My 1st Sunday at Mother Bethel: A day to remember

A few weeks ago, on my first day preaching as the new pastor of Mother Bethel, the congregation was hosting the Richard Allen Foundation (RAF) in celebration of Liberation Sunday. The day is set aside each 3rd Sunday in November by the RAF to commemorate the exodus of black worshipers at St. Georges Methodist Episcopal Church on a cold 3rd Sunday in November in the late 1700s. This movement gave rise to 2 new congregations, the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas led by Absalom Jones and Mother Bethel led by Richard Allen.

The dream of Third District Supervisor Ernestine Henning (pictured along with St. Thomas' Rector Martini Shaw and myself), the RAF's aim is to keep alive the spirit of Bishop Allen and the founders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. While in worship at Mother Bethel, a candle was lit and taken to the tomb of Richard Allen in the basement of the church.

The theme for the day selected by the RAF, you ask? From Richard Allen and Absalom Jones to Barack Obama. My sermon title for that morning, you ask? From the Slave House to the White House. Isn't God deep!

Following worship at Mother Bethel that morning, an afternoon service was held at St. Thomas (click here for the full story in the 11/25/08 copy of the Christian Recorder, #17) on the other side of town. In that inspirational service, we were led back in time through lectures, song, and dramatic interpretation.

It was during that moment that the weight of this new appointment really hit me. Here I was sitting next to the pastor of St. Thomas, the direct pastoral descendant of Absalom Jones on my very first Sunday in the direct pastoral line with Richard Allen on the anniversary of their historic declaration of independence. Talk about putting the appointment into the proper historical perspective!

Not only were the members of Mother Bethel extremely gracious and welcoming to our family on that day, but we also had an opportunity to share with the members of St. Thomas. It was truly a day to remember and a day for remembering!

Press Release: New Pastor of Mother Bethel stands on broad shoulders of predecessors & brings passion for history

Okay, I know that there is probably a much more creative way to make this announcement, but frankly, I'm still speechless. I'll just say "Thank you, Lord!" and thanks to Bishop Norris for the trust he has placed in me to represent all of you at the Mother Church. With that, I’ll let the press release say the rest.

PRESS RELEASE

Rev. Dr. Mark Kelly Tyler, Ph.d. IS NAMED THE 52^ND PASTOR OF historic MOTHER BETHEL AME CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, the oldest property continuously owned by black Americans. Dr. Tyler is a dynamic preacher and pastor having led congregations in California, Missouri, Ohio, and New Jersey. Dr. Tyler is also a skilled teacher serving as an adjunct professor at Payne Theological Seminary in Ohio and New Brunswick Theological Seminary in New Jersey.

Dr. Tyler has become widely known in the AME Church for his love of AME Church history. His passion and knowledge are not only demonstrated in his sermons and teachings, but also during his recent campaign for the office of Historiographer in the AME Church. During the year-long campaign, Dr. Tyler developed a grassroots following using such efforts as his blog: Tyler’s AME History Notes (www.markkellytyler.blogspot.com).

While Dr. Tyler’s aspiration to serve as Historiographer was not realized at the General Conference, the loss turned into a gain by paving the way for him to serve as the 52^nd pastor of Mother Bethel. He is excited about this new chapter in his ministry that fuses his passion for history with his love of serving as a pastor in the AME Church. “It is a tremendous honor to serve as the pastor of Mother Bethel,” Tyler said of his appointment. “This congregation has stood as a beacon of hope for citizens of Philadelphia for more than 200 years. But far beyond the borders of the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection, Mother Bethel is also a symbol of liberation, hope and self-help for members of the AME Church throughout the world,” Tyler added.

Dr. Tyler succeeds Bishop N. Jeffrey N. Leath, who served at the head of Mother Bethel for the past 15 years. Bishop Leath was elected and consecrated the 128^th Bishop of the AME Church in July 2008. Elected at the head of his class, Bishop Leath now serves as the presiding prelate of the 19^th Episcopal District of the AME Church in South Africa.

Consequently, the pastor that Bishop Leath succeeded in 1993 is Bishop Richard F. Norris the 116^th Bishop elected and consecrated in 2000 and current leader of the 1^st Episcopal District. Dr. Tyler received his new assignment from the hand of Bishop Norris 2 weeks ago.

Dr. Tyler is a native of Oakland, CA. He is a graduate of Clark Atlanta University with a B.A. in Religion, Payne Theological Seminar y with the M.Div., and the University of Dayton with an earned Ph.D. in Educational Leadership.

Mother Bethel’s building and Museum are located on the corner of 6^th and Lombard Streets. It is open for guided tours Tuesdays through Saturday, from 10am-3pm, and Sundays after the 8am and 10:45am worship services.

8 Days in November: How the AME Church Represented Black America at the 1876 Centennial Celebration

(On the left: Bust of Bishop Richard Allen; Above: Bishop Richard Franklin Norris, along with Dr. Susanna Gold and ph.d. candidate Rob Armstrong, stands on the site where the Bishop Allen bust was dedicated in 1876.)

In 1876, the United States of America threw a 6 month party to celebrate 100 years of nationhood. The Centennial, held at Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, opened on May 10 and closed on November 10. Intended to display before the world America's great diversity, black Americans were conspicuously absent and silent.

When Frederick Douglass, for example, showed up for the opening ceremony in May to take his place on the main stage, he was not allowed to address the enormous crowd. In fact, he almost was not allowed on the stage. Although he possessed valid credentials, Philly's "finest" refused to let him pass. It took the intervention of a U.S. senator from New York to get America's most famous black man to his seat. So rather than wait for someone to offer a seat at the table, the AME Church took its' own seat.

Determined to have a black presence at the Centennial, members of the Arkansas Annual Conference devised a plan to erect a monument in honor of AME founder, Bishop Richard Allen. Under the leadership of Revs. John T. Jenifer and Andrew J. Chambers, $7,000 was raised to commission a stunning, 22' high, imported Italian marble sculpture that would hold a bust of Bishop Allen. Every map of the Centennial that has survived includes the Bishop Allen Monument, making it the the only exhibit set up by, about, and expressly on behalf of black Americans.

The monument as intended, however, was not to be. Continually met by delays, setbacks, and ultimately disaster, it seemed as though it was destined never to make it to the exposition. Scheduled for unveiling in Philadelphia on the 4th of July, the sculptor did not deliver on his promise. The committee was forced to push the full dedication back to September, but soon met a new challenge. As the monument was shipped from Cincinnati, the train that transported it encountered some type of accident crossing the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. The entire 22 foot high, elaborate monument, with the exception of the bust of Bishop Allen, was destroyed in the accident.

