming’s version was published it in1856, six years after Mendelssohn’s death [32].

Cummings marriage of Wesley’s and Mendelssohn’s work was included in the landmark publication, Hymns Ancient and Modern, in 1861 [33].

Silent Night

Silent Night was written in the village of Oberndorf, about 17 km north of the city of Salzburg in Austria [34]. According to an article in the Telegraph, Joseph Mohr, a Catholic priest, asked his friend and organist of his church to put music to a poem he had written a few years earlier called Stille Nacht. In a small Austrian village, on Christmas Eve, 1818, the two men sang Stille Nacht for the first time. In 1859, John Freeman, a priest at New York City’s Trinity Church, translated the hymn into English [35].

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Common, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40855054

O Come, All Ye Faithful

The creators of some of our best known and most beloved carols are unknown.  This is true for one of the most popular carols, ‘O Come All Ye Faithful.’ The words are from a Latin hymn (author unknown) entitled, Adeste Fideles.

John Francis Wade was the son of a cloth merchant based in Leeds, England. He was a devout Catholic who, in 1731 at age 20, fled the rising anti-Catholic sentiment of the early days of the Reformation, to an Abbey village outside of Paris. He became the monks’ musical scribe. He transcribed the Latin hymn, Adeste Fideles and to this day, he is credited by some as the author of the piece. It proved popular and in 1791 was published in a manual for teaching elements of music such as scales, intervals and clefs [36].

The music has been attributed to several individuals, among them King John IV of Portugal, the ‘Musician King.’ The author of the first English translation is not known definitively, but Francis Oakley persists as a possible candidate. Oakley was a member of the Oxford Movement and a canon at Westminster Abbey [37].

O Holy Night

Placide Cappeau was born in 1808 in the small town of Roquemaure on the banks of the Rhone in southern France. He wrote poetry, including an epic about his hometown, running to nine thousand verses [38].

In 1847 the cure (parish priest) of Roquemaure, asked Chapeau to write a piece for the church’s Christmas pageant. On December 3rd, the French poem that would become ‘O Holy Night’ was completed.  Through a mutual friend, opera signer, Emily Laurey, Cappeau got his poem into the hands of Adolphe Adam, a leading opera composer of the day. Adam put the poem to music and on Christmas Eve, 1847, the soprano Emily Laure performed the song, now called Noel d’Adam, in public for the first-time [39].

John Sullivan Dwight was a Unitarian minister who trained at Harvard Divinity School [40]. He became involved in the transcendental movement and joined one of their communes as a music teacher [41]. He later became a music critic and founded a music publication, Dwight’s Journal of Music. In 1855 Dwight translated Cappeau’s Noel into English [42]. By 1860 Dwight’s version was published in France, England and the United States.

In 1906 the Canadian engineer, inventor, and former associate of Thomas Edison, Reginald Fessenden, successfully completed the first two-way radio communication between his home in Brant Rock, Massachusetts and Machrihanish, Scotland. On Christmas Eve of that year he made the first AM radio broadcast, which was heard as far away as Norfolk, Va.  He played one of Handel’s compositions on a phonograph, read a Bible text and personally played ‘O Holy Night’ on the violin. In so doing Fessenden made the carol the first piece of music ever performed live on radio [43].

Final Thoughts

Christians have complained for years about the commercialization of Christmas, the secular nature of the holidays, a disregard for Jesus Christ, the person for whom the celebration is supposedly held. What may be surprising is that this is not necessarily anything new. There has always been a mixing of the secular and sacred around Christmas. And this misalignment of the Holiday and Jesus Christ applies to Christmas carols themselves. St. Francis of Assisi instigated the original carol to combat the heresy of the day, but his efforts were replaced by secular songs. Later, poems were written to celebrate the birth of the Christ child but much of the music that brought these words to life were not originally written to celebrate Jesus’ birth at all.  Moreover many of the songs played at Christmas time in recent years have nothing at all to do with Jesus.

Nonetheless Christmas is not entirely lost for the Christian.  The religious Christmas carol, and the people who wrote and preserved them, have ensured that the  Holiday’s namesake is still welcomed at the party.

© 2018 Weldon Turner. All Rights Reserved.

Media

Amateur Waits24th December 1891:  A country house party serenade their neighbours with Christmas carols on Christmas Eve. Original Artwork: Drawn by Arthur Hopkins.  (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Details Credit:Hulton Archive / Stringer Editorial #:3095656 Collection:Hulton Archive Date created:24 December, 1891 Licence type:Rights-managed Release info:Not released. More information Source:Hulton Archive Barcode:JF1832 Object name:99t/18/huty/13418/02 Max file size:3839 x 2712 px (135.43 x 95.67 cm) – 72 dpi – 2.1 MB https://www.gettyimages.ca/license/3095656 Stille Nacht

By Rettinghaus – Volksliederbuch für gemischten Chor, Leipzig 1915, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40855054

References

[1] Percy Dearmer, R. Vaughan Williams, Martin Shaw, Oxford Book of Carols, Oxford University Press, 1999, pv

[2] William J. Phillips, Carols, Their Origin, Music, and Connection with Mystery Plays, Forgotten Books, 2015, pi.

[3] Western Drama Through The Ages, A Student Reference Guide, Vol 1, edited by Kimball King, Greenwood Press, 2007, p85 https://books.google.ca/books?id=94LDaZ3efUYC&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq=%22vernacular+drama%22&source=bl&ots=RJIUKJHytJ&sig=poA6kW1h6JdRCCWpEN47i7gq0Jw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwid7b-S-rLYAhXs6YMKHTIcAPA4ChDoAQgqMAE#v=onepage&q=%22vernacular%20drama%22&f=false

[4] Phillips, Carols, p24.

[5] Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/art/mystery-play, accessed January 6, 2018.

[6] http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Wassailing/

[7] History.org, http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/holiday06/wassail.cfm

[8] Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Oliver-Cromwell, accessed, December 31, 2017

[9] Dearmer, Oxford Book of Carols, p ix

[10] History.com, http://www.history.com/topics/industrial-revolution, accessed January 7, 2018.

[11] Mark Connelly, Christmas,  A History,  i=I.B. Tauris & Co., 1999,  p62.

[12] Hymns and Carols of Christmas, https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/Biographies/davies_gilbert.htm, accessed January 7, 2018.

[13] British Library, https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/christmas-carols-ancient-and-modern-by-william-sandys, accessed January 7, 2018

[14] Connelly, Christmas, p65

[15] Connelly, Christmas, p66.

[16] University of Rochester, https://urresearch.rochester.edu/institutionalPublicationPublicView.action?institutionalItemVersionId=26596. accessed January 1, 2018

[17] W.H. Monk, Hymns Ancient and Modern, J. Alfred Novello, 1861.  Digitized version accessed, January 1, 2018, https://ia801701.us.archive.org/33/items/modeance00chur/modeance00chur.pdf

[18] Connelly, Christmas, p67

[19] Connelly, Christmas, p67

[20] Connelly, Christmas, p73

[21] Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed January 1, 2018. https://www.britannica.com/art/carol.

[22] Connelly, Christmas, p75.

[23] Connelly, Christmas, p87

[24] Trinity Church Boston, http://www.trinitychurchboston.org/about/history, accessed January 2, 2018.

[25] Andrew Gant, The Carols of Christmas, Nelson Books, 2015, p39.

[26] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p39.

[27] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p44

[28] Christian History, http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/poets/charles-wesley.html accessed, January 4, 2018,

[29] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p107

[31] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p111

[32] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p113

[33] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p113

[34] Silent Night Museum, https://www.salzburg.info/en/sights/excursions/stille-nacht-museum-oberndorf, accessed January 2, 2018.

[35] The Telegraph, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/12062012/Silent-Night-A-short-history-of-Britains-favourite-Christmas-carol.html , accessed January 2, 2017

[36] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p57

[37] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p59

[38] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p79

[39] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p77

[41] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p79

[42] Gant, The Carols of Christmas, p79

[43] The Canadian Encyclopedia, http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/reginald-fessenden/  accessed January 6, 2018

Bibliography

Percy Dearmer, R. Vaughan Williams, Martin Shaw, Oxford Book of Carols, Oxford University Press, 1999, pv William J. Phillips, Carols, Their Origin, Music, and Connection with Mystery Plays, Forgotten Books, 2015 Mark Connelly, Christmas, A History, I.B. Tauris & Co., 1999 Andrew Gant, The Carols of Christmas, Nelson Books, 2015

Links

Western Drama Through The Ages, A Student Reference Guide, Vol 1, edited by Kimball King, Greenwood Press, 2007, p85 https://books.google.ca/books?id=94LDaZ3efUYC&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq=%22vernacular+drama%22&source=bl&ots=RJIUKJHytJ&sig=poA6kW1h6JdRCCWpEN47i7gq0Jw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwid7b-S-rLYAhXs6YMKHTIcAPA4ChDoAQgqMAE#v=onepage&q=%22vernacular%20drama%22&f=false Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/art/mystery-play, accessed January 6, 2018. Historic-UK.com, http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Wassailing/ History.org, http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/holiday06/wassail.cfm Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Oliver-Cromwell, accessed, December 31, 2017 History.com, http://www.history.com/topics/industrial-revolution, accessed January 7, 2018. Hymns and Carols of Christmas, https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/Biographies/davies_gilbert.htm, accessed January 7, 2018. Bitish Library, https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/christmas-carols-ancient-and-modern-by-william-sandys, accessed January 7, 2018 University of Rochester, https://urresearch.rochester.edu/institutionalPublicationPublicView.action?institutionalItemVersionId=26596. accessed January 1, 2018 Hymns Ancient and Modern, J. Alfred Novello, 1861.  Digitized version accessed, January 1, 2018, https://ia801701.us.archive.org/33/items/modeance00chur/modeance00chur.pdf Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed January 1, 2018. https://www.britannica.com/art/carol. Trinity Church Boston, http://www.trinitychurchboston.org/about/history, accessed January 2, 2018. Christian History, http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/poets/charles-wesley.html accessed, January 4, 2018, Silent Night Museum, https://www.salzburg.info/en/sights/excursions/stille-nacht-museum-oberndorf, accessed January 2, 2018. The Telegraph, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/12062012/Silent-Night-A-short-history-of-Britains-favourite-Christmas-carol.html , accessed January 2, 2017 The Canadian Encyclopedia, http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/reginald-fessenden/  accessed January 6, 2018

[weldonturner]

New Post has been published on Weldon Turner

New Post has been published on http://www.weldonturner.com/sojourner-truth-part-2-woman-of-influence/

Sojourner Truth Part 2: Woman of Influence

Artist’s portrait of Sojourner Truth’s meeting with Abraham Lincoln in 1864 (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

This is the second of a two-part article on Sojourner Truth, the 19th century preacher, orator, anti-slavery, and women’s rights activist.  Born a slave in Ulster County, New York, she was never afforded the opportunity to learn to read or write. Yet, through fearless determination born of a deep Christian faith, she became one of the brightest lights in the civil-rights and women’s rights movements of the 19th century, lecturing and speaking to thousands, and meeting with some of the most influential figures of the period, including three presidents.

Laying the Groundwork

From New York City Sojourner Truth headed east: Brooklyn, Long Island, then Connecticut–Bridgeport, New Haven, Bristol and Hartford.  She attended camp meetings, organized meetings, listened to sermons, preached and shared her testimony.  She also worked when she could.  In Hartford, in 1843, she joined a group of Millerites.

In 1838 William Miller (1782-1849) published a collection of lectures entitled Evidence from Scripture and History of the Second Coming of Christ, About the Year 1843.  The volume predicted the final days of the earth, and the return of Christ, based on the Book of Daniel [1].

Miller was not an ordained minister but did have a license to preach [2]. He and a colleague, Boston pastor Joshua Hines, [3] recruited evangelical preachers and published books and pamphlets to support their teachings. The phenomenon became known as the Millerite Movement, and attracted some 50,000 adherents.

Northampton 1843-45

Like Miller, Truth believed the end of the world was near, but was not convinced of his timeline [4] [Note: Much of the reference material in this article is based on the book, Sojourner Truth, A Life and A Symbol, by Neil Patrick Painter, professor of history at Princeton University.] Nonetheless she became popular at Millerite meetings throughout the Northeast with her singing, prayer, and the ‘aptness of her remarks’ [5].

Opportunities to address audiences large and small accelerated the transformation from Isabella Van Wagenen to Sojourner Truth.

As the winter of 1843 approached, uneasy with some aspects of the Millerite Movement, and a preference for communal living, the itinerant Truth accepted the recommendation of Millerite friends to move to a commune in Northampton, Massachusetts [6].

The community was officially named The Northampton Association for Education and Industry [7]. One of the founders of the Association was the brother-in-law of  William Lloyd Garrison, the famed publisher and anti-slavery activist.  According to Painter:

[The Association] did not hold property in common or attempt to supplant existing family arrangements…it was organized “by religious men, upon anti-slavery ground…The need to heal class conflicts of the larger society, the worst of which was slavery, was one of the Northampton Association’s basic tenets.’ [8] Leading members of the abolitionist movement, including Garrison and Frederick Douglass, were featured lecturers [9].

Initially Truth was not impressed with the Association, but she ‘gradually became pleased’ with it. At Northampton she found a community consisting of some of the ‘choicest spirits of the age,’ where all was characterized by an ‘equality of feeling,’ ‘a liberty of thought and speech,’ and a ‘largeness of the soul.’ [10]

Engraving From 1868 Featuring The American Writer And Former Slave, Frederick Douglass (1818-1895).

Frederick Douglass, too, was impressed with the egalitarian nature of the community. He recalls: ‘the “place and the people struck me as the most democratic I had ever met. It was a place to extinguish all aristocratic pretentions. There was no high no low, no masters, no servants, no white, no black. I, however, felt myself in very high society.”’ [11]

In time Truth no longer considered herself a Millerite, but without the help of fellow believers, she was faced with the daunting task of earning an income.

In 1845 Frederick Douglass published the first of his autobiographies, the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, to enormous success, selling 4,500 copies in the first six months [12].  A year later, Sojourner Truth embarked on her own Narrative.  She dictated her story to Olive Gilbert, a fellow member of the commune at Northampton [13]. In 1850 The Narrative of Sojourner Truth was published [14].

Truth carried copies of the book and sold them where she preached and lectured.  The Narrative of Sojourner Truth further established Truth as a public figure, a popular preacher and lecturer.

The Ascendancy of Truth

In 1850 Truth addressed a ‘large’ women’s rights meeting in Worcester, Mass, the first such meeting of a ‘national scope’. It was a follow up to the landmark 1848 conference at Seneca Falls, New York. Many abolitionists were also pro-women’s rights, as was Garrison, Douglass, and Amy Post, one of the organizers of 1848 conference. Sojourner Truth was also part of this circle of activists and would become a lifelong friend of Post [15].

Aren’t I A Woman

On May 28, 1851 Frances Dana Gage and fellow activists in the women’s rights movement convened a conference at an Akron, Ohio, church. Among the speakers were male members of the abolitionist movement, and ministers from several faith denominations.  Also in attendance was the itinerant speaker, Sojourner Truth [16].

On the second day of the conference, after several speeches by men apparently dismissive of women’s search for equality, Sojourner Truth asked the event organizer, Gage, to speak.

May I say a few words…I want to say a few words about this matter. I am a woman’s rights. I have as much muscle as any man, and I can do as much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that? I have heard much about the sexes being equal; I can carry as much as any man, and can eat as much too, if I can get it. I am as strong as any man that is now. As for intellect, all I can say is, if a woman has a pint and a man a quart, why cant she have her little pint full? You need not be afraid to give us our rights for fear we will take too much,–for we cant take more than our pint’ll hold. The poor man seems to be all in confusion. And I don’t know what to do. Why children, if you have woman’s rights give it to her and you will feel better. You will have your own rights, and they wont be so much trouble. I cant read, but I can hear. I have heard the bible and have learned that Eve caused man to sin. Well if women upset the world, do give her a chance to set it right side up again. The lady has spoken about Jesus, how he never spurned woman from him, and she was right. When Lazarus died, Mary and Martha came to him with faith and love and besought him to raise their brother. And Jesus wept—and Lazarus came forth. And how came Jesus into the world? Through God who created him and woman who bore him. Man, where is your part? But the women are coming up blessed be God and a few of the men are coming up with them. But man is in a tight place, the poor slave is on him, and he is surely between a hawk and a buzzard.

The above account—later known as the ‘Aren’t I A Woman Speech’–would become inexorably linked to Truth. It appeared on the back page of the June 21, 1851 issue of the Anti-Slavery Bugle–a weekly publication of the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society, later the Western Anti-Slavery Society [17].  According to the Library of Congress, the Society reflected the ‘radical’ views of William Lloyd Garrison. It’s motto, ‘No union with slave owners’ and its mission statement, “to preach deliverance to the captive, and the opening of the prison door to them that are bound; to hasten in the day when ‘liberty shall be proclaimed throughout all the land, unto all inhabitants thereof’” succinctly stated its point of view.  In addition to its anti-slavery perspective it supported women’s rights and the ‘peace movement’, coming out against the government’s involvement in the Mexican-American War. It printed editorials, letters, calls for meetings, and speeches that supported its goals.

The 1850s

The 1850s were a tumultuous and culturally disruptive decade for the United States–a decade in which the issue of slavery was front and center.  In 1850 Congress passed a revised version of the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act, which allowed slaveholders to recapture escaped slaves in free states. The 1850 version, intended to mollify fears of southern states on the issue of slavery and preserve the Union, went even further. It compelled citizens to assist in the capture of runaway slaves, denied slaves the right to a jury trial, and paid federal ‘commissioners’ more for the return of captured slaves than for freeing them [18] 2017.  The new law put escaped slaves in jeopardy everywhere in the United States.

In the North reaction to the new law was intense.  It mobilized many abolitionists and helped usher in a brand-new actor on the political stage:  the Republican Party.

In 1856 the newly formed Republican Party held its first National convention, and fielded its first nominee for president, John C. Frémont, ‘on a platform that called on Congress to abolish slavery in the territories.’ [19].

Truth continued preaching. According to SojournerTruth.org, she addressed a meeting held by the Friends of Human Progress Association in Michigan, on October 4-5 of 1856. She spoke of her life in bondage–what it meant for her as a person, as a mother, as a ‘wife’, as a piece of property [20]:

I believe in Jesus, and I was forty years a slave but I did not know how dear to me was my posterity. I was so beclouded and crushed. But how good and wise is God, for if the slaves knowed what their true condition was, it would be more than the mind could bear. While the race is sold of all their rights — what is there on God’s footstool to bring them up? Has not God given to all his creatures the same rights? How could I travel and live and speak? When I had not got something to bear me up, when I’ve been robbed of all my affections for husband and children.

Some years ago there appeared to me a form (here the speaker gave a very graphic description of the vision she had). Then I learned that I was a human being. We had been taught that we was a species of monkey, baboon or ‘rang-o-tang, and we believed it — we’d never seen any of these animals. But I believe in the next world. When we gets up yonder, we shall have all of them rights ‘stored to us again — all that love what I’ve lost — all going to be ‘stored to me again. Oh! How good God is.

My mother said when we were sold, we must ask God to make our masters good, and I asked who He was. She told me, He sit up in the sky. When I was sold, I had a severe, hard master, and I was tied up in the barn and whipped. Oh! Till the blood run down the floor and I asked God, why don’t you come and relieve me — if I was you and you’se tied up so, I’d do it for you.

Truth’s speech addressed what was probably the pre-eminent issue of time.  Events within the next four years seemed to propel the country into an unavoidable confrontation over the issue of bondage.

The Gathering Storm

In March 1857, the United States Supreme Court ruled on one of the most infamous cases in its history, Scott v. Sandford. Dred Scott was a slave who travelled with his owner to a free state (Illinois) and lived in a free territory (Wisconsin) [21]. Scott eventually returned to Missouri where he saved to purchase freedom for his family and himself. In 1846, six years after returning to St. Louis, Scott had a new owner who refused to grant freedom.  Scott took his case to the Missouri State Court arguing that since he had lived in a free state, he was entitled to emancipation, based on the Missouri Compromise of 1820. After a series of lower court rulings, Scott’s case went to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court refused to hear the case, claiming it lacked jurisdiction. Chief Justice Roger Taney writing the majority opinion argued that since Scott was a negro and a slave (and thereby property) he was not a U.S. citizen and had no right to file a suit in federal court [22]. He added that the idea of him becoming emancipated by simply traveling to a free state was ‘absurd’ and ‘disgraceful’ [23]. The decision outraged Northern abolitionists and boosted support for the fledgling Republican Party and its anti-slavery platform.

  In 1858, two years after dragging seven pro-slavery settlers from their homes and hacking them to death, [24] [25] a White radical anti-slavery activist, and self-proclaimed soldier of God, visited the free Black community in Chatham, Ontario, Canada. There the Connecticut native hatched a plan that had been percolating for some time: an armed anti-slavery insurrection in the South. The man’s name was John Brown.

