Findley Edge and Racial Reconciliation
by Deena Williams Newman
The late Findley Bartow Edge, professor of religious education at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, for more than three decades, was first known for his expertise in local church Sunday School work with the publication of books such as Teaching for Results (1956) and Helping the Teacher (1959). With his books A Quest for Vitality in Religion (1963) and The Greening of the Church (1971), Edge charted new waters as he inspired thousands to look inward and search for an authentic faith and he founded Vineyard Conference Center in Louisville. Lesser known are Edge’s efforts to promote racial reconciliation during the turbulent 1950’s and 1960’s.
It is a twist of irony that Edge was born and reared in Albany, Georgia, a city with a history of racial strife and segregationist policies. In 1961 and 1962, the Southwest Georgia city was put on the map when some young college students came to town to conduct a voter registration drive and to challenge the white power structure. Hundreds of protesters were jailed, including Martin Luther King, Jr., who came to speak at a mass meeting. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch even devoted a chapter of his book Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63 to the Albany Movement.
Even today in Albany, the city council, local school board, and local businesses are sharply divided along racial lines, and a number of white families have fled to nearby counties to live. Integrated churches are rare, and tension still exists between Albany State University, a historically black university, and Darton State College, which was formed in the early 1960’s as an alternative for white community members.
Edge was concerned about many social issues, but it was the racial crisis in the mid 1950’s which caused the native Albanian to become disillusioned with the institutional church. He wrote, “In the midst of the moral and spiritual revolution that was taking place in society, instead of the churches becoming involved and giving leadership, they were either reactionary or uninvolved.”1 Edge felt strongly that something was wrong with a religion that, on the one hand was popular and growing, and, on the other hand, refused to get involved with human suffering. He wrote as follows:
The people in our churches, in terms of personal morality, were among the finest people to be found anywhere, yet most of them saw no relationship at all between their Christian faith and the racial crisis all around them.2
Edge felt that Southern Baptists, as the largest Protestant group in the South, should take the lead in speaking out against racial discrimination.
Although Edge was reared in the South, he was not a victim of his cultural background. He was deeply concerned about his denomination and its stance on the race issue. He had returned from a sabbatical in the mid 1950’s when churches began withholding financial support from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary because Martin Luther King, Jr. lectured on campus.
Edge was involved in the race issue in his own situation in Louisville. He wrote the manager of some local cafeterias, “. . . opening your services to Negroes would have absolutely no effect upon my coming into your place of service.”3 He added, “Therefore, as a Christian, I would encourage you to desegregate these cafeterias at the earliest possible moment.”4 Edge was one of the members of Crescent Hill Baptist Church in Louisville who signed a letter to the deacons encouraging the church to “. . . vote that race or color shall not be a consideration in receiving Christians into the fellowship of our church.”5
At Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Edge was part of the Faculty Social Action Committee. It was Edge who suggested having some conferences with the Negro pastors of Louisville and also with the mayor “. . . in order to ascertain whether or not the next worthy objectives in the area of integration may not be worked out peaceably.”6
Edge was especially concerned about the race issue in his home state of Georgia. He preached a controversial sermon on the race issue at a church in his home town of Albany. He wrote the pastor of the church, “I certainly hope the sermon I tried to preach Sunday morning will bear some positive fruit. It may be a good thing that both of us left town.”7 He added, “I would certainly hate to see the name of Albany held in scorn as is Little Rock.”8
Edge held firm Christian convictions about the race issue and expressed these convictions even in personal letters of sympathy. He wrote the governor of Georgia, “Although I disagree deeply with your views on race, I, like you am a father and I wanted to write to you and express to you my profound sympathy at this time of agony in your life.”9
Edge voiced his concern for the pastor of First Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama, when trouble occurred when some black persons requested membership. The pastor wrote Edge informing him of the situation.10 Edge, in turn, made efforts to find a place of service for the pastor. Edge wrote:
and thrilled by what happened in the church on Sunday. We were shocked because of the fact that these people’s request for membership was declined. We were thrilled that such a large number dared to stand up and be counted.11
Edge was supportive of the efforts of Baptist state paper editors who took a stand on the race issue. He wrote to one editor:
Let me congratulate you on the excellent leadership you are giving to Texas Baptists (and others) through your editorials in the Baptist Standard. I am sure your decision to write boldly concerning the race issue was not an easy one. It would have been so much easier and more peaceful to remain silent. Yet to remain silent would have been a betrayal of the very Gospel to which you have committed your life.12
Edge also was supportive of the effort of national government officials to take a stand on the civil rights issue. In 1963, Edge wrote a letter to a United States senator asking him to “. . . do everything in your power to get the Civil Rights Bill out of the rules committee. Also I am requesting that you do everything possible to secure passage of this bill.”13 Edge wrote a similar letter to a United States congressman stating:
This is one of the great moral issues of our time and the action taken by Congress will not only affect the Negro who desperately needs help but will also affect the world attitude toward the United States.14
Edge was not the only Southern Baptist concerned about the race issue during the 1950’s and 1960’s. One of Edge’s contemporaries was Clarence Jordan, who founded Koinonia Farms, a community in South Georgia where the poor, both black and white, could learn the basic principles of farming so they could earn a decent living. Henlee Barnette, another of Edge’s contemporaries, marched with Martin Luther King and helped to sponsor King’s historic visit to Southern Seminary. Carlyle Marney, another Southern Seminary graduate, was an outspoken opponent of segregation long before the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954, a position which added to his controversial reputation among many Southern Baptists.
It is noteworthy that Findley Edge, born a century ago in a city and culture filled with racism, boldly spoke out against segregationist policies. His search for authenticity in the Christian faith undoubtedly led him to take a different path than many around him.
Deena Williams Newman is Advising Center Coordinator at Darton State College in Albany, Georgia. This article is adapted from her 1986 Ph.D. dissertation from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary titled “Findley Bartow Edge: A Search for Authenticity.”
1 Letter from Edge to Harry S. Truman, White House, Washington D.C., November 30, 1951.
2 Letter from Edge to John Sherman Cooper, Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., June 4, 1953.
3 Letter from Edge to John F. Kennedy, White House, Washington, D.C., March 29, 1961.
4 Ibid.
5 Letter from Edge to John Sherman Cooper, Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., April 15, 1964.
6 Letter from Edge to John M. Robison, Jr., House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., January 5, 1954.
7 Edge, “A Search for Authenticity,” Marlene Mayr, ed. Modern Masters of Religious Education (Birmingham, AL: Religious Education Press, 1983), p. 39. 8 Ibid.
9 Letter from Edge to Eugene Johnson, manager of the Blue Boar Cafeterias, Louisville, Kentucky, May 1, 1961.
10 Ibid.
11 Letter from Edge and others to The Deacons, Crescent Hill Baptist Church, Louisville, Kentucky, May 3, 1961
12 Memo from Edge to Willis Bennett, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, January 22, 1962.
13 Letter from Edge to Brooks Ramsey, First Baptist Church, Albany, Georgia, January 30, 1962. 14 Ibid.
15 Letter from Edge to Lester Maddox, Governor’s Mansion, Atlanta, Georgia, March 23, 1970.
16 Letter to Edge from Herbert Gilmore, First Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama, September 23, 1970.
17 Letter from Edge to Herbert Gilmore, First Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama, October 2, 1970.
18 Letter to E.S. James, Baptist Standard, Dallas, Texas, August 12, 1963.
19 Letter from Edge to Senator John Sherman Cooper, Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., December 13, 1963.
20 Letter from Edge to Congressman Eugene Snyder, United States House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., December 16, 1963.
