The Arkansas Baptist State Convention and Desegregation, 1954-1968
Author(s): Mark Newman
Reviewed work(s):
Source: The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. 56, No. 3, 40th Anniversary of the Little
Rock School Crisis (Autumn, 1997), pp. 294-313
Published by: Arkansas Historical Association
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The
Arkansas
Convention
Baptist
and
State
Desegregation,
1954-1968
MARK NEWMAN
OSTENSIBLY THE CIVILRIGHTSMOVEMENThad little impacton
the ArkansasBaptistStateConvention,the largestwhitedenominationin the
state.The conventionignoredthe SupremeCourt'sBrowndecisionof 1954,
passedno resolutionswhen GovernorOrvalFaubusdefiedthe Court'sruling
duringthe Little Rock crisis of 1957, and did not addressthe Civil Rights
Act of 1964. Yet the convention's primary commitmentsto scripture,
missions,peace, "lawandorder,"andeducationled editorsof the Arkansas
Baptist, the denominationalweekly, and some leading pastors,to call for
acceptanceof desegregationin the 1950s and early 1960s. (The Southern
BaptistConvention,with whichthe ArkansasBaptistStateConventionwas
affiliated, also called for such acceptance.) Sharing their editors' and
pastors'commitments,increasingnumbersof Baptistsin Arkansasaccepted
the end of legal segregation in the 1960s. In 1968 the state convention
passedits firstcivil rightsresolutionwhen it called upon Baptiststo comply
peacefullywith andeven "go beyond"civil rightslaws. Lettersand surveys
indicatethat althoughmany Baptistsin Arkansasstill preferredsocial and
religious segregation, some supported open churches, and many more
acceptedthe premisethatJimCrow laws denied blackpeople equal rights.1
Mark Newman is lecturerin American Studies at the University of Derby, Derby,
England.
1Annual the Arkansas
of
Baptist State Convention, 1968, 42-43 (cited hereafteras
Annual,Arkansas)',E. GlennHinson,A History of Baptists in Arkansas,1818-1978 (Little
Rock: ArkansasBaptist State Convention, 1979), 315, 383-389.
THE ARKANSAS HISTORICALQUARTERLY
VOL. LVI,NO. 3, AUTUMN 1997
ARKANSASBAPTISTSANDDESEGREGATION
295
Betweenthe 1940s andearly 1960s, most SouthernBaptists(i.e., those
affiliatedwith the SBC) in Arkansassharedthe commitmentof otherwhite
southernersto segregation. Surveys recorded that 98 percent of white
southernersopposedschool desegregationin 1942 and 80 percentdid so in
1956. Yet white southernerswere not so united in the intensity of their
commitment to segregation. Hardline segregationists supported the
maintenance of Jim Crow at all costs, but there were many moderate
segregationistswho preferredsegregationbut not at the expense of social
disorder.2PostwarArkansashad a black populationof approximately25
percent, mostly concentrated in the plantation counties adjoining the
Mississippi River. The plantationcounties providedthe bulk of the state's
hardline segregationists. Most white Arkansans were moderate
segregationistswho viewed JimCrowas an intrinsicpartof the social order.
A smaller number of white Arkansans, 20 percent of the population
accordingto a 1956 survey,supporteddesegregation.3
Southern Baptists in Arkansas mirroredthe divisions of the white
population in their attitude to segregation. Some, including prominent
pastorsand a few denominationalofficials,were progressiveswho believed
that the Bible did not support racial segregation.4A larger number,
concentrated in plantation counties and towns with substantial black
populations,were hard-linerswho claimed that selected biblical verses or
thatGod hadbeenthe authorof segregation.The
"proof-texts"demonstrated
2JohnShelton Reed, The EnduringSouth: SubculturalPersistence in Mass Society:
(1972; reprint,ChapelHill: Universityof NorthCarolinaPress, 1986), 3; NumanV. Bartley,
The Rise of Massive Resistance: Race and Politics in the South during the 1950s (Baton
Rouge:LouisianaStateUniversityPress, 1969), 13-14; DavidL. Chappell,InsideAgitators:
WhiteSoutherners in the Civil Rights Movement(Baltimore:Johns Hopkins University
Press, 1994) xxii-xxv, 213-214, 226-227.
3O. L. Bayless, "ArkansasBaptists Will Meet the Need," ArkansasBaptist, June 24,
1954 (citedhereafteras AB);Bartley,Rise of MassiveResistance,14;Neil R. McMillen,The
'
Citizens Council:OrganizedResistance to the Second Reconstruction,1954-64 (Urbana:
University of Illinois Press, 1994), 93-94; Neal R. Peirce, The Deep South States of
America:People, Politics, and Power in the Seven Deep South States (New York:Norton,
1975), 123-126; RichardE. Yates, "Arkansas:Independentand Unpredictable,"in The
Changing Politics of the South, ed. William C. Havard(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State
UniversityPress, 1972), 233-236.
4
They did not call themselvesprogressives.The termis used as a convenientshorthand
here.
296
ARKANSASHISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
majorityof SouthernBaptistsin the stateweremoderatesegregationistswho
held thatthe Bible neithersupportednor opposed segregation.5
In the 1940s and early 1950s, most SouthernBaptists in Arkansas,as
moderate segregationists, saw no conflict between their primary
commitmentsand the maintenanceof segregation.The Little Rock crisis
brought Baptist commitmentsdirectly into conflict with segregation:it
produced disorder, underminededucation, and, by exposing American
racism, undermined the success of Baptist missions abroad. Some
progressiveandmoderateBaptistleadersappealedto theircoreligioniststo
accept desegregation in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Their primary
commitments enabled moderate segregationists gradually to reconcile
themselvesto the demiseof JimCrow.Some hard-linersalso renouncedthe
biblical defense of segregation and accepted the end of legal racial
inequality.
PostwarArkansaspoliticsreflectedthe moderatesegregationistbent of
most of the state's white population.Concernedwith industrialgrowth,
Arkansasgovernorsin the late 1940s andthe firsthalf of the 1950s avoided
racistappeals.Consistentwith the state's racialmoderation,the University
of Arkansas voluntarily desegregatedits law school in 1948 (the first
southern law school to do so). In response to the Brown decision, Gov.
Francis A. Cherrydeclared,"Arkansaswill obey the law." By September
1954 two school districtsin westernArkansashad desegregated.6
Acceptance of Brown also markedthe responseof the South's major
white denominations.The PresbyterianChurchin the UnitedStates(PCUS)
andthe MethodistChurchendorsedthe decision.Meetingin June 1954, the
SouthernBaptistConventionapproveda recommendationurgingBaptists
to adhereto the courtrulingbecause it was Christianand constitutional.B.
H. Duncan,editorof the forty-five-thousand-circulation^r^^a^Baptist,
5B.H. Duncan,"Reportof SouthernBaptistConvention,"AB, June 17, 1954; "Warns
againstEvadingMoralIssue in SegregationRuling,"ReligiousHerald, July 22, 1954; Billy
G. Pierce to Arkansas Baptist Newsmagazine,August 8, 1963 (hereaftercited as ABN);
JimmieFox to ABN, September5, 1963; Mrs. S. A. Williamsto ABN, August 20, 1964.
271; Bartley,Rise
6Cherryquotedin Yates,"ArkansasIndependentandUnpredictable,"
of MassiveResistance,7; MichaelJ. Klarman,"Brown,RacialChange,and the Civil
' Rights
Movement,"VirginiaLaw Review 80 (February1994), 112; McMillen, Citizens Council,
93-94, 94 n. 4.
ARKANSASBAPTISTSANDDESEGREGATION
297
praisedthe SBC's recommendationas "a fair and conservativestatement"
and publishedit in full. RalphA. Phelps Jr.,presidentof OuachitaBaptist
College in Arkadelphia,urgedArkansasBaptiststo respondto the Brown
rulingby ending segregationin the convention'schurchesand educational
institutions.7
In 1954 only one SouthernBaptistchurchin Arkansashad an interracial
membership.OakGroveBaptistChurchin GreeneCountyAssociation,near
Paragould,admittedten blackmembersin April 1954, becausethey did not
have a churchof theirown. The ReverendAmos Greer,a missionaryfor the
association, claimed that the congregationacted because "we would look
funnytalkingaboutforeignmissions if we could not do somethinglike this
in our own community."Here was an early indicationthatthe demandsof
missionsandsegregationmightcome intoconflict.In this instance,however,
Greer indicatedthat the congregationhoped that its new black members
might become members of a segregated black mission planned by the
church!8
The State Convention also sought to deflect the question of
desegregation by focusing on promoting evangelism among blacks.
Respondingto the Brown ruling in the ArkansasBaptist, O. L. Bayless,
chairmanof the convention's State Mission Committee,like most of the
white liberalswho commentedon the decision, avoidedthe questionof the
decision's merit. Bayless quoted only those partsof the SouthernBaptist
Convention's recommendationthat dealt with the need for "patienceand
good will." To improverace relations,he called for the appointmentof a
director of Negro Work in the missions department.In August the
conventionappointedClyde Hartto the post.9
The missions departmentequatedcivil rightswith communism,and it
treated blacks with condescension. Reporting to the convention in
7"TheChurchesSpeak,"New South9 (August 1954), 1-4; "TheChurchesSpeak,"New
South 11 (October1956), 5-7; B. H. Duncan,"Reportof SouthernBaptistConvention,"AB,
June 17, 1954;Annualof the SouthernBaptistConvention,1954 (Nashville, 1954), 55-56,
428 (cited hereafteras Annual,SBC);"WarnsagainstEvadingMoral Issue," TheReligious
Herald, July 22, 1954.
8"ArkansasBaptist ChurchBecomes Interracial,"Religious News Service, April 26,
1954 (cited hereafteras RS).
9Bayless,"ArkansasBaptists Will Meet the Need," Annual,Arkansas,1954,88.
298
ARKANSASHISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
November,the departmentclaimed:"TheCommunistsmaketheirapproach
throughthe underprivilegedgroup.And they have interferedwith the work
amongthe Negroes in some areas.But these humbledarkskinnedpeopleare
moreresponsiveto the Baptistmessage thanany other.They need our help
and we are trying to give it." The convention's "messengers"(elected
representativesof member churches)voted to adopt the report.Adopted
convention reports and resolutions had no binding effect on member
churches,but they neverthelessindicatedmainstreamBaptistopinion.10
The State Convention did not specifically mention Brown or
desegregation.Its socialservicecommittee,chargedwithprovidingguidance
on ethicalissues, issueda vaguereportdesignednot to offendsegregationists
and thereby preserve denominationalpeace and unity. Adopted by the
convention,the reportappealedto Baptists' commitmentto the rule of law:
"Somesortof governmentis necessaryas a meansof securingprotectionand
social justice for all the people
The Stateis to guardthe equalityof its
citizens before the law." By contrast,the PresbyterianSynod of Arkansas
(PCUS) andthe MethodistConferencesof LittleRock andNorth Arkansas
endorsedthe desegregationdecision.11
Tokenschool desegregationproceededwithoutsignificantoppositionin
Arkansas. The state legislaturedeclined to pass a pupil assignmentbill,
which was designed to maintain segregated schools. In 1955 five of
Arkansas's six state-supportedcolleges admittedblacks. Schools in Hoxie
andLincolnCountydesegregatedin Septemberof thatyear.Encouragedby
the change, the social service committeecautiouslyencouragedBaptiststo
accept furtherdesegregation.Reportingto the convention in November
1955, the committee gently challenged the argument of hard-line
segregationiststhat the Bible supportedsegregation:"Churchesas well as
individualChristiansought to take a positive standon the teachingsof the
Scripturethatall men areof one blood."The dangerof directlycondemning
segregation had been illustrated a few months earlier. In March the
congregation of Fortune Baptist Church in Parkin, in east Arkansas,
10Ibid.,22, quotationon 87-88.
nIbid., 33, quotationon 84; "ChurchesSpeak,"New South 9, 2; KennethK. Bailey,
SouthernWhiteProtestantismin the TwentiethCentury(New York:Harper& Row, 1964),
143-144.
ARKANSASBAPTISTSANDDESEGREGATION
299
exercising its rightto hire and fire pastors,had dismissedthe ReverendE.
Jones for denouncingJim Crow as un-Christianin a sermon.12
Commitmentto segregationhardenedacrossArkansasin 1956. Hitherto
most whites had been willing, although reluctantly, to accept token
desegregationas inevitable.When southernpoliticiansofferedthe prospect
of successfullydefyingdesegregation,manysupportedresistance.In March
1956 every memberof the Arkansascongressionaldelegation, including
Brooks Hays, who was at the time also chairmanof the SouthernBaptist
Convention's ChristianLife Commission,signed the SouthernManifesto.