In October 16th, 1859, Brown and twenty-one followers, including his five sons, raided the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia–the ‘biggest collection of weapons in the South.’ [26] The success of the raid depended on slaves joining Brown and his men, but not a single slave joined the group.  The following morning, U.S. Marines, under the command of Col. Robert E. Lee, surrounded the arsenal. Brown’s sons were killed and he was wounded and captured. During his trial he presented his cause as a ‘just war’, and himself as a martyr for God’s work. On December 2nd, 1859, Brown was executed by hanging. His exploits and the resulting trial were widely reported in the newspapers. He became an anti-slavery icon, admired by some abolitionists in the North, and reinforced anti-slavery fears among pro-slavery Whites in the South, who saw his exploits as confirmation of the North’s intention of overthrowing slavery through violent means.

Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War

In 1858, former congressman Abraham Lincoln, running for a seat in the UL.S. Senate, gained national attention after a series of debates with Democratic candidate, Stephen A. Douglas.  In 1854 Douglas had sponsored the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which supported the principle of ‘popular sovereignty’.   The Act was based on the premise that territories that had not yet become states should be able to chose whether to become a slave-holding state or free. Lincoln argued the territories should be free. Helost the race but gained national prominence for himself and the young Republican Patty [27].

On May 18, 1860 in Chicago, at its second national convention, the Republican Party nominated Abraham Lincoln as its candidate for president [28]. Almost six months later, on November 6th, Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United Sates. The country was deeply divided. Lincoln won all Free states and none of the slave states [29]. He secured the victory over Senator Douglas, two other major candidates, and a divided Democratic Party. He won almost 40% of the popular vote and 180 out of 303 electoral college votes [30].

1860 U.S. Electoral Map (Courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

Several southern states, hostile to the Republican Party’s anti-slavery platform, had threatened to secede if a Republican were elected president. Between Lincoln’s election in November and his inauguration on March 4th the following year, seven states seceded [31]. The Confederate States of America was established, with Jefferson Davis its president [32].

Just over a month after Lincoln’s inauguration, at 4:30 a.m. on April 12th, Confederate forces opened fire on Union soldiers at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbour, South Carolina. The Civil War had begun.

Emancipation Proclamation

Lincoln insisted that the war was not about freeing the slaves, but preserving the Union. By 1862 the South was using enslaved peoples to aid in the war effort. The North refused to allow African Americans to enlist. On September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued a preliminary emancipation proclamation, warning the Confederacy that if they did not surrender by January 1st of the following year, their slaves would be freed. But freedom would come to slaves in Confederate-held areas only—not to all people in bondage. This was clearly a military strategy, for it deprived the South of one of its most valuable assets: free labour. Lincoln kept his word and issued the final  Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 [33]. Slaves in states that had seceded from the Union were now free. Slaves in border states loyal to the Union remained in bondage, as were those in Confederate areas that had already come under Northern control [34]. Nonetheless Black men were now allowed to fight for the Union cause and were admitted into the Army and Navy.

Widespread Influence

In 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Life Among the Lowly.  The story, examining the brutality of slavery from what some consider a Christian perspective, sold more than 300,000 copies in the United States and 200,000 copies in England in its first year [35], on the way to becoming the best-selling novel of the 19th century [36]. It drew comments from as far and wide as Charles Dickens and Leo Tolstoy.

An endorsement by Harriet Beecher Stowe would have been an immense gift to any first-time author. In 1853, Truth met Mrs. Stowe at her home in Andover, Massachusetts and received an endorsement for the Narrative.

Ten years later, in April 1863, Mrs. Stowe published ‘Sojourner Truth, the Libyan Sybil’ in the Atlantic Monthly. In the lengthy article Stowe recollects her meeting with Truth some ten years previously. She depicts Truth as both a towering imposing figure—reminiscent of a famous statuette–and a stereotypical southern ‘mammy.’ She is also depicted as lovable, simple, uncultured, shrewd, with common-sense that escapes many far more educated than she. Mrs. Stowe writes:

When I went into the room, a tall, spare form arose to meet me. She was evidently a full-blooded African, and though now aged and worn with many hardships, still gave the impression of a physical development which in early youth must have been as fine a specimen of the torrid zone as Cumberworth’s celebrated statuette of the Negro Woman at the Fountain. Indeed, she so strongly reminded me of that figure, that, when I recall the events of her life, as she narrated them to me, I imagine her as a living, breathing impersonation of that work of art.

I do not recollect ever to have been conversant with any one who had more of that silent and subtle power which we call personal presence than this woman. In the modern Spiritualistic phraseology, she would be described as having a strong sphere. Her tall form, as she rose up before me, is still vivid to my mind. She was dressed in some stout, grayish stuff, neat and clean, though dusty from travel. On her head, she wore a bright Madras handkerchief, arranged as a turban, after the manner of her race. She seemed perfectly self-possessed and at her ease, — in fact, there was almost an unconscious superiority, not unmixed with a solemn twinkle of humor, in the odd, composed manner in which she looked down on me. Her whole air had at times a gloomy sort of drollery which impressed one strangely.

“So this is you,” she said.

“Yes,” I answered.

“Well, honey, de Lord bless ye! I jes’ thought I’d like to come an’ have a look at ye. You’s heerd o’ me, I reckon?” she added.

“Yes, I think I have. You go about lecturing, do you not?”

“Yes, honey, that’s what I do. The Lord has made me a sign unto this nation, an’ I go round a’testifyin’, an’ showin’ on ’em their sins agin my people.”

Mrs. Stowe presents Truth’s Christian testimony—of her encounter with Jesus through an electrifying, spiritual experience; her experiences a slave; of retrieving her son illegally sold into slavery. Mrs. Stowe adds an anecdote, originally shared by respected Boston anti-slavery and labour reform activist Wendell Phillips, that became inextricably linked with Sojourner Truth.

Speaking of the power of Rachel to move and bear down a whole audience by a few simple words, he [Phillips] said he never knew but one other human being that had that power, and that other was Sojourner Truth. He related a scene of which he was witness. It was at a crowded public meeting in Faneuil Hall, where Frederick Douglas was one of the chief speakers. Douglas had been describing the wrongs of the black race, and as he proceeded, he grew more and more excited, and finally ended by saying that they had no hope of justice from the whites, no possible hope except in their own right arms. It must come to blood; they must fight for themselves, and redeem themselves, or it would never be done.

Sojourner was sitting, tall and dark, on the very front seat, facing the platform; and in the hush of deep feeling, after Douglas sat down, she spoke out in her deep, peculiar voice, heard all over the house, —

“Frederick, is God dead?”

The effect was perfectly electrical, and thrilled through the whole house, changing as by a flash the whole feeling of the audience. Not another word she said or needed to say; it was enough.

The Atlantic Monthly article, written by the most celebrated writer of the day, put Sojourner Truth into the national consciousness., and further cemented her reputation among White, upper-class anti-slavery activists in the North.

Less than a month after the Libyan Sibyl article appeared, women’s rights activist and writer Frances Dana Gage published her account of Sojourner Truth’s speech at the women’s rights meeting in Akron, Ohio, twelve years earlier.  The article was published in The New York Independent and documented what would become Truth’s best-known speech–‘Aren’t I A Woman’. Though the speech was published twelve years earlier in the Anti-Slavery Bugle merely a month after it was delivered, it was Gage’s article that attracted the widespread audience that solidified Truth’s status as a woman’s rights activist.  Gage’s gift as a writer, with dramatic flair and stereotypical dialect (which was no doubt readily accepted by her readers), attracted widespread attention.

Two articles, published in respected, widely circulated journals within two months of each other, firmly established Truth as one of the most significant figures in the anti-slavery and women’s rights movements of nineteenth century America—a reputation that has not only survived but continues to grow to this day.

Truth’s Visit with Lincoln

Truth was a supporter of President Lincoln, and vowed to see the first ‘Abolitionist President’ (in person) [37]. With funds raised by a group of friends, she left Battle Creek, Michigan, in mid-1864, her grandson in tow, and travelled to Washington D.C.  On the way she gave speeches in support of Lincoln’s re-election campaign. In Boston she met Harriet Tubman, who was well know for helping slaves escape years earlier through the Underground Railroad.  Painter suggests that, at the time of their 1864 meeting, Tubman and Truth differed on their perceptions of Lincoln. Truth was earnest in her support, while Tubman was more skeptical. Having been exposed to Black Union soldiers in Boston, she was aware of the unequal treatment they received compared to White soldiers [38].

Through a connection with Mary Todd Lincoln’s assistant, Truth was granted a meeting with the president at 8 a.m., Saturday, October 29th, 1864 [39].

There are varying reports on what transpired during the visit. In the 1875 and 1884 editions of her biography, Truth was effusive about their meeting. In a letter dated November 17, 1864, dictated to a friend, Truth recalls the meeting [40].

The president was seated at his desk.  Mrs. C. [Lucy Colman, a White friend who had assisted in securing Truth’s meeting with Lincoln] [41], said to him, “This is Sojourner Truth, who has come all the way from Michigan to see you.” He then arose, gave me his hand, made a bow, and said, “I am please to meet you.”

I said to him, Mr. President, when you first took your seat I feared you would be torn to pieces, for I likened you unto Daniel, who was thrown into the lion’s den, and if the lions did not tear you into pieces, I knew that it would be God that had saved you; and I said if he spared me I would see you before the four years expired, and he has done so, and now I am here to see you for myself.

The letter references the emancipation proclamation and Lincoln’s predecessors, particularly George Washington.  Lincoln claimed that if the opportunity had availed itself, they all would have done what he did. He added that if the South had not rebelled he could not have emancipated the slaves. He then showed her the Bible given to him by the colored people of Baltimore.  Truth continues:

I must say, and I am proud to say, that I never was treated by any one with more kindness and cordiality than were shown to me by that great and good man, Abraham Lincoln, by the grace of God president of the United States for four years more. He took my little book, and with the same hand that signed the death-warrant of slavery, he wrote as follows:

“For Aunty Sojourner Truth,

Oct. 29, 1864.

A Lincoln”

Painter suggest the meeting may have had a very different tone. Years after Lincoln’s assassination, Truth’s companion that day wrote her own narrative of the encounter. In it she describes Lincoln’s demeanour– ‘relaxed and funny’ with his previous White male guests, but ‘tense’ and ‘sour’ with Truth. She adds: ‘Being loved as the Great Emancipator irritated Lincoln…He believed in the white race, not in the colored, and did not want them put on an equality’ [42].

Truth made subsequent visits to the White House and met with Presidents Andrew Johnson and Ulysses S. Grant [43].

Truth During and After the Civil War

At the outbreak of the War, Truth quickly supported the Union cause. At a pro-Union rally at the Steuben County courthouse in Indiana, she was arrested on an obscure law that prohibited Black people from entering the state. The law was rarely enforced. Thousands of Blacks lived in the state and Sojourner had spoken there previously without incident.  For ten days the authorities repeatedly detained and released her, before ultimately letting her go [44].

Truth initially volunteered for the Union effort from her home in Battle Creek, Michigan. In 1863, she collected food for the Black soldiers of the First Michigan Regiment stationed at Camp Ward in Detroit. In addition to delivering food and clothing to the soldiers, she reportedly spoke at formal ceremonies, albeit to segregated audiences [45].

In March 1865 Congress established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, which became known as the Freedmen’s Bureau. The Bureau was created to assist in providing social and educational welfare for former slaves in their efforts to adapt to a life after bondage [46]. Abolitionists like Truth were commissioned to help in achieving the Bureau’s mandate. She also worked with the National Freedmen’s Relief Association, a private organization established to assist former slaves adjust to newfound freedom [47]. One of Truth’s responsibilities was to work at the Freedmen’s Hospital in Washington, D.C. (Established in 1862 to care for freed, disabled and aged African Americans [48], it was the predecessor to the teaching hospital at Howard University’s Medical School.)

Her work at the hospital required travel around Washington D.C. to procure items for her patients. The city’s streetcars were a means for doing so. The streetcar company set aside one such car—The Jim Crow car—for ‘colored’ people. By now an old woman, and well known for her speaking and activism–Truth complained to the president of the streetcar company. The ‘Jim Crow’ car was subsequently removed, giving Black equal access—theoretically, at least—with Whites [49].

The removal of the ‘Jim Crow’ car did nothing to alleviate negative attitudes towards Blacks however.   Truth relates how on numerous occasions she waved at one streetcar after another to stop and let her board, to no avail. On one occasion, while returning to the Freedmen’s hospital with a White companion, a conductor attempted to physically throw her off the car.

The conductor grabbed me by the shoulder and jerking me by the shoulder, ordered me to get out. I told him I would not. Mrs. Haviland [her White traveling companion] took hold of my other arm and said, ‘Don’t put her out.’  The conductor asked if I belonged to her. ‘No,’ replied Mrs. Havliand, ‘she belongs to humanity.’  ‘Then take her and go,’ said he, and giving me another push slammed me against the door. I told him I would let him know whether he could shove me about like a dog, and said to Mrs. Haviland, Take the number of this car.

On arriving at the hospital a surgeon discovered that ‘a bone was misplaced.’  Truth, with the help of the Freedmen’s Bureau, had the conductor charged.  He eventually lost his job. The case gained much attention and soon thereafter the streetcars looked like ‘salt and pepper’ [50].

Civil War’s Aftermath: ‘Contraband’

The Fugitive Slave Laws required escaped slaves to be returned to their owners.   On August 6, 1861, four months after the start of the Civil War, fugitive slaves fleeing their former owners were declared property of the Union army, or “contraband of war” if their labor had been used to aid the Confederacy in any way. And if found to be contraband, they were declared free [51].

After the War the name remained: former slaves continued to be called ‘contraband.’ Many moved from Virginia to Washington D.C. where they lived in squalid settlement camps, rife with filth, poverty, and crime. The ‘Book of Life’ section in the 1875 and 1884 editions of Truth’s Narrative presents a report by the Superintendent of police that reads, in part:

[C]rime, filth and poverty seem to vie with each other in a career of degradation and death. Whole families, consisting of fathers, mothers, children, uncles and aunts, according to their own statements, are crowded into apologies for shanties, which are without light or ventilation. During the storms of rain or snow their roofs afford but light protection, while from beneath a few rough boards used for floors the miasmatic effluvia from the most disgustingly filthy and stagnant water, mingled with the exhalations from the uncleansed bodies of numerous inmates, render the atmosphere within these hovels stifling and sickening to the extreme [52].

Having lost several of her own children, Truth considered the poor, the destitute–the ‘contrabands’–her own offspring, and embarked on a crusade to improve their welfare. She found homes and employment for them in the Northern states, and obtained labourers to rebuild communities destroyed by the War [53].

In Washington D.C.  crime became an ongoing concern for the young, who were trapped in a vicious cycle of crime, incarceration and release. Truth could not help but compare the magnificent edifices built within the city with the hopelessness of the city’s poor, and decided to correct what she saw as a social injustice. She gathered signatures to petition the United States Congress and the Senate to set apart a portion of land in the ‘West’, and to erect buildings there for the ‘aged’ and ‘infirmed [54]. In February 1870 Truth took her message to the people, launching a speaking tour in Providence, R.I., [55], followed by lectures throughout the North–Fall River and Boston, Massachusetts; Springfield and Orange, New Jersey; Philadelphia, Rochester, Syracuse, New York City, Detroit and her adopted home town of Battle Creek, Michigan.  She received newspaper coverage at these locales, in many instances receiving good notices., some reprinted in her Narrative.

Audience reception to her lecture tour was mixed: some audiences were large, others, sparse. The petition did not make it to Congress. In 1875, Truth’s grandson and long-time traveling companion, Samuel Banks, died at aged twenty-five [56]. By the late 1870s Truth’s health had declined, and by the Fall of 1883 she lay mortally ill with ulcers on her legs [57]. She died on November 26, 1883, at about aged eighty-six.

Women’s Rights Legacy

Sojourner Truth embodies three key strands of the social fabric of her day: faith, civil rights and women’s rights. She, however, is greater than the combination of the three. Her indefatigable Christian faith fuelled an iron will to fulfill what she believed was God’s calling on her life—a call to travel the land and spread God’s message–a call to believe in her beloved Jesus Christ, a call to end the evil of slavery and to uplift the people of her race, and a call to recognize and accept the rights and dignity of women.

Her faith and dedication to her race is clear from her preaching and her life experiences, but it is her reputation as a women’s rights activist that has come to the forefront in recent years. Yet this is the role that is probably most complex, most nuanced.

Frances Dana Gage’s report on Truth’s ‘Aren’t I A Woman’ speech solidified her women’s rights credentials, as does her appearance in Susan B. Anthony’s and Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s History of Woman Suffrage.  Moreover Truth is quoted as saying: ‘If colored men got their rights, and not colored women theirs, you see colored men will be masters over the women, and it will be just as bad as it was before.’ [58] But there is more to the story.

Prior to the Civil War and emancipation, many in the abolitionist movement were also pro-women’s rights:  Truth, Douglass, evangelist Henry Ward Beecher, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony supported both anti-slavery and women’s rights issues. After the Civil War and the passage of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, which permanently put an end to slavery and gave Black men the right to vote, a schism in the women’s rights movement became clear.  One side, led by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, balked at the idea of Black men–former slaves, ignorant and illiterate–having the right to vote, while educated, cultured, White women did not. Stanton is quoted as saying that If truly universal suffrage was not feasible, she ‘preferred to enfranchise educated people first, for “this incoming tide of ignorance, poverty and vice” must not be empowered. Without woman suffrage only the highest type of manhood should vote and hold office’ [59].

The other side, supporting universal suffrage for men and women, refused to allow the suffrage of Black men held hostage by the lack of suffrage of (White) women.  Supporters of this group included Douglass, Frances Dana Gage, and lesser known women’s rights activists Lucy Stone and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, a Black poet, and noted public speaker and civil rights activist in her own right [60].

Ultimately Truth was forced to chose between the two factions, and selected the latter. Stanton’s and Anthony’s embrace of Southern Democrats, who sought to halt passage of the Fifteenth Amendment granting Black men the right to vote, was a choice that she could not make.

Concluding Remarks

Because Sojourner Truth was unable to read or write—limited to communicate her experiences without filter–we are at the mercy of those who knew her or researched her story to paint a picture of this incredible woman. How much of what we know is authentic Sojourner Truth and how much reflects the perspective and potential bias of the messenger? The Christian messenger will stress her undeniable faith; the civil rights activist will highlight her anti-slavery work and speeches; the feminist will emphasize her contribution to women’s rights. As society and culture change, her image will evolve, as successive generations claim those aspects of her life and contribution that reinforces their values. Is this positive or negative? Undoubtedly a bit of both. The differing interpretations of her life will insure a contemporary image as times change—a fresh perspective of her contribution. Alternatively there will inevitably be some question on how accurate that perspective really is, and who Sojourner Truth really was.

© Weldon Turner 2017 All Rights Reserved

Next Month

New fiction: Stuffed Green Peppers

Images

Sojourner Truth and Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865) reading the Bible with former slave and abolitionist Sojourner Truth (1797-1883), originally Isabella Van Wagener, in a print presented to the President by the black community of Baltimore to commemorate the Emancipation Proclamation. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images) Credit:                  MPI / Stringer Collection:           Archive Photos Date created:    January 1, 1862 Licence type:     Standard

Frederick Douglas

Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), abolitionist, author and statesman. Image courtesy iStock (by Getty Images) License type: Standard

1860 U.S. Electoral Map

File courtesy of Wikimedia Commons This map was obtained from an edition of the National Atlas of the United States. Like almost all works of the U.S. federal government, works from the National Atlas are in the public domain in the United States. Online access: NationalAtlas.gov | 1970 print edition: Library of Congress, Perry-Castañeda Library URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1860_Electoral_Map.jpg#filelinks

References

[1] Christianitytoday.com, http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/denominationalfounders/william-miller.html [2] Christianitytoday.com, http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/denominationalfounders/william-miller.html [3] Christianitytoday.com, http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/denominationalfounders/william-miller.html [4] Neil Irvin Painter, Sojourner Truth, A Life, a Symbol, W.W. Norton, 1996, p83 [5] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p87 [6] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p87 [7] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p89 [8] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p93 [9] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p88 [10] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p89 [11] Painter, Sojourner Truth, pp93-94 [12] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p103 [13] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p101 [14] Sojourner Truth, Olive Gilbert and Frances Titus, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth, (1884 edition), Penguin Books, 1998 p x [15] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p114 [16] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p165 [17] Library of Congress, http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83035487/ accessed, September 6, 2017 [18] History.com, http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/fugitive-slave-acts  accessed, September 17, 2017 [19] Britannica.com, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Republican-Party  accessed, September 17, 2017 [20] SojournerTruth.org, http://www.sojournertruth.org/Library/Speeches  accessed September 10, 2017 [21] History.com,  http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/dred-scott-decision, accessed September 30, 2017 [22] pbs.org,  https://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/antebellum/landmark_dred.html, accessed September 30, 2017 [23] loc.gov, https://www.loc.gov/resource/llst.022/?sp=9, accessed September 22, 2017 [24] Biography.com, https://www.biography.com/people/john-brown-9228496 , accessed September 17, 2017 [25] USHisotry.org, http://www.ushistory.org/us/31d.asp, both accessed September 17, 2017 [26] History.com, http://www.history.com/topics/john-brown, accessed September 22, 2017 [27] History,org, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/abraham-lincoln-elected-president [28] Politico.com, http://www.politico.com/story/2011/05/republicans-nominate-abraham-lincoln-may-18-1860-055138 [29] Historynet.com, http://www.historynet.com/abraham-lincoln-election [30] ucsb.edu, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/showelection.php?year=1860, accessed, September 23, 2017 [31] Civilwar.org, https://www.civilwar.org/learn/articles/civil-war-facts, accessed September 223, 2017 [32] History.com, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/abraham-lincoln-elected-president, accessed September 23, 2017 [33] pbs.org, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2967.html, accessed, September 27, 2017 [34] Archives.gov, https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation [35] pbs.org, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2958.html, [36] HistoryNet.com, http://www.historynet.com/uncle-toms-cabin, accessed, September 30, 2017 [37] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p200 [38] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p203 [39] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p204 [40] Truth, Narrative (1884), p120-121 [41] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p204 [42] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p207 [43] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p207 [44] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p180 [45] Painter, Sojourner Truth, 182 [46] Truth, Narrative (1884), p124, note 103 [47] Painter, Sojourner Truth, 214 [48] U.S. National Library of Medicine, https://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/medtour/howard.html, accessed September 27, 2017 [49] Truth, Narrative (1884), p124 [50] Truth, Narrative (1884), p126 [51] pbs.org, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2967.html, accessed September27, 2017 [52] Truth, Narrative (1884), p127 [53] Truth, Narrative (1884), p129 [54] Truth, Narrative (1884), p134 [55] Truth, Narrative (1884), p134 [56] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p242 [57] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p254 [58] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p220 [5] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p228 [60] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p223

Bibliography

Sojourner Truth, Olive Gilbert and Frances Titus, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth, (1884 edition), Penguin Books, 1998 (This narrative was original published in 1884, a year after Truth’s death. Frances Titus, her long-time friend, added the ‘Book of Life’ and a ‘Memorial Chapter’ for this edition. The 1998 edition was edited with an introduction by Neil Irvin Painter.

Neil Irvin Painter, Sojourner Truth, A Life, a Symbol, W.W. Norton, 1996.

Links

Christianitytoday.com, http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/denominationalfounders/william-miller.html,   accessed, October 4, 2017

Christianitytoday.com, http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/denominationalfounders/william-miller.html, accessed, October 4, 2017

Christianitytoday.com, http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/denominationalfounders/william-miller.html, accessed, October 4, 2017

Library of Congress, loc.gov,  http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83035487/ accessed, September 6, 2017

History.com, http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/fugitive-slave-acts  accessed, September 17, 2017

Britannica.com, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Republican-Party  accessed, September 17, 2017

SojournerTruth.org, http://www.sojournertruth.org/Library/Speeches  accessed September 10, 2017

History.com,  http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/dred-scott-decision, accessed September 30, 2017

Pbs.org, https://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/antebellum/landmark_dred.html, accessed September 30, 2017

Library of Congress, loc.gov, https://www.loc.gov/resource/llst.022/?sp=9, accessed September 22, 2017

Biography.com, https://www.biography.com/people/john-brown-9228496 , accessed September 17, 2017

USHisotry.org, http://www.ushistory.org/us/31d.asp, both accessed September 17, 2017

History.com, http://www.history.com/topics/john-brown, accessed September 22, 2017

History,org, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/abraham-lincoln-elected-president, accessed, October 4, 2017

Politico.com, http://www.politico.com/story/2011/05/republicans-nominate-abraham-lincoln-may-18-1860-055138, accessed, October 4, 2017

Historynet.com, http://www.historynet.com/abraham-lincoln-election, accessed, October 4, 2017

University of California at Santa Barbara, ucsb.edu, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/showelection.php?year=1860, accessed, September 23, 2017

Civilwar.org, https://www.civilwar.org/learn/articles/civil-war-facts, accessed September 223, 2017

History.com, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/abraham-lincoln-elected-president, accessed September 23, 2017

pbs.org, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2967.html, accessed, September 27, 2017

Archives.gov, https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation, accessed, September 30, 2017

pbs.org, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2958.html, accessed, September 30, 2017

HistoryNet.com, http://www.historynet.com/uncle-toms-cabin, accessed, September 30, 2017

U.S. National Library of Medicine, https://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/medtour/howard.html, accessed September 27, 2017

pbs.org, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2967.html, accessed September27, 2017

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New Post has been published on Weldon Turner

New Post has been published on http://www.weldonturner.com/sojourner-truth-part-1-isabella/

Sojourner Truth Part 1: Isabella

Orator and Civil Rights Activist Sojourner Truth (1797 – 1883),

Arguably three of the most influential African Americans of the 19th century are Harriet Tubman, the ‘Moses’ of her people; the abolitionist Frederick Douglass; and Sojourner Truth. They may in fact be three of the most influential Americans of any race of that era. Truth was an itinerant preacher, anti-slavery activist, and women’s rights activist.  Born a slave she would develop into an acclaimed public speaker, achieving a stature that was matched by very few of any race. Luminaries of her era sought an audience with her, including Douglass, the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, women suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and president Abraham Lincoln himself. More than a hundred years after her death her life remains a shining example of incredible courage, of an unshakable faith in God, and an uncanny ability to use that faith in deceptively simple but highly effective ways in the fight for justice, equality and respect among all peoples.

Bondage

Sojourner Truth was born Isabella in Ulster County, New York, in 1797 [1]. Her masters were Dutch, which was the language she spoke as a child.  Her father was James, and her mother, Betsey, who was called Mau-mau Bett. Isabella was the second youngest of her parents’ children—ten or twelve in all. All siblings older than she were sold before she could develop memories of them [2].

In her Narrative she recalls her earliest memories of her first owner’s house, which he had turned into a hotel. She and the other slaves slept in the cellar, a ‘dismal chamber, its only light consisting of a few panes of glass, through which she thinks the sun never shone…the space between the loose boards of the floor, and the uneven earth below, was often filled with mud and water, the uncomfortable splashing of which were as annoying as its noxious vapours must have been chilling and fatal to health’ [3].

At night after her work was done, Mau-mau Bett would sit with Isabella and her younger brother, Peter, ‘under the sparkling vault of heaven.’   She spoke to her other children, long taken away, of the only ‘Being that could effectually aid or protect them.’ She told them that God ‘hears and sees’ you, and, ask him to help you when you are ‘beaten or cruelly treated’ and ‘he will hear you’ [4].

Isabella would attend religious services conducted by her mother during the evenings. The services were a mixture of African ‘animism’ and Christianity [5].

When she was nine Isabella was sold at auction for $100 [6]. She was resold twice more, the last time to John Dumont of Kingston, Ulster county, NY, and a member of the Dutch Reformed Church. Dumont purchased her for $175 [7].

John Dumont is described as ‘nursed in the very lap of slavery’ and ‘being naturally a man of kind feelings, treated his slaves with all the consideration he did his other animals, and more, perhaps. (her italics) [8]. Dumont would sometimes ‘whip’ her, she says, sometimes ‘soundly’ but never cruelly [9]. She sought to please her master, so much so that she was referred to as ‘the white folks’ nigger’, by other slaves [10].

She spent sixteen years on the Dumont estate, where she grew to almost six feet, and bore five children to the man she was forced to ‘marry’ [11].

While living at the Dumont estate, Isabelle prayed to God daily. She found refuge in a lonely place—a small island in the middle of a stream in the woods. Here she would speak loudly ‘under the open canopy of heaven’ where, she believed, God would hear her prayers [12].

Slow Road to Freedom

Starting in 1799 New York State passed a series of laws aimed at eventual emancipation for its bonded population. In 1817 a law was passed that would free all slaves born before 1799, by 1827 [13]. In 1826 Dumont promised to release Isabella early, by July 1826, but soon reneged, claiming that she had not completed her service to him. Learning that she would not be set free early, Isabella, now in her late twenties, walked away from Dumont, taking her infant Sophia, with her.  She was unable to take her older children [14] because New York law required slaves born between 1799 and 1827 serve a period of indentured servitude past 1827: males born in that period would not be free until the age of 28, females, 25 [15].

She eventually found refuge and employment with a couple, Isaac and Maria Van Wagenen (in her Narrative they are called the Van Wageners). The Van Wagenens lived not far from Dumont and were also members of the Dutch Reformed Church. When Dumont came to retrieve his property, Isabella and her daughter, the Van Wagenens, abolitionists, paid Dumont $25 for the value of the outstanding services he claimed she owed–$20 for Isabella and $5 for her daughter.

While at the Van Wagenens Isabella adopted their last name as her own.

Isabella soon learned that her only son, Peter, five years old, had been sold by Dumont, and through a series of transactions had eventually ended up in Alabama. It was illegal for New York slaves to be sold out of State. She returned to Dumont and complained about the removal of her son. Her former mistress replied: ‘”Ugh! A fine fuss to make about a little nigger! Why, haven’t you as many of ‘em left as you can see to and take care of? A pity ‘tis, the niggers are not all in Guinea!! Making such a halloo-balloo about the neighbourhood; and all for a paltry nigger!!!”’ [16].

With the help of an unnamed Quaker family, Isabella, who never learned to read or write, filed a complaint at the court house in Kingston, the Seat of Ulster County. She was given a writ which she served on Solomon Gedney, the man ultimately responsible for selling Peter out of state. Facing a fine of $1,000 and fourteen years in prison, Gedney promptly arranged for the boy’s return from Alabama. He kept the child however, as his property. Determined to have her son, Isabella sought the help of a lawyer and the Quakers, who eventually delivered the boy to his mother [17].

The Vision

The summer of 1827 marked a watershed event in Isabella’s life. African-Dutch slaves celebrated Pinkster, a celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. This is celebrated among English-speaking Christians on Whitsuntide [18].

Pinkster that year was on June 4th, exactly one month before New York State’s emancipation for Isabella and others born prior to 1799 [19]. Isabella experienced a profound spiritual awakening, which has been compared to Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus [20]. In a vision she experienced God’s greatness and her own worthlessness.

‘God revealed himself to her, with all the suddenness of a flash of lightning, showing her, “in the twinkling of an eye, that he was all over”—that he pervaded the universe—“and that there was no place where God was not.”  She became instantly conscious of her great sin in forgetting her almighty Friend and “ever-present help in time of trouble.” All her unfulfilled promises arose before her, like a vexed sea whose waves run mountains high, and her soul, which seemed but one mass of lies, shrunk back aghast from the “awful look” of him whom she had formerly talked to, as if he had been a being like herself; and she would now fain have hid herself in the bowels of the earth, to have escaped his dread presence” [21]. She desired to talk to God, but her vileness utterly forbade it, and she was not able to prefer a petition [22].

‘Then a space seemed opening between herself and an insulted Deity…But who was this friend?

‘”Who are you?” she exclaimed, as the vision brightened into a form distinct, beaming with the beauty of holiness, and radiant with love. She then said, audibly addressing the mysterious visitant—“I know you, and I don’t know you.” Meaning, “You seem perfectly familiar, I feel that you not only love me, but that you always have loved me–yet I know you not—I cannot call you by name…Who are you?” was the cry of her heart, and her whole soul was in one deep prayer that this heavenly personage might be revealed to her, and remain with her. At length, after bending both soul and body with the intensity of this desire, till breath and strength seemed failing, and she could maintain her position no longer, an answer came to her, saying distinctly, “It is Jesus.” “Yes,” she responded, “it is Jesus” [23].

New York City

A year after freedom Isabella moved to New York City with her son, [24] and two ‘traveling companions,’ Mr. and Miss Grear [25]. In New York City the Grears introduced her to a wealthy businessman, James Latourette, his wife, and a circle of Methodist friends.  Isabella had by now become a Methodist and initially joined a Methodist church, but soon moved to an African Methodist Zion church [26].

James Latourette had parted ways with the mainstream Methodist church because of its ‘falling away’ from the teachings of its founder, John Wesley. He conducted prayer meetings at his home and his group became known as ‘Perfectionists’. His contemporaries included wealthy businessman, Elijah Pierson, who would soon play a pivotal role in Isabella’s life, and Arthur Tappan, a leading abolitionist of the 1830s [27].

While living with the Latourettes Isabella preached at camp meetings, and established herself as a ‘powerful and moving’ preacher [28].

James Latourette’s perfectionists had its roots in a prayer group of wealthy married women, called the Retrenchment Society, [29] to which Mrs. Latourette belonged. The Society was founded by one Frances Folger [30]. Members of the Society not only held prayer meetings at their homes but ventured into the streets of New York doing the work of ‘missionaries.’ Isabella would accompany these ladies into the most ‘wretched abodes of vice and misery’ [31]. Not least of these areas was the notorious Five Points neighbourhood of lower Manhattan where they would pray with prostitutes, criminals and the homeless [32].

During this period Isabella also preached at ‘camp meetings,’ sometimes appearing with John Newland Maffit, himself a gifted speaker, who would later become chaplain of the U.S. Congress [33]. In the early 1930s however when he appeared with Isabella, he was part of a revivalist movement sweeping the country called the Second Great Awakening.

The Second Great Awakening and Revivalism

The revivalist tide referred to as The Second Great Awakening would have a life-changing effect on Isabella and have a profound effect on the person she would eventually become. As its name implies the Second Great Awakening was the second of two great revivalist waves that swept through the American States.

Services were held at camp meetings that sometimes lasted several days. The meetings had their genesis in Kentucky in the early years of the eighteenth century. They promoted an interest in things spiritual, of being reborn as a Christian, a rebirth of the spirit. Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist preachers participated. Some attracted as many as 25,000 people, sometimes from as far as 100 miles away.  This was at a time when Lexington, then the largest town in Kentucky, had 1,800 citizens [34].

Maffit was part of this movement, the leaders of which included clergyman Timothy Dwight, instrumental in the earliest years of the movement and who became a president of Yale College, [35] and the evangelist, Charles Grandison Finney. Charles Finney made a significant impression upon the religious life of 19th century America, and his influence is still evident today. Called the “father of modern revivalism” by some historians, he paved the way for later revivalists like Dwight L. Moody, Billy Sunday, and Billy Graham [36].

Mathias

While staying with the Latourettes, preaching and visiting the needy, Isabella worked for different families as a domestic. Elijah Pierson was a wealthy businessman with whom she worked, and his wife, Sarah, had been a member of the Retrenchment Society [37].

One day in May 1832, Isabella was alone at the Pierson home where she lived and worked since the previous autumn. There was a knock on the door. She opened it and ‘beheld Mathias, and her early impression of seeing Jesus in the flesh rushed into her mind.’ She allowed the bearded stranger in and after speaking with him felt that ‘God had sent him to set up his kingdom’ [38]. Mathias soon ingratiated himself with the devoutly religious and recently widowed Elijah Pierson, convincing him of a joint destiny, like John the Baptist and Jesus, with Mathias being the ‘Father’, God upon the earth, and Pierson to go before him and prepare the way for him [39].

Pierson rented a house for Mathias in October of 1832.  Isabella had not only become Mathias’ domestic but had given him some of her savings [40]. By spring of the following year Mathias had added Ann Folger, sister-in-law of Retrenchment society founder Frances, and Ann’s husband Benjamin, to his nascent ‘kingdom.’ The Folgers too were deeply religious and wealthy abolitionists. With the Folger’s joining Mathias’ ‘kingdom’, the entire sect moved on to the couple’s 29-acre estate on the banks of the Hudson River in Westchester County, thirty miles north of New York City. By this time Mathias’ group consisted of Pierson, the Folgers, Isabella and a few others.

Mathias took firm control of his followers. Isabella’s preaching came to an end when he forbade women from preaching. Eating ‘swine’ was dismissed as being of the devil. Those joining the group were to hand over their material possessions. The Folger’s estate was placed in Mathias’ name.

As the ‘Father’ Mathias declared Ann Folger his ‘match spirit’ and ‘Mother’, namely his wife. A ‘working class’ woman of the group, Catherine, was initially assigned to Benjamin Folger as a sexual partner. Mathias then forced his eighteen-year-old daughter, also named Isabella, who was already married, to be Folger’s ‘match spirit.’

Mathias’ ‘kingdom’ disintegrated in the late summer of 1834. Elijah Pierson was in ill health, having suffered a series of seizures [41]. On the evening of July 28, 1834, Elijah Pierson ate two ‘dessert sized’ plates of blackberries. The blackberries had been picked by Mathias and prepared with sugar by Isabella [42].

The following afternoon Elijah became violently ill. Matthias forbade any doctors or medical aid for Pierson. Pierson agreed, saying only prayer would save him. He was left alone, ‘purging and puking’. By the evening of Tuesday, July 29th Elijah Pierson was dead [43]. Soon thereafter the prophet Mathias was charged with murdering Elijah Pierson by poisoning. The sensational trial, gathered much coverage in the local newspapers, with reports of sexual misconduct among the members. Three books were written about the kingdom, one being, Fanaticism, by Gilbert Vale [44]. Through it all Isabella remained loyal to Mathias.

Mathias, whose real name was Robert Matthews, was acquitted of the murder but was convicted and sentenced to four months in prison for beating his daughter, ostensibly to force her to become Benjamin Folger’s ‘match spirit’ [45].

Benjamin and Ann Folger reconciled, then accused Isabella of attempting to poison them. Isabella sued them for slander, obtaining twelve character references to bolster her case. Her former master, John Dumont, and friend Isaac Van Wagenen, were among those providing character references:

This is to certify, that I am well acquainted with Isabella, this coloured woman; I have been acquainted with her from her infancy, she has been in my employ for one year, and she was a faithful servant, honest, and industrious; and have always known her to be in good report by all who employed her.

ISAAC S. VAN WAGENEN. Oct. 13th, 1834.

This is to certify, that Isabella, this coloured woman, lived with me since the year 1810, and that she has always been a good and faithful servant, and the eighteen years that she was with me, I always found her to be perfectly honest; at the time she came here she was between 12 and 14 years of age, and we have never heard any thing disparaging against her since she left here, until I heard this; on the contrary, I have always heard her well spoken of by every one that has employed her.

JOHN J. DUMONT. New Paltz, Ulster County. Kingston, Oct. 14th, 1834.

[46]

Isabella won her case and was awarded damages of $125 [47].

After his release from prison Mathias wandered west. At one point he met Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon Church. According to the Joseph Smith Papers, Mathias dined with Smith in early November 1835. They spoke of prophecy, and Smith allowed him to speak to his congregation.  Afterwards Mathias claimed to be a direct descendent of Mathias, the disciple who replaced Judas after he killed himself. Smith, on hearing this and having learned of Mathias’ recent past–the sensational scandal and trial in New York– informed Mathias that he, Mathias, was of the devil and must leave. Mathias complied [48].

There is little in Sojourner Truth’s Narrative after the dissolution of Mathias’ kingdom in 1834, and the start of her ministry for which she would become famous nearly a decade later, save for letters from her son, Peter, who repeatedly fell in and out of trouble.

The Call of the Spirit

By 1843 Isabella eventually became disillusioned with her adopted city of New York, which she had come to call, the ‘Second Sodom.’

‘She…inquired within herself, why it was that for all her unwearied labors, she had nothing to show; why it was that others, with much less care and labor, could hoard up treasures for themselves and children? She became more and more convinced…that everything she had undertaken in the city of New York had finally proved a failure; and where her hopes had been raised the highest, there she felt the failure had been greatest, and disappointment most severe [49].

She felt the ‘call of the spirit’ to leave, to travel east and lecture [50]. So on the morning of June 1st, 1843, she packed a few articles of clothing in a pillow case. She informed the woman with whom she was staying that her name was no longer Isabella, but Sojourner, and she was leaving, traveling east. When asked why, she replied, ‘The Spirit calls me there, and I must go’ [51]. She headed east, and, unlike Lot’s wife, did not look back.

