ACU Today - Spring 2000 "An Angry Peace"

An Angry Peace

Race and Abilene Christian University

Like all southern (and many northern) schools, Abilene Christian excluded American blacks from enrollment from its beginning in 1906. Any thought of doing otherwise simply never occurred to the founders. Eventually Jim Crow laws forbade the intermingling of blacks and whites. Segregation was assumed with little question and racial prejudice ruled the day.

This is strikingly illustrated in the 1928 Prickly Pear yearbook in what today seems an astounding display of racial stereotyping. That year the school annual displayed an old south motif that included crude line drawings and verses depicting southern "darkies."

Section after section demeaned and stereotyped blacks.

The "organizations" section, for example, opened with a drawing of a black man sleeping on the bank of a river with a catfish pulling on his fishing line.

Ain't no use o' my workin' so hard
For I got a gal in de white folks' yard;
She brings me meat and she brings me lard,
Dere ain't no use in my working so hard.

We partook fully in the spirit of the age. As late as 1952 The Optimist newspaper reported on a minstrel show put on by students in black face with the caption in stereotypical black dialect, "It was dis big, sho nuff."

But another spirit was rising among some Abilene Christian College students, especially after the integration of the Armed Forces and the distinguished service of black Americans in World War II. ACU student Glenn Wamble ('55) wrote in a March 1954 letter to The Optimist that his own experience in the Air Force with black servicemen led him to believe that his generation had not inherited racial prejudice to the degree of previous generations, and that something more than editorials should be done to remedy the exclusion of blacks from the school.

Despite Wamble's protests, editorials did indicate something. Wamble wrote that the matter of desegregating ACU had been raised several times since at least 1948. But in the landmark year of 1954, the year of Brown v. Board of Education, the number of Optimist letters and articles skyrocketed. The same sentiment was being felt on college campuses throughout the U.S., including the other schools affiliated with Churches of Christ.

Even before the Brown decision was issued in May, strong statements appeared.

In February, Phil Bradshaw ('57) and Bruce Branscome Jr. ('56) charged that "as long as the doors of admittance to Abilene Christian College are closed to a child of God, regardless of his race or color, it lacks that much being a Christian College."

In March, 10 students, including Howard Norton ('57), Joe Schubert ('57) and Bob Barnhill ('56), signed a statement accusing ACU of "following a policy that is unchristian and diametrically opposed to New Testament teachings." They charged the school with the sin of being "respecters of persons [James 2:9]."

In May The Optimist editor reported that in polls of the student body, more than 80 percent favored immediate integration of the school. Yet in the same editorial the editor chided students for failing to support a recent program held in Sewell Auditorium to lend support to Southwestern Christian College. "If we can't have integration," he scolded, "we ought to support the second best plan." And in April 1956 a justification for continued segregation appeared in the form of a fictitious exchange between a college student and his grandfather. Titled "Youth and Age Meet, Fail to Find Solution," the piece gave a classic argument for waiting based on social and financial reasons.

A four-person panel at the 1955 Bible Lectureship focused on the issue of race relations, again showing a divided voice.

J. Roy Willingham Jr. ('46) asserted that equality before God of all people was a fundamental Christian concept and insisted that "we should be filled with righteous indignation" at members of Churches of Christ who were "dragging their feet or, God forbid, leading the opposition."

J.W. Treat ('28), at the end of a list of Bible texts related to race relations, concluded that the golden rule of Matthew 7:12 was the bottom line principle in these matters. Yet Leon Locke ('42) and L.M. Graves strongly urged the churches not to get involved with "organized agitation for reform. May we be content to let the church fulfill its glorious mission of saving souls." As long as deep-seated social customs like segregation were not "directly inconsistent with living the Christian life," Christians ought not to be involved in efforts to uproot them.

The ACU Board of Trustees was also divided over the issue. Some saw integration as the right thing to do, but believed such a move would damage the school financially. Among those working quietly for integration were Dr. J.P. Gibson, Judge Jack Pope ('34) and Louie Welch ('40). In a recent interview, chancellor emeritus Dr. John Stevens ('38) said that while there were a few "old time segregationists" on the Board, the majority were middle-of-the-road in their attitudes.

By early 1960, however, the school had appointed an Integration Committee to study the matter and make recommendations to the Board. The committee evidently had a long-range plan for doing its work that would have taken several years. The delivery of a now legendary speech at the 1960 Lectureship by Bible professor Carl Spain gave impetus to the process.

