Collection Details:

Collection Name and Number: Civil Rights and Methodism (Jackson, Miss.) Collection (Z/1957).
Creator/Collector: Multiple creators.
Date(s): 1954, 1958-1960, 1962-1964, n.d.
Size: .33 cubic feet.
Language(s): English.
Processed by: MDAH staff, 1998; MDAH intern Caroline Moehlenbrock, 2023.
Provenance: Purchased from Margaret Cox, of Jackson, Mississippi, on August 18, 1998; Z/U/1998.045.
Repository: Archives and Records Services Division, Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

 

Rights and Access:

Access restrictions: Collection is open for research.

Publication rights: Copyright assigned to the MDAH. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to Reference Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the MDAH as the owner of the physical items and as the owner of the copyright in items created by the donor. Although the copyright was transferred by the donor, the respective creator may still hold copyright in some items in the collection. For further information, contact Reference Services.

Copyright Notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code).

Preferred citation: Civil Rights and Methodism (Jackson, Miss.) Collection (Z/1957), Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

 

Related MDAH Collections:

Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) Records (Z/1867).
Mississippi Freedom Summer Project Collection (Z/1946).

 

History:

Civil Rights and Methodism

The issue of segregation caused a rift within the Methodist denomination in Mississippi during the 1960s. It was epitomized by struggles involving two Methodist institutions in Jackson, Mississippi: Galloway Memorial United Methodist Church and Millsaps College.

The national organization of the United Methodist Church maintained that the denomination was open to everyone, regardless of race. Many Mississippi Methodist Conference lay members were at odds with the open-worship policy of the national organization. In January 1963, twenty-eight Mississippi Methodist ministers caused an uproar when they signed a resolution denouncing segregated churches and affirming the open-worship policy of the national organization titled "Born of Conviction." One of the signers included Reverend James B. Nicholson (August 15, 1923-December 25, 2009), pastor of the Byram Methodist Church. By 1965, of the twenty-eight signers, only nine remained in their original congregation, twelve left the state, and seven transferred to other churches within the state. While the ministers left voluntarily, they faced boycotts, opposition, and violence.

Galloway Memorial United Methodist Church

Founded in 1836 as First Methodist Church, the congregation first met in the Mississippi State House, a small brick building that was made available to them when the state legislature was not in session. A lot located on the corner of Congress and Yazoo streets in Jackson was purchased and the building of the sanctuary was completed in 1839. A second sanctuary was completed in 1883. Pastor Charles Betts Galloway laid that cornerstone and was appointed to First Methodist Church in 1873. In 1916, the third sanctuary was completed and during its dedication in 1917, First Methodist Church was renamed Galloway Memorial. The current building still stands with an active congregation. Nonetheless, between 1963 and 1976, Galloway Memorial lost nearly half of its congregation.

Like many Mississippi churches during the 1960s, Galloway Memorial United Methodist Church had a closed-worship policy. The church opposed integrated worship and enforced the policy. For example, Dr. Madabusi Savithri, a professor of Tougaloo College, was pushed by several Galloway ushers when trying to integrate the church in March 1963.

Association of Independent Methodists

When Galloway ministers opposed the closed-worship policy, several pro-segregationist members accused the church leadership of supporting integration. These dissenting members later formed the Association of Independent Methodists in 1965, founded by Burgess Kinch Hardin (June 22, 1914- October 2, 1980). Hardin was the first to withdraw from the Methodist church and became the first Executive Director of the Association of Independent Methodists. By 1968, the organization had grown from five churches to twenty. The organization is still active today.

Millsaps College

Millsaps College is located in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi. The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, founded the school, which wanted a Methodist-affiliated college located in Mississippi. Bishop Charles Betts Galloway spearheaded the campaign for the college, which eventually was named in honor of Major Reuben Webster Millsaps, a prominent financial donor. Millsaps College opened its doors in the fall of 1892 and is open today.

Tensions rose at Millsaps College during the Civil Rights Movement. The pro-integration policy of the national organization of the United Methodist Church was in direct conflict with the pro-segregation admissions policy at Millsaps College. In 1963, college administration denied access to a group from Tougaloo College for an on-campus event. In 1965, the board of trustees voted to end segregation on the college campus after pressure from faculty and it became the first southern white institution to desegregate without government intervention.