Feeling somewhat defeated, the committee purchased a plain 9' granite pedestal shaped like a pyramid and placed the bust of Bishop Allen on top of it. To add insult to injury, the guest speaker for the dedication on November 2, never arrived. Remarks were given by Bishop John M. Brown and the Richard Allen Monument was dedicated. Being on display for only 8 days in the 6 month long Centennial, it must have seemed that all the effort was simply in vain.

But that would miss the larger point. Remember, there was a concentrated effort to stifle the voice of dissent and the voice of the oppressed. But the monument offered an opportunity for the AME Church to say on behalf of others, that which could not be said on the main stage.

J.T. Jenifer at the first dedication of the monument's base in June, delivered a sermon that the organizers of the Centennial surely did not want the world to hear. According to Jenifer, the "outrages and murders committed upon us are the fruits of wanton prejudice, hatred, and hellish passion, suffered to satiate itself under the weakness of the Government upon the plea of State rights." Unlike most speech by black Americans of his day, the words were not relegated to the pages of the black press. This speech was reprinted in its entirety in the pages of the widely read Philadelphia Press for all the world to see.

In closing his address, however, Jenifer did not look back to the pain of the past or on the struggles of the present. Rather, he looked forward with hope to future generations imagining the world 100 years later:

"We are here today before the eyes of all nations to show our appreciation of the American Centennial. We shall not be here the next national anniversary, but our children will be. They will not come as we have come, but they will come greater--come with their productions. They will come in their arts, their science, their literature, and in their philosophy, in all of which they shall excel. Color lines will then be wiped out, caste will be gone; the American citizen, white or black, will be honored and loved, and mind and moral excellence will be the measure of the man."

But the period of hope that Jenifer spoke of in his speech would have to wait, at least for a little while.

Following the end of the expo, the monument committee asked the Fairmount Park Commission to allow the bust to remain in the park as a lasting tribute (like the Catholics and others were allowed to do), but they were denied. Within a few weeks, the monument was taken down and placed at Wilberforce University.

The symbolism of Bishop Allen being "put out" of the park was fitting for the times, for a few months later the period of Reconstruction had come to an end. The clock was rolled back on blacks in America, Jim Crow laws became the rule of the land, civil rights were revoked, voting rights were denied, blacks were run out of elected office, and the greatest period of terror on free black men began as lynchings became common and widespread.

The dream of Jenifer may have been delayed, but it was not to be denied. 100 plus years later, we are the evidence that all things are possible with God. We sit today as the fruit of his dream. There are still giants to face and mountains to climb, but in the words of the black church, "we may not be where we want to be, but thank God, we're not where we used to be!"

The Slave House to the White House: From Hercules to Obama and the meaning of the black presence in the Executive Mansion

When the nation's first president, George Washington, occupied the Executive Mansion in Philadelphia (at that time, Washington, D.C. had not yet become the nation's capitol), he did a very odd thing for the leader of a newly freed democracy that proclaimed that all men were created equal: he imported slaves from his Virginia plantation to serve him in what would become known as the White House. In the White House, across the street from the United States Congress, on 6th and Market Streets in Philly, President Washington set up slave quarters in the residence that was meant to be a beacon of freedom for all the nations to see.

When talk about slave quarters in the White House first began a few years back, the National Park Service argued that slaves never lived in the mansion. They did not want to mar the image of the executive residence by suggesting that something as ugly as slavery lived there, so they denied it. But on last year, as excavation began on for a new memorial to be built on the site where the house previously sat over 200 years ago, a funny thing was exposed below the ground: slave quarters. A slave house in the White House, just think about that for a moment.

The irony obviously did not escape his enslaved servants, either. Hercules (believed to be the man in the above portrait on the left), one of the slaves that was brought from Virginia, served as the Executive Chef in the White House kitchen. By all accounts, he lived an enviable life, even for a slave. He was allowed to sell leftovers from the kitchen to local residents and made an estimated profit of $200 a year. However, no matter how comfortable his life was or high he rose, he was still a slave.

It is very likely that Hercules came into contact on a regular basis with the free black population of Philadelphia, including AME Church founder, Bishop Richard Allen. In addition to being a pastor, Allen was also a master chimney sweep and one of his contracts was with President Washington. It is difficult to believe that Hercules and Allen (himself a former slave) would not have had contact while in Philadelphia. Seeing free black men and women come and go as they pleased must have taken a toll on Hercules. When he could no longer take being a slave, he packed what he could carry, slipped out into the night, and disappeared never to be seen of again by the president. Hercules ran as fast as he could away from the White House.

Yes, in the 1790s, blacks were running away from the White House. But now, 200 plus years later, blacks are now running to the White House! When President Elect Obama and his family walk through the doors of the White House, they will represent more than just the First Family. They will represent more than just a change from one political party to the next. They will represent, as Maya Angelou most eloquently expressed it, "the dream and the hope of the slave." They represent the dream of Hercules, the dream of Olney Judge (another escaped White House slave), the dream of the millions of slaves and those who died in the Middle Passage before even making it to the Americas. They are a powerful reminder that sometimes, dreams do come true.

Speaking of dreams, isn't it interesting that 40 years after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Moses of the Civil Rights Movement, we have come to the place where God has raised a Joshua to take the movement in a new direction. Could this be what Dr. King saw from the mountaintop that night before his death in his last speech? If that sounds like a stretch, consider this fact: we stand exactly 40 years after Robert F. Kennedy proclaimed on "Meet the Press" that he believed a black man could be president in 40 years. Imagine it, 40 years is the same period of time that the Hebrews had to wander in the wilderness before God allowed them to enter into the Promised Land, and now black Americans have lived long enough to witness that which was hardly a dream just one generation ago.

But that is glory of what only God can do. God can move you from the "slave house" in life and place you in the "White House" even though all the odds are against you. Someone said it this way, "He picked me up, turned me around, and placed my feet on solid ground." For what we have witnessed on this past week, to God be the glory!

A Day in November to Remember: Revisting the Camden Election Riots of 1870

On Tuesday morning, November 8, 1870, the Philadelphia Press newspaper ran the following blurb about the day's coming election: The election polls in the various precincts and townships of Camden county [sic] this morning open at seven o'clock and close at seven this evening. By the next morning, the same paper ran the following headline on the front page: Election Outrage in Camden! The "election outrage" would ultimately lead to the conviction of a white police officer, the severe wounding of numerous innocent black men, and the death of Theophilus Little, a black man who died of wounds received at the polling place while trying to exercise his right to vote.

This event was nothing less than an act of domestic terrorism on the black residents of Camden, yet, it is amazing that this story is not widely known by many people in the area. Thanks to the coverage from the Christian Recorder, the Philadelphia Press, the New York Times, and the ultra conservative Camden Democrat (the Fox News Channel of the day), it was not too difficult reconstructing the events of that day. In Philadelphia, a statue is being planned in honor of Octavius Catto, a local school teacher killed in the Philadelphia election riots in 1871. However, the seeds for that riot were planted one year earlier right across the river in Camden. In fact, it is highly likely that some of the same thugs (many of whom happened to be off duty Philadelphia police officers) were involved in both the 1870 and the 1871 riots.