His speech, titled "Modern Challenges to Christian Morals," looks at first like an academic lecture on philosophical ethics. But suddenly in the middle of the section on naturalism and communism Spain unleashed a theological attack on racial segregation that Bill Banowsky in his 1965 analysis of the ACU Lectureship, "The Mirror of a Movement," called "the most spectacular speech ever delivered in Abilene."

"God forbid," Spain cried, "that churches of Christ, and schools operated by Christians, shall be the last stronghold of refuge for socially sick people who have Nazi illusions about the Master Race." Paraphrasing the words of Christ, Spain continued, "Ye hypocrites! You say you are the only true Christians, and make up the only true church, and have the only Christian schools. Yet, you drive one of your own preachers to denominational schools where he can get credit for his work and refuse to let him take Bible for credit in your own school because the color of his skin is dark!"

Spain was referring to Floyd Rose, who despite having full outside funding, was refused admission to ACU on racial grounds. Spain charged moral cowardice in fearing "Jim Crow" more than reverencing Jesus Christ and urged offering "Christian education to all Americans without respect of persons."

The response to Spain's address across the country demonstrated that while opposition to integration was still alive, many strongly supported it. Still, it would not be until May 1961 that the Integration Committee would issue the following simple recommendation to the Board.

The Integration Committee recommends that beginning with the fall semester, 1961, any applicant who meets the admissions requirements to graduate school be admitted.

INTEGRATION COMMITTEE

Garvin Beauchamp, Chairman
J. B. Collins
Overton Faubus
Hollis L. Manly
Frank Pack

The first black student was actually admitted in the spring semester of 1962. Washington Harris was principal of Wallace Elementary School in nearby Colorado City, and came once a week to take a graduate education course. By May 1963 an Optimist article titled "Integration Comes to ACC - Quietly" reported that three seniors and one junior had been admitted as transfer students from other schools.

In an interview with one of those students, Allen White, reflected ambivalence toward his circumstances at ACU. He admitted that racial prejudice "used to make me want to burn inside, scream at the world, or hit somebody over the head, but now I understand…Segregation in on its deathbed," White concluded. "Let's quit giving it oxygen."

Enrollment at Abilene Christian was finally opened to students at all levels in 1965.

But Abilene Christian College was still a "white" school. Black culture was not honored. Black students found it hard to fit in. And while the number of black students increased over the years, only recently has ACU focused on intentional efforts to help black students affirm their heritage in the context of life at the university.

The hiring of black faculty members and admissions counselors, the addition of black trustees, the creation of a campus committee to address matters of racial sensitivity are some of the efforts the school has made. Black students themselves have taken the initiative to form Black Students in Unity in 1991 and more recently Essence of Ebony.

These efforts, the confession of the sin of segregation by ACU's administration, and the first "One In Christ" conference are true and solid beginning points for racial reconciliation in Churches of Christ. Admittedly there is still much to do. But ACU is committed to this work, and there is no turning back.

The Case for Confession and Forgiveness

The point of this brief survey is not that Churches of Christ or ACU have been exceptionally virulent in their racism and discrimination - in fact quite the opposite. The point is that we bought wholesale into the prevailing evil of the American segregationist culture. Furthermore we justified it in all sorts of ways as long as it was the prevailing cultural norm. But it was just as sinful then as it is now.

The gestures now being made to ask forgiveness are right and good and necessary. However we must also confess that if the church had done what it should have done all along, these confessions and apologies would not now be necessary.

All this pushes us to the reality that, as hard as it is to admit, the church will always be flawed and sinful because human beings are flawed and sinful. Only through repentance and the mercy of Christ can such sins be forgiven and reconciliation be completed.

We must pray for wisdom and spiritual discernment to see the sins to which we are now blinded so they do not become a part of our identity. The actions now being taken toward reconciliation between black and white Churches of Christ are the result of the fruit of the Spirit. May God continue this beginning work among us to His glory!Ź

For Further Reading

"Race and the Church of Christ." http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/subs/race.html
"Bound for Canaan: The Spiritual Journey of Africans in America, 1619-1865." Christian History 18 (May 1999).

James O. Maxwell. "The History of Black Religion." 1994.

