Indirect action

Christian Century, Oct 18, 2000 by Mark G. Toulouse

This is the fifth in a series of 100th-anniversary articles examining key moments in the history of the magazine.

DURING THE EARLY 1950s, the CENTURY's editors could hardly be classified as strategists in the war for civil rights, but they tried their hand at analysis and expressed sympathetic support for both the commanders and the ground troops. As Supreme Court decisions moved toward desegregation, editors urged "Christian forces" to assume their responsibility in assuring a peaceful transition toward compliance. They noted that "the court wisely postponed" any directive as to how and when segregation must be completely ended in the southern states. Editors conjectured that this postponement would give Christian forces in the south an "opportunity to calm any storm which may blow, and to lead toward acceptance and implementation of the court's verdict" (May 26, 1954). They were optimistic that southern leaders would ensure a calm reception of the desegregation order (June 2, 1954).

The CENTURY supported the proposal made by Tennessee officials that "integration be started in the first grade and move gradually, a year at a time, through the upper grades" (September 1, 1954). Editors also believed in educational programs, church activities, and the law's power to effect change. They expressed the conviction that "the silent public opinion of the South has already marked off segregation as a doomed and dying social arrangement" (June 2, 1954). Therefore, editors counseled patience. "To plead for time for white Americans' education and conversion is at the same time to ask Negro Americans for more patience with the insufferable ... Yet it is the stitch in time that saves nine.... And consistency is a small sacrifice if it avoid fresh rents, if it speed a whole fabric" (February 26, 1958). Before long, they realized just how naive such sentiments were.

The CENTURY moved toward a more insistent posture in the wake of the nonviolent resistance in Montgomery during most of 1956. An editorial in January 1957 hypothesized that the Christian influence in those demonstrations "may in the long run be seen to constitute the most important Christian achievement of 1956 in this country" (January 9, 1957). The next week, the editors issued a call to church leaders to become more active in supporting the court's decisions (January 16, 1957).

A few months after Rosa Parks refused to leave her seat in the "white" section of the bus, editor Harold Fey traveled to Nashville, Jackson and Tuscaloosa, where he encountered firsthand the emerging White Citizens Councils, and then reached Montgomery, where he provided an account of the bus boycott for CENTURY readers. Fey met and prayed with a few of the leaders, including Martin Luther King and Ralph D. Abernathy ("quite, cultured Christian leaders") shortly before their arrests (March 7, 1956). This reference to King marked the first time his name appeared in CENTURY pages. King contributed a couple of essays the next year (February 6 and June 5, 1957). In 1958, Fey proudly announced his appointment as an editor-at-large, and a few of King's essays appeared annually. In 1960, King wrote for the "How My Mind has Changed" series (April 13, 1960). Later, the CENTURY had the distinction of offering the first national publication of King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" in its entirety (June 12, 1963). In these ways, the CENTURY promoted King's role as a teacher of the whole church. (By way of contrast, Christianity Today did not even mention King by name until early 1964, when two sentences announced he had been named Time's "Man of the Year.")

"Race relations" as a category in the magazine's indexes grew larger and larger. From 1963 to 1965, it contained more entries than any other subject, rivaled only in 1965 by "Catholicism." Profoundly moved by the wisdom of nonviolent resistance, editors reported on, analyzed and theologized about all the events of these years, from Montgomery to Little Rock to the sit-ins to the freedom riders, with considerable interest and always accompanied by profound expressions of respect and human sympathy.

By 1963 calls for patience had disappeared from the CENTURY. Instead, editorials asked "How long, O Lord, how long!" (March 20, 1963). Events in Birmingham, and the imminent threat of violence associated with them, appear to have acted as a turning point. A court injunction had tried to end peaceful demonstrations there. Editors supported King's decision to ignore the court order (April 24, 1963) and chastised Billy Graham for advising King "to put the brakes on a little bit" (May 8, 1963). But they also objected when King decided to use children on the frontlines of the march (May 22, 1963). King's use of children actually helped create the atmosphere that made possible a tangible agreement with city officials.

CENTURY editors feared the eruption of black violence in response to the intransigence and stupidity represented in the actions of Birmingham's Public Safety Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor. Some of their increasing impatience also grew from fears that the Black Muslim extremists, and other blacks who felt differently than King, might gain the upper hand if solutions to the crisis were not forthcoming (April 24, 1963; April 1, 1964). White liberals felt a new sense of urgency to get things done in order to avoid the growing potential for violent actions. Whether the issue was civil rights, Vietnam or urban renewal, the CENTURY always feared the activities of the radical element, and abhorred the use of violence to gain power in public life.