I was a Freedom Rider in Jackson, Miss. on July 20, 1961,was arrested and jailed. I marched in Selma on March 9, 1965, with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,the second day of the Selma March, "Turn Around Tuesday." I helped to rebuild a burned out church, Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Brandon, Mississippi, in October of 1964, with a Quaker work party from the San Francisco Bay Area.
During the early years of this period I was pastor of the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco, California co-founded by Howard Thurman. Though white, I served a congregation that was 60% Black. It was an honor to participate in the movement because it offered an opportunity to express my Christian commitment to justice. I discovered that after my arrest in Jackson, Miss.I was less pushed around by inner fear of what might happen to me if I followed my conscience. I am a United Church of Christ minister and have served congregations in the San Francisco Bay Area from the 60s until my retirement in 1995.
Copyright ©
Webspinner:
webspinner@crmvet.org
(Labor donated)