The manifestocalled the Brown ruling "contraryto the Constitution"and
pledgedits signatories"to use all lawful meansto bringabouta reversalof
this decision." Most white Arkansansseemed to welcome the manifesto.
Hays recalled, "I don't suppose I received over a half-dozen letters
protestingmy action and expressingchagrinand disappointment."13
Runningfor reelectionin 1956, Gov. OrvalFaubus,who had eschewed
racist appeals and supportedcollege desegregationin his term of office,
facedhard-linesegregationistJimJohnson.To fend off Johnson'sclaimthat
he was weak on segregation,Faubuscalled for initiativepetitionsto secure
a pupilassignmentlaw andan interpositionresolution,assertingthe rightof
the state to "interpose"its authorityto block federally ordered school
desegregationpending an amendmentto the United States Constitutionto
allow dual school systems.Faubuswon reelection.In NovemberArkansas
votersapprovedtwo interpositionmeasures,a resolutionand a nullification
amendmentto the state constitution.The amendmentallowed the state to
"nullify"federallaw. Unwilling to challenge segregationistsentiment,the
that"in
ArkansasBaptistStateConventionadopteda lamerecommendation
12McMillen, Citizens' Council, 94-95, Yates, "Arkansas: Independent and
Unpredictable,"271; Annual, Arkansas, 1955, 29, quotation on 78; "PastorOusted for
CondemningSegregation,"RS, March21, 1955.
13
Hays, who regarded himself as a moderate on race, soon regretted signing the
manifestobecauseit gave the false impressionthathe supportedmassiveresistance^ school
desegregation.A. Ronald Tonks, "OralMemoirs of LawrenceBrooks Hays," Historical
Commissionof the SouthernBaptistConvention,Nashville,Tennessee,206-207, 21 1, 212,
quotation on p. 213; A. Ronald Tonks, "LawrenceBrooks Hays," in Encyclopedia of
Southern Baptists, vol. 4 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1982), 2264. Brooks Hays, A
SouthernModerateSpeaks(ChapelHill: Universityof NorthCarolinaPress, 1959), 89, 202;
"The SouthernManifesto, March 12, 1956," in Wilson Record and Jane Cassels Record,
eds., LittleRock, U.S.A.(San Francisco:ChandlerPublishing, 1960), 15; Yates, "Arkansas:
Independentand Unpredictable,"271.
300
ARKANSASHISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
all problems of human relations,the principlesof Jesus be applied with
faithful convictions and without apology."A year later, when Governor
Faubusdefied federalcourt-ordered
school desegregationin LittleRock, the
convention fell silent aboutrace relationsand its social service committee
stoppedissuing reports.14
Little Rock seemed an unlikely site for resistanceto desegregation.In
1954 the Little Rock School Boardhad announcedits intentionto comply
with Brown. One year laterit developeda court-approvedplan for gradual
desegregation,beginningwith CentralHigh School in September1957. In
1956 LittleRock's busses andrestaurants
desegregated,andthe city's black
and white ministerialalliancesagreedto arrangea merger.In March 1957
candidates for the city school board who favored compliance with
desegregation easily defeated hardline segregationists, who had been
endorsedby the CapitalCitizens' Council.15
Little Rock's majorchurchesrallied behind school desegregation.In
May 1957 the ReverendNolan P. Howington,pastorof the twenty-sevenhundred-memberFirst Baptist Church, delivered a sermon condemning
segregationand racialprejudice.Afterthe sermonHowingtondeclaredhis
support for Little Rock's school desegregationplan. He described the
congregation's response to his sermon as "surprisinglygood." In July
MarionBoggs, pastorof Second PresbyterianChurch,delivereda similar
sermon. Of Little Rock's Southern Baptist pastors, only the Reverend
Wesley Pruden of Broadmoor Baptist Church publicly opposed
desegregation. Pruden served as the president of the Capital Citizens'
Council. The Council never exceeded five hundredmembersand drew its
main support among clergymen from the working-classand Missionary
Baptist pastors, all of whom had small congregations. Many of the
InsideAgitators,97-98; Bartley,Rise of MassiveResistance,131-132, 144
14Chappell,
n. 66, 261; Yates,"Arkansas:IndependentandUnpredictable,"
264-265; Annual,Arkansas,
1956, 86.
S. Ashmore,Arkansas,A BicentennialHistory(New York:Norton, 1978), 149;
15Harry
Numan V. Bartley, The New South, 1945-1980, A History of the South, vol. 11 (Baton
1995), 223; Bartley,Rise of Massive Resistance,
Rouge:LouisianaState UniversityPress,
'
252-253, 257; McMillen, Citizens Council, 270; Chappell,InsideAgitators, 101.
ARKANSASBAPTISTSANDDESEGREGATION
301
MissionaryBaptistpastorsarguedthatGod hadsanctionedracialsegregation
in the Bible, and they cited "proof-texts"in theirdefense.16
On September1, the Sundaybefore school desegregationwas due to
begin, Dale Cowling, pastorof the 2,585-memberSecond BaptistChurch,
delivereda sermonthatendorsedthe "planof gradualintegration"
as "wise."
the
biblical
Cowlingchallenged proof-textsemployedby
segregationists.He
also used scientificevidenceto refutethe mythof blackmentaland physical
inferiority.Cowling argued that school desegregationwas the law, and
"Christiansought to be obedientto civil authorityand to abide by the laws
of the land."He ended his sermonby appealingfor a "peacefulsolution of
the problem"in which whites would rejectmobs and violent resistance.17
Cowling served as a leading member of the Greater Little Rock
MinisterialAlliance.Some monthsearlierthe alliancehadofferedto endorse
the city's school desegregation plan, but Virgil T. Blossom, the
of schools, discouragedthe idea.Blossom provedineffective
superintendent
white
in rallying
supportbehindthe plan, and often indicatedhis own lack
of enthusiasmfor desegregation.He also fearedthat desegregationwould
produce violence. Sharing Blossom's fears or merely seizing on an
opportunityto boost his chances for reelection, Governor Faubus on
September2 called out the National Guardto prevent desegregationof
CentralHigh School.18
in "PastorUrges Integrationin Arkansas,"WashingtonPost, May 21, 1957;
16Quotation
"BaptistMinister'sSermonagainstSegregation,"in RecordandRecord,LittleRock, U.S.A.,
30-31; Joel L. Alvis Jr.,Religion& Race: SouthernPresbyterians,1946-1983 (Tuscaloosa:
Universityof AlabamaPress, 1994), 69, 107; ErnestQ. CampbellandThomasF. Pettigrew,
Christians in Racial Crisis: A Study of Little Rock's Ministry(Washington,DC: Public
Affairs Press, 1959), 30, 35-38, 41-62; Robert R. Brown, Bigger than Little Rock
(Greenwich,CT: SeaburyPress, 1958), 69-70; McMillen, Citizens' Council, 96; Virgil T.