'The Right Thing to Do' An Angry Peace 1 - 2 - 3 Institutional Progress has been Slow but Steady

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Last Update: July 7, 2000
Page maintained by Jeremy Parish, parishj@acu.edu
Questions to Ron Hadfield, hadfieldr@acu.edu
http://www.acu.edu/acu-today/spring2000/cover02.html


		An Angry Peace Race and Abilene Christian University Like all southern (and many northern) schools, Abilene Christian excluded American blacks from enrollment from its beginning in 1906. Any thought of doing otherwise simply never occurred to the founders. Eventually Jim Crow laws forbade the intermingling of blacks and whites. Segregation was assumed with little question and racial prejudice ruled the day. This is strikingly illustrated in the 1928 Prickly Pear yearbook in what today seems an astounding display of racial stereotyping. That year the school annual displayed an old south motif that included crude line drawings and verses depicting southern "darkies." Section after section demeaned and stereotyped blacks. The "organizations" section, for example, opened with a drawing of a black man sleeping on the bank of a river with a catfish pulling on his fishing line. Ain't no use o' my workin' so hard For I got a gal in de white folks' yard; She brings me meat and she brings me lard, Dere ain't no use in my working so hard. We partook fully in the spirit of the age. As late as 1952 The Optimist newspaper reported on a minstrel show put on by students in black face with the caption in stereotypical black dialect, "It was dis big, sho nuff." But another spirit was rising among some Abilene Christian College students, especially after the integration of the Armed Forces and the distinguished service of black Americans in World War II. ACU student Glenn Wamble ('55) wrote in a March 1954 letter to The Optimist that his own experience in the Air Force with black servicemen led him to believe that his generation had not inherited racial prejudice to the degree of previous generations, and that something more than editorials should be done to remedy the exclusion of blacks from the school. Despite Wamble's protests, editorials did indicate something. Wamble wrote that the matter of desegregating ACU had been raised several times since at least 1948. But in the landmark year of 1954, the year of Brown v. Board of Education, the number of Optimist letters and articles skyrocketed. The same sentiment was being felt on college campuses throughout the U.S., including the other schools affiliated with Churches of Christ. Even before the Brown decision was issued in May, strong statements appeared. In February, Phil Bradshaw ('57) and Bruce Branscome Jr. ('56) charged that "as long as the doors of admittance to Abilene Christian College are closed to a child of God, regardless of his race or color, it lacks that much being a Christian College." In March, 10 students, including Howard Norton ('57), Joe Schubert ('57) and Bob Barnhill ('56), signed a statement accusing ACU of "following a policy that is unchristian and diametrically opposed to New Testament teachings." They charged the school with the sin of being "respecters of persons [James 2:9]." In May The Optimist editor reported that in polls of the student body, more than 80 percent favored immediate integration of the school. Yet in the same editorial the editor chided students for failing to support a recent program held in Sewell Auditorium to lend support to Southwestern Christian College. "If we can't have integration," he scolded, "we ought to support the second best plan." And in April 1956 a justification for continued segregation appeared in the form of a fictitious exchange between a college student and his grandfather. Titled "Youth and Age Meet, Fail to Find Solution," the piece gave a classic argument for waiting based on social and financial reasons. A four-person panel at the 1955 Bible Lectureship focused on the issue of race relations, again showing a divided voice. J. Roy Willingham Jr. ('46) asserted that equality before God of all people was a fundamental Christian concept and insisted that "we should be filled with righteous indignation" at members of Churches of Christ who were "dragging their feet or, God forbid, leading the opposition." J.W. Treat ('28), at the end of a list of Bible texts related to race relations, concluded that the golden rule of Matthew 7:12 was the bottom line principle in these matters. Yet Leon Locke ('42) and L.M. Graves strongly urged the churches not to get involved with "organized agitation for reform. May we be content to let the church fulfill its glorious mission of saving souls." As long as deep-seated social customs like segregation were not "directly inconsistent with living the Christian life," Christians ought not to be involved in efforts to uproot them. The ACU Board of Trustees was also divided over the issue. Some saw integration as the right thing to do, but believed such a move would damage the school financially. Among those working quietly for integration were Dr. J.P. Gibson, Judge Jack Pope ('34) and Louie Welch ('40). In a recent interview, chancellor emeritus Dr. John Stevens ('38) said that while there were a few "old time segregationists" on the Board, the majority were middle-of-the-road in their attitudes. By early 1960, however, the school had appointed an Integration Committee to study the matter and make recommendations to the Board. The committee evidently had a long-range plan for doing its work that would have taken several years. The delivery of a now legendary speech at the 1960 Lectureship by Bible professor