 

Scope and Content:

The collection consists of correspondence, newsletters, pamphlets, and news clippings concerning integration, particularly within the United Methodist Church in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi. The collection documents multiple events in the church from 1954 to 1964. The bulk of documents are from 1960 to 1964, including materials about Tougaloo faculty and students not being allowed into Millsaps College events or Galloway Memorial United Methodist Church Sunday services. There are also documents regarding the reaction of church members to the twenty-eight Methodist ministers signing a resolution in favor of integration.

Overall, the collection is in good condition. There is some discoloration, faded text, and creasing on documents; however, this does not affect legibility.

 

Series Identification:

Series 1: Pro-Church Integration, 1963-1964; n.d.

Subseries 1.1: Materials about Discrimination, 1963-1964. 3 items. 
This folder includes two letters filing grievances with Millsaps College for denying an integrated group of Tougaloo faculty and students access to an on-campus event. The letters are addressed to Homer Ellis Finger, President of Millsaps College, from John R. Salter, Jr., and the Reverend Edwin King, Jr. Also included is a published statement by Dr. Madabusi Savithri, who was denied the privilege of worshiping at Galloway Memorial and St. Luke's United Methodist churches in Jackson.

Box 1, Folder 1

Subseries 1.2: Materials on Integration, 1963; n.d. 4 items. 
This folder includes a letter, a sermon, a speech, and a leaflet about why the Methodist church needs to integrate. The letter and sermon are from the Reverend James B. Nicholson, pastor of the Byram Methodist Church, to the twenty-eight Methodist ministers who signed a resolution supporting integration within the Methodist church. The speech is by Hayward N. Hill about the need for integration in the church. A pro-integration leaflet by Lon Clay Hill is included.

Box 1, Folder 2

 

Series 2: Pro-Church Segregation, 1958-1960; 1962; 1964; n.d.

Subseries 2.1: Letters about Church Segregation, 1958-1960; 1962. 4 items. 
This folder includes letters expressing concern that the Methodist church supported efforts to integrate Mississippi. One letter is from A.S. Coody to Dr. Albert E. Bennett of the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. Three letters are from C.S. Bennett and addressed to three people: Charles Hills of The Clarion-Ledger, Methodist Bishop Paul Hardin, Jr., and the Reverend Aubrey B. Smith, pastor of First Methodist Church in Yazoo City.

Box 1, Folder 3

Subseries 2.2: Mississippi Association of Methodist Ministers and Layman Documents, 1964; n.d. 4 items. 
This folder includes two newsletters published by the Mississippi Association of Methodist Ministers and Laymen, a segregationist group, providing information on the integration efforts of the Methodist church. One of the newsletters is a photocopy. One item is a newspaper clipping highlighting a speech by M.G. Lowman, executive secretary of Circuit Rider, Inc., in which Lowman attacks the Methodist church and Bishop Marvin Franklin for not supporting efforts to keep Methodist churches segregated.

Box 1, Folder 4

Subseries 2.3: Pamphlet for Segregation in the Methodist Church, 1964. 1 item. 
This folder contains a pamphlet entitled "Wake Up, Mississippi!" about why the church does not need to integrate.

Box 1, Folder 5

 

Series 3: Miscellaneous Documents, 1954; 1964; n.d.

Subseries 3.1: Correspondence and Memorandum, 1964; n.d. 3 items. 
This folder includes a memorandum from the National Council of Churches to presidents, deans, and religious advisors of colleges and seminaries asking for assistance in screening students who volunteered to participate in the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project of 1964. There is correspondence about a church meeting concerning who will be in charge and a survey by members. There is correspondence from the faculty of Millsaps College about harassment of Methodist ministers who "have chosen to speak their convictions."

Box 1, Folder 6

Subseries 3.2: Proposed Amendment, 1954. 1 item. 
This folder includes a photocopy of a proposed amendment to the Constitution of the State of Mississippi to ban all public education.

Box 1, Folder 7

Subseries 3.3: Envelope, n.d. 1 item. 
This folder includes an envelope with the words "de-segregation" written on the front. It is unknown what this envelope initially contained.

Box 1, Folder 8

 

Box List:

Box 1 
Folder 1: Materials about Discrimination, 1963-1964.
Folder 2: Materials on Integration, 1963; n.d.
Folder 3: Letters about Church Segregation, 1958-1960; 1962.
Folder 4: Mississippi Association of Methodist Ministers and Layman Documents, 1964; n.d.
Folder 5: Pamphlet calling for Segregation in the Methodist Church, 1964.
Folder 6: Correspondence and Memorandum, 1964; n.d.
Folder 7: Proposed Amendment, 1954.
Folder 8: Envelope "de-segregation," n.d.