Blossom, It Has HappenedHere (New York:Harper,1959), 40-43.
17DaleCowling,"A Sermon- A PastorLooks at Integrationin Little Rock," Christian
Life Bulletin, November 1957.
S. Cartwright,"Lessonfrom Little Rock," ChristianCentury1A (October9,
18Colbert
1
194. Numan Bartleyarguesthat Faubusgenuinely fearedviolence and that
193-1
1957),
he intervenedin Little Rock only because local authoritiesabdicatedtheir responsibilities.
Politicalexpediencythen led Faubusto take a standagainstdesegregation.Most historians
and commentatorscontend that Faubus acted cynically and deliberately,with no higher
motivationthanthatof securinganothertermas governor.Bartley,New South,226-229, and
Rise of MassiveResistance,258-260, 262-265; Chappell,InsideAgitators,104-106; Peirce,
Deep SouthStates, 132; RobertSherrill,GothicPolitics in the Deep South:Stars of the New
Confederacy(New York: GrossmanPublishers, 1968), 82, 86-87, 89, 107.
302
ARKANSASHISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
The next day a group of sixteen ProtestantLittle Rock ministers,
including Cowling, W. O. Vaught Jr. of ImmanuelBaptist Church,and
Harold Hicks of Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, released a statement
protestingFaubus'sactionfor defyingnationallaw andunderminingrespect
"for properconstitutionalauthority."They said nothingaboutthe issue of
desegregation. Wesley Pruden and fourteen Missionary Baptist pastors
respondedby issuinga counterstatement
commendingFaubusfor upholding
state law and protectingLittle Rock's citizens.19
At the same time DunbarH. Ogden Jr., the white pastor of Central
Presbyterian Church and president of the recently integrated
Interdenominational
MinisterialAlliance,agreedto escortthe blackchildren
to CentralHigh at the requestof the NAACP. Joinedby NationalCouncil
of ChurchesrepresentativeWill D. Campbell,Ogden led the nine children
to school. A mob awaitedthem.ActingunderFaubus'sorders,the National
Guardbarredthe childrenfrom enteringclass.20
Respondingto the crisis, Erwin L. McDonald,Duncan's successoras
editorof the ArkansasBaptist,refusedto take a "standeitherfor or against
integration"because the issue divided Baptists.Nevertheless, McDonald
insistedthat"Wewantto be countedwiththosewho standfor law andorder,
for clear, cool thinking,and for lives motivatedby the love of Christ."21
Brooks Hays, like McDonald,refusedto endorseeithersegregationor
integration,which in Arkansasmarkedhim as a moderate.Electedpresident
of the SouthernBaptistConventionin 1957, Hays advocatedjustice for all,
law and order,andreconciliationbetweenthe races.As congressmanfor the
FifthDistrict,which includedLittleRock,Hays arrangeda meetingbetween
Faubus and PresidentDwight Eisenhowerat Newport, Rhode Island, in a
fruitlessattemptto arrangea settlement.On September20 FederalDistrict
judge Ronald Davies enjoined Faubus and the National Guard from
preventingdesegregation.Threedays laterthe nine black childrenentered
CentralHigh, only to be removedby police when an unrulymob gathered
19"
Action of ArkansasGovernorDraws Condemnationand Praise of Ministers,"AB,
September12, 1957.
Rise of MassiveResistance, 265; Chappell,InsideAgitators, 107-109, 119.
20Bartley,
21ErwinL. McDonald, "Sittingon the Fence,"AB, September12, 1957.
ARKANSASBAPTISTSANDDESEGREGATION
303
outside. Eisenhower responded by federalizingthe National Guard and
dispatchingfederaltroopsto insuredesegregation.22
Both BrooksHays andErwinMcDonaldrespondedto the arrivalof the
troopsby focusingon the need to observe law and order.On September25
Haystold the LittleRock LionsClub:"Theenforcementof law is not limited
to popularlaws. Constitutionalforms are maintainedonly when people are
completely dedicatedto the ideal of law and orderwithoutreferenceto its
impingement upon some cherished practices of their own. . . . Let me
emphasize that the issue is not integrationor Federalauthorityin school
matters,but ratherhow to deal with lawlessness."23On October3 Erwin
McDonald issued a strong appeal for peace and law and order in the
ArkansasBaptist:"Jesuswould not be a partof any crowd committingacts
of violence in resistanceto duly constitutedlaw and order.He was obedient
to the law of the land. He taught his disciples to be law abiding and to
respect those in authority."McDonald did not specifically mention
integration.Instead,he claimedthat Jesus' "love knew no racialbounds."24
A week laterMcDonaldreprintedthe frontpage of the BuenosAiresHerald,
sent to him by BaptistmissionaryJamesO. Watson.Storiesaboutthe Little
Rock school crisis dominatedthe page. Watson commented, "You can
imaginehow this helps BaptistMissionwork."McDonalddevoteda column
to the theme of missions. "The cause of missions and of democracy,"he
wrote, "have suffered inestimably from the 'Little Rock' incident."
McDonaldconcludedby calling for prayer.25
Concernedprimarilywith the restorationof law andorder,BrooksHays
and forty leading clergymen, including the Right Reverend Robert R.
Brown,bishopof the EpiscopalDiocese of Arkansas,MethodistbishopPaul
Martin,Monsignor James E. O'Connell, Rabbi Ira Sanders,and Marion
Boggs, decided to sponsora day of prayeron October12, ColumbusDay.
WesleyPrudenandtwenty-threeMissionaryBaptistpastorsrespondedto the
22BrooksHays, This World:A Christian's Workshop(Nashville: BroadmanPress,
1958), 13, 94, 126-128, andSouthernModerateSpeaks, 136-194, 210-211; Tonks, "Oral
Memoirs of Brooks Hays," 311-312; Bartley, Rise of Massive Resistance, 267-268;
Chappell,Inside Agitators, 112-1 14.
23Hays,This World,97, 100.
24ErwinL. McDonald, "WhatWould Jesus Do?"AB, October3, 1957.
25Ibid.,"The Way Out,"AB, October 10, 1957. Also, see Azza Layton,"International
Pressureand the U.S. Government'sResponse to Little Rock,"this issue.
304
ARKANSASHISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
announcementby organizinga rival prayerday in supportof segregation.
Held on October11 at CentralBaptistChurchby invitationof the Reverend
M. L. MosserSr., its MissionaryBaptistpastor,the service attractedthirtyeightministersand six hundredlaymen,who prayedfor GovernorFaubus.
The following day eighty-fourLittle Rock churchesand synagoguesheld
prayerservicescallingfor law andorder.Threeof the four largestSouthern
The Arkansas Baptist State
Baptist churches in the city participated.26
Convention'sBaptistStudentUnion,holdingits annualconvention,adopted
a "Statementof Beliefs in the Matterof Race Relations."The statement
asserted "the equal worth of all individuals,"supported"the law of the
land,"and condemned"violence in the settlementof any difficulty."Only
one of the 360 delegatesattendingvoted againstthe statement.27
Anxious to preservedenominationalunity, the ArkansasBaptist State
Conventiontook a much more cautiousline than its BaptistStudentUnion
and Little Rock ministers.Ralph Douglas, acting general secretaryof the
convention'sexecutiveboard,declared:"Itis not ourtaskto decidewho did
right and who did wrong, but it is our responsibilityto do what we can to
resolve the problem and help our people live together in peace, as good
citizensin a greatnationshouldlive."28In Novemberthe conventionheld its
annualmeetingat the ReverendW. O. Vaught'sImmanuelChurchin Little
Rock. An advocate in his own church of compliance with public school
desegregation,Vaughtpleadedfor the conventionto avoidthe issue because
of its divisiveness. He also acknowledged that most Baptists favored
segregation:"Thetopic of the day is integration,but multitudesare sold on
segregation. We are not a law-makingbody. We are not here to make
pronouncementsthatareto handeddown to the churches."The convention
followedVaught'sadviceanddid not addressthe schoolcrisis.Commitment
to the maintenanceof segregationhad become too strong among many
SouthernBaptistsfor the conventioneven to discuss racialissues.29
and Pettigrew,Christiansin Racial Crisis, 26-3 1, 41; Brown, Bigger than
26Campbell
Little Rock, 93-109; "Communityand Church Action, October 1957," in Record and
Record,LittleRock, U.S.A.,80; Blossom, It Has HappenedHere, 138-139; Sherrill,Gothic
Politics in the Deep South, 106.
""ArkansasBaptist StudentsUphold Equal Worthof All," RS, October 16, 1957.
28RalphDouglas, "TheLittle Rock PrayerMeetings,"AB, October24, 1957.
29"
ArkansasBaptists Take ForwardSteps,"AB, November28, 1957.
ARKANSASBAPTISTSANDDESEGREGATION
305
Faubus'sreelectionas governorin July 1958, with a sweeping majority
of nearly 70 percentof the vote, confirmedthe popularityof segregation
amongSouthernBaptistsand otherwhite Arkansans.Faubusrespondedby
persuadingthe legislatureto give him authorityto close any school. When
the SupremeCourtrefusedto halt the continuedimplementationof gradual
school desegregationin Little Rock, Faubusclosed the city's high schools
in Septemberandassuredwhite parentsthattheirchildrenwould be able to
attend new private,segregatedschools. Influencedby his words, over 70
percent of them voted against reopeningthe city's public schools on an
integratedbasis.30
The Pulaski CountyBaptistAssociation, which includedthe capital's
SBC churches,askedOuachitaBaptistCollege to establisha high school in
Little Rock. In October 1958 the association's five hundredmessengers
overwhelminglyapprovedthe schoolproposaldrawnup by college president
Phelps. Avoiding the issue of desegregation,they also adopted a vague
resolution calling "forGod's will to be done in the public school crisis."31
Phelps announcedthat the new Baptist school would accept children
regardlessof religiousaffiliation,providedthatthey werewhite.He justified
the whites-onlypolicy by claimingthat "it seems highly improbableif not
totally impossiblethat a school could be conductedin Little Rock now on
any other lines." Phelps argued that the issue was not segregation or
integrationbutthe maintenanceof education.He said thatthe school would
close once childrenhad accessto anotherschool. The ArkansasBaptistState
Conventiondid not fund BaptistHigh School, which relied on tuitionand
voluntary contributions.Over four hundred children registered for the
school, which held classes in three SBC churches:First Baptist, Second
Baptist, and Gaines Street Baptist churches.32 Some other major
denominationsalso offered private educationto displaced students. The
Trinity Episcopal Cathedralset up a private academy and Little Rock's
Catholic high schools admitted more white students. McDonald
30Bartley,Rise of Massive Resistance, 268-269, 273-275, 275 n. 23.
^Annual of the Pulaski County Baptist Association, 1958 (Little Rock, 1958), 33,
quotationon p. 48; "BaptistsApproveLittle Rock Academy,"RS, October 17, 1958.
32Phelpsquotedin "400 Registerat LittleRock BaptistHigh School,"RS, October21,
1958; Ralph Phelps Jr., "Baptist High School in Little Rock,"^5, October 30, 1958.
Membersof the CapitalCitizens'Council,includingWesley Pruden,set up the Little Rock
Private School Foundation, which opened a tuition-free high school in late October.
*
McMillen, Citizens Council, 278.
306
ARKANSASHISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
acknowledgedthatSouthernBaptistswere divided aboutthe establishment
of BaptistHigh School:"Regardlessof individualfeelingsaboutthe wisdom
of the move, now that Ouachitahas enteredthe field she should have our
prayersand our heartysupporttowardmaximumsuccess."33
The ArkansasBaptist State Convention,like McDonald,continuedto
avoidtakinga positionon segregation.In October1958 the ReverendT. K.
Tucker, president of the convention, and the Reverend B. K. Selph,
president of the convention's executive board, publicly dissociated the
convention from a statementby the Missionary Baptist Association of
Arkansasthatdefendedsegregationas biblical.TheyremindedBaptiststhat
"theArkansasStateConventionhas takenno official action on integration
or segregation."At its annualmeetingin November,the conventionreceived
a reportfrom OuachitaCollege detailingthe establishmentof BaptistHigh
School, but it made no official pronouncementsabout the desegregation
crisis. The best that can be said of the conventionis that it did not endorse
segregationor resistanceto desegregation.34
Brooks Hays's defeat for reelection to Congress in November 1958
indicatedthe preferenceof manywhite Arkansansfor resistance.Hays, who
narrowly lost his seat to write-in candidate Dale Alford, a hard-line
segregationist,attributedhis defeatto his refusalto endorsesegregationand
his earlierattemptsto mediatebetween Faubusand Eisenhower.After his
defeat,Hays continuedto advocatea middle coursebetweenresistanceand
acquiescence, in which legal segregationwould be lifted, desegregation
settled at the local level, and blacks would no longer pursue forced
integrationof schools. Freed from the constraintsof political office, Hays
also condemned the biblical defense of segregation in his presidential
addressto the SouthernBaptistConventionin 1959.35
ErwinMcDonald,like Hays, also took a more forthrightstandin 1959,
but he did not criticize segregation.Committedto education,McDonald
33ErwinL. McDonald,"OuachitaOpensTemporaryAcademy,"AB, October30, 1958;
"400 Register at Little Rock BaptistHigh School,"RS, October21, 1958.
in ArkansasBaptistAssociationDenies SegregationSupport,"RS, October
34Quotation
1, 1958;Annual,Arkansas,1958, 32, 73; ErwinL. McDonald,"An Appraisalof the 105th
State Convention,"AB, December4, 1958.
35Hays,SouthernModerateSpeaks,217-23 1; "New Role and Wider Stage for Brooks
Hays,"ChristianCentury75 (December3, 1958), 1390;BrooksHays,Politics is My Parish
(BatonRouge: LouisianaState UniversityPress, 1981), 181-188; Annual,SBC, 1959, 88.
ARKANSASBAPTISTSANDDESEGREGATION
307
arguedin the FebruaryArkansasBaptist that Little Rock's public schools
had to be reopened:
It becomesmoreandmoreapparentthatwe mustacceptthe limited
integrationas orderedby the SupremeCourtof the United Statesor
do away with our public school system altogether.. . .
Ourpublicschool systemis the very bulwarkof ourdemocracy.
Let us not willingly sacrificethe lives and careersof many of our
fine children and furthercripple Arkansasand the South. There
simply is no way for a system of private schools to replace the
public system.
TheArkansasGazettereprintedthe editorial,andLittleRock's businessand
communityleadersdiscussedit at the Chamberof Commerce.In Marchthe
chambercalled for the reopeningof LittleRock's schools on a desegregated
basis. McDonald protested when the Little Rock School Board, now
dominatedby segregationists,firedforty-fourteachersand administratorsin
May for allegedly supportingintegration.McDonald,W. O. Vaught, Dale
Cowling, and John A. Gilbreath,administratorof the ArkansasBaptist
Hospital,along with ministersdrawnfromthe othermajordenominations,
joined the 240-membercommitteeto Stop This OutrageousPurge(STOP),
initiated by the Little Rock Parent-TeacherAssociation. McDonald was
quick to point out that the committee took no stand on the issue of
integration.Its aimswereto havethose who hadbeen firedreinstatedas well
as to force new elections to the school board.36
Many teachers,ministers,parents,and businessmenralliedbehindthe
STOPcampaignin the belief thatthe publicschool closureshadundermined
education, law and order, and the city's economic growth, as investors
looked to other states in search of a stable business environment.STOP
secured sufficient signaturesto force a recall election to the school board.
Held in May 1959, the election produceda new boardpledged to comply
with school desegregation.The following month a federal district court
In JulyBaptistHigh
declaredthe state'sschool closing law unconstitutional.
36Quotationin Erwin L. McDonald, "Our Public Schools Indispensable,"/!!?, February
12, 1959; "Little Rock Clergymen Join Group Protestant Teachers' Ousting," RS, May 13,
1959; ErwinL. McDonald,Across the Editor's Desk: TheStory of the State Baptist Papers
(Nashville: BroadmanPress, 1966), 39; Bartley,Rise of Massive Resistance, 328-330.
308
ARKANSASHISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
School announced that, in anticipationof the public schools resuming
operations,it would not reopen in the fall, as parentshad registeredonly
twenty-two students. The Trinity (Episcopal) Academy also closed. In
August 1959 Little Rock's formerlywhite public high schools peacefully
reopenedon a desegregatedbasis, and the crisis ended.37
Emboldenedby the new spiritof moderationin LittleRock, the Pulaski
County Baptist Association expelled Wesley Pruden's segregationist
BroadmoorBaptistChurchin October.Dale Cowling secondedthe motion
for dismissal,which claimedthatthe churchhad failedto give money to the
association and to support and cooperate in its activities. The 350
messengers approvedthe motion with only three dissentingvotes. Pruden
correctlyattributedthe expulsionto his segregationistactivity.38
The Arkansas elections of 1960 confirmed that the new mood of
moderationwas not confined to Little Rock. Although GovernorFaubus
won reelectionby a large majority,the voters overwhelminglydefeateda
Faubus-supportedconstitutionalamendmentpermittinglocal communities
to close theirpublic schools to avoid desegregation.Faubusadjustedto the
new situation by appealing for unity, industrialgrowth, and even black
support.Token school desegregationcontinuedin the new decade.39
In the early 1960s theircommitmentto missions, peace, law and order,
and education continued to push leading ArkansasBaptists to advocate
acceptance of desegregation. In February 1960 McDonald strongly
condemnedthe bombing of the home of a black studentat CentralHigh
School. He urged Christiansto offer "prayerfuland fullest moralsupport"
to the police as they soughtthe bombers.40In April the trusteesof Ouachita
Ceased,"BaptistStandard,July 29, 1959; ElizabethJacoway,"Takenby
37"Operation
Surprise:Little Rock Business Leadersand Desegregation,"in SouthernBusinessmenand
Desegregation, ed. Jacoway and David R. Colburn (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State
Press, 1982), 33-36; Bartley,Rise of Massive Resistance, 330-331; McMillen,
University
Citizens' Council, 281-282.
38"BaptistAssociation Expels CongregationLed by Segregationist,"RS, October21,
1959; "Church'sOusterfromCountyGroupContinuesLittle Rock Issue,"RS, October23,
1959.
39Bartley,Rise of Massive Resistance, 332, and New South, 257-258; McMillen,
Citizens' Council, 97-98, 285; Ashmore, Arkansas, 157; Reed Sarratt,The Ordeal of
Desegregation: TheFirst Decade (New York:Harper& Row, 1966), 352-353.
EditorUrges Supportin ApprehendingBombingPerpetrators,"
RS, February
40"Baptist
15, 1960.
ARKANSASBAPTISTSANDDESEGREGATION
309
BaptistCollege voted to accept qualifiedstudentsfrom its foreignmission
fields should they apply. In January1962 Ouachitaadmittedits first black
students,Michael and MaryMakasholofrom Rhodesia.Phelps explained:
"We have taken this step with the conviction it is an essential partof our
world mission program.Our missionariesin Africa and other partsof the
worldhave told us the communistsare 'beatingthem to death' with the fact
that mission convertsare not permittedto come to the school that sent out
the missionaries."41McDonald welcomed the students' admission and
describedthem as "trulygreatheroes."FirstBaptistChurchin Arkadelphia,
which includedmany facultyand studentsfromthe college, voted two-toone in a secretballotto "lookwith favor"on membershipapplicationsfrom
foreign black studentsat Ouachita.Under the policies of the church and
college, American blacks remained barred from entry, but concern for
missions had nonetheless forced the first significantcrack in segregation
amongthe convention's institutions.42
Desegregationof churcheswas a wholly separatematterfrom schools
andpublicaccommodations,on the whole a moresensitive,and in the minds
of many southernersmore radical,issue. But afterthe controversiesof the
late 1950sand early 1960s,some ArkansasBaptistleaderswere much more
forthright,even on this issue,thanbefore.Civil rightsactivistsattemptedto
enter large, prestigiouschurchesin several majorsoutherncities in 1963.
Although McDonald respected the right of Baptist congregations to
determinetheirown admissionpolicies, he urgedBaptistsnot to barblacks.
He also warnedthat leadersof the SouthernBaptistConvention'sForeign
MissionBoardwere convincedthat "ourunchristianattitudesto race are a
threatto the cause of foreignmissions."43
41
"Baptist College in Arkansas Accepts Rhodesian Students,"Biblical Recorder,
January27, 1962.
42Firstquotation in Erwin L. McDonald, "Breakingthe Barrier,"ABN, February1,
1962; second quotationin McDonald,"ArkadelphiaChurchAdopts EntryPolicy," Biblical
Recorder, February 17, 1962; Foy Valentine, "Developments in Desegregation" in
Christianityand Race Relations:Messagesfrom the SixthAnnual ChristianLife Workshop
(Dallas, 1962), 11. The ArkansasBaptist had changed its name to the Arkansas Baptist
Newsmagazineon January21, 1960.
43ErwinL. McDonald, "Churchesand sit-ins," ABN, July 25, 1963; quotation in
McDonald, "Christor chaos,"ABN, July 11, 1963.
3 10
ARKANSASHISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
The assassination of NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers in
Mississippi, in June 1963, led McDonaldto condemnnotjust the murder,
but also the segregationistrhetoric of Deep South governors: "If Mr.
Evers- and ChristHimself- arenot to have died in vain, we must not only
be againstmurder- we mustbe deadset againsthavingthe attitudeof mind
and heartthatcreatethe atmospherefor it."AfterAlabamagovernorGeorge
C. Wallacefailed in an attemptto block the desegregationat the University
of Alabamain the same month,McDonaldcondemnedWallaceas a "racist"
who ignoredscripturalteachingsaboutthe unityof mankindandthe need for
love. He arguedthatfederallaw was supremeand had to be obeyed:"Gov.
Wallace'stalk of state sovereigntyis sheerbunk."44
McDonald's editorials
on race relations generatedequal amounts of praise and criticism from
readers.45
Though McDonald favoredonly gradualchange and had a somewhat
paternalisticattitudetoward black people, he defended the constitutional
right of civil rights activists to demonstrate,and he spoke in favor of
desegregationbills, includingwhat becamethe Civil Rights Act of 1964.46
Afterthe passageof this act, moreandmoreBaptistsin Arkansasspoke
out in favor of desegregation.Title VI of the Act requirededucational
institutionsin receiptof federalaid to dropracialbarriers.Having admitted
blacks to graduateclasses in March 1963, the trusteesof OuachitaBaptist
College voted to admitthemto undergraduate
programsin September1964.
a
this
move
as
one:
Failureto comply with the
Phelps presented
pragmatic
law "would have meant losing our R.O.T.C. [Reserve Officer Training
Corps program], the oldest in the state, and denying our students
participationin such programsas the National Defense Loan Program,on
which some 200 of them arenow attendingOuachita."47
All of the Arkansas
a
civil
State
Convention's
Baptist
rights compliance
colleges signed
pledge.48
ABN,June20, 1963;"Bible"Quotationsin ErwinL. McDonald,"Who'sfor Murder?"
ReadingRacist,"ABN, August 15, 1963; "RacialCrisis Guideposts,"ABN, July 18, 1963.
45See,for example,B.G. PierceandD.L. Crowto theArkansasBaptistNewsmagazine,
August 8, 1963.
46ErwinL. McDonald, "RacialCrisis Guideposts,"ABN, July 18, 1963; McDonald,
"OneWordMore,"ABN, September26, 1963;McDonald,"TheRace beforeUs,"ABN,June
25, 1964.
47"RacialBarriersdown at Ouachita,"ABN, August 20, 1964.
48"MostSchools Sign U.S. Compliance,"Baptist Record,April 15, 1965.
ARKANSASBAPTISTSANDDESEGREGATION
3 11
Though the convention remainedofficially quiet about racial issues,
McDonaldbecamemoreoutspoken.In September1964 he told the Southern
Baptist Communicationconference, "I couldn't be a Christianand be a
segregationist."He joined the ArkansasState Advisory Committeeof the
United States Commission on Civil Rights and fully supported
implementationof Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.49
AlthoughSouthernBaptistsadjustedto the end of Jim Crow laws, they
did not seek integration,especially of their own congregations.A reader
explainedto theArkansasBaptistNewsmagazine:"Personally,I believe that
integration is inevitable, and perhaps desirable. It is not right for any
Americanto be a second-class citizen. Most people sharethat opinion in
spirit[,]but many whites thinkthe Negro can and should have equal rights
in a segregatedsociety,andthey areafraidof an integratedsociety.Theyfeel
it representssome threatto them."SBC congregationsin Arkansasremained
almostexclusivelywhite. In November1967 McDonaldlamentedthat only
four SouthernBaptistchurchesin the state had any black members.There
is no evidence,however,thatcivil rightsgroupsin Arkansaswere pressing
for integratedcongregations.50
McDonald renewed his call for open churchesand equal rights when
MartinLutherKing Jr.was assassinatedin April 1968. McDonaldpraised
King as "oneof the greatmen of his day"anddescribedhis deathas "tragic
and untimely."51
The lettersprintedin the ArkansasBaptist Newsmagazinewere split
evenly betweencommendationand condemnationof King. Criticsaccused
King of fomentinglawlessnessand violence. VaughnW. Denton, pastorof
Magnolia Baptist Churchin Crossett,in southeastArkansas,claimed that
King "talkedpeace with his lips, but his actions resultedin violence. He
openly defied the law and caused his followers to do likewise." Carel G.
Norman, pastor of First Baptist Churchin Mount Ida, wrote: "I did not
alwaysagreewith Dr. King[']s methods[or]his resultsbut I have for a long
49Quotation in "Valentine Calls for Christian Acceptance," Baptist Press, September
26, 1964; Erwin L. McDonald, "Civil Rights Title VI," ABN, May 20, 1965.
50Letterto ABN, June 24, 1965; Erwin L. McDonald, "Leveled Walls," ABN, November
16, 1967.
51Erwin L. McDonald, "A Nation Mourns," ABN, April 11, 1968.
3 12
ARKANSASHISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
time been sympatheticwith his aims. ... I think the time has come for
ArkansasBaptiststo open our doorsto all men of all races."52
King's murderandthe subsequentriots inducedleadingofficials of the
SouthernBaptistConventionto draft"A StatementConcerningthe Crisis in
Our Nation" for presentationto the convention's annualmeeting in June.
McDonald joined nearly seventy other leading Baptists from across the
Southin signingthe statement.Subsequentlyapprovedin modifiedformby
72 percent of the messengersto the Convention,the statementcalled on
Baptiststo supportopen churches,equalrights,andan end to discrimination
in educationand employment.53
A survey of the responseof one hundred
SouthernBaptist pastorsin Arkansasto the statementrevealedthat about
half of them favoredopen churches,and thatmanyof those in favor found
varyingdegrees of disapprovalin theircongregations.54
Although most SouthernBaptists in Arkansaswere not yet ready to
sanctionchurchintegration,manynow supportedenforcementof civil rights
legislation ending legal segregation. The state convention approved a
resolution in November 1968 that called on Baptists to work for
"reconciliationamong all men"and pledged the messengersto go beyond
mere "peacefulcompliancewith laws assuringequal rightsfor all." 55
In subsequentyearsmoreandmoreArkansasSouthernBaptistchurches
abandonedracial prohibitionson attendanceand membership,and a few
gainedblackmembers.Most white Arkansansaccepteddesegregation.Polls
52VaughnW. Dentonto ABN, May 23, 1968; Card G. Normanto ABN,April 18, 1968.
See also lettersto ABN, May 9, 16, 30, June6, 20, 1968.
53"Statement
on Crisisin Nationto be Presentedto Convention,"AlabamaBaptist,May
30, 1968; Erwin L. McDonald, "ChristianityApplied," ABN, May 30, 1968; Erwin L.
McDonald, "TheNew Image,"ABN, June 13, 1968; Annual,SBC, 1968, 67-69, 73.
54"MixedReactionin Arkansasto Baptist'OpenDoor' Request,"RS, August22, 1968.
Surveys indicated that the percentage of white southernersopposed to token school
desegregationfell from61 percentin 1963 to 37 percentin 1965 and 24 percentin 1966. In
Arkansas a coalition of blacks and moderateDemocrats enabled Republican Winthrop
Rockefellerto win 54 percentof the vote and defeathard-linesegregationistJimJohnsonfor
the governorshipin 1966. JohnSheltonReed andMerleBlack,"JimCrow,R.I.P.,"in Reed,
Surveying the South: Studies in Regional Psychology (Columbia:Universityof Missouri
Press, 1993), 98; Peirce, TheDeep South States, 139-141; JackBass and WalterDeVries,
The Transformationof SouthernPolitics: Social Change and Political Consequencesince
1945 (New York:Basic Books, 1976), 89-90, 93, 101; Yates, "Arkansas:Independentand
Unpredictable,"277-280.
55Annual,
Arkansas, 1968, 42-43.
ARKANSASBAPTISTSANDDESEGREGATION
3 13
takenin the firsthalf of the 1970s indicatedthat less than20 percentof the
state's voters described themselves as "strong segregationists,"and a
majorityidentifiedthemselves as at least mildly integrationist.56
Changing
attitudestowardsegregationallowedthe ArkansasBaptistStateConvention
to forma relationshipwith black Baptistconventionsgroundedin equality.
In 1976 the conventionheld its firstjoint session with the state's two black
Baptist conventions, and the next year the three conventions began
sponsoringan annualevangelisticconference.In 1978 the conventionagreed
to participate in anotherjoint state convention session to be held in
November 1980.57
Most ArkansasBaptistsadjustedto the demise of Jim Crow slowly and
reluctantly.In the 1950s a minorityof SouthernBaptistsbelieved that the
Bible sanctioned racial segregation. Most Baptists were moderate
segregationistswho acceptedJim Crow as a naturalpartof the social order
that in no way conflicted with their primarycommitmentsto scripture,
evangelism,law and order,peace, and education.When massive resistance
to school desegregationin Little Rock underminedBaptist commitments,
some leadingpastorsandErwinMcDonaldurgedacceptanceof tokenschool
desegregation.Committedto denominationalpeace and unity,the Arkansas
BaptistStateConventionfell silentaboutracerelationsin the second half of
the 1950s and most of the 1960s. Nevertheless, the Little Rock crisis,
coupled with growing worldwide awarenessof Americanracism and the
Civil Rights Act of 1964, led moderateBaptiststo relinquishtheir support
of segregation as it increasinglycame into conflict with the success of
foreign missions, the law of the land, and the maintenanceof education.
Althoughfew Baptistssupportedintegrationof theirchurches,by 1968 most
Baptists conceded the injustice of segregationand supportedequality of
rightsunderthe law.
56Bassand DeVries, The Transformationof SouthernPolitics, 105.
57"White
CongregationsAccept First Black Members,"RS, October9, 1970; "75,000
Blacks in SouthernBaptist Churches,"Baptist Standard,November 28, 1973; Bass and
DeVries, The Transformationof SouthernPolitics, 105; Annual,Arkansas, 1976, 39-40,
1978, 46; Hinson, A History of Baptists in Arkansas,388; RobertV. Ferguson,"Arkansas
BaptistCooperatingMinistrywith National Baptists,"Encyclopediaof SouthernBaptists,
vol. 4, 2090.