Word: blackshear
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1920-1929
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...churchmen who listened to the buzz last September when Rev. William St. John Blackshear, Brooklyn Episcopalian, discouraged the attendance of Negroes in his church, noted that Parson Blackshear did not actually disbar any Negro from his congregation (TIME, Sept. 30). Last week a more pointed incident of the same sort gave churchmen something more to buzz about. Pastor Adelbert J. Helm of Detroit's Bethel Evangelical Church announced his resignation. Reason: his church council's refusal of membership to a Negro man, a Negro woman...
Newsgatherers were soon asking Bishop Ernest Milmore Stires of Long Island what he would do about Mr. Blackshear. Bishop Stires was pained, but he explained that the Episcopal Church leaves the individual parish practically autonomous. He declined to express any opinion except this: "Personally I have the greatest affection and a warm paternal feeling for our colored brethren...
Amid a rising storm of comment, Rector Blackshear stuck to his announcement, explained he had done it as a matter of "church policy" and as a "friend to the Negro race." Reasons he gave were: "I do not wish to take support from the two churches for colored people in the neighborhood. Furthermore, in these congregations Negroes can develop their power of leadership, whereas in white congregations they are bound to be subdued...
...particularly irate objector was Colyumist Heywood Broun of the New York Telegram. Wrote he : "I have a grave suspicion that the Rev. William S. Blackshear has somewhat mistaken his job and function. Seemingly he has begun to assume that he is chairman of the Com mittee on Admissions and that the Lord's house which he tends is one of the better country clubs. . . . There is no record that Jesus Christ ever said, 'Love thy Nordic neighbor as thyself,' or 'Suffer little Caucasian children to come unto...
...five Negro members of Mr. Blackshear's congregation, only one ap peared in church the following Sunday. But nine new Negro faces were there. Six detectives eyed them suspiciously while Dr. Blackshear preached that "hate is the cancer of the soul." After the service the Negroes lingered in and around the church for a half-hour, were congratulated by several white worshippers...