© Weldon Turner 2017 All Rights Reserved

Next month, Sojourner Truth, Part 2

Image

Portrait of Sojourner Truth Credit: Hulton Archive/ Staff Collection: Hulton Archive Date created: 01 January, 1860 Getty license type: Editorial

References

[1] Sojourner Truth, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth, Dover Publications, 1997, p iii. (This narrative was told to Olive Gilbert) [2] Truth, Narrative, p2 [3] Truth, Narrative, p2 [4] Truth, Narrative, p4 [5] Truth, Narrative, p iii [6] Truth, Narrative, p6 [7] Neil Irvin Painter, Sojourner Truth, A Life, a Symbol, W.W. Norton, 1996, p 14. [8] Truth, Narrative, p12 [9] Truth, Narrative, p14 [10] Truth, Narrative, p14 [11] Truth, Narrative, p iv [12] Truth, Narrative, p32 [13] New York Historical Society, http://www.nyhistory.org/community/slavery-end-new-york-state [14] http://www.sojournertruth.com/  accessed June 29, 2017 [15] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p25 [16] Truth, Narrative, p22 [17] Truth, Narrative, p24 [18] Dictionary.com, http://www.dictionary.com/browse/pinkster?s=t, accessed July 2, 2017 [19] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p28 [20] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p30 [21] Truth, Narrative, p35 [22] Truth, Narrative, p36 [23] Truth, Narrative, pp 36-37 [24] Truth, Narrative, p41 [25] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p38 [26] Painter Sojourner Truth, p39 [27] Painter, Sojourner Truth, pp 41-42 [28] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p43 [29] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p41 [30] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p41 [32] Painter Sojourner Truth, p41 [33] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p44 [34] Christianity Today, accessed July 1, 2017,http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-23/return-of-spirit-second-great-awakening.html [35] Christianity Today, accessed July  1, 2017,http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-23/return-of-spirit-second-great-awakening.html, [36] Christianity Today, accessed July  1, 2017, http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-20/charles-grandison-finney-father-of-american-revivalism.html [37] Painter Sojourner Truth, p45 [38] Truth, Narrative, p52 [39] Truth, Narrative, p53 [40] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p51 [41] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p57 [42] University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, accessed July 1, 2017 http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/vale/vale.html [43] Gilbert Vale, Fanaticism, published by G. Vale, 1835 p7. Electronic version, accessed July 1, 2017  http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/vale/vale.html [44] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p58 [45] Gilbert Vale, Fanaticism, p79. Electronic version, accessed July 1, 2017  http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/vale/vale.html. [46] Gilbert Vale, Fanaticism, pp 10-11. Electronic version, accessed July 1, 2017  http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/vale/vale.html. [47] Painter, Sojourner Truth, p58 [48] ‘The Joseph Smith Papers, “Conversations with Robert Matthews, 9–11 November 1835,”’ p. 22, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed June 25, 2017, http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/conversations-with-robert-matthews-9-11-november-1835/1 [49] Truth, Narrative, p57 [50] Truth, Narrative, p58 [51] Truth, Narrative, p58

Bibliography

Sojourner Truth, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth, Dover Publications, 1997 (This narrative was told to Olive gilbert.) Neil Irvin Painter, Sojourner Truth, A Life, a Symbol, W.W. Norton, 1996. Gilbert Vale, Fanaticism; Its Source and Influence, published by G. Vale, 1835. Electronic version

Links

New York Historical Society, http://www.nyhistory.org/community/slavery-end-new-york-state Dictionary.com, http://www.dictionary.com/browse/pinkster?s=t, accessed July 2, 2017 Christianity Today, accessed July 1, 2017,http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-23/return-of-spirit-second-great-awakening.html Christianity Today, accessed July  1, 2017, http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-20/charles-grandison-finney-father-of-american-revivalism.html University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, accessed July 1, 2017 http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/vale/vale.html Gilbert Vale, Fanaticism; Its Source and Influence, published by G. Vale, 1835. Electronic version, accessed July 1, 2017  http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/vale/vale.html ‘The Joseph Smith Papers, “Conversations with Robert Matthews, 9–11 November 1835,” The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed June 25, 2017, http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/conversations-with-robert-matthews-9-11-november-1835/1

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Howard Thurman: Jesus and the Disinherited

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The Luxury of Atheism

Author and atheist, Christopher Hitchens

  While researching the life of the nineteenth century itinerant preacher and abolitionist Sojourner Truth, for an upcoming blog, it became extremely clear that   many of the giants of the abolitionist movement in the United States had a strong Christ-centered faith.  Sojourner Truth was a lay preacher. The famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Tubman—the Moses of her people—both had a strong faith in Jesus Christ. The relationship between the Black Church and the fight for freedom continued into the 20th century, where the church and the Civil Rights Movement remained practically inseparable.

How is it then that those for whom life has been so extraordinarily difficult and unfair, by any stretch of the imagination, could have had such an unwavering belief in God—in Jesus Christ, specifically? Simultaneously, the loudest voices advocating atheism—of a belief in no God–tend to come from men and women of privilege, particularly from academia? The search for an answer to this question precipitated this post.

I originally intended to write the piece as a simple stream consciousness—an uncomplicated, personal account of my heartfelt belief on why I believe atheism is the purview of the privileged, while the poor, the oppressed, those who have few if any of life’s options, lean on the faith of The Almighty. As I got further into the post however, I decided it needed a little more heft, an examination of what the experts—both atheist and theologians–have said and written about faith and atheism.  I’ll attempt to synthesize their arguments—as I understand them—and then summarize with my take.

The first names that came to mind for an examination of an atheist viewpoint was a quartet of speakers who have become known as ‘The Four Horsemen of the Current Apocalypse’. This group included neuroscientist, Sam Harris and philosopher, David C. Bennet. But it is the other two members who have grabbed much of the publicity on this discussion, and it is their work that I’ve chosen to examine, though, admittedly, from a relatively long distance. They are the late journalist and writer, Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great, and zoologist and author, Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion.

Richard Dawkins

Dr. Dawkins created a documentary for Channel Four in England based on his book, The God Delusion. The film is available on YouTube.

From the outset, surprisingly and disappointingly, Dr. Dawkins the scientist slams the door on any meaningful dialogue on the meaning of faith, with wholesale insults trained on the gullible schmucks who dare to believe in a deity. It is immediately apparent that his documentary is not a scholarly examination of a subject that is dear to billions of people, but a wholesale venting of his personal distaste (would ‘repulsion’ be too strong a description?) of those who dare to believe in God. Some examples:  Barely two minutes into the film, before any attempt to understand the idea of faith, Dawkins labels faith as ‘belief without evidence’, ‘a brain virus infecting generations of young minds, [perpetuating] outdated and dubious moral values’, and ‘a process of non-thinking’. On the other hand, people who think as he does, are referred to as ‘people of reason’.  Incredibly, he conflates all religions into one, as if all people of faith are indistinguishable one from another. There is even a sequence where the narrator describes the terrorist actions of   Islamic jihad over pictures of a Catholic Mass.

Dr. Dawkins then makes his way to The New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and interviews, of all people, then Pastor Ted Haggard. (Haggard would later be forced to resign after his alleged sexual encounter with a male escort became public.) Dawkins also makes his way to the Holy Land and interviews a Muslim radical who believes that Islam will eventually dominate the planet. Other interviews include a pastor whose friend and colleague was convicted and executed for murdering an abortion doctor. You guessed it, the interviewee maintains support for his friend’s actions. Are we to believe that these individuals are the only representatives of the faithful that Dr. Dawkins could find?

When Dawkins gets down to scripture he emphasizes the Old Testament. Why? The Old Testament is the root of the Abrahamic religions. Such a statement is nothing short of laughable. Many Christians, who believe in Jesus’ command to ‘turn the other cheek’, will be personally insulted to have their faith characterized by an ‘Eye for An Eye’ philosophy. When he finally does get to the New Testament, Dawkins mysteriously skips over the teachings of Jesus or, as he puts it, ‘whomever wrote his lines,’ and goes straight to Paul. How can you criticize Christianity and avoid the teachings of Jesus?

Finally, Dr. Dawkins asserts the morality of secularism, underscored by science, and stands in stark contrast with the ‘dangerous’ teachings of religion. Science, he claims, reveals the true roots of human morality. ‘Morality stems, not from some fictional deity and his texts, [but] from ‘altruistic genes’ that have been ‘naturally selected’ in our evolutionary past. To bolster his argument, he offers this gem: ‘Fifty years ago just about everybody in Britain was somewhat racist, now, only a few people are.’ How on earth can any serious scientist make such a statement? How do you define ‘racism?’ And how would a famous scientist–white, male, educated at one of the most prestigious universities in the world—be qualified to quantify the dehumanizing stings of racism that still exists today?

Christopher Hitchens

While Dawkins tiptoes around the teachings of Jesus, Christopher Hitchens takes on the Messiah head on.

Hitchens graduated from Oxford University and wrote for several publications in both the UK and US, including the liberal-leaning, The Nation, and Vanity Fair.  In 2007 he published God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. As the subtitle suggests, Hitchens conflates several faiths, and analyzes Judaism, Christianity and Islam as if they are slightly different versions of the same poisonous cocktail. I was drawn to the chapter of the book, ‘The New Testament Exceeds the Evil of the Old.’ The New Testament is quickly dismissed as ‘a work of crude carpentry, hammered together, long after its purported events, and full of improvised attempts to make things come out right.’   He attacks the New Testament from two standpoints: its veracity as a historical document, and the supposed immorality of its content. Here are a few gems. The account of Jesus being born in Bethlehem is probably incorrect, since both parents were from Nazareth, and there is no historical record of a census being conducted at the time of Jesus’ birth, as is written in Luke. Another example, attacking the passage about the Lilies of the field, suggests that Jesus is preaching that ‘thrift, innovation and family life are a waste of time.’

Hitchens wants to have it both ways.  Inconsistencies between the gospels are presented as proof of the illegitimacy of the text, and agreements among the gospels are dismissed as a simple ploy by the authors to shoe-horn events into a narrative to fulfill Old Testament prophesy.

The diatribe against the New Testament is not limited to the books themselves. Contemporary writers who agree with the texts come in for harsh criticism. C.S. Lewis’ asserts in his classic treatise, Mere Christianity, that Jesus must have been either a lunatic, a devil from Hell, or ‘Lord’—he must be one of the three. Hitchens disagrees, implying that Jesus could have been a moral teacher, basing his words simply from ‘hearsay’.  Lewis is right; Hitchens is wrong. Any human being who says he is the son of God, must be either the greatest con-man in the history of he world, a lunatic, or, really the son of God. If you are a con-man or a lunatic, who is going to believe anything you say, regardless of how ‘moral’ your words may be?

The problem with both Dawkins’ and Hitchens’ work is that that they approach their subject matter from a point of pious intolerance, smug academic arrogance, and plain old intellectual dishonesty. Faith, by definition, is foolish, a crutch for simpletons. End of story. No attempt is made to understand why an individual would chose to live by faith.  No attempt is made, simply because they believe they already know the answer: those who live by faith are either stupid, have been hoodwinked by religious charlatans, or both. How can this attitude be intellectually honest? How do you account for the many positive things that have emanated from faith? The Civil Rights Movement? Gandhi’s work on behalf of his people in South Africa and India?  Mother Teresa?

Hitchens’ writings on Mother Teresa is revealing. For Hitchens, Mother Teresa’s decades long work caring for the ‘poorest of the poor’ in the slums of the former Calcutta somehow pales in comparison to her accepting money from persons of dubious reputations, such as the Haitian dictator, Jean-Claude ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier. Hitchens along with British-Pakistani journalist, Tariq Ali, produced a documentary that in effect demonized the woman who would one day become a saint. The name of the documentary?  Hell’s Angel. Enough said.

Cornel West

‘My dear brother, the late Christopher Hitchens, whom I loved very much, and respected very much, I just have profound disagreements. Christopher Hitchens was very brilliant, but he was not religiously musical. He was tone deaf and flat footed when it came to religion. He was a reductionist, he becomes a kind of dogma in atheistic space—a secular dogmatist…Secular folk need to read religious texts and religious phenomenon with a sense of not just openness but what they are wrestling with…how are you going to come to terms with the structure through the eyes of meaning in your own life…how are you going to deal with catastrophe in your own context…how will you respond when you’re terrorized, traumatized and stigmatized?’ – Cornel West, Philosophy and Religion Through Words of Cornel West (video).  (Dr.  West is a graduate of Harvard and Princeton, and is a Professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice. He’s authored over twenty books including Race Matters and Democracy Matters, www.cornelwest.com).

Thank you, brother West. This is exactly why so many who have been ‘terrorized’, traumatized, and stigmatized, can’t afford the luxury of atheism.

James Cone and Taylor Branch

Professor James H. Cone is a Professor of Theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He is known as the founder of ‘black liberation theology’–interpreting Christianity through the eyes and experience of the oppressed.  Among his books are Black Theology and Black Power and The Cross and The Lynching Tree). Taylor Branch is an author perhaps best know for the three-volume history of the Civil Rights Movement, America in the King Years. In an interview with journalist Bill Moyers, Professor Cone and Branch discussed the Civil Rights Movement of the fifties and sixties and how it was influenced by the Black Church.

A year to the day before his assassination, Dr. King gave a speech in New York City where he referred to a ‘radical revolution of values’. According to Branch, this radical revolution of values is ‘to see people first, to see Lazarus at the gate and not pass them by, so I think the revolution in values is Christian and democratic, but it starts with people—they have equal souls and equal votes, but we are very stubborn in human nature in denying that and wanting to see anything but…’

Was it theological? Moyers asks.

‘Oh yes,’ Professor Cone responds, ‘because people are created in the image of God. If you are created in the image of God you can’t treat people like things.’

Later in the interview Professor Cone provides a succinct description of ‘liberation theology’:  Liberation Theology has its meaning primarily in seeing Jesus as one in solidarity with the poor to get them out of poverty’.

In another interview with Moyers, where he discusses his book, The Cross and the Lynching Tree, Professor Cone provides a concise definition of religion:

Religion is a search for meaning when you don’t have it in this world. So while they [the dominant society of the American South] may have controlled the black people physically, and politically and economically, they did not control their spirit. That’s why the black churches are very powerful forces in the African American community, and always have been, because religion has been that one place where you have an imagination that no one can control. And so as long as you know that you are a human being and nobody can take that away from you, then God is that reality in your life that enables you to know that.

How would an atheist respond to such a statement?   Should people who are politically and socially weak–poor and oppressed–should they be denied the belief that their lives are legitimate, that there is a God who sees them as every bit as valuable, as every bit as humane as their oppressors? Well, the atheist may counter with, ‘the morality gene determines equality among all people.’ The problem with that argument is that there is no authority by which that statement is made. What if I don’t believe in a ‘morality gene?’  What if the only authority is the authority of the powerful? Not the authority of God.  In that case, Dear Oppressed, you’re just of luck. You were born holding the short end of the stick and there’s absolutely nothing that you can do about it.

When Wrongs Are Made Right

The New Testament provides hope for the oppressed in another way.  And that is, in the hope that, even if circumstances aren’t set right in this life, justice will be meted out in the next.  This may be controversial, and is certainly not promoted by activists, since it may be interpreted as promoting passivity in the face of injustice.  But there will be instances where, despite the best efforts of the marginalized and their supporters, their situation will not be made whole.  For them however, like the parable of Lazarus, there is hope that injustices will be remedied in the afterlife. Who could not be comforted by the story of Lazarus? Lazarus, his body covered with sores, begging at the gate of the rich; and the rich man, blessed with material possessions, dutifully ignores the filthy beggar. They both die, and their fortunes are reversed.  Pipe dream? Who knows? But when a dream is all you have, what right does anyone have to say, ‘No, that’s a fairy tale. You can’t have that either! You live. You suffer. You die.  I, on the other hand, get to enjoy this wonderful world I inherited by sheer accident of birth!’

Howard Thurman

Howard Thurman, 1899-1981, was a theologian, pastor and author. He was a friend of Martin Luther King, Sr. and a mentor to a young Martin Luther King, Jr. His best-known work is Jesus and the Disinherited. First published in 1949, the book draws on similarities between Jesus, whom he describes as poor and a member of a minority group—aspects of which the poor and dispossessed of any age can identify. But what is perhaps most intriguing about this little-known but extremely influential figure in the Civil Rights Movement was his relationship with his grandmother. A former slave, she raised him from the time he was seven years old. In Jesus and the Disinherited he tells the story of how, as a child, he would read the Bible to her, for she could neither read nor write. (The story is found on page 19 of the 1976 edition, published by Beacon Press.) He says she was very particular about the Scriptures he was permitted to read to her—the more devotional Psalms, portions of Isaiah, the Gospels ‘again and again’. However, the Pauline epistles, except for the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians? Never!

When he was older he summoned the courage to ask her why he was not allowed to read Paul’s letters. She replied: ‘During the days of slavery…the mater’s ministers would occasionally hold services for the slaves.  Old man McGhee was so mean that he would not let a Negro minister preach to his slaves. Always the white minister used as his text something from Paul. At least three or four times a year he would use as his text: “Slaves, be obedient to them that are your masters…as unto Christ.” Then he would go on to show how it was God’s will that we were slaves and how, if we were good and happy slaves, God would bless us.  I promised my Maker that if I ever learned to read and if freedom ever came, I would not read that part of the Bible.’

The story of Thurman’s grandmother is strikingly similar to a story in Sojourner Truth’s narrative. The itinerant preacher was illiterate as well. The Bible had to be read to her. She made a point of having a child read it to her, not an adult. Why? Children would read the passages, simply, as they were written—without putting a personal slant to them, without inserting their own agendas. That way she could determine for herself the true message of the Scriptures.

And so there you have it.  Two slave-women, unable to read or write, but with enough wisdom to seek the true meaning of the word of God, wisdom that somehow has eluded two of the most erudite writers and speakers on the planet, complete with degrees from prestigious institutions, and the respect of the world’s academic elite. For these slave-women, and the millions of their spiritual descendants, atheism is truly a luxury they could not afford.

© Weldon Turner, 2017. All Rights Reserved

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Author, Christopher Hitchens Credit: Peter Power / Contributor Collection: Toronto Star Date created: 01 January, 2010 Editorial License secured.

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For A Higher Power: From Hacksaw Ridge to Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali arrives at federal court in Houston for his trial on a charge of refusing to be inducted into the Army.

What does it take for someone to stand for what they believe in? What does it take for someone to sacrifice for what they believe in? What does it take for someone to literally sacrifice their liberty, their very life for their faith?  In the film, Hacksaw Ridge, Desmond Doss enlists in the army and is faced with these questions right from the get-go. Muhammad Ali is faced with these questions in the prime of his fighting career, and thousands of others have faced these questions for centuries.

When I think of the term ‘conscientious objector’, Vietnam and the young men who refused to join the conflict immediately crowd the imagination.  Images of long haired hippies, in tie-die tee-shirts, ‘turning on, tuning in, and dropping out’ [1] in the streets of San Francisco and New York City in the late ‘60s, holding peace signs an decrying the evils of the War, are synonymous with the term.

Hacksaw Ridge

The 2016 Academy Award Winning feature film, Hacksaw Ridge, portrays the life of a conscientious objector that could not be farther from that image. Desmond Doss was working at a shipyard in Newport News, Virginia, [2]. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour in December of 1941 he was determined to serve in the military, yet would not compromise his faith as a Seventh-day Adventist.  This meant adhering to two commandments that would cause him great difficulty. He would not kill, and he would observe the Sabbath. Consequently he refused to carry a weapon, let alone fire one, and requested a pass to attend church on Saturday.

Pfc. Doss’ beliefs put him on a collision course not only with his fellow soldiers, but with his superiors as well.  DesmondDoss.com says they ‘ostracized him, bullied him, called him awful names, and cursed at him’ [3]. In the film, he is put on trial and is about to be court martialled for insubordination.  It is only through his father’s intervention, a World War I veteran, and a letter from the father’s former superior officer, that the charges against Doss is dismissed. His actions were protected under the U.S. Constitution.

Doss soon proves himself with acts of bravery and kindness and selflessness, like treating the blisters on his fellow soldiers’ feet, and sharing his canteen with those suffering from heat stroke [4].

Doss is deployed to the South Pacific and sees action on the islands of Guam, Leyte and Okinawa. By May of 1945 the men of Doss’ division were on Okinawa, attempting to take the Maeda Escarpment, a daunting clifflike structure the men dubbed ‘Hacksaw Ridge’.  The Battle of Okinawa is described as one of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific Theater, [5] and the fighting at Hacksaw Ridge was no exception. Under intense enemy fire Doss’ again put his faith in action. After storming the rock-face the Americans were faced with a fierce counterattack and were forced to retreat down the vertical face of the ridge. But here again, answering a higher power, Doss disobeyed orders and charged back into the firefight [6]. [He] crawled from wounded to wounded, dressing their injuries and dragging them to the cliff’s edge, where they could be lowered to medics below. Hit by grenade fragments…Doss refused to endanger another medic and dressed his own wounds. He continued to help those in need, even when a Japanese tank approached. When another enemy bullet shattered his arm, Doss patched it up and crawled 300 yards through enemy fire and explosions rather than expose anyone else to further danger’ [7].  His exploits resulted in at least 75 lives saved.  That day was May 5th, 1945, a Saturday. For his actions that day Doss was awarded Congressional Medal of Honour, the U.S.  highest honor for bravery under fire.

Who is a Conscientious Objector?

The website of the Selective Service System of the United States says ‘[a] conscientious objector is one who is opposed to serving in the armed forces and/or bearing arms on the grounds of moral or religious principles.’

There are two types of service available to conscientious objectors.

The person who is opposed to any form of military service will be assigned to alternative service…

The person whose beliefs allow him to serve in the military but in a noncombatant capacity will serve in the Armed Forces but will not be assigned training or duties that include using weapons.

The Selective Service System, [8].

Conscientious Objectors in the Past

Encyclopedia Britannica says that conscientious objection to military service has existed for centuries, since the beginning of the ‘Christian era’. [9]. It developed as a ‘doctrine’ of the Mennonites in Europe during the 16th century, and among the ‘Society of Friends’ (the Quakers) in England in the 17th Century, and the Church of the Brethren and of the Dukhobors in Russia in the 18th century.

In the United States, since the Civil War and the enactment of conscript laws, some form of alternate service has been granted to those unwilling to bear arms, [10]. In 1940 conscientious objector status, ‘including some form of service unrelated to and not controlled by the military, was granted, but solely on the basis of membership in a recognized pacifistic religious sect. Objections of a philosophical, political, or personal moral nature were not considered valid reasons for refusing military service.’

During World War II Great Britain granted several exemptions from military service and since 1960 several European countries, including France, Belgium, Sweden, The Netherlands, East and West Germany granted Objector status on a variety of religious, philosophical and moral grounds.

Muhammad Ali

No discourse on conscientious objectors can be complete without discussing Muhammad Ali, probably the best-known Objector of all.

Cassius Clay shot to fame after winning the gold medal for boxing in the Rome Olympics of 1960. In a British television interview in 1971, he relates an incident that occurred just three days after winning the medal. He goes into a restaurant in his racially segregated hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, with the gold medal around his neck, and expects to be served. He’s told that ‘we don’t serve negroes’. ‘I said, “I don’t eat them neither…I’m the Olympic gold medal winner, three days ago I fought for this country in Rome, I won the gold medal, and I’m gonna eat!’…Anyway they put me out, and I had to leave that restaurant, in my hometown, where I went to church and served in their Christianity, and my Daddy fought in all the wars. Just won the gold medal and couldn’t eat downtown. I said something’s wrong…’ [11].

Less than four years later, in February of 1964, he fought ‘the Bear’, Sonny Liston, for the heavyweight championship of the world. Liston could not continue after the sixth round. The day after his victory, Clay declared his conversion to Islam and introduced the world to the personae that billions of people around the world would come to know as Muhammad Ali.

A mere two years later, at 24 and in the prime of his boxing career, Ali was drafted into the U.S. Army. He filed for conscientious objector status and refused to go to Vietnam, based on his religious beliefs as a Muslim.

‘My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother, some darker people, some poor hungry people in the mud, for big powerful America, and shoot them for what?  They never called me nigger, they never lynched me, they never put dogs on me, they never robbed me of my nationality, raped and killed my mother and father…shoot them for what, why’m I gonna shoot them, them poor little black people? Little babies and children, women, how’m I gonna shot them poor people? Just take me to jail!’ [12].

Conscientious objector status was denied Ali in 1967 and he was sentenced to five years in prison. He remained out of prison while his case was appealed. He was however denied the ability to make an income from his profession. He was unable to fight in the United States, and was not allowed to leave the country.  The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where his conviction was overturned in 1971.

In its ruling of ‘Marsellus CLAY, Jr. also known as Muhammad Ali, Petitioner, v. UNITED STATES,’ the decision stated, in part:

In order to qualify for classification as a conscientious objector, a registrant must satisfy three basic tests. He must show that he is conscientiously opposed to war in any form. Gillette v. United States, 401 U.S. 437, 91 S.Ct. 828, 28 L.Ed.2d 168. He must show that this opposition is based upon religious training and belief, as the term has been construed in our decisions. United States v. Seeger, 380 U.S. 163, 85 S.Ct. 850, 13 L.Ed.2d 733; Welsh v. United States, 398 U.S. 333, 90 S.Ct. 1792, 26 L.Ed.2d 308. And he must show that this objection is sincere. Witmer v. United States, 348 U.S. 375, 75 S.Ct. 392, 99 L.Ed. 428. In applying these tests, the Selective Service System must be concerned with the registrant as an individual, not with its own interpretation of the dogma of the religious sect, if any, to which he may belong. United States v. Seeger, supra; Gillette v. United States, supra; Williams v. United States, 5 Cir., 216 F.2d 350, 352.

In this Court the Government has now fully conceded that the petitioner’s beliefs are based upon ‘religious training and belief,’ as defined in United States v. Seeger, supra: ‘There is no dispute that petitioner’s professed beliefs were founded on basic tenets of the Muslim religion, as he understood them, and derived in substantial part from his devotion to Allah as the Supreme Being. Thus, under this Court’s decision in United States v. Seeger, 380 U.S. 163, 85 S.Ct. 850, 13 L.Ed.2d 733, his claim unquestionably was within the ‘religious training and belief’ clause of the exemption provision.’ 4 This concession is clearly correct. For the record shows that the petitioner’s beliefs are founded on tenets of the Muslim religion as he understands them. They are surely no less religiously based than those of the three registrants before this Court in Seeger. See also Welsh v. United States, 398 U.S. 333, 90 S.Ct. 1792, 26 L.Ed.2d 308. [13].

Ali would return to the ring that year and fight Joe Frazier in Madison Square Garden for the championship. Years later, slowed considerably by Parkinson’s, Ali became a figure beloved around the world.  Who can forget the magical moment at the opening ceremonies at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta when Ali, hand trembling from the disease, slowly lit the Olympic torch?

Other Notable Conscientious Objectors

The life of a conscience objector—men (primarily, men) who are willing to sacrifice for their beliefs, many of which are religious beliefs– does not always have a happy ending.

Ben Salmon

Ben Salmon was a writer and observant Catholic who refused induction into the U.S. army as a matter of conscience during World War I. He ‘rejected the “Just War Theory”. He believed no war could be just. He said he would not cooperate in any way with the war machine’ [14].

He was arrested, court-martialled, and sentenced to death by the military.  While in prison he wrote an open letter to then president Woodrow Wilson.

“Religious objectors are such through their faith in God. They believe the best way to preserve the nation’s honor is to avoid dishonoring God; the best way to conquer an enemy is to treat him as God prescribes. The religious objector helps his country more in one hour than a regiment of military men could in a hundred years, for God holds the destiny of nations in the palm of His hand. To serve Him is to ensure the country’s future. . .”

He was later admitted to the St. Elizbeth Hospital in Washington D.C., in the wing for the criminally insane. His actions were supposedly considered insane since most observant Catholics did sign up for military service. In November 1920, he was released thanks to a Catholic priest and the American Civil Liberties Union. He would die less than twelve years later, in poverty, at age 43.

Tom Atlee

Tom Atlee, brother of British Prime minister, Clement Atlee (1945-1951), was a ‘devoted Christian’ and, says his grand daughter, Cath Atlee, ‘believed that war could never be the Christian answer to any dispute – he was prepared to suffer for what he believed in.’  [15]. During World War I He was denied conscientious objector status and court-martialed in 1917. He spent a year in prison, three months of which was with hard labour. He was never able to ‘fully’ practice in his chosen field of architecture.

Franz Jägerstätter

Franz Jägerstätter was the sexton of a parish church in Austria during the 1930s. He opposed the Nazi regime. After being inducted into the German army he refused to serve.

A letter he wrote in prison reads:

“Just as the man who thinks only of this world does everything Possible to make life here easier and better, so must we, too, who believe in the eternal Kingdom, risk everything in order to receive a great reward there. Just as those who believe in National Socialism tell themselves that their struggle is for survival, so must we, too, convince ourselves that our struggle is for the eternal Kingdom. But with this difference: we need no rifles or pistols for our battle, but instead, spiritual weapons–and the foremost among these is prayer…. Through prayer, we continually implore new grace from God, since without God’s help and grace it would be impossible for us to preserve the Faith and be true to His commandments….

“Let us love our enemies, bless those who curse us, pray for Those who persecute us. For love will conquer and will endure for all eternity. And happy are they who live and die in God’s love” [16].

(This letter, according to The Society of Archbishop Justus, a group of Anglican computer scientists,  [17],   found its way into a book, In Solitary Witness, about German Catholics response to Adolf Hitler. The book, in turn, reportedly influenced Daniel Ellsberg, the military analyst famous for leaking the study on American decision making in Vietnam, which became known as the Pentagon Papers.)

Imprisoned in Linz and Berlin, Jägerstätter was convicted in a military trial and beheaded on August 9th, 1943.

 Final Thoughts

This discussion is in no way intended to compare Desmond Doss and Muhammad Ali. Doss’ faith grew out of his background as a devout Seventh-day Adventist. Ali’s faith in Islam was in part driven the rejection meted out to him by an unjust society, a society that claimed Christianity as its own, while rejecting him as a human being. Moreover Ali, for many years, was for many the face of an entire religion and race, a singular representative of hundreds of millions of people, a position which he accepted.

For the other men in this piece their Christian faith forbade them to engage in a conflict they believed that was at odds with their beliefs.  What does this say about faith–religious faith–that can be both so loving, brimming with empathy and sacrifice, and at the same time be espoused by those brimming with hate and enmity? This does not just apply to Christianity, but, I’ll argue, to practically any belief system.

No, I’m not in any way comparing the impact of these men on society, nor am I comparing the sacrifice of one vs. the other. I am addressing the idea of faith, and the strength of character that a strong unshakeable faith can instill in a human being.

Faith that keeps you grounded in a set of core beliefs will protect you from passing fads, whether philosophical, political, cultural. The danger lies in the basic principles on which your faith is based, and how you interpret them. Ultimately that’s an individual responsibility, a responsibility to understand and accept the core principles on which your faith is based, and the courage to stand for, and ultimately sacrifice for those principles.

© 2017, Weldon Turner, All Rights Reserved

Next Month: The Luxury of Atheism

Image

Muhammad Ali arrives at federal court in Houston for his trial on a charge of refusing to be inducted into the Army.

Credit: Bettmann / Contributor

Collection: Bettmann

Date created: 19 June, 1967

Source: Bettmann

Editorial license secured.

References

[1] Brainyquote.com, https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/timothylea380739.html, accessed, March 25, 2017.

[2] DesmondDoss.com, https://desmonddoss.com/bio/bio-real.php, accessed, March 25, 2017.

[3] DesmondDoss.com, https://desmonddoss.com/bio/bio-real.php, accessed, March 25, 2017.

[4] DesmondDoss.com, https://desmonddoss.com/bio/bio-real.php, accessed, March 25, 2017.

[5] Historynet.com,  http://www.historynet.com/battle-of-okinawa-the-bloodiest-battle-of-the-pacific-war.htm, accessed, March 25, 2017.

[6] DesmondDoss.com, https://desmonddoss.com/bio/bio-real.php, accessed, March 25, 2017.

[7]  Historynet.com, http://www.historynet.com/battle-of-okinawa-the-bloodiest-battle-of-the-pacific-war.htm accessed, March 25, 2017.

[8] SSS.gov, https://www.sss.gov/consobj, accessed, March 25, 2017.

[9] Bratnnica.com, https://www.britannica.com/topic/conscientious-objector,   accessed March 11, 2017.

[10] Bratnnica.com, https://www.britannica.com/topic/conscientious-objector,  accessed March 25th, 2017

[11] DemoracyNow.com, https://www.democracynow.org/2016/6/6/john_legend_reads_muhammad_alis_1966, accessed, March 25, 2017.

[12] outube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQdOJvs26r4,  accessed March 25th, 2017.

[13] The Legal Information Institute and Cornell University,  https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/403/698 accessed, March 25th, 2017

[14] BenSalmon.org, http://www.bensalmon.org/uploads/8/2/5/7/82576010/bensalmonbrochure.pdf, accessed, March 25, 2017.

[15] The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/apr/25/conscientious-objectors-men-fought-different-battle, accessed, March 25, 2017

[16] The Society of Archbishop Justus, http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/224.html, accessed, March 25, 2017.

[17] The Society of Archbishop Justus, http://justus.anglican.org/soaj.html,   accessed, March 25, 2017.

 Links

Brainyquote.com, https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/timothylea380739.html,

DesmondDoss.com, https://desmonddoss.com/bio/bio-real.php,

Historynet.com,  http://www.historynet.com/battle-of-okinawa-the-bloodiest-battle-of-the-pacific-war.htm

SSS.gov, https://www.sss.gov/consobj,

Britannica.com, https://www.britannica.com/topic/conscientious-objector,

DemocracyNow.org, https://www.democracynow.org/2016/6/6/john_legend_reads_muhammad_alis_1966,

Youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQdOJvs26r4,

The Legal Information Institute and Cornell University,  https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/403/698

BenSalmon.org, http://www.bensalmon.org/uploads/8/2/5/7/82576010/bensalmonbrochure.pdf

The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/apr/25/conscientious-objectors-men-fought-different-battle

The Society of Archbishop Justus, http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/224.html, accessed, March 25, 2017.

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To Heaven and Back II: Miracles from Heaven

Miracles from Heaven. The Beam family and filmmakers, 2016

  The movie Miracles from Heaven is based on the true story of a young girl, Annabel Beam, who suffered for years with two digestive disorders.  One day while climbing with her sisters, she fell headfirst into the hollow trunk of a tree. While the events that ensued may raise the suspicions of the skeptic, they are just as likely to reaffirm the faith of many–particularly of the film’s intended audience–and perhaps speak to a few of those skeptics as well.

The Story

Challenges

Annabel Beam is the second of three daughters of Kevin and Christy Beam, who live in the city of Burleson, Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth.  At  age four, Annabel began experiencing pain when eating, and at five was diagnosed with two incurable digestive disorders pseudo-obstruction motility disorder and antral hypomotility disorder. Her condition–where coordinated contractions in the intestinal tract become altered and inefficient– impeded the digestion and absorption of nutrients. In addition, her ability to empty the stomach was adversely affected. Digestion became extremely painful. Her stomach was distended, and by 2011, at age nine years old, she was on ten medications and had been hospitalized nine times.  ‘It was a struggle to eat, a struggle to drink large amounts of liquid,’ says her mother. [1]

An April, 2015 article in the Star Telegram, a Fort Worth newspaper, reads: ‘For years, the Burleson girl’s life was defined by near-constant pain, endless hospital visits, invasive testing and marginally effective treatments. At one point, she told her mother she wished she would die so she could go to heaven, where there would be no more pain.’ [2]

One day in 2011, while climbing a large cottonwood tree [3], on the family’s property with her sisters, a branch began to give way.  To get to safety, Annabel scrambled into a nearby hole in the trunk. Unbeknown to the girls, the trunk of the tree was hollow, and Annabel plummeted thirty feet, (about three stories [4]) head first, inside the empty trunk of the tree.

After five hours Annabel was extricated. She was examined and found to have suffered only scratches and bruises. ‘The doctors, after the fall, they said they’d never had anyone fall thirty feet head first and not suffer paralysis or broken bones,’ says Christy Beam.  [5]

Heaven

The day after the fall, Annabel told her mother of her experience while in the tree.  In a radio interview in 2015, mother and daughter related their story.

‘Wat happened when you were inside that tree?’ the interviewer asked.

‘I went to heaven,’ Annabel replied.

‘How do you know?’

‘It was really bright, and I saw my Meme, who had died a couple years back. That’s how I knew I was in heaven. And I sat on Jesus’ lap, and he said  “Annabel, whenever the firefighters get you out, there will be nothing wrong with you.” And I asked him if I could stay, cuz, I wasn’t in any pain, and, it was, like, “can I stay?” and he said “No, Annabel, I have plans for you on earth that you cannot fulfill in heaven.”’ [6]

Annabel also claims to have seen one sister in heaven whom she had never met on earth. Her mother had experienced two miscarriages.  Christy Beam: ‘One of the miscarriages, I want to point out, was never a life created. It’s called a blighted ovum. The other was a life that was miscarried. So I find it intriguing that when Annabel talks about going to heaven, she says she saw a little girl and asked who that girl was. And Jesus told her, “That’s your sister.” I find that interesting because Anna knew I had two miscarriages, but I had never explained that one was a baby and one was not. But Annabel didn’t come back saying, “I saw two little girls.” She says she saw just the one. That made my mouth drop open.’ [7]

After the incident, Annabel stopped experiencing the constant pain she had suffered for five years.  Her doctors described her as asymptomatic.  She no longer requires more medication and has been released from her doctor’s care.

Christy Beam’s memoir about Annabel’s story, Miracles from Heaven: A Little Girl, Her Journey to Heaven and Her Amazing Story of Healing, was published in April, 2015. The movie rights were acquired by Sony Pictures, and filming began in July of that year.  The movie was released a week before the Easter weekend, 2016. [8]

The Film

The movie stars Jennifer Garner (Alias, Juno) as Christy Beam and Kylie Rogers (Collateral Beauty), in an amazing performance, as Annabel. Martin Henderson, a New Zealand actor with a convincing Texas accent, plays the father, Kevin. Brighton Sharbino and Courtney Fansler play Annabel’s sisters, Abigail and Adelynn. Queen Latifah plays a kind-hearted waitress who befriends Christy and Annabel. Eugenio Derbez, a Mexican actor, plays the highly in-demand Mexican gastroenterologist Dr. Samuel Nurko who treats Annabel.  John Carroll Lynch, who portrays the Beam’s pastor, rounds out the cast.

Patricia Riggen, originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, directed the film. She also helmed The 33, another   movie based on a real-life event—the story of thirty-three Chilean miners trapped half a mile underground for sixty-nine days in 2010. [9]

The producers include industry executive Joseph Roth (Heaven is For Real, Alice in Wonderland), T.D. Jakes (Heaven is for Real, Sparkle) and DeVon Franklin, a preacher, author and film producer, who cut his teeth in the motion picture industry working for Will Smith’s production company. [10]

Miracles from Heaven had a production budget of $13 million (U.S.), and grossed over $73 million worldwide. [11]

Final Thoughts

The report of visiting heaven in Miracles is similar to an account portrayed in Heaven is for Real (which I discussed in an earlier post, To Heaven and Back). In that movie, Colton Burpo, little more than a toddler, suffers a ruptured appendix and is rushed to the hospital. He has a near-death experience, and after he recovers, claims to have gone to heaven, where he met a sister whom he did not even know existed. The audience then learns that his mother had once suffered a miscarriage, an incident that neither she nor anyone else had related to little Colton.

Both Miracles from Heaven and Heaven is for Real were brought to the screen by the same producers, Joseph Roth and T.D. Jakes. Like Miracles, Heaven is for Real did well at the box office, making $101 million worldwide, on a $12 million budget. [12]

Another story about a near-death experience, of going to heaven and returning to earth, 90 Minutes in Heaven, did not do well with audiences. It is a considerably darker film, more of a character study. A pastor is involved in a horrific car accident. He is pronounced dead at the scene. He too experiences heaven but comes back to life after ninety minutes.  He recuperates for months, but is angry and depressed because he has been forced to return and suffer the pain of his injuries. Budgeted at $5 million, it grossed only $4.7 million at the box office on its release in 2015. [13]

What do the successes and failures of these films say about their audiences? What does it say about the afterlife?   What does it say that both Colton Burpo and Annabel Beam say they saw Jesus? Would people, particularly children of other cultures and of other faiths, who die and then return, say that they too saw Jesus, or would their experiences be different?  Do atheists have similar experiences?  The answer, at least for one extremely influential atheist and thinker, is ‘not quite’.  The esteemed British philosopher and atheist, Sir A. J. Ayer, [14] wrote about his own near-death experience.  His account, at least from the way it is reported, contains significant differences from the Heaven movies [15]. For instance, instead of experiencing a bright white light, love and peacefulness, a place where one does not want to leave, Ayer ‘was confronted by a red light, exceedingly bright, and also very painful even when I turned away from it. I was aware that this light was responsible for the government of the universe. Among its ministers were two creatures who had been put in charge of space. These ministers periodically inspected space and had recently carried out such an inspection. They had, however, failed to do their work properly, with the result that space, like a badly fitting jigsaw puzzle, was slightly out of joint.’ [16]

The extent to which the heavenly experiences reported by Annabel and Colton are shared throughout different cultures, and among peoples with different beliefs, is a truly intriguing idea, one which I intend to explore in future posts.

© 2017, Weldon Turner, All Rights Reserved

Next Month

For Higher Power. Two men who would not compromise their faith, and risked everything for their beliefs.

Image

HOLLYWOOD, CA – MARCH 09: Kevin Beam, Christy Beam, Abigail Beam, Adelynn Beam, Anabel Beam, actress Jennifer Garner and producer DeVon Franklin attend the Premiere Of Columbia Pictures’ ‘Miracles From Heaven’ – Red Carpet at ArcLight Hollywood on March 9, 2016 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Todd Williamson/Getty Images)

Editorial Rights Secured.

References

[1] Foxnews.com, http://video.foxnews.com/v/4172535684001/?#sp=show-clips , accessed February 25, 2017

[2] Foxnews.com, http://www.star-telegram.com/living/religion/article18229301.html#storylink=cpy, accessed February 25, 2017

[3] Miracles from Heaven DVD, Special Features, ‘Bearing Witness’, Columbia Pictures, 2016.

[4] Reference.com, https://www.reference.com/art-literature/many-feet-story-a1c08b30db9a4cf9, accessed February 25, 2017

[5] Foxnews.com, http://video.foxnews.com/v/4172535684001/?#sp=show-clips, accessed February 25, 2017

[6] Foxnews.com, http://video.foxnews.com/v/4172535684001/?#sp=show-clips, accessed February 25, 2017

[7] Star Telegraph, http://www.star-telegram.com/living/religion/article18229301.html, accessed February 25, 2017

[8] IMDB.com, https://pro-labs.imdb.com/title/tt4257926/details?ref_=tt_nav_dtl_rel, accessed February 25, 2017

[9] NYTimes.com, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/02/world/americas/inquiry-on-mine-collapse-in-chile-ends-with-no-charges.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FChile%20Mining%20Accident%20(2010)&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection, accessed February 25, 2017

[10] Youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7PnSUEB9dk, accessed February 25, 2017

[11] Boxofficemojo.com, http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=miraclesfromheaven.htm, accessed February 25, 2017

[12] IMDB.com,  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1929263/business?ref_=tt_dt_bus, accessed February 25, 2017

[13] IMDB.com, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4337690/business?ref_=tt_dt_bus, accessed February 25, 2017

[14] Britannica.com, https://www.britannica.com/biography/A-J-Ayer, accessed February 25, 2017

[15] Philospher.eu, http://www.philosopher.eu/others-writings/a-j-ayer-what-i-saw-when-i-was-dead/, accessed February 25, 2017

[16] Philospher.eu,  http://www.philosopher.eu/others-writings/a-j-ayer-what-i-saw-when-i-was-dead/, accessed February 25, 2017

Video

Miracles from Heaven, Columbia Pictures, a Sony Company, 2016.

Links

Foxnews.com, http://video.foxnews.com/v/4172535684001/?#sp=show-clips

Reference.com, https://www.reference.com/art-literature/many-feet-story-a1c08b30db9a4cf9

Star Telegraph, http://www.star-telegram.com/living/religion/article18229301.html

IMDB.com, https://pro-labs.imdb.com/title/tt4257926/details?ref_=tt_nav_dtl_rel

NYTimes.com, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/02/world/americas/inquiry-on-mine-collapse-in-chile-ends-with-no-charges.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FChile%20Mining%20Accident%20(2010)&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection

Youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7PnSUEB9dk

Boxofficemojo.com, http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=miraclesfromheaven.htm

IMDB.com,  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1929263/business?ref_=tt_dt_bus

Britannica.com, https://www.britannica.com/biography/A-J-Ayer

Philospher.eu,  http://www.philosopher.eu/others-writings/a-j-ayer-what-i-saw-when-i-was-dead/,

[weldonturner]

New Post has been published on Weldon Turner

New Post has been published on http://www.weldonturner.com/reflections-on-c-s-lewis-a-grief-observed/

Reflections on C. S. Lewis' A Grief Observed

Writer, and Christian apologist C.S. Lewis (1898 – 1963).

Clive Staples Lewis is one of the giants of twentieth century Christian apologetics.  His reasoned and erudite defence of the Christian faith in books, essays, lectures and letters have persuaded and inspired many for decades. However it was the illness and death of his wife, Helen Joy Davidman, that severely tested his faith, that forced an intensely personal introspection that blasted through layers of intellectual reasoning, and exposed a vulnerability and helplessness uncharacteristic in his writings. A Grief Observed is Lewis’ account of that grief, of his struggle to cope with the heart-wrenching agony that mere reason and intellectualism were so ill-equipped to explain.

‘H.’

The summary of Helen Joy Davidman’s life below, unless cited otherwise, is based on information from the website of the C.S. Lewis Institute [1].

Helen Joy Davidman was born in 1915 in the Bronx, New York. Raised in a middle class Jewish family she graduated high school at age fourteen, earned a B.A. from (the City University of New York’s) Hunter College and an M.A.  from Columbia University. She published several poems while still an undergraduate and, after joining the workforce as a teacher, was asked to serve as reader and editor of the prestigious magazine, Poetry, in Chicago, IL.  She resigned her teacher’s position and accepted the invitation.  In 1940 she published her first novel, Anya.

She became an atheist [2] and according to the C.S. Lewis Institute, became disillusioned with both the Democratic and Republican parties. She joined the Communist Party and worked part-time with New Masses, a Communist newspaper. There she served as a book reviewer, film critic and poetry editor. She also met the writer, William Gresham, author of the novel, Nightmare Alley. She married Gresham in 1942 and gave birth to her first child, David, in 1944, and to Douglas, in 1945.

The marriage soon began to unravel. Bill Gresham was an alcoholic and serial adulterer. Joy began searching for answers to address an unhappy life, to find fulfillment. But the situation only worsened when one night her husband phoned and told her he would not be coming home.

Later, she recalls her emotional state at this point: “[F]or the first time my pride was forced to admit that I was not, after all, “the master of my fate” . . . . All my defenses — all the walls of arrogance and cocksureness and self-love behind which I had hid from God – went down momentarily – and God came in.” Embarking on a search for God she explored Reformed Judaism and read three books by C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce, Miracles, and The Screwtape Letters.  Lewis’ books led to reading the Bible. She finally found the answers to her quest in the Gospels and in Jesus Christ. She also summoned the courage to write to Lewis, and began to correspond with him through letters.

By1950 and working on a book-length study of the Ten Commandments, her health had deteriorated.  Her doctor ‘ordered rest–preferably away from the pressures of her chaotic house and family.’

Later that year she sailed for England, supposedly for rest, and to complete her book, Smoke on the Mountain: An Interpretation of the Ten Commandments.  She left her sons in the care of her husband and a female first cousin.  In London she finished her book and contacted C.S. Lewis. Lewis and his brother, Warren, invited her to Oxford, where she shared her personal story. Just before returning to the United States, in January of 1951, her husband informed her that he had fallen in love with her cousin. She returned to New York. Nine months later her husband sued for divorced.  In December of that year she returned to England with her two sons.

In London Joy tried to support herself, writing and typing, with her husband’s child-support cheques, and from financial support from Lewis. By 1955 her financial situation had collapsed, and Lewis and his brother offered further financial support, a place to live near their home in Oxford, and work–writing and typing. By now it had become apparent to some that their friendship had blossomed into love. For others, the relationship between the fifty-eight-year-old Oxford don and renowned Christian writer, and the forty-year old American divorced mother of two, for some, was nothing short of scandalous.

In 1956, the British government refused to extend Joy’s visa. Lewis offered to marry her in a civil ceremony so that she could remain in England. They were married in April. He appealed to the Anglican Church for a sacramental marriage, but the Bishop of Oxford refused—Joy was divorced, and the Church could not condone their marriage.

In early 1957, Joy was standing in her kitchen when she collapsed. She was rushed to the hospital. X-rays showed that her body was filled with cancer. ‘There were malignant tumors in her breast and her bones were riddled with cancer.’ She was given no more than a few weeks to live.

Lewis contacted an Anglican priest, ‘purported to have the gift of spiritual healing’, and related Joy’s dying wish to be married in a church.

Father Bide recalled that he did not feel he could in good conscience deny this poor soul her wish, even though she was not in his diocese. The next day, March 21, 1957, he anointed her with oil, prayed for healing, and then in the presence of Warren Lewis and one of the sisters at the hospital, administered the sacraments of Holy Matrimony and Holy Communion. Within a few minutes an apparently dying Joy Davidman became Mrs. C.S. Lewis.

Joy was then sent home to die.

But she didn’t die. The cancer went into remission, and from Lewis’ own account, together they enjoyed a happy, fulfilling and loving relationship.  She and Lewis spent much time together, traveled, and vacationed with friends.

Joy and Jack [as Lewis was called by his friends] were like two school-aged youth who were cutting up and having a wonderful time. That Joy had brought great happiness to Jack became evident by what he wrote to one friend: “It’s funny having at 59 the sort of happiness most men have in their twenties. . .Thou has kept the good wine till now.”

Nonetheless in the Spring of 1960 the cancer returned, and Joy Davidman Lewis died on July 13 of that year. Less than a month after her death C.S. Lewis started putting his grief to paper, writings that would eventually be published as A Grief Observed.

A Grief Observed

Below are my reflections on this wonderful book, which in my view reads like a heart-wrenching love story between Lewis, his wife, Helen Joy Davidman (whom he refers to as H.), and God.

Much of the book asks questions of God. Where is God?  Will his (Lewis’) memory of H. remain true to her reality? Can the dead feel hurt the way the living can? Are the dead really at peace?   Is God in fact good? If so, why do we hurt so? If our faith crumbles at the first test, what does it say about its quality? Is it even faith at all?

He then records the impact time and distance has on his grief.  They create clarity, and a quiet acceptance., a lighter heart. He also accepts death and the resulting bereavement as just another phase of married love, ‘as surely as autumn follows summer.’

He comes to realize that he has become forever changed by his relationship with H., chides himself for obsessing on his own grief, and not according God and H. the ‘praise’ due them for the gift that was H.. He writes an open letter to H., whom he believes can see more of him from beyond the grave than ever before, maintaining their love will continue, just as God’s love for us continues. Finally he figuratively releases her to God and to heaven, the Eternal Fountain.

Where is God?

Lewis was not a stranger to the loss of a loved one to cancer–both of his parents died of the disease. ‘Cancer, and cancer, and cancer. My mother, my father, my wife. I wonder who is next in the queue?’ [3]

One of the first questions he asks is simple: ‘Where is God?’ Lewis voices the sense of abandonment he feels. It’s as if when Joy died, God disappeared as well.

[W]here is God…When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him, so happy that you are tempted to feel His claims upon you as an interruption, if you remember yourself and turn to Him with gratitude and praise, you will be—or so it feels—welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. [4]

You feel at one with the great genius. You may not have the perspicacity of his mind, his matchless sense of reason, but you can identify with his humanity laid bare.  Who hasn’t felt this sense of abandonment in the depth of crisis, the sense of desertion? Who hasn’t felt like saying, ‘God, I thought you loved me, that you were on my side? Where are you now?’ ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani’ Jesus cries on the cross, Mark, 15:34.  David asks the same thing in Psalm 22:1: ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ This is human emotion at its rawest, most vulnerable. The trappings of cold intellectual analysis, of scholarly psychological reasoning, is dashed aside, and the soul, in all its anguish, in all its desperation, is laid bare in naked honesty for all to see.

Images vs. Reality

Lewis wonders if his memory of Joy will remain true to her reality. How can he be sure that the image that he will retain of Joy will in fact be of the real Joy? He recalls meeting a man that he had not seen for ten years, and the reality of the man turned out to be different from the image he had of him. [5]

What if he has already begun to remember an image of her, and not the real person? The image, the memory of her, has the disadvantage of being obedient to your memory, your thoughts and feelings. She has no say in the matter.

What pitiable cant to say, “She will live forever in my memory! Live? That is exactly what she won’t do. You might as well think like the old Egyptians that you can keep the dead by embalming them…It was H. I loved. As if I wanted to fall in love with my memory of her, an image in my own mind! It would be a sort of incest.’ [6]

‘At Peace’ and ‘In God’s Hands’

Lewis asks very pointed questions on the basic ‘goodness’ of God.

‘She is in God’s hands’ is a well-known aphorism one hears when a loved one dies.  Or, equally common, ‘She’s at peace.’  How can we be sure that she is, in fact, at peace?  How do we know that there is no anguish on the other side?  He asks: ‘How do they know that she is “at rest?”  Why should the separation (if nothing else) which so agonizes the lover who is left behind be painless to the lover who departs?’ [7]

Another question, how do we know that the dead are in fact in God’s hands?  ‘[S]he was in God’s hands all the time., and I have seen what they did to her here. Do they suddenly become gentler to us the moment we are out of the body?’ [8]

Is this a realistic possibility, or just the cry of a grieving husband?  Do the dead hurt? Does all feeling end when we die?  Is there heartache on the ‘other side’, even in heaven? Is God’s goodness consistent with hurting us, for if it is, then ‘He may hurt us after death as unendurably as before it.’ [9]

The Cosmic Sadist

Again, he asks, is God, in fact, good?  He refers to the ‘many prayers’ he and Joy offered, and the hopes that were raised.

What chokes every prayer and hope is the memory of all the prayers H. and I offered and all the false hopes we had.  Not hopes raised merely by our own wishful thinking, hopes encouraged, even forced upon us, by false diagnoses, by X-rays photographs, by strange remissions, by one temporary recovery that might have ranked as a miracle. Step by step we were “led up the garden path.” Time after time, when he seemed most gracious He was really preparing the next torture. [10]

The following day, Lewis writes.

I wrote that last night. It was a yell rather than a thought…Is it rational to believe in a bad God…in a God as bad as all that? The Cosmic Sadist, the spiteful imbecile? [11]

On reflection, as if reviewing his previous thoughts with a fresh pair of eyes, he appears to place a new perspective on the grief he is experiencing:

Why do I make room in mind for such filth and nonsense? Do I hope that if feelings disguise itself as thought I shall feel less? Aren’t all these notes the senseless writings of a man who won’t accept the fact that there is nothing we can do with suffering except to suffer it…Who still thinks that there is some device…which will make pain not be pain? It doesn’t really matter if you grip the arms of the dentist’s chair or let your hands lie on your lap. The drill drills on.  [12]

The Quality of Faith

The debate on whether God is good or not, whether He is in fact the Cosmic Sadist, leads to another question. What is the quality of your faith? We are not promised a life without pain.  ‘I had been warned—I had warned myself—not to reckon on worldly happiness.  We were even promised sufferings.’ [13]

Does suffering measure the strength of one’s faith? A barometer of the strength or weakness of it? What does it say about your faith if it falls apart at the first gust of suffering?   After all, Lewis is not experiencing anything he should not have prepared for. Furthermore if your faith collapse when faced with its first real test, was your faith in fact real or imagined? And the sooner you became aware of its frailty, wouldn’t it be for the better?

If my house had collapsed at one blow, that is because it was a house of cards. The faith which “took these things into account” was not faith but imagination…I must surely admit…that if my house was a house of cards, the sooner it was knocked down the better.  And only suffering can do that. [14]

The faith that he addresses goes far beyond the hope for a life with Joy; it refers to his faith in life, the faith that he has displayed to others, to the world.  ‘If I had really cared, as I thought I did, about the sorrows of the world, I should not have been so overwhelmed when my own sorrow came.’ [15]

Later in the chapter, he adds that this this test of faith is not for God to determine the quality of your faith, but for you. [16] ‘God has not been trying an experiment on my faith or love in order to find out their quality. He knew it already. It was I who didn’t.

This begs the question, what does the way in which you handle grief say about your faith? Is it okay to curse God and die, like Job’s wife suggested? (Job 2:9) How do you pull through?

Further introspection reveals a growing awareness of a preoccupation with himself, rather than with Joy.

What sort of lover am I to think so much about my affliction and so much less about hers?  Even the insane words, “Come back,” is all for my own sake.   I never even raised the question whether such a return, if it were possible, was good for her. I want her back as ingredient in the restoration of my past. (His italics.) Could I have wished her anything worse? Having got once through death, to come back and then, at some later date, have all her dying to do over again? They call Stephen the first martyr. Hadn’t Lazarus the rawer deal? [17]

A Lighter Heart

One day, Lewis writes, his heart was lighter ‘than it had been for many weeks.’ Time and distance placed a different lens on Joy’s death. It was as if Joy’s essence became clear when it was not clouded by tears and grief.  ‘[A]t the very moment when…I mourned H. least, I remembered her best…It was as if the lifting of the sorrow removed a barrier.’ [18]

His interpretation: ‘You can’t see anything properly while your eyes are blurred with tears.  You can’t get what you want if you want it too desperately…’ [19] It was as if grief created suspense. ‘It comes from the frustration of so many impulses that had become habitual. Thought after thought, feeling after feeling, action after action, had H. for their object.’ And of course, the suspense is never resolved. It is only fades away when the sense of grief dissipates.

Just Another Phase of Married Love

Marriage, for Lewis, was a relationship where the husband and wife could realize their completeness. It was as if, for the bachelor in his late fifties, marriage was the vehicle that made him whole, and completed Joy as well—it made both the husband and wife complete.

‘There is, hidden or flaunted, a sword between the sexes till an entire marriage reconciles them…Jointly the two become fully human. “In the image of God created he them.”’ [His italics.]. [20]

But then, what if one spouse dies? He theorizes that not only does the spouse who is left behind grieve, but the one who dies grieves as well—they both grieve. And this time of bereavement is in fact another phase of love. He further develops his point. You can think of marriage–and all the emotions that are part of it: happiness, sorrow, anticipation, dread, as a natural outcome of courtship. A phase in the relationship between a man and a woman. So too, bereavement, the natural consequence of losing one’s spouse, as will inevitably happen, is another phase in that relationship.

If, as I can’t help suspecting, the dead also feel the pain of separation …then for both lovers without exception, bereavement is a universal and integral part of our experience of love.  It follows marriage as normally as marriage follows courtship or as autumn follows summer. [21]

This tends to fly in the face of current thinking that implies there are no uniquely masculine or feminine qualities, which in turn implies women and men are whole in and of themselves, who don’t need each other. (How would Lewis respond to a gender-neutral society that is being promoted by some whom many consider to be the cultural elites and intellectual elites of today?)

the famous phrase: ‘A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle?’ [22]

Lewis still seems torn between the need to grieve and the relief that he feels when the full sense of bereavement has passed. Even though ‘feeling better’ fosters a sense of shame, [22] he concludes that moving away from the bereavement phase is actually a good thing.

Passionate grief does not link us with the dead but cuts us off from them. It is just at those moments when I feel least sorrow…that H. rushes upon my mind in her full reality, her otherness…Not, as in my worst moments, all foreshortened and patheticized and solemnized by my miseries, but as she is in her own right. This is good and tonic. [23]

Finally he is at peace with her passing.  At peace with the idea of celebrating her life, their time together. ‘I will turn to her as often as possible in gladness. I will even salute her with a laugh. The less I mourn her the nearer I seem to her.’ [24]

Forever Changed

Lewis relates going for a walk, visiting old haunts. These walks or ‘the long rambles’ [25], as he calls them, reminded him of his old happiness, the happiness of pre-Joy, bachelor days. This he finds ‘horrible,’ the ‘old happiness,’ ‘insipid.’ However there have been two fundamental changes realized along this journey of sorrow. First, the ‘locked door’ to God is no longer locked; and the ‘image’ of Joy (vs. the reality) is no longer an issue.

Praise

Lewis recalls that he has talked about himself, about Joy, and about God, in that order. The opposite of what it should be. [26] He has not once praised them.  ‘Praise is the mode of love which always has some element of joy in it. Praise in due order; of Him as the giver, of her as the gift.’ [27] He has lost the ‘fruition’ of Joy, and is far away from the fruition he some day hopes to have of God. Praise is one way of retrieving that ‘fruit.’ ‘[B]y praising I can still, in some degree, enjoy her, [and] in some degree, enjoy him. Better than nothing.’ [28]

Reality vs. Image

Lewis returns to the image vs. reality comparison as it pertains to both Joy and to God–a bad photograph and a cold thin wafer. The ‘image’ of Joy, a romanticized image of her, and of God, is no longer present. ‘I want Christ, not something that resembles Him. I want H., not something that is like her’. [ 29] The reality of both, with all the hurt, the pain, is what he wants.   He wants her, in all her ‘resistances,’ ‘faults,’ and ‘unexpectedness.’  Her ‘independent reality.’ ‘That is what he (and we) should love after she is dead.

Lewis questions his growing acceptance of Joy’s death, and of his reconnection (or sliding back, as he calls it) to God. Is the only reason for his reunification with God the hope of seeing Joy again? is this the price that must be paid?  He asks, ‘Lord, are these your real terms? Can I meet H. again only if I learn to love you so much that I don’t care whether I meet her or not?’ [30]

A Final Note to H.

Finally Lewis writes to Joy directly, directly to his departed love.

It is often thought that the dead see us. And we assume, whether reasonably or not, that if they see us at all they see us more clearly than before. Does H. now see exactly how much froth or tinsel there is in what she called, and I call, my love? So be it. Look your hardest, dear. I wouldn’t hide if I could. We didn’t idealize each other. We tried to keep no secrets. You knew most of the rotten places in me already. If you now see anything worse, I can take it. So can you. Rebuke, explain, mock, forgive. For this is one of the miracles of love; it gives—to both, but perhaps especially to the woman—a power of seeing through its own enchantments and yet not being disenchanted.

To see, in some measure, like God. His love and His knowledge are not distinct from one another, nor from Him. We could almost say He sees because He loves, and therefore loves although He sees. [31]

To the ‘Eternal Fountain’

In the final lines of A Grief Observed, Lewis figuratively lets go, releases Joy to be at peace with God.

How wicked it would be, if we could, to call the dead back? She said not to me but to the chaplain, “I am at peace with God.” She smiled, but not at me. Poi si torno all’ eternal fontana. [32]

This is taken from Dante’s Paradise, the third part of his Divine Comedy. [33] “So I prayed; and as distant as she was, she smiled and gazed at me. Then she turned back to the Eternal Fountain.”

Final Thoughts

The ‘grief’ in A Grief Observed stems from two sources. One, from the heartbreak of losing a loved one, a soulmate, a kindred spirit. The other, from the sense of being abandoned by God, the God whom you expect to be your Caregiver, your Comforter, your Protector. At the end of the piece however, both Joy and Lewis accept their circumstance, their sorrow, and release it to God.

Finally, a note on the 1993 movie Shadowlands, the feature film based on the relationship between Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis. At the beginning of the movie, the audience is informed that ‘This is a True Story’.  Frankly, the caption should read, ‘This is based on a true story.’  Lewis is depicted as a brilliant academician, but devoid of affection, devoid of personal warmth, devoid of love, even. Joy is a brash, independent woman, a feminist ahead of her time, who speaks her mind, and damn the consequences.  What’s missing, in my view, is their essential Christianity. The name ‘Jesus’ is mentioned exactly once throughout the entire film. Yet, their Christian belief is the thing that brought them together in the first place. Sure, Joy does confess that she is a Christian, but it’s done, practically, in passing. Blink, and you’ll miss it. She says that she is in awe of his writings, but the audience is not told why. Never do we see Joy and Jack praying together, even though he says in A Grief Observed that they both prayed throughout her illness.

In the DVD of the film, in the Special Features section, the real Douglas Gresham, Joy’s son and Lewis stepson, is interviewed. He says: ‘Shadowlands is an exceptional concept from its very beginning. It was a piece designed entirely to be fiction, loosely based on real factual happenings in the lives of my stepfather, my mother, and indeed myself.’ [34] The omission of the principal characters’ Christianity, which, perhaps makes the film accessible to a wide, diverse audience, is in my view, unfortunate, because the audience is left with a perception of the main characters that is tragically incomplete.

© Weldon Turner, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Next month, To Heaven and Back II

Image

C S Lewis

Credit: John Chillingworth / Stringer

Collection: Picture Post

25th November 1950: Irish-born academic, writer and Christian apologist Clive Staples Lewis (1898 – 1963). As a Fellow and Tutor of Magdalen College he taught at Oxford from 1925 to 1954. Original Publication: Picture Post – 5159 – Eternal Oxford – pub. 1950 (Photo by John Chillingworth/Picture Post/Getty Images)

Editorial license secured.

References

[1] C.S. Lewis Institute, accessed January 28, 2017,  http://www.cslewisinstitute.org/node/31 [2] Christianity Today, accessed January 28, 2017,  http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/october-web-only/cs-lewis-joy-in-marriage.html [3] C.S. Lewis, The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics, Harper One, 2007, p 661 [4] Lewis, p 658 [5] Lewis, p 664. [6] Lewis, p 664 [7] Lewis, p 667 [8] Lewis, p 667 [9] Lewis, p 667 [10] Lewis, pp 668-669 [11] Lewis, p 669 [12] Lewis, p 670 [13] Lewis, p 671 [14] Lewis, p 672 [15] Lewis, p 672 [16] Lewis, p 678 [17] Lewis, p 673-674 [18] Lewis, p 675 [19] Lewis, p 675 [20] Lewis, p 677 [21] Lewis, p 677 [22] Lewis, p 679 [23] Lewis, pp 678-679 [24] Lewis p 680 [25] Lewis, p 682 [26] Lewis, p 682 [27] Lewis, p 682 [28] Lewis, p 682 [29] Lewis, p 684 [30] Lewis, p 685 [31] Lewis, p 686 [32] Lewis, p 688 [33] The Official Website of C.S. Lewis, accessed January 28, 2017,  http://blog.cslewis.com/observing-grief-4/ [34] Shadowlands, Home Box Office, 1998

Bibliography

C.S. Lewis, The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics, Harper One, 2007

Video

Shadowlands, Home Box Office, 1998

Links

C.S. Lewis Institute, http://www.cslewisinstitute.org/node/31

Christianity Today, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/october-web-only/cs-lewis-joy-in-marriage.html

The Official Website of C.S. Lewis, http://blog.cslewis.com/observing-grief-4/

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Handel: Messiah

  Musical score for the oratorio Messiah, by George Frideric Handel.

Every Christmas the music of the Hallelujah Chorus fills our churches and concert halls, is streamed over the radio, television, and on Social Media.  Originally intended as an Easter work, the oratorio from which it is taken, George Frideric Handel’s Messiah, has become synonymous with Christmas around the world for over two and a half centuries.

Handel

George Frideric Handel was born on February 23rd, 1685 in Halle, Germany, roughly forty-four km northwest of the city of Leipzig.  His father, a ‘surgeon-barber’,  intended his son to pursue a career in law, however, the Duke Johann Adolf I of Saxe-Weissenfels [1] on hearing the eleven year old Friederich (which was the way his name was spelled at that time)  play the organ, persuaded the elder Handel to allow  his son  to  use his talents in the world of music.

In 1702, Handel then 17 years old, was offered the organist position at the Cathedral of Halle.  The following year he traveled to Hamburg and befriended Georg Philipp Telemann, a ‘reluctant lawyer, who introduced him to opera [2]. In 1705 Handel presided over the premiere in Hamburg of his first opera, Almira [3]. It contained an epilogue, created by Reinhard Keisser, one of the preeminent opera composers of the day [4].

Between 1706 and 1710 Handel visited Italy, where some of the greatest musicians of the day–Alessandro Scarlatti and his son Domenico, Francesco Gasparini, and Arcangelo Corelli—were based. Handel was invited to Florence by Marchese Frencesco Ruspoli, who would later become a patron to the young musician [5].  He composed ‘many works’ in Italy, including, two operas, numerous Italian solo cantatas (vocal compositions), another oratorio, and Latin choral music [6].

In June 1710, at 25, he landed the post of Kapellmeister (a director or conductor of music) to Georg, Elector of Hanover, ‘on terms so favourable as to stretch credulity: a generous salary, plus “leave to be absent for a 12-month or more if he chose it, and to go whithersoever he please”’ [7]. Also appreciative of the Handel’s talent was the British Ambassador, Charles Montagu, who invited him to visit England [8]. Handel accepted the Ambassador’s invitation and, prior to starting his position of Kapellmeister, he travelled to England where he would remain for a year.

In England Handel was sought out by the manager of the Queen’s Theatre (later, the King’s Theatre) at Haymarket, Aaron Hill,  who had ‘sketched out’ [9] a libretto based on the story of  Rinaldo and Armida from Gerusalemme Liberata (Jerusalem Delivered), an epic poem by Torquato Tasso. With a final libretto by the theatre’s own Giacomo Rossi, Handel, in two weeks, composed the music for Rinaldo, his first opera performed in England [10].   Rinaldo premiered on February 24th, 1711 at Queen’s Theatre, Haymarket, [11]. Gramophone.co.uk, reports Rinaldo contained ‘a string of show stoppers… recycled, like so many of the arias, from music [he] had written in Italy’ [12].

As in Italy, Handel’s work on Rinaldo was a ‘total success’ [13].  At the end of the London theatre season, Handel returned to his position in Hanover [14].

In 1712 he visited London again to follow up on his previous year’s success. His second opera produced in London, Il Pastor Fkikdo (The Faithful Shepherd), was not well received however, [15]. Nonetheless the following year he won the ‘favour’ of Queen Anne of England with his Ode for the Queen’s Birthday, and other pieces.  The Queen granted him an allowance of   £200 for life [16].

Upon the Queen’s death in 1714 Handel’s patron, Gerog, Elector of Hanover, became George I, King of England. (The great grandson of King George I, George III, would decades later lose Britain’s American colonies in the American War of Independence.)

In 1717 George I, experiencing difficulties both personal and political, decided to hold a concert on the River Thames. He enlisted his court composer, Handel, to write the music.  The result, a ‘suite for small pieces’ called Water Music, was first performed by an orchestra of fifty musicians on a barge on the river [17]. Water Music, together with Messiah, would become two of Handel’s best known works.

In 1719, Handel was invited to become the Master of the Orchestra at the Royal Academy of Music, the first Italian opera company in London. He accepted [18].

In 1727 Handel became a British subject which gave him the opportunity to compose pieces for the coronation of George II in that year, and the Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline a decade later [19]. Also in 1727 Handel broke away from the Royal Academy of Music, and formed his own company, The New Royal Academy of Music. He wrote much music at this time, including two operas a year for ten straight years [20].

The revivals in 1732 of Handel’s masques Acis and Galatea and Haman and Mordecai (later, renamed Esther) led to the establishment of the English oratorio—a large musical composition for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra, without acting or scenery, and usually dramatizing a story from the Bible in English-language lyrics [21].

During that time, a noted literary scholar and librettist became an admirer of Handel’s music. His name was Charles Jennens.

Jennens was educated at Ballol College, Oxford, [22].  Handel biographer, Christopher Hogwood, says Jennens was a wealthy ‘country gentleman…whose ostentation made many of his contemporaries his enemies’ [23].

Nonetheless, despite his alleged shortcomings, Hogwood notes, he was a ‘man of taste and learning,’ well versed in the Classics.

[F]or sometime he had subscribed to all of Handel’s publications and obtained manuscript copies of most of his output.  He had, moreover, a remarkable ability to construct the type of libretto that suited Handel best: whether dealing with the Scriptures or Milton, he could isolate and distil the drama and characterization without adopting a moralizing posture. Handel clearly respected his views, however conceited their expression [24].

Jennens had purchased regular subscriptions to Handel’s music since 1725, and by the 1730s  had become personally acquainted with the composer. He furnished ‘texts for the dramatic oratorio Saul (1738), [and] collaborated on the extensive masque L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il moderato’ [25].

In January of 1739 Handel premiered the oratorio Saul [26], the libretto for which, Hogwood postulates, Jennens had sent to him, unsolicited, in 1735 [27]. The oratorio was a success.

On July 10th, 1741, Jennens wrote to a friend:

Handel says he will do nothing next Winter, but I hope I shall perswade him to set another Scripture Collection I have made for him, & perform it for his own Benefit in passion week. I hope he will lay out his whole Genius & Skill upon it, that the Composition may excel all his former Compositions, as the Subject excels every other Subject. The Subject is Messiah… [28].

Messiah

The Creation of Messiah

Jennens libretto may have remained untouched for years had Handel not received an invitation from William Cavendish, an Irish diplomat, to participate in the following season’s ‘oratorio concerts for a number of Dublin charities.’  Handel, coming off a disappointing season the previous year, a year where his previous oratorio, Israel in Egypt, flopped.  So when the opportunity arose to perform a brand new oratorio to a different audience, Handel jumped at the chance.

The prospect of a new public, a charitable cause and a series of concerts (instead of the single benefit Jennens had proposed) galvanized Handel into planning a series of entertainments’… For the sacred component he immediately took up Jennens’s new libretto and began work on Monday, August 22, 1741 [29].

Twenty-four days later, on September 14th, the music for Messiah was completed.  Handel arrived in Dublin on 18th November and began to organize his concerts for the following season.  On April 13th 1742 Messiah premiered ‘at ‘the New Musick Hall in Fishamble-street’ [30]. It was a charity performance that benefited the imprisoned, the hospitalized and the infirmed [31].

Irish interest in Messiah was extraordinarily high from the beginning. The theatre in which it was first performed seated 600, but was forced to accommodate 700 [32]. Ladies were asked not to wear hoops in their dresses and men were asked to leave ‘the swords at home.’  Handel directed the performance from the organ [33].

In 1743 Handel took Messiah to Covent Garden in London and then to the King’s Theatre two years later. The reception in England was quite different from Dublin. How could such a sacred work be performed in a public venue, an opera house, and not a church? How could the scandalous actress and singer, Susanna Cibber, who performed the alto parts, be allowed to perform ‘He Was Despised’ and other pieces?  It was not until 1750 when Handel presented Messiah to benefit the Foundling Hospital, a hospital for orphaned children, that the success Messiah initially received in Dublin was finally repeated in England. How could anyone object to sacred music performed for orphaned children?  Messiah was performed at the hospital every year for the rest of Handel’s life [34], and at the time of his death in 1759 Messiah had become as ‘firmly established’ as it is today [35].

The Structure of Messiah

Jennens takes eighty verses from the Bible and weaves them into a concise and essential narrative of the birth, sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Though Messiah is about Christ, says Handel and Jennens expert, Ruth Smith of Cambridge University, seventy of the eighty scripture passages on which Jennens based his libretto are taken from the old testament.  “[H]e’s showing that the Bible is a whole, that it is consistent, that it is to be believed in and that these prophecies of the Messiah in the Old Testament were fulfilled by Jesus” [36].

For a performance of the oratorio at the Moody Bible Institute on November 16, 2016, Messiah is described as follows: [The work features] three distinct parts: prophecy, passion and resurrection. The solos and choruses of each section reflect the emotions identified by listeners: anticipation and comfort, grief and pain, and hope and victory [37].

Here are the three parts of Messiah represented by purely subjective selection of musical pieces, and their accompanying scriptures.

Part 1: The Messiah through Old Testament Prophecy

No. 2:   Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness; prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Isaiah 40: 1-3       Recitative, accompanied.

No. 8: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son., and shall call his name Emmanuel. Isaiah 7:14

God with us. Matthew 1:23 Recitative.

No. 12: For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 Chorus.

Part 2: The Sacrifice and Suffering of Messiah for the Sins of Mankind

The suffering is not just the suffering on the Cross, but of being rejected and despised by man.

No. 23: He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Isaiah 53: 3. He gave his back to the smiters and his cheeks to them who plucked off the hair, he hid not his face from shame and spitting. Isaiah 50:6 Aria.

No. 24: Surely he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows: he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him. Isaiah 53:4,5 Chorus.

No. 26: All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6 Chorus.

Towards the end of Part 2 is the hope of deliverance, the hope of reconciliation.

No. 30: But thou didst not leave his soul in hell nor didst thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption. Psalm 16:10 Arioso.

No. 36 Thou art gone up on high, thou hast led captivity captive, and received gifts for men, yea even for thine enemies, that the lord God might dwell among them. Psalm 68:18, Aria.

And, at the end of Part 2, is the famous Hallelujah chorus (Praise ye the Lord) ushering Part 3

No. 44 Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Revelation 19:6. The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and eve., Revelation 19:15. King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Revelation 19:16 Chorus.

Part 3:  The Redemption of Mankind through the Messiah’s Resurrection

No. 45 I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God. John 19:25,26 For now is Christ risen from the dead, the first fruits of them that sleep, Corinthians 15:20 Aria.

No. 50 O death, where is thy sting?  O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. I Corinthians 15: 55,56 Duet.

No. 53 Worthy is the lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by his blood, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever. Amen Revelation 5:12-14 Chorus.

The Message of Messiah

Why has Messiah resonated with audiences for almost 275 years?  Three experts provide their respective  points of view.

Messiah goes to the very heart of the Christian faith and it articulates it in a way which is subtle but simple… [I]t’s music that speaks to me of a profound spiritual longing for mankind to be raised up. And if I didn’t have that vision before my eyes I think I would flounder. It’s part of my moral and musical landscape that will never fade and, I think, my feelings are probably echoed by millions of other musicians and music lovers around the world. John Rutter, Composer, Professor, King’s College, Cambridge University, [38].

I think the dominant force of…Messiah is the symbiotic relationship between the words and the music that cannot really be separated…I go back to ‘He Was Despised’ which seems so obvious to me but it was the most natural outpouring, “He was despi-sed…despi-sed and rejected. Rejected of men…”, I mean, how can you separate those?  Ellen T. Harris, Professor of Music, MIT [39].

It’s about the ‘big issues, isn’t it…that’s why it’s a great piece. It’s about belief. It’s about darkness. It’s about finding light. And that can be interpreted in the strict religious…tradition, or it can be seen as a metaphor for our lives, and that’s why, I think, Messiah, like so much of the Christian repertoire, is of great value to us, even in a world that has become increasingly secular. It’s almost the gift that keeps giving. Paul D. McCreesh, Conductor, Gabrielli Consort and Players, England. [40].

The Legacy of Messiah

By 1759, the year of Handel’s death, Messiah was a firmly established piece. Music festivals, choral societies, choirs, performed the work regularly, often with a much larger number of participants than originated the work.   When Handel conducted the piece, Messiah was performed by about fifty or sixty people, as it was at the premiere in Dublin. As the work grew in popularity the number of participants increased as did the audience size. At one event an orchestra of 500 musicians and 4,000 signers performed for an audience of 87,000. [41].

Several men and women of note have gravitated towards the piece.  In 1784 and 1785 John Newton, the former slave ship captain and author of the hymn ‘Amazing Grace’, delivered a series of fifty sermons on the scriptural passages on which the Messiah libretto was based [42]. (For my blog on John Newton, please see John Newton, Amazing Grace). Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart produced a version of the oratorio in 1789 [43].  Upon hearing Handel’s music, Joseph Haydn was ‘struck as if he had been put back in the beginning of his studies and had known nothing up to that moment. He meditated on every note and drew from those most learned scores the essence of true musical grandeur,’ [44]. Ludwig van Beethoven is reported to have said, citing Messiah, that Handel was the “greatest composer that ever lived” [45].

Final Thoughts

Depending on your religious beliefs, Messiah is the result of either a wild series of coincidences or a stroke of Divine intervention. Three of the principals involved were undergoing severe personal trials. The alto, Susanna Cibber had been suffering an abusive marital relationship, and had birthed two children out of wedlock, children who were then taken away from her; the devout protestant Jennens was mourning the suicide of his brother; and Handel was recovering from health problems as well as suffering a dismal musical season the previous year. Into this is thrown an unsolicited libretto which Handel probably would have set aside had it not been for an unexpected invitation to compose, for charity, for an audience for whom he had never written. Whatever the explanation, Messiah came into being under the most unlikely of circumstances, and, 275 years later still speaks to millions of people around the world—still enthralling, still inspiring, still universal.

© Weldon Turner, 2016 All Rights Reserved.

Next month: C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed.

Image

Musical score for the oratorio Messiah, by German-British composer George Frideric Handel 1685-1759. Title page. Printed by Messers Randall & Abell, London, 1747. Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale, Bologna Italy.

(Photo by: Leemage/UIG via Getty Images

Editorial license secured.

References

[1] Christopher Hogwwod, Handel, Thames and Hudson, 2007, p12 [2] Hogwood, Handel, p21 [3] Hogwood, Handel, p26 [4] Hogwood, Handel, pp26-27 [5] Hogwood, Handel, p31 [6] Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Frideric-Handel accessed, December 17, 2016 [7] Gramophone.co.uk, http://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/focus/handel-conquers-london,  accessed, December 17th, 2016 [8] Hogwood, Handel, p47 [9] Hogwood, Handel, p62 [10] Hogwood, Handel, p62 [11] GFHandel.com, http://gfhandel.org/handel/chron1.html, accessed December 18, 2016. [12] Gramophone.co.uk,  http://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/focus/handel-conquers-london, accessed December 17, 2016 [13] Hogwood, Handel, p63 [14] Hogwood, Handel, p67 [15] Hogwood, Handel, p66 [16] Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Frideric-Handel, accessed December 18, 2016 [17] Hogwood, Handel, pp 71-72 [18] Biography.com, http://www.biography.com/p eople/george-handel-9327378#opera, accessed December 22, 2016 [19] Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Frideric-Handel,  accessed December 18, 2016 [20] Biography.com, http://www.biography.com/people/george-handel-9327378#opera,  accessed December 22, 2016 [21] Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Frideric-Handel   accessed, December 17, 2016 [22] GFHandel.org, http://gfhandel.org/handel/messiah.html, accessed December 17, 2016 [23] Hogwood, Handel, p154 [24] Hogwood, Handel, p154 [25] GFHandel.org, http://gfhandel.org/handel/messiah.html, accessed December 18th, 2016 [26] Hogwood, Handel, p156 [27] Hogwood, Handel, p153 [28] Hogwood, Handel, p167 [29] Hogwood, Handel, p167 [30] Hogwood, Handel, p175 [31] Hogwood, Handel, p175 [32] Handel’s Messiah, BYU Broadcasting, 2015 [33] Handel’s Messiah, BYU Broadcasting, 2015 [34] Handel: Messiah, Philips, 2003 [35] Handel: Messiah, Philips, 2003 [36] Handel’s Messiah, BYU Broadcasting, 2015 [37] Moody.edu, https://www.moody.edu/unsorted/edu-pages-microsites-handel-messiah-handel-s-messiah/ [38] Handel’s Messiah, BYU Broadcasting, 2015 [39] Handel’s Messiah, BYU Broadcasting, 2015 [40] Handel’s Messiah, BYU Broadcasting, 2015 [41] Handel: Messiah, Philips, 2003 [42] Hogwood, Handel, p242 [43] Smithsonian.com, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-glorious-history-of-handels-messiah-148168540/ , accessed December 22, 2016 [44] Hogwood, Handel, p243 [45] Smithsonian.com, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-glorious-history-of-handels-messiah-148168540/, accessed December 22, 2016

  Bibliography

Christopher Hogwwod, Handel, Thames and Hudson, 2007

Links

Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Frideric-Handel accessed, December 17, 2016

Gramophone.co.uk, http://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/focus/handel-conquers-london,  accessed, December 17th, 2016

GFHandel.com, http://gfhandel.org/handel/chron1.html, accessed December 18, 2016

Gramophone.co.uk,  http://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/focus/handel-conquers-london, accessed December 17, 2016

Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Frideric-Handel, accessed December 18, 2016

Biography.com, http://www.biography.com/p eople/george-handel-9327378#opera, accessed December 22, 2016

Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Frideric-Handel,  accessed December 18, 2016

Biography.com, http://www.biography.com/people/george-handel-9327378#opera,  accessed December 22, 2016

GFHandel.org, http://gfhandel.org/handel/messiah.html, accessed December 17, 2016

[37] Moody.edu, https://www.moody.edu/unsorted/edu-pages-microsites-handel-messiah-handel-s-messiah/

Smithsonian.com, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-glorious-history-of-handels-messiah-148168540/ , accessed December 22, 2016.

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John Newton, Amazing Grace

circa 1775: John Newton (1725-1807), English clergyman, hymn-writer and abolitionist.

As a young sailor John Newton was prone to drunkenness, profanity, and myriad forms of irresponsible behavior. He converted to Christianity in his early thirties yet accepted a position as captain of a slave ship, sometimes conducting Bible studies onboard. After leaving the slave trade he became a pre-eminent figure in the Anglican Church, well known for his sermons, letters, and over two hundred hymns, including the venerable ‘Amazing Grace.’ In later years he became a prominent figure in the British abolitionist movement and a powerful weapon in the fight that would end the slave trade and, ultimately, slavery itself in the British Empire.