Carl Spain gave impetus to the process. His speech, titled "Modern Challenges to Christian Morals," looks at first like an academic lecture on philosophical ethics. But suddenly in the middle of the section on naturalism and communism Spain unleashed a theological attack on racial segregation that Bill Banowsky in his 1965 analysis of the ACU Lectureship, "The Mirror of a Movement," called "the most spectacular speech ever delivered in Abilene." "God forbid," Spain cried, "that churches of Christ, and schools operated by Christians, shall be the last stronghold of refuge for socially sick people who have Nazi illusions about the Master Race." Paraphrasing the words of Christ, Spain continued, "Ye hypocrites! You say you are the only true Christians, and make up the only true church, and have the only Christian schools. Yet, you drive one of your own preachers to denominational schools where he can get credit for his work and refuse to let him take Bible for credit in your own school because the color of his skin is dark!" Spain was referring to Floyd Rose, who despite having full outside funding, was refused admission to ACU on racial grounds. Spain charged moral cowardice in fearing "Jim Crow" more than reverencing Jesus Christ and urged offering "Christian education to all Americans without respect of persons." The response to Spain's address across the country demonstrated that while opposition to integration was still alive, many strongly supported it. Still, it would not be until May 1961 that the Integration Committee would issue the following simple recommendation to the Board. The Integration Committee recommends that beginning with the fall semester, 1961, any applicant who meets the admissions requirements to graduate school be admitted. INTEGRATION COMMITTEE Garvin Beauchamp, Chairman J. B. Collins Overton Faubus Hollis L. Manly Frank Pack The first black student was actually admitted in the spring semester of 1962. Washington Harris was principal of Wallace Elementary School in nearby Colorado City, and came once a week to take a graduate education course. By May 1963 an Optimist article titled "Integration Comes to ACC - Quietly" reported that three seniors and one junior had been admitted as transfer students from other schools. In an interview with one of those students, Allen White, reflected ambivalence toward his circumstances at ACU. He admitted that racial prejudice "used to make me want to burn inside, scream at the world, or hit somebody over the head, but now I understand…Segregation in on its deathbed," White concluded. "Let's quit giving it oxygen." Enrollment at Abilene Christian was finally opened to students at all levels in 1965. But Abilene Christian College was still a "white" school. Black culture was not honored. Black students found it hard to fit in. And while the number of black students increased over the years, only recently has ACU focused on intentional efforts to help black students affirm their heritage in the context of life at the university. The hiring of black faculty members and admissions counselors, the addition of black trustees, the creation of a campus committee to address matters of racial sensitivity are some of the efforts the school has made. Black students themselves have taken the initiative to form Black Students in Unity in 1991 and more recently Essence of Ebony. These efforts, the confession of the sin of segregation by ACU's administration, and the first "One In Christ" conference are true and solid beginning points for racial reconciliation in Churches of Christ. Admittedly there is still much to do. But ACU is committed to this work, and there is no turning back. The Case for Confession and Forgiveness The point of this brief survey is not that Churches of Christ or ACU have been exceptionally virulent in their racism and discrimination - in fact quite the opposite. The point is that we bought wholesale into the prevailing evil of the American segregationist culture. Furthermore we justified it in all sorts of ways as long as it was the prevailing cultural norm. But it was just as sinful then as it is now. The gestures now being made to ask forgiveness are right and good and necessary. However we must also confess that if the church had done what it should have done all along, these confessions and apologies would not now be necessary. All this pushes us to the reality that, as hard as it is to admit, the church will always be flawed and sinful because human beings are flawed and sinful. Only through repentance and the mercy of Christ can such sins be forgiven and reconciliation be completed. We must pray for wisdom and spiritual discernment to see the sins to which we are now blinded so they do not become a part of our identity. The actions now being taken toward reconciliation between black and white Churches of Christ are the result of the fruit of the Spirit. May God continue this beginning work among us to His glory!Ź For Further Reading "Race and the Church of Christ." http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/subs/race.html "Bound for Canaan: The Spiritual Journey of Africans in America, 1619-1865." Christian History 18 (May 1999). James O. Maxwell. "The History of Black Religion." 1994. 'The Right Thing to Do' An Angry Peace 1 - 2 - 3 Institutional Progress has been Slow but Steady

		News \| Sports \| Hilltop View \| Second Glance Back Issues \| Feedback \| Alumni Bookcase \| Tipsheet \| Our Staff .
		Last Update: July 7, 2000 Page maintained by Jeremy Parish, parishj@acu.edu Questions to Ron Hadfield, hadfieldr@acu.edu http://www.acu.edu/acu-today/spring2000/cover02.html