Before heading to the polls on that fateful Tuesday morning, black citizens of Camden had already received word of voter suppression and intimidation waiting for them if they dared to exercise their newly guaranteed right under the 15th Amendment. For that reason, many of the men gathered early in the morning to vote as a group before a mob had a chance to gather. They formed 2 lines determined that no one would break them and they marched down to what is now Centerville in Camden to cast their ballots. What they did not know at the time, was that this was no ordinary mob waiting for them.

The mob, in this case, was led by the very persons who had sworn to serve and protect the citizenry, regardless of race and class. The leader was Constable Thomas Souder, backed up by Justice of the Peace James Henry and Attorney Samuel Davis. Attorney Davis' job was to challenge black voters to determine if they were "qualified" to vote (Wow, sounds vaguely familiar). This group of "peace officers" was backed up by a notorious group from across the Delaware River known as "Fox's Police." Mayor Fox of Philadelphia was no friend to black voters. In fact, as the riots occurred in Camden, black men who arrived in Philadelphia from New Jersey on the ferries that same day were immediately met by uniformed Philadelphia police officers and arrested for suspicion of voter fraud.

As the election went on back in Centerville, the "peace officers" recognized that the vote was not going their way. The new black vote, representing some 300 persons, would represent a major shift in local politics if it continued. Seeing that they could find no legal reason to stop them from voting, the Constable and Justice of the Peace led the off duty Philadelphia officers and others right into the lines of black men. They began beating them with blackjacks, clubs, and pistols. Charles Williams was shot as he tried to get off the floor and Theophilus Little was hit so hard, he would die within days. The black men were driven out of the polling place where they reformed their lines.

What happened next was not exactly a scene from the Civil Rights Movement or an episode of "Eyes on the Prize", as attested to by the Philadelphia Press:

"The colored men, rallying in their turn, drove their assailants from the polling place.[Justice of the Peace] Henry was badly injured; his nose was broken and he was severely cut about the head. Henry Thomas, who was engaged with [Constable] Souder and Henry in the attack upon the blacks, was also severely beaten. From this time until late in the afternoon everything was quiet."

Having no one there to protect their rights, this group of black men stormed the polling place against an armed mob of peace officers and took their right to vote!

I wish that I could report that this was the end of the violence that day, but it wasn't. The mob simply waited for a more opportune moment. Late in the afternoon, the mob stormed into the polling place, stole the ballot box, took it outside and began to smash it to pieces! This time, Sheriff Morgan and the mayor of Camden stood up for the rights of their black citizens and called on the National Guard troop to restore order. Led by Colonel J.M. Scovel, order was restored, blacks were able to complete the voting process, and the white peace officers were arrested and held over for trial.

What is truly remarkable about this story is that the U.S. District Court did not merely slap the hands of the peace officers in this incident. Bail was set on each person arrested and not one defendant was released until their role was thoroughly examined by the federal authorities. The efforts of the U.S. District Attorney in the case led to the indictment of 23 persons and Constable Souders was the first to go to trial. The trial lasted only 2 weeks in 1871 and a guilty verdict was returned. While I have not been able to determine at the writing of this post the results in the remaining indictments, it is clear that this was a moment celebrated by the victims of the rioting on that fateful day in November.

This is a timely reminder for those of us who might complain about standing on a long line on November 4, 2008. Yes, you may have to give up some time and convenience to cast your vote because of the expected high voter turnout, but isn't that a small price to pay when we consider what others have done on our behalf? When those men shed their blood in 1870, it wasn't just for them. They shed it for those of us today who they would never, ever know. They shed it so that we would not have to shed ours. We owe it to them to show up to the polls and cast our vote. The blood of the martyrs cries out that we show up and cast our vote every time the polls open. Whether or not there is a black man on the ticket as president is irrelevant, voting for black Americans should been viewed as a sacred obligation. After all, isn't it the very least that we can do?

Underground Railroad History made in South Jersey AME Church

Above is a trap door used to hide escaping slaves. To the right is the pastor of Jacob's Chapel, the Rev. Terrell Person, my colleague on the Camden-Trenton District.

[This article is reprinted here from the Courier Post Newspaper, October 22, 2008, by Lavinia DeCastro, www.courierpostonline.com]

MOUNT LAUREL — Members of Jacob's Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Mount Laurel celebrated their congregation's 195th birthday by remembering the past and preparing for the future.

During a ceremony last week, Jacob's Chapel launched the "Join The Journey Capital" campaign to raise $1 million over the next three years to preserve the church's two historic buildings (Jacob's Chapel and the Colemantown Meeting House) and Civil War cemetery. The money will also be used to buy land to erect a new building to house a growing membership.

"We want to bring these buildings back to the way it was in the past with the pot-bellied stove and stained glass window," Pastor Terrell W. Person said.

Housing one of the oldest African-American congregations in the state, the church was established in 1813. It was part of the Underground Railroad, which allowed escaped Southern slaves to reach the North.

A key player in the development of the Underground Railroad was Medford-born William Still, son of slaves Charity and Levin Still, who escaped long before the formal railroad route was devised.

Most of the Still family is buried at the church's cemetery, including Dr. James Still, the famous "Black Doctor of the Pines" and herbalist.

The congregation first met in the Colemantown Meeting House, believed to be among the oldest original black church buildings in the nation. Inside, hand-hewn beams outline the frame of the Quaker-built structure, which is still used for Sunday school.

In 1850, the congregation built a new church on land donated by a local Quaker, Albert Jacob. Jacob's Chapel is named after him.

"We have an opportunity to preserve this history right now and we must," said Department of Environmental Protection Deputy Commissioner John S. Watson Jr., the keynote speaker at the event. "Our duty as public servants is to preserve these places and to help people understand why they're important."

Watson vowed to help the church list its structures on the state and national Register of Historic Places and secure state funds for preservation.

"We stand with you in spirit and resources," Watson told the more than 100 people who attended Saturday's event.

In addition to restoring the congregation's historic structures and archives, Person said he wants to purchase five more acres of land to build a 300- to 400-seat sanctuary and community development center.

"The past is important, but we also have a community to take care of," said Person, a descendant of Dr. James Still.

The church already owns four acres across the street from the Elbo Lane chapel.

"The people who have gone before us, the Harriet Tubmans, the William Stills, the Quakers, they have laid down such a foundation for us," said Charles Buffington II, the lead consultant for the capital campaign. "We share their treasure, but it takes money for restoration, it takes money for development, it takes money to build a house of faith."

Helen Gaines, of Moorestown, has a great-uncle, Civil War veteran George Robinson, buried at the cemetery.

"I've been here ever since I was born," Gaines said. "I'm looking forward to restoring this church."

Reach Lavinia DeCastro at (856) 486-2652 or ldecastro@courierpostonline.com

[To contact the Jacob's Chapel to assist in their Capital Campaign, call 856-235-7900.]

 

Michelle Obama, Family Values, and my late grandmother Iowa Milan

Last night was truly historical.

Even the most anti-Obama, anti-Democratic party, pro-McCain pundits had to acknowledge that Michelle Obama hit a home run with her prime time moment in Denver. Her speech provided an open window for those outside the black community, through which they were able to see that our values are not so different than those held by everyone else in America.

Many white Americans, unfamiliar with what it means to be black and American, hold the false assumption that the vast majority of blacks expect reward without work, success without sacrifice, and a paycheck without putting in 40 hours.

I'm not sure how much Mrs. Obama's speech did to make a dent in that myth, but it was certainly a big step in the right direction. Just in case you missed it, here's what she said about the family values imparted to her and her brother from their parents: "that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you're going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them."

Listening to Mrs. Obama, I felt like she was telling the story of my family. I'm sure that many black Americans felt the same way. I want to dedicate this posting to the memory of Iowa Milan, my late grandmother. Much of what we value as a family, we learned from her. She was born and raised on a small farm in Cominto, Arkansas (about 12 miles from Monticello). Yet, as an only child, her 5 children have now produced a large and thriving family, most of whom still live in the Oakland, California area. Her story is not just a story about our family, but it is an American story.

Like the parents of Michelle and Barak Obama, she gave all of her life so that our lives would be better. She didn't just give to her 5 children, but she kept on giving to her grandchildren and great grandchildren as well. In fact, her death in 1988 of cancer was the direct result of her sacrifice for her family. There is little doubt that her disease found its origin in her work in World War II as a black "Rosie the Riveter."

Shortly after the United States entered WWII, she heard that there were jobs in California for black women who wanted to work. She left her small children with family in the south, boarded a train for a state she'd never visited, and took with her only the faith in God that somehow things would work out. When she arrived, she went to work at the Moore's Dry Dock, where she helped convert ships into wartime vessels that served in the Pacific Ocean.

She went to work there every day, even though she was called out of her name by white co-workers who also had come from the south and brought with them their own brand of explicit racism. She was told that women, especially black women, did not belong there working alongside white men. She and the other black women in the yard also often felt the sting of sexism from black men, who like their southern colleagues did not appreciate their presence. Yet, in spite of the duel demons of sexism and racism, she went to work every day to make a better place for her family.

The first thing she did when she got on her feet, was to send for her children. Unlike my own upbringing in which I lived in the same home that my parents owned since I was 2 years old, my mother and her siblings lived in the housing projects in West Oakland. Side by side with other southern transplants, they brought with them the values of hard work, honesty, and love for your neighbor. They looked out for one another, they shared what little means they had, and they helped raise the children of the community together.

This story is not unique to our family. Blacks from New York and New Jersey can tell the same story about family who came from North and South Carolina. Blacks in Detroit, Chicago, and Cleveland can tell the same story about family that came up from Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. In many ways, this is a mirror to the stories of European and Asian immigrants to this country. It is the story of grandparents who came with nothing but a prayer and a dogged determination to make it, but left a legacy for their descendants.

Her sacrifice, however, came with a great price. Working in the shipyard during the war exposed her lungs to asbestos. By the time she discovered the cancer, there was little to be done. But she used the occasion to teach us one last lesson. She did not express outrage at the shipyard or at God for the disease, but she showed us that faith is not just for the good times. Without mumbling or crying about how unfair it was, she quietly submitted to God's will and went "back home."

That was really her greatest legacy that she left our family: her unwavering faith in God.


I remember back in 1987, when I left Oakland to attend Clark College in Atlanta, she imparted in me that legacy. She didn't have a trust fund to give me money for tuition, but what she gave me has lasted to this very day. As we all gathered at the San Francisco Airport to wait for my flight, she called the family into a large circle just before I boarded. There, in the midst of all of those other travelers, she led us in prayer.

Because I was the first to go away to college, I thought no one in the prayer circle could understand what was going through my mind. I was headed out to a place I had never been before. We could only afford one ticket, so I had to fly alone. While other students were accompanied by fathers and mothers, I was all by myself. We didn't even have family in Atlanta to meet me. I was being picked up by a stranger who rented me a room.

But what I did not realize until all these years later thanks to reflecting on Michelle Obama's speech, is that she knew more than I could have imagined about how I felt. She'd been there and done that. When she prayed for me, she called on the name of the same God who she called when she boarded that train for California some 40 plus years before all by herself. She prayed to the same God who took from a suitcase to a job with a pension at the Post Office; from the projects to home of her own; from her children scattered to her children living with her under the same roof. So when she prayed for me and my journey not knowing what tomorrow held, she prayed knowing full well Who held tomorrow.

And for her, well, that was enough.

(Just a few of Iowa's descendants at worship at Brookins AMEC, Oakland, where she was a founding member, choir member, and Trustee. 8/17/2008)

Historic Moment caught on camera: Bishops and AME Leaders Pray with Obama

Each time that I've attended the General Conference, there has been a moment when I've realized like Moses that I was standing on "holy ground." That moment occurred this year when the presumptive nominee for president of the Democratic Party, Barak Obama, addressed the Conference. The afternoon was truly electric! It must've been the way it felt to see Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speak at the March on Washington.

Like many others, my eyes began to fill up with tears, so overcome by the emotion of the day. My mother and my aunt, both born in Arkansas were there that day in the packed out St. Louis Convention Center. All I could think about was how they were barred from the movie theater growing up (and confined to the balcony on days they could attend) in their hometown. How they were forced to attend segregated schools and use public accommodations for "blacks only." Yet, there they were looking at something no one could have dared to believe just 40 years ago.

I'm indebted to my cousin, the Rev. Reginald Terry, pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Omaha, Nebraska. Knowing my love of AME history, he forwarded this photo by email after he received it from someone else. It is so rich, I simply could not keep it to myself. It is meant for sharing. I do not intend to suggest that prayer be taken lightly or that Mr. Obama's devotional life should be intruded upon like the person who took his prayer out of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. I hope that readers know that this posting comes from a different place.

It comes from a deep and profound sense of appreciation of just how far God has brought us. This picture of Bishops and leadership of the AMEC, the spiritual descendants of Richard Allen, Sarah Allen, Morris Brown, Jarena Lee, William Paul Quinn, Daniel A. Payne, and Henry M. Turner, praying over a black man who is only a few days away of potentially doing the "impossible," is bigger than just the few hands that could reach him that day.

When the Bishops stretched out their hands to pray, they prayed with Obama on our behalf. We couldn't all fit in that little room behind the stage to pray with him, but our Bishops prayed for us. They prayed on behalf of AMEs not just in the United States, but in Canada, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Liberia, South Africa, Tanzania, England, and parts all over the globe. They prayed for the ordained and the laity. They prayed for those with fancy titles behind their names and they prayed for Aunt Jane on the last pew.

That's why I wanted to share the picture. I wanted to share it because it belongs to all of us. May God continue to show Mr. Obama favor and may we all continue to pray with him and his family.

***The photo above was taken by Vashti-Jasmine McKenzie and is posted with her permission.***

Revisiting the Historiographer Campaign and the General Conference of St. Louis, 2008

First of all, congratulations to Dr. Dennis C. Dickerson on his re-election to the office of Historiographer. It was a long shot (to be sure) to win the election over an incumbent, but we ran a very competitive race. More than anything, however, we had fun running last week. The campaign allowed me an opportunity to display what I truly love, the history of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Special thanks to Mr. Chester and Mrs. Lillie Owens of Kansas City, KS for allowing us to display the holdings of Bishop John Gregg. The display was a big hit during the week and drew many visitors from the military, Edward Waters College, Wilberforce University, and South Africa to view photos and artifacts specific to each of those interests. Also, a big thanks to Linda Kennedy, Brian Purlee, and the St. Louis Black Rep Theater for sharing their teens from the Summer Youth Program. In the words of one person, they were an "instant hit" at the Conference. They were dressed each day in 1800s clothing, sang in the hallways of the Convention Center, and performed on the stage each day (check out these links to see them on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3emUYCsaXDs and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng-AfUZewtA).

I would also like to thank each of the 519 delegates who cast a vote for me. Wow, 519, to God be the glory! Also, I would like to thank each person who contributed, who volunteered, and who prayed for the campaign. I'm truly thankful for my congregation, Macedonia AMEC in Camden, NJ, for the continued support they have shown. I thank my co-campaign managers, Rev. Bruce Butcher and Sis. Jackie Weary, the members of my congregation, and my family (my mother, aunt, and sister) who traveled to St. Louis to help. I certainly thank Bishop Richard Franklin Norris and Mother Norris for their support, Presiding Elder Robert C. Wade and Sis. Wade, and all the members of the First, Third, and Fifth Episcopal Districts for not forgetting their son. Lastly, I thank my wife Leslie M. Tyler and my children for supporting me in this time-consuming effort this past year.

I often look to historical events to place current situations in perspective. I must say that I am not totally surprised by the turn of events in St. Louis. I feel that God gave me a warning in advance. Just before flying out to St. Louis, I picked up my copy of The Pilgrimage of Harriet Ransom's Son (the autobiography of Bishop Reverdy C. Ransom). Incredibly, my eyes fell to the page when Ransom ran unsuccessfully for bishop in 1920. The General Conference that year, just like in 2008, was held in St. Louis. Although he did not win that year, he was successful in the following General Conference in 1924 in Louisville, KY.

There are many reasons that Bishop Ransom is one of my favorite bishops: his consistent commitment to social justice, his care for "the least of these," and his innovation, to name a few. But the most important reason that I've always felt drawn to his story is that he lived his life following the voice of God, rarely concerned with the political fall-out of his choices. Over and over, he made moves that simply made no "AME sense." Yet, he still rose to the highest position the Church had to offer and will be remembered as one of the most important AME voices in the first half of the 20th century.

Perhaps that is why he entitled his autobiography "the pilgrimage" and not "the rise" of Reverdy Ransom. A pilgrimage defined is "a journey, especially a long one, made to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion." Ransom's life was truly a long, winding, religious journey that often seemed to veer off course in the eyes of his peers. His rise in African Methodism was not a straight line, but more like a winding road. Yet, he still made it where God intended for him to go.

Maybe someone else, other than just me, can relate to that experience. I entered the race for Historiographer because that is what I felt God placing on my heart. Now that it is over, we shall see how God causes this experience to fit into the rest of the tapestry God has done in my life. I'm not sure what tomorrow holds, but I am sure that God already has some ideas. For those of you who like me, find that following God is truly an adventure and a pilgrimage, I offer the life and witness of Bishop Ransom as evidence that things still work out in spite of what may appear to be a setback. If you are in the midst of your own journey right now, take comfort in the words of that great hymn:

Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah, Pilgrim through this barren land. I am weak, but Thou art mighty; Hold me with Thy powerful hand.

Understanding Black Liberation Theology: A 40-Year Retrospective

As we approach the 40th year of Black Liberation Theology, this is a must see event! Click on this link to see AME scholars James Cone and Obery Hendricks, along with former Riverside Church pastor James Forbes, Dwight Hopkins, and Calvin Butts, as they struggle with this issue.

We owe a debt of gratitude for their individual contributions to the Struggle and to the Schomburg Center in Harlem for making this presentation available.

Philadelphia Area Book Signing raises new (and troubling) questions for AMEs

Richard S. Newman, in writing one of most comprehensive works on the life of our founder, Bishop Richard Allen, has done a marvelous job in pulling together facts and chronological events; yet, he has been able to keep the story fresh and alive. Freedom's Prophet is really a page turner and difficult to put down once you pick it up.

This Thursday, June 19, 2008, from 5:30pm to 7, Newman will meet and greet the audience, read selected portions, and sign copies at the Library Company . Those attending the General Conference in St. Louis should also know that the book can be ordered from my exhibitor booth for a deeply discounted price (booth #125).

If I have any criticism about the book thus far, it is simply this:

Why is it that others outside of the AME Church seem to appreciate our history more than us?

The last major work published on one of the "Four Horsemen" of the AMEC was in 1992 by Stephen Angell when he wrote his biography on Bishop Henry McNeal Turner (Bishop Henry McNeal Turner and African-American Religion in the South). Like Newman, Angell is not AME. In fact, neither of them are of African descent (at least directly). We should be grateful that Newman and Angell have such a broad and open research agenda and have proven themselves as first rate scholars, but what about us?

When is someone going to write a major, comprehensive biography on the life of Jarena Lee (the next comprehensive biography on her life will be the first--thank the Lord that she wrote her own story down!)? What about those founding mothers and fathers in West and South Africa who helped shape African Methodism in the Motherland? Who will tell their story? What about the story of how the AME Church spread to other parts of the world?

Have we no one in our own ranks to tell our story? Have we no one qualified and trained to pick up the tools of research and answer the question of whence we've come? Must we always sit back and hope that others will find our history important enough to write and then interpret it for us? Do we always need someone else to tell us what it means to be AME?

Some will say that there is no audience or market for our material. However, when I recently tried to purchase some copies of Freedom's Prophet in bulk for the upcoming book signing, the warehouse had already sold out of the first printing (the book was just released in March!). Obviously, someone is reading it.

Fortunately, there are those in the ranks of the AME Church who have contributed greatly to the scholarly discourse on the history of the AME Church (Reginald Hildebrand, Theresa Fry Brown, Bernard Powers, to name a few). However, even they will say that there are far too few of us spending our precious time in research on questions involving the AME Church. Let us hope that Newman's new work on Bishop Allen (which ironically highlights his self-determination) will inspire future AME researchers, scholars, and writers to find a research agenda in one of the most fascinating places of them all, the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Tyler for Historiographer Campaign "Goes Green": Check out Digital Ad Book

I am grateful that on tonight, June 8, 2008, my Presiding Elder (Dr. Robert Christopher Wade), Rev. Stanley Justice, President of the Camden-Trenton Ministerial Alliance, pastors, and laity of the Camden-Trenton District, and my own congregation (Macedonia AMEC, Camden, NJ) have planned a major fund raiser in support of my effort to become the next Historiographer of the AME Church at the upcoming General Conference. The Rev. Dr. Stanley Hearst and the good members of Bethel AMEC in Moorestown, NJ were good enough to open their doors for the service, in which the Rev. Reginald Jackson (candidate for Bishop) is to preach. Donations have literally come in from all over the country, for which our family is deeply appreciative.

As we neared completion of the ad book, Rev. Tresa Carter (a member of my staff) laid out the book in Microsoft Powerpoint. After seeing it in its animated form in full color, we did not want to cut costs and run it in black/white. We also faced the challenge that people (especially businesses) who placed ads would only get limited exposure for the significant amount of money paid for the ad. In addition to all of this, the overhead to run off several hundred copies and mail them out (even in black/white), would defeat the purpose of a "fund raiser."

So, taking all of those issues in consideration, we have literally "gone green" with this souvenir book. Not only will all persons at the event tonight who paid for an ad receive the book in CD version, it is also available for download from my blog in the "Favorite Links" section (or by clicking here: http://download.yousendit.com/9C12D8E46A23AB1E or clicking the picture above).

This download is free and available to anyone who would like it. An very positive and unintended consequence of this effort is that businesses and other patrons will literally now have a world-wide audience thanks to email and the web. This is good for trees, for advertisers, and for the campaign! I call that a win-win-win situation. I hope that you download it, enjoy browsing through it, and share it with others. Maybe the next ad book will come with soundtrack!

History is now a family affair as First Lady catches the history bug: "Unpacking" the mysterious Rev. S. J. Patterson

Disclaimer: I know that some of you will say I’m only doing this because my husband is a candidate for the office of Historiographer of the AME Church. Well, that is only partially true. You see, I’ve been bitten by the “history bug.” All it took was one find from my own personal past to convince me we need to build an International Archives for the AME Church NOW – so that our richness and greatness can get out of our boxes in our basements…

It was Christmas, 2007, my first time back at my parents house since my father died more than a year ago. The homecoming was bittersweet. My mom had just undergone a successful kidney transplant operation. While getting a new kidney was what we had prayed for more than four years, I dreaded being back in the house I had never been in without Daddy. So I, in all my nosiness, did what any other “daddy’s girl” who spent her lifetime as an investigative journalist would do… I started pouring through his things trying to, somehow, bring myself closer to him. “Super Snoop” is what Daddy dubbed me more than 20 years ago…

I found his baby pictures – old images that are hard to distinguish from pictures today of my 3 year old daughter, Sharon. In an instant, I reflected on him saying “She looks just like me” after seeing Sharon’s picture when she was born. And as if it were yesterday, I remember replying “No, Daddy, she looks like Mark…” Guess he was right, as always. I also found his high school diploma – a framed document that for my entire life hung prominently on the wall of every home we ever lived in. On this day, I actually took the time to read it…. Then I stumbled upon a box that was marked “Dr. WA Patterson, Jr., MD.” The box was filled with items that belonged to my late grandfather, who practiced medicine in Miami, Florida. I found hand written notes from my great-grandparents – written to my father when he was first born. I found old driver’s licenses, books and a ton of old pictures – grandpa loved to take pictures!

Then I stumbled upon something that really caught my attention… a large, manila envelope that had the words “Uncle Joe” scribbled on it in my father’s hand writing. Uncle Joe was my grandfather’s only brother. He died when I was 10 years old. All I ever really knew about Uncle Joe was that he had a very pretty wife, Edith, who died before I was born. He never had children and every time he visited us from his home in Winston Salem, NC, he always liked to be dropped off at the library. At his funeral, I learned that Uncle Joe was actually Rev. Dr. Joseph Patterson – distinguished professor at Winston Salem State University (a building on the campus bears his name today) and the pastor of the Wentz Memorial United Church of Christ in Winston Salem. He also lived off “Patterson Avenue” a street in Winston Salem named after him. As I grew older, Grandpa and Daddy would often share memories of Uncle Joe. Now that I’ve found this folder, it was an opportunity for me to learn more.

I tried making sense of all the papers I found. Among the documents: an obituary for Rev. SJ Patterson of Palatka, Florida, my grandfather and Uncle Joe’s hometown. In fact, our family still owns property in Palatka!

The obituary said Rev. SJ Patterson was the Presiding Elder of the South Florida Conference born in 1870, died in 1922. He graduated from Wilberforce University and was a trustee for Edward Waters College. The funeral had to last several hours because there was a long list of preachers on the program. As I flipped through the program I wondered – am I connected to Rev. SJ Patterson? If so, how? I asked my mother if she knew anything about Rev. SJ Patterson. She did not. I asked my father’s sister Pearl in Miami – she never heard of Rev. SJ Patterson. She looked at the picture from the obituary and said he looked a lot like my great grandfather – Dr. William A. Patterson, Sr. I called my grandfathers cousins in Daytona Beach – they had never heard of Rev. SJ Patterson. So Mark looked him up online in Richard R. Wright's Centennial Encyclopedia of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and found the following:

"Patterson, Rev. S. J., was born in Greenville, S. C., February 16, 1867 [I've found that the conflicting date of birth on the obituary is not an uncommon find in family research]. With his parents, Isaac and Rachel Patterson, he moved to Florida when six years old. Was converted May 1, 1887; licensed to preach July 8, 1889, by Dr. S. H. Coleman; joined the conference, March 6, 1894. He was made general missionary by Bishop T.D. Ward in February, 1896. His first appointment was to Cottage Hill, "Ybor City," a town with one member. He was ordained deacon by Bishop W. J. Gaines, March 9, 1897, and elder, March 5, 1899, at Orlando, by Rt. Rev. W. J. Gaines. He graduated June, 1903, from Payne Theological Seminary, Wilberforce, Ohio. He was elected delegate to the general conferences of 1908 and 1912. He was appointed presiding elder February, 1906, by Bishop B. T. Tanner and has been successively and successfully presiding elder since that time. He is well known and highly esteemed."

With this little bit of information I got so excited! I had to find out how I might be connected to Rev. S.J. Patterson. I launched an intensive search on Ancestry.com, where I found that Isaac and Rachel Patterson were in fact my great, great grandparents who relocated to Florida from South Carolina during Reconstruction! This helped to confirm that Rev. Samuel Joseph Patterson (likely who my Uncle Joe was named after) was the older brother of my great grandfather – Dr. William A. Patterson, Sr! That would make Rev. SJ Patterson my great, great uncle!

I cannot begin to tell you the sense of pride I felt when I realized my great, great uncle was a “highly esteemed” Presiding Elder in our home state of Florida! He served as a delegate to two general conferences and, like my husband, he graduated from Payne Theological Seminary in Wilberforce, Ohio. I wish my great, great uncle were alive today to see his legacy of distinguished scholars and church leaders. He would have been so proud that his great, great niece married an AME Pastor and scholar. I also wish I had known about my uncle, Rev. SJ Patterson before now. Had I not come home, missed my deceased father, and been snooping through his things – that box probably would have been thrown out. Sadly, all of this rich, storytelling history – like so much of ours – sits in boxes, in our basements waiting for an International Archives to call home…

Written by Mrs. Leslie Patterson Tyler, "Guest Blogger"

Denzel Washington and Daniel Payne: Fighting the Good Fight, Living the Dream, and Saving Black Colleges

In the late 1800s, America's first college president of African descent, Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne, of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AMEC), had a dream. Payne led the purchase of Wilberforce University (WU) on behalf of the AMEC from the white Methodists in 1863. Imagine the bold and audacious faith that it took for a black religious body to buy a university in 1863 When the deal was made, most blacks were still living in slavery in the south (the Emancipation Proclamation notwithstanding) and those that were free in the north had more important things to do with their money than to donate to a college. Yet, Payne dreamed of a day when blacks would be in a financial position to fund our own educational endeavors:

The unity and concentration of a poor people can build up schools of learning and perpetuate them for a thousand generations--yes to the very end of time.
Upon this principle the A.M.E. Church could build and endow a first-class college every five years. She boasts of numbering four hundred thousand. Let one-half of that number be discounted as old age and youth, unable to give anything, there would remain two hundred thousand who are able to give one dollar apiece for five successive years. Then we would be in possession of a million of dollars—a sum sufficient to build and to endow a strong and powerful college, commanding the respect and the confidence of the whole country. In like manner, a half century would put in the hands of the A.M.E. Church, ten strong and powerful Institutions, commanding the respect of the civilized world as well as the confidence and moral support of the Christian Church. She could then bide her time till millionaires could raise up themselves from her Alumni, who would take pleasure in developing her colleges into Universities. ("Thoughts about the past, present, and the future of the African Methodist Episcopal Church". The AME Church Review, Vol. 1, No. 1, p.8)

Well, a part of Payne's dream has come to pass. America now has black millionaires all over the place. Blacks have excelled in every discipline there is: arts, sports, business, education, religion, science, media, politics, and any other thing you can name. The calvary has arrived and we are now in position to lift our schools so that they may be on par with our white brothers and sisters by endowing our institutions through major gifts by a new crop of donors.

The problem is, however, that Payne's dream has been confronted by the modern, American nightmare: a self centered, materialistic, egocentric, self serving and ever growing black elite that has forgotten the bridge that brought us over. Simply put, we are the generation like those in the Biblical book of Judges, that "did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, forgetting the LORD their God" who brought them out.

An example of this forgetting and the selfish neglect on the part of those whom God has blessed the most with material means can be found by going back just 5 years to the Morris Brown College (MBC) crises and the National Basketball Association (NBA) all star game. Two seemingly unrelated events, but their relationship and timing paint a vivid picture about the priorities of those who have inherited a rich legacy. Both of these events, ironically, took place less than a mile apart from each other in Atlanta in the winter of 2003 (if you've ever been to Atlanta, the Hawks' arena looks down over MBC like the big house did over the slave quarters). MBC, like just about every other Historically Black College and University (HBCU), has struggled for years to keep the doors open. In fact, it is a miracle that so many HBCUs still exist, when most have received such little financial support. (I'm sure that black folk have given more to Nike than to HBCUs)

And so the irony did not escape me that as the NBA held their All Star Game in 2003 up the hill from MBC, AMEC officials and college administrators were feverishly trying to stop the bleeding. The AMEC raised a good deal of money in a short period of time, but it was not enough. That's when it occurred to me that if all of those who attended the all star game would have just "passed the plate," the shortfall would have been raised, an endowment would have been created, and the accreditation might have been saved.

In attendance that weekend was just about everybody that was somebody in the black community that had access to wealth. Yet, although the Atlanta newspapers that weekend were filled with the plight of MBC, no one that weekend (NO NOT ONE) stopped to ask: How can we help? How can we, who have been given so much, give something back? Maybe instead of $1000 bottles of champaign, should we can get the cheap stuff and send the balance of the money to MBC? What a scene it must have been, as celebrities threw lavish parties, spent thousands on wardrobes to impress others, and rode in $300,000 automobiles, with no thought of helping keep up the bridge that made their current lifestyles possible in the first place.

Make no mistake, before "ballers" could ball at Nebraska, UCLA, Georgia, and Duke, they were forced to ball at MBC, Clark, Morehouse, and Edward Waters. Before entertainers could hone their craft in Ivy League drama departments, Spelman was just fine. Before attorneys could learn to argue in the courtroom at Columbia and Univ. of Pennsylvania, they did so at Wiley and Tuskegee. That is the bridge that allowed us to cross over from the wilderness of slavery and Jim Crow into the promised land that now flows with milk and honey for some. How dare we forget where we came from and that we are only here because they were there for us.

That brings me to Denzel Washington. Thankfully, not everyone has forgotten where they've come from. Two weeks ago, Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions' studio released on DVD a must see movie entitled "The Great Debaters." The movie, which stars Denzel, is based on a 1930s debate team from HBCU, Wiley College in Texas. This movie is a something that all black people should have in their movie library and would make an excellent Father's Day gift (hint, hint).

The art of debate proved to be a pathway for many young college students to gain the confidence needed to make it in the world after college. However, through the years, the debate team at Wiley ceased to exist. But thanks to a 1 million dollar gift by Denzel and his family, the debate team is coming back to Wiley. Denzel is not alone. Oprah, Bill Cosby, Tom Joyner, and others have also shared the wealth and given back to places that they don't even call home.

Yet, those good examples have been too few and far between to make a real, lasting difference. If we are to stem the tide of black on black violence, if we are to get our boys off the streets selling drugs, robbing banks, and committing murder, if we are going to give our girls a reason to wait to become mothers because they have real hope beyond the age of 15, if we are to become as a people producers and not consumers, then we need MBC as best as she can be. We need the doors of every black college not only open, but so heavily endowed that our future generations will not have to worry about tuition because scholarships will be available for all who enter in. We, black America, need for everyone to give something back. But we desperately need those millionaires whom Payne dreamed of to help us by leading the way to excellence in giving.

To whom much is given, much is required.

History is against Obama’s bridge between black & white: The root of the “gap” & the slavery problem in the Methodist Church

This week, the “Jeremiah Wright” episode finally came to a head. Rev. Wright “went off” at the Press Club and Obama did what his white supporters have wanted all along, he clearly disassociated himself from his former pastor. My feelings about Dr. Wright are posted below in older postings and they remain the same, Monday’s episode notwithstanding. The concern for today has more to do with the comments made by Sen. Obama on Tuesday when he reiterated his desire to serve as a “bridge” between the different races. While Obama’s goal is truly a noble vision, the facts of history suggest that closing the gap is easier said than done.

In defining this gap between black and white people, David W. Wills says that “it is the story of a persisting and seemingly intractable gap or distance. Recurrent and sometimes heroic efforts have been made to overcome this gap, but in the end it seems always to endure” (African American Religion: Interpretive Essays in History and Culture, Fulop and Rabetou, eds.). Wills argues in his essay that since the days of the Great Awakening, through the period of Reconstruction, and up to the Civil Rights Movement, there have been periods of time when this gap was narrowed, but never closed.

Although Wills wrote over 10 years ago, the closing words of his essay are troubling and prophetic: “Since the late 1960s, there has been a clear retreat from a direct facing of the gap between black and white… Acknowledged or not, however, the gap between the races—a gap involving both the interpretation of the American experience and the degree of empowerment within it—remains one of the foundational realities of our national religious life. And however much members of both races might sometimes wish it were otherwise, the painful encounter of black and white is likely to remain in the future what it has been in the past—one of the crucial, central themes in the religious history of the United States.”

As members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church [AMEC], we need look no further than the Methodist Episcopal Church [MEC] (our mother denomination), for evidence of this fact. Prior to our founding in 1787, the MEC had opened its doors wide to black members. In fact, Bishop Francis Asbury in 1785 invited a former slave, Richard Allen, to join him on a preaching tour in the south. Allen’s decision to decline the offer set in motion a set of events that would eventually lead to the founding of the AMEC 2 years later. This invitation of a black preacher to join this white bishop on this evangelistic tour, however, was not considered rare in the early days of American Methodism. There were widespread reports of blacks and whites joining the same churches, worshiping side-by-side, and even blacks preaching to whites.

In fact, American Methodism began its journey on this soil heavily influenced by the anti-slavery sentiment of English founder John Wesley (see his book Thoughts upon Slavery by clicking here). So it is not surprising that they were decidedly anti-slavery in their rhetoric and their policies. (I am indebted to the work Paul Ernst, one of my former students at Methodist Theological School of Ohio. His research on this subject for his final assignment in our class on the history of black religion in America dealt with the following subject matter.) By 1784, the MEC had adopted the following stance on the issue of slavery:

“Every member of our society who has slaves in his possession shall, within twelve months after notice given to him by the assistant (which notice the assistants are required immediately and without delay to give in their respective circuits), legally execute and record an instrument whereby, he emancipates and sets free every slave in his possession...In consideration that these rules form a new term of communion, every person concerned who will not comply with them shall have liberty quietly to withdraw himself from our society within the twelve months succeeding the notice given as aforesaid; otherwise the assistant shall exclude him in the society… No person so voluntarily withdrawn or so excluded shall ever partake of the Supper of the Lord with the Methodists till he complies with the above requisitions.” Beams of Light on Early Methodism in America, Phoebus, George A.

Talk about closing the gap! There was no ambiguity about where the church stood on the issue of slave holding. If you held slaves, you were not welcome in the MEC. Simply find a new church. As far as the preachers were concerned, there were also serious consequences:

Quest. 12. What shall we do with our friends that will buy and sell slaves?

Ans. If they buy with no other design than to hold them as slaves, and have been previously warned, they shall be expelled; and permited (sic) to sell under no consideration.

Quest. 13. What shall we do with our local preachers who will not emancipate their slaves in the States where the laws admit it?

Ans. Try those in Virginia another year, and suspend the preachers in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

Quest. 22. What shall be done with our traveling preachers that now are, or hereafter shall be, possessed of slaves, and refuse to manumit them where the law permits?

Ans. Employ them no more.

Unfortunately, the narrowing of the gap did not last. Pressure from influential slave holding members, the concern for lost revenue, and the fear of a church split led to a compromise of the newly enacted law. In the end, white racism and the power of the pro-slavery forces prevailed. As a result, racist attitudes were tolerated and discrimination was openly practiced in the local churches. Thus, just a few years later, Richard Allen and Absalom Jones found themselves being pulled up from their knees in prayer as they dared pray in the “whites only section” of St. Georges MEC in Philadelphia in 1787.

How does a church move from a place in 1784 where it would put members out of the church for holding slaves to a place 3 years later where Jim Crow, apartheid like practices had taken hold? How did we move from a place where the gap was almost closed at one moment and then in 3 short years the gap was reopened to a place where it has not budged in over 221 years? More importantly, what will white Americans do this time, in this 2008 version of the same old story?

Yes, I said white Americans. This gap does not exist because blacks want it, but because blacks have had little other choice but to accept it. A white gentleman once asked me why our church was called “African” and sarcastically asked me if he would be welcome to attend. After a short history lesson on our founding, I then informed him that he would feel right at home if he were to visit and he would be welcome to join. I am not suggesting that blacks in America are blameless in all things, but with regard to this particular issue, this is not a black problem. (For a white male perspective on this, please see "It's Gut Check Time for white Americans" by Mark Brown in the Chicago Sun Times today by clicking this link. He states it far better than I ever could ever say it!)

Blacks in America have enough votes to serve as the spoiler in a national election, but not enough to give the presidency to either candidate. And so there is great pressure on whites at the moment, just like in the 1780s in the MEC, to retreat from closing the gap. History suggests that Obama and black America are in for another major disappointment. History suggests that the old pro-slavery forces will win the day once again. History suggests that John McCain will be the next president of the United States.

However, I am still encouraged. I heard a sermon last week by the Rev. Dr. Eric Brown, entitled “You are not bound by your past.” Presiding Elder Brown reminded all of us that we are not bound to the mistakes of yesterday, but free to break the destructive cycles that often bind us. And for that, I am grateful. And so I ask my white brothers and sisters who are headed to the polls, “Where do we go from here? A full fledged retreat to the fear-mongering of the 1700s, or into Martin Luther King’s vision of a Beloved Community where people are actually judged by more than their race? The world is watching and waiting.