 ‘Infidel’

John Newton was born on July 24, 1725.  He was an only child. His father, trained at a Jesuit college, was involved in the Mediterranean trade, and his mother was a devout Christian and adhered to the theology of the Dissenters [1].  She taught him to read by the time he was three, and trained him in the Dissenter’s theology. She however suffered from poor health and died of tuberculosis just before John’s seventh birthday [2].

John was sent away to boarding school and by eleven went to sea with his father. At fifteen he was sent to apprentice on another ship but was soon returned to his father. ‘[B]y this time, my sinful propensities had gathered strength by habit:  I was very wicked, and therefore very foolish; and, being my own enemy, I seemed determined that nobody should be my friend…’ [3].

When his father retired in 1742 young John had sailed with him on six occasions [4].

In that year Newton met Mary Catlett, the daughter of a distant cousin, and was so smitten he intentionally missed a trip to Jamaica, which his father had arranged, in order to be with the thirteen year old girl.

By 1743 Newton had been pressed into the service of the British Navy as a midshipman (an apprentice officer) [5]. In December 1744 Newton found himself in the bad graces of his captain, after he used a day’s leave to see his love, Mary Catlett [6].

On one occasion while the Harwich, the ship on which Newton was assigned, was docked at the southern city of Plymouth, he was tasked with preventing his fellow sailors from deserting. Instead of fulfilling his duties he left the ship in an attempt to implore his father to remove him from the upcoming voyage to the East Indies.  He was soon caught and returned to the ship, where he was placed irons, publicly stripped and whipped. His rank was reduced and his shipmates were forbidden from speaking to him [7].

This marked the beginning of a period of misery and despair for the young sailor. ‘I could perceive nothing but darkness and misery. I think no case, except that of a conscience wounded by the wrath of God, could be more dreadful than mine’ [8].

During the Harwich’s trip to Madeira, an island in the North Atlantic, Newton describes himself as prey to the ‘gloomiest of thoughts’, alternating between suicide and the murder of the ship’s captain.  In addition, he writes, ‘I was capable of anything. I had not the least fear of God before my eyes, nor…the least sensibility of conscience’ [9].

Newton was then ‘traded’ to a merchant ship bound for Guinea, on the west coast of Africa. Now among sailors who knew nothing of his religious background, he felt released to be his true (libertine) self. He ‘sinned with a high hand’, and made it his goal to ‘tempt and seduce others to the same actions and pursuits at every opportunity. He made up goading and disrespectful songs about the captain and his vessel…’ [10].

Onboard Newton made friends with a man referred to as ‘Clow’ (sometimes spelled ‘Cowl’) who was part owner of the ship, a plantation owner in Sierra Leone, and a slave trader. Newton ‘persuaded’ him to take him on as a servant and an apprentice [11]. In Sierra Leone, however, Clow soon went away on an expedition, and Newton was left with his wife, a black African woman, herself a slave holder [12]. He relates mistreatment at the hands of the woman. The relationship with his benefactor soon deteriorated, and Newton was forced to face harsh treatment again [13].

His father arranged for his ‘rescue’ and he eventually joined up with another ship’s crew. Again Newton displayed old habits–drunkenness, and swearing to the point of constructing his own profanities [14]. On a trip back to England the ship encountered a violent storm, to the point where the captain believed that it was due to a ‘Jonah’ on board, named John Newton [15]. During the storm, Newton cried out ‘God have mercy upon us’ [16]. According to JohnNewton.org, he would ‘never forget that “turning day” in 1748 when, as an obstreperous, rebellious young man, he was surprised to hear himself crying out during a violent storm at sea… For it was on that day he discovered, “How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed.” Every year that followed, he kept [that day] 21 March apart as a day of remembrance, for thanksgiving, fasting and prayer’ [17].

Finally, after reaching the safety of the Irish coast, Newton reflected on his ‘life’s journey.’ He read the New Testament, and was particularly struck by the parable of the Prodigal Son. He writes that by this time, he had ‘satisfactory evidence…of the truth of the Gospels…and of its exact suitableness to answer all of my needs’ [18].

He proposed to Mary Catlett, who accepted. He was offered the captaincy of a slave ship. He declined, but accepted the position of first mate [19].

He set sail from Liverpool to the African coast of Guinea. Again, he fell back into his old ways.

Soon after my departure from Liverpool I began to grow slack in waiting upon the Lord. I grew vain and trifling in my conversations.  By the time I arrived at Guinea, I seemed to have forgotten all of the Lord’s mercies. Profaneness excepted, I was almost as bad as before. Sin first deceives, then it hardens. I was now fast bound in chains; I had little desire, and no power at all to free myself.  I would at times reflect how it was with me, but if I attempted to struggle, it was vain [20].

In Guinea Newton experienced more misadventures, including a ‘violent’ illness, and the deaths, some by murder, of fellow sailors. The ship, with Newton on board, left Guinea and sailed to Antigua, and then on to Charlestown, South Carolina [21]. From there he returned to England and he and Mary Catlett were married in 1750.

In August of that year, Newton was appointed captain of a slave ship with a crew of thirty men and embarked on another journey. It would be fourteen months before he returned home.

In 1752 he embarked on his second voyage as a captain. He held Bible classes and worship services. Some members of the crew resented this and plotted a mutiny. This was foiled however when two of the ringleaders took ill and one died [22].  The ship with its cargo arrived at ‘St. Christopher’ (now St. Kitts). Fully expecting to receive letters from his wife, he was devastated to learn that none had arrived.  The absence of letters persuaded Newton that his wife had died, since she wrote regularly. He convinced himself that her ‘death’ was a result of him not sharing his faith [23].  Nonetheless he sent a small boat to Antigua—their original destination–and a package of letters was collected there.  In August of 1753 he returned to England. Six weeks later he embarked on his third and final voyage as a slave ship captain. In May, 1754, while docked at Sandy Bay, in what is now St. Kitts, Newton met another slave ship captain, Alexander Clunie, who was a believer [24].

During this period Newton ‘came to a deeper understanding about many things in the Bible, including a greater understanding of the covenant of grace, the security in it, and the perseverance of the saints’ [25].  He returned to England in August of 1754.  By now the slave trade had become ‘distasteful’ to him and he was eager to find a way out of it. One day, while sitting at tea with his wife, Newton was smitten with a sever ‘seizure’ which rendered him paralyzed for an hour.  His doctors forbade him to sail again, and he resigned his position.

He was soon offered a position of ‘surveyor of tides’ in Liverpool, which he accepted.   He studied books that were ‘spiritually profitable’, learning Greek and Hebrew. He read the ‘best writers in Divinity’ and began to consider service in the ministry.

I could but wish for such a public opportunity to testify the riches of Divine grace. I thought I was, above most living, a fit person to proclaim that faithful saying ‘that Jesus Christ came into the world to save the chief of sinners;’ and as my life had been full of remarkable turns, and I seemed selected to show what the Lord could do, I was in some hopes, that perhaps, sooner or later, He might call me into His service [26].

On the advice of his friend and fellow captain, Clunie, Newton began to develop religious associations, formed friendships with contacts in London. His taste for ‘religious associations’ were fired by the fellowship he experienced with influential Christians of the day including Samuel Pike (1717–1773) and George Whitefield (1714-1770).  (George Whitefield, who Christianity Today has called ‘probably the most famous religious figure of the eighteenth century’ [27], was a leading figure in the Great Awakening and Methodist Movement, together with John and Charles Wesley [28]). Whenever he could travel up from his temporary home in Chatham, Newton attended their regular fellowship meetings [29].

In 1757 Newton began to seek a ‘living in an established Church’ [30]. He applied for ordination in the Church of England but was refused. It would be more than seven years before he was accepted. In 1764 Newton was recommended for the position of curate of Olney, Buckinghamshire, and finally became a priest on June 17th.

Curate of Olney

Olney is a small town in the English Midlands, about sixty miles north of central London. Newton’s first impression of the town was that of a ‘low and dirty country whose inhabitants mostly dwelt in poverty’ [31].  Central to the town’s economy in 1764 was the manufacture of ‘bone lace’ whose price fluctuated wildly, frequently leaving the town’s craftspeople on the brink of ‘starvation’ [32].

He published his Authentic Narrative in his first year at Olney. The biography gave an account of his early life, conversion, and call to the ministry. His reputation grew and people came from far and near to seek his counsel and help [33]. He also became well known for his hymn, sermons and letters.  He has been described as ‘the letter writer par excellence of the Evangelical Revival and that this ‘was his distinctive contribution to that great movement’ [34].

The essential truths of Newton’s letters, as listed in the Letters of John Newton, published by the Banner of Truth Trust, are these. True evangelical religion:

is intensely personal

produces intense exercise of soul

is intensely practical

The letters addressed such issues as ‘The Benefits of Affliction’– ‘suffering quickens us to prayer’; ‘‘The School of Suffering’ – since Jesus suffered ‘[h]ow much better to be called to the honor of experiencing a measure of His sufferings!’ [35]. He also writes of ‘Doubts and Fears’ and of God’s expression of a ‘peculiar care and tenderness for the weak of the flock’.

According to historians, his journal and letters writings were among the first ‘important account’ of what it was like to be at sea in the ‘slave trade’ business [36].

Newton’s reputation grew well beyond the borders of his parish. He counted among his friends Dissenters and established Anglicans alike, and traveled and preached throughout the country. In Olney he welcomed visitors from all over the country to his home [37].

It was during his time that Newton met William Cowper (pronounced Cooper). Cowper was an extremely shy young man who had tried to escape the terror of a public bar examination by attempting to commit suicide [38].  Cowper moved to the village of Olney in 1767. Newton would become a close friend and spiritual adviser. Cowper came to a ‘belief in the mercy of Jesus’ and converted to evangelical Christianity while being treated at an alyssum’ [39]. Cowper later became a renowned poet in his own right, publishing the anit-slavery poem, ‘The Negro’s Complaint’, and the 5,000 line poem, ‘The Task’ [40].

Newton preached and held weekly prayer meetings. He persuaded Cowper to write a hymn for each of these meetings [41]. Often he would write a hymn to address the specific need of some member of his congregation [42].The collection would eventually be published in the Olney Hymns hymnal, in 1779.

Among the more than three hundred hymns they would write were ‘Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken’, ‘How Sweet The Name of Jesus Sounds’ and, of course, ‘Amazing Grace’.

There is conflicting information on when the hymn was written. Bill Moyers’ documentary, Amazing Grace, reports it being written between 1760 and 1770, however The John Newton Project has it being written for a January 1, 1773 sermon [43].

‘Amazing Grace’ is emblematic of the letters and sermons published in The Amazing Works of John Newton, addressing the ‘wretchedness of his condition as a young man, and the redemption received only through the grace of Christ.

Amazing Grace

(Original words)

Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound) That sav’d a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see.

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears reliev’d; How precious did that grace appear, The hour I first believ’d!

Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; ‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promis’d good to me, His word my hope secures; He will my shield and portion be, As long as life endures.

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail, And mortal life shall cease; I shall possess, within the veil, A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, The sun forbears to shine, But God, who call’d me here below, Will be forever mine.

In a later version of the hymn the last three stanzas are replaced by a single verse, reportedly written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, for her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin [44].

When we’ve been through ten thousand years Bright shining as the sun We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise Than when we’d first begun

There are different accounts on the origin of the melody with which Amazing Grace is associated. According to Hymnary.org the tune was ‘probably’ taken from an Appalachian folk tune entitled, ‘New Britain’.  ‘It was first set to ‘Amazing Grace’ in 1835 [45].

The melody to which ‘Amazing Grace’ was put was probably taken from the tune ‘New Britain.‘

NEW BRITAIN…was originally a folk tune, probably sung slowly with grace notes and melodic embellishments. It was first published as a hymn tune in shape notes in Columbian Harmony (1829) to the text “Arise, my soul, my joyful pow’rs.” It was first set to “Amazing Grace” in William Walker’s…Southern Harmony (1835) [46].

Trouble began to develop in Newton’s ministry.  Parishioners were encouraged to conduct ‘mid-week prayer groups and other meetings he instituted’, but soon became ‘restless’ under his leadership.  On one occasion Newton spoke out against the ‘reckless behavior’ on Guy Fawkes Day. The opposition of the some of the townspeople was so fierce that he had to ‘bribe’ several of them not to burn down his house [47]. The incident left Newton believing that the townspeople were ‘increasingly affected’ by spiritual deadness, and complained to a friend that the townspeople had become ‘sermon proof.’  So when ‘in 1779 he received an invitation ‘by England’s richest merchant and, at one time, the Director of the Bank of England [48] John Thornton, to become rector of one of the most prestigious parishes in London, St. Mary Woolnoth, he accepted, and was installed that December [49].

The Abolitionist

Newton, by this time, was considered to be one of the pre-eminent leaders of the Great Awakening’s second generation [50]. However it was his relationship with a young Member of Parliament, William Wilberforce, that would establish another enduring legacy, along with the hymn ‘Amazing Grace.’ (For further information on Wilberforce’s views on Christian faith, please see my blog, Wilberforce and Real Christianity).

Wilberforce came from a wealthy family of merchants. As a child his family was visited by the evangelists George Whitefield and John Newton [51]. He came to London from Cambridge in 1779 and formed a deep friendship with William Pitt the Younger, (1759-1806). They entered politics in 1780 and Wilberforce became a Member of Parliament, and three years later, at 24, William Pitt the Younger became Prime Minister (1783–1801, 1804–06) [52]. Also among Wilberforce’s social circle was the son of John Thornton, Henry Thornton, who would later become an eminent economist [53].

After a European trip with his friend, the brilliant Cambridge scientist and mathematician, Isaac Milner, who was also an Anglican clergyman, Wilberforce converted to evangelical Christianity in 1784-1785 [54]. Back in London he sought the spiritual counsel of John Newton, by then the ‘leading Anglican evangelical in London’ [55].

After a period of self-examination and prayer Wilberforce concluded that “God had set before me two objects: the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners” [i.e. morality [56].

In 1787 Wilberforce helped to found…the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade—the latter more commonly called the Anti-Slavery Society. He and his associates—Thomas Clarkson, Granville Sharp, Henry Thornton, Charles Grant, Edward James Eliot, Zachary Macaulay, and James Stephen—were first called the Saints and afterward (from 1797 onwards) the Clapham Sect, of which Wilberforce was the acknowledged leader.

Wilberforce and his associates went about gathering firsthand accounts of the atrocities within the slave trade. Former slaves such as Oluadah Equiano and Ottabah Cugoano [57], provided first-hand information on their experiences in bondage.  Wilberforce also solicited information from his friend and spiritual advisor, Newton, on his experiences as slave ship captain. Newton was able to provide details on the conditions on board a ship that few others could. One of the most harrowing recollections emanated from his own pen:

With our ships the great object is to be full. The cargo of a vessel of a hundred tons or a little more is calculated to purchase from two hundred and twenty to two hundred and fifty slaves. For the slaves lie in two rows, one above the other, on each side of the ship, close to each other like books…on a shelf . I have known them so close that the shelf would not easily contain one more, and I have known a white man, sent down among the men, to lay them in these rows, to the greatest advantage, so that as little space as possible might be lost. I write from memory after an interval of more than thirty years. But at the same time I believe many things which I saw, heard and felt upon the coast of Africa are so deeply engraven in my memory that I can hardly forget. John Newton.

It was mainly through John Newton, talking about his experiences [in] the slave trade that the important and influential people in London came to realized that it was ‘not good’ [58].

Needless to say, the Society’s opposition to the slave trade was met with hostility. Admiral [Horatio] Nelson wrote that as long as he would speak and fight he would resist ‘the damnable doctrines of Wilberforce and his hypocritical allies’ [59].  Nonetheless the fight continued. Starting in 1793, and for almost every year afterward in the 1790s, Wilberforce put forward a Bill to abolish the slave trade only to have it defeated every time [60].

Finally [o]n the night of February 23, 1807, excitement grew in the House of Commons as [Wilberforce’s] latest motion was debated. Speech after speech spoke in favor of abolition, and his fellow members began to pay tribute to Wilberforce…The House of Commons rose to its feet, turned to Wilberforce, and began to cheer. They gave three rousing hurrahs while Wilberforce sat with his head bowed and wept. Then the Commons voted to abolish the slave trade by a vote of 283 to 16. Prime Minister Granville called the passage ‘a measure which will diffuse happiness among millions now in existence, and for which his memory will be blessed by millions yet unborn’ [61].

On 25 March 1807, the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act entered the statute books [62] officially ending the trading of slaves within the British Empire*. John Newton, former ‘infidel and libertine’, slave trader, surveyor of tides, ‘wretched’, self-confessed sinner, hymn writer, esteemed clergyman, and, ultimately, a sinner redeemed by the grace of Jesus Christ, was eighty-one years old. Almost nine months later, on December 21st, 1807, John Newton died at his London home [63]. On December 23rd, the obituary in The Times read:

DIED At his house in Coleman-street-buildings, aged 82, the Rev. John Newton, Rector of the United Parishes of St. Mary Woolnoth, and St. Mary Woolchurch Haw, of which parishes he had been Rector 28 years. His unblemished life, his amiable character, both as a man and as a Minister, and his able writings, are too well known to need any comment [64].

Over seven decades later, in 1893, Newton and his wife Mary were reinterred in the southeast corner of the graveyard at St. Peter and St. Paul Church, Olney, Buckinghamshire.

His epitaph, which he wrote, reads:

JOHN NEWTON, Clerk Once an infidel and libertine A servant of slaves in Africa, Was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the Gospel which he had long laboured to destroy. He ministered, Near sixteen years in Olney, in Bucks, And twenty-eight years in this Church.

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/n/e/w/newton_j.htm

*Although the Act made it illegal to engage in the slave trade throughout the British colonies, trafficking between the Caribbean islands continued, regardless, until 1811. [65].

Final Thoughts

John Newton’s story is a truly compelling one. Why? I believe that his is an all too human story.  Many can relate to his failures of a young man—prone to profanity, irresponsible behaviour, getting into trouble, the punishment he suffered and the pain he endured, much of which was a result of his own behaviour.  Perhaps this makes it easier for the reader to believe that the redemption and the ‘grace’ he received later in his life can be theirs as well.

One of the more alarming aspects of his story, I’ll argue, is how complacent Christians were regarding the enslavement of fellow human beings. Initially Newton was a member of this group. Even after his conversion in 1748, he went on to captain a slave ship on three occasions.  What’s fascinating about this is the extent to which human beings have the ability to rationalize almost any behaviour, in this instance, slavery. Applying this reasoning to 2016, one can reasonably ask: are there activities/ actions that are entirely acceptable today that will be considered unacceptable, even barbaric, in the future? What drives society’s sense of morality, of values, of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’?

Finally, a note on The Amazing Works of John Newton.  The volume is noticeably sketchy on Newton’s travels from Africa to the Caribbean. There is scant attention given to the uncomfortable reality that these voyages were in fact the infamous ‘Middle Passage’ of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, that human beings were being forced into lives of bondage never to taste freedom again.  Not addressing the promotion of this activity, against the backdrop of the grace of Jesus Christ is, at least from today’s vantage point, bewildering. At the risk of imposing 21st sensibilities on 18th century practices, I’ll suggest that the volume is weakened by this omission, particularly in light of Newton’s abolitionist views later in life.  However the over-riding story—of the sinful state of man, ultimately redeemed by genuine faith—is truly inspirational.

© 2016 Weldon Turner

Next month: Handel, The Messiah

Image

John Newton Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images Editorial license secured.

References

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[17] JohnNewton.org, November 25, 2016, http://www.johnnewton.org/Groups/222562/The_John_Newton/new_menus/Amazing_Grace/Amazing_Grace.aspx

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[34] Josiah Bull, ed., Letters of John Newton, p xi

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[43] JohnNewton.org, November 25, 2016, http://www.johnnewton.org/Groups/222562/The_John_Newton/new_menus/Amazing_Grace/Amazing_Grace.aspx

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[45] Hymnary.org, accessed November 25, 2016, http://www.hymnary.org/tune/new_britain

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[51]WilberforceSchool.org, accessed, November 20, 2016, https://www.wilberforceschool.org/about-us/william-wilberforce

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[57] NationalArchives.co.uk, accessed November 20, 2016, http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory/rights/abolition.htm

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[64] JohnNewton.org, November 25, 2016, http://www.johnnewton.org/Groups/69918/The_John_Newton/archive/archive_About_John/Newtons_death/Newtons_death.aspx

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Bibliography

John Newton, The Amazing Works of John Newton, edited by Harold J. Chadwick,  Bridge-Logos, 2009

Josiah Bull, ed., Letters of John Newton, The Banner of Truth and Trust, 2007

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JohnNewton.org, November 25, 2016, http://www.johnnewton.org/Groups/222562/The_John_Newton/new_menus/Amazing_Grace/Amazing_Grace.aspx

Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. “George Whitefield”, accessed November 12, 2016, https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Whitefield.)

CyberHymnal,org, accessed November 13, 2016, http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/c/o/w/cowper_w.htm

Hymnary.org, http://www.hymnary.org/tune/new_britain

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National Archives.gov.uk, accessed November 20, 2016, http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory/rights/abolition.htm