Simplified Isn’t Simple

What’s Old Is New Again 
By Anne Packard
 
“On March 2, 1972 at a special session of the SGA Conference held at the historic Wesleyan College, this committee presented a resolution for merger and a simplified plan of agreement. After much discussion a simplified resolution was approved 372 to 273.” (History of the South Georgia Conference, p. 88)
 
The agreement may have been simplified and the resolution may have been simplified, but I can assure you that the journey to this vote was anything but simple. Some historians may point to the 1964 General Conference of the Methodist Church, which adopted a plan of action for the elimination of Central Jurisdiction, as the beginning of this journey. But I believe one must go back twenty more years to World War II. 
 
During World War I, the armed services followed the precedent set forth in the Supreme Court ruling of 1896 Plessey versus Ferguson stating that equal but separate accommodations based on race were constitutional. Despite a much larger percentage of black soldiers involved in the Civil War, African-Americans made up only 1-2% of the military during World War I. The few black soldiers who participated were forced to stay stateside and barred from combat positions. 
 
However, during World War II the double V campaign was adopted signifying both victory abroad and victory at home for racial equality. During this second world war, one million black men and women served in the military and six million African-Americans worked in the defense industry. Combat units such as the 332nd Fighter Group, also known as the Tuskegee Airmen, flew 15,000 sorties, destroyed 261 enemy aircraft, and earned 850 medals. The 761st Tank Battalion, known as the “Black Panthers,” served 183 days of continuous combat fighting under General George Patton in both the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of the Rhine. These feats of bravery and strength didn’t change segregation in the United States immediately but moved the country in the right direction for racial equality. 
 
The next step on this journey came in 1954 when the United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously to overturn the principal of separate but equal that had been legal since 1896. In Brown vs Board of Education, the court ruled that state sanctioned segregation of public schools was a violation of the 14th amendment and unconstitutional. This ruling led to other organizations, including the Methodist Church, questioning their stance on separate but equal.
 
During the 1964 Methodist Church General Conference, the State of the Church report read, “We recommend that discrimination or segregation by any method or practice, whether by conference structure or otherwise in the Methodist Church, be abolished with reasonable speed.” It was adopted but only after many days of discussions and with the agreement that the report was only recommended and not required. 
 
Two years later, while in special session, the Methodist Church General Conference reiterated its determination to bring about not only the elimination of Central Jurisdiction but also the merger of the separate Negro Annual Conference based with their geographic counterparts. The deadline of 1972 was accepted, and it was this that led to action in the annual conferences, even in the Southeastern Jurisdiction.
 
In the South Georgia Conference, these decisions were not made quickly or easily. A committee was formed with members representing the North Georgia Conference, the South Georgia Conference and the Georgia Conference. Detailed resolutions were presented at both the 1969 and 1970 South Georgia annual conference meetings but were voted down each time. After the North Georgia Conference voted to adopt a resolution in 1971, even more pressure was put on the South Georgia Conference to find a plan to integrate. At this time, another committee was formed, and “on March 2, 1972, at a special session of the South Georgia Conference, meeting at  the historic Wