The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 83, July 1979 - April, 1980 Page: 31
464 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Texas Baptists, the Social Gospel, and Race
in tax-supported schools was unconstitutional, Gardner wondered about
"voluntary separation." "The vast majority" of southern blacks, he be-
lieved, preferred separate schools, "just as they prefer separate churches."
Turning from public to private institutions, the Baptist journalist was
unequivocal. "Church groups and denominational schools that go in for
desegregation hastily will discover that they are doing a disservice to
both whites and Negroes," he asserted. "Hasty decisions to desegregate
will not advance the interest of education, but will advance the interests
and encourage the efforts of agitators." Like many southerners, the aging
editor of the Texas Baptist journal clung to a past outdated by recent
events. Shortly thereafter he retired.4
Ewing S. James, who was fifty-four years old, assumed editorial leader-
ship of the Baptist Standard in late 1954. As a pastor in West Texas,
James later explained that he "had simply accepted the racial distinc-
tions without much thought." We southerners, he wrote in 1963, "lived
in a culture where segregation was practiced, and we thought little about
it until circumstances forced it upon our attention." For the new editor
of the Texas Baptist paper, those "circumstances" were the Supreme
Court's desegregation decision and recognition that southern racial
practices had an adverse effect upon Baptist foreign missions. These ex-
ternal pressures caused James to perceive more clearly the discrepancy
between the ideals of his faith and southern racial practices. "I began to
look the matter straight in the face," he recalled, "and I decided a per-
son couldn't ... be a segregationist and be the kind of Christian I ought
to be." So the new editor threw his "influence ... on the side of desegre-
gation because . .. it appeared to be right in the sight of God."5
James did subsequently use the Texas journal in behalf of racial ac-
commodation. In the late 195os articles of a moderate nature on racial
issues frequently appeared in the Standard.6 But the editorial column
of the paper was not used vigorously in behalf of racial justice until the
early 196os. In June, 1963, James attended a White House conference on
civil rights. This meeting had a telling effect on the Baptist journalist.
Upon returning to Texas, he expressed shame "that representatives of re-
ligion had to be reminded of their moral duty by representatives of gov-
ernment." He was particularly distressed by the recalcitrance of South-
4Ibid., June to, p. 3, Oct. 14, 1954, p. 2 (quotations). Gardner retired in November, 1954.
5Oral Memoirs, James, 89-9o, 161 (first, fourth-sixth quotations); Baptist Standard, July
24, 1963, p. 3 (second and third quotations).
6Baptist Standatd, Feb. 11, p. 11, March io, 1956, p. 9, Oct 12, p. 12, Oct. 19, 1957, p.
io, and June 7, 1961, p. 17.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 83, July 1979 - April, 1980, periodical, 1979/1980; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101207/m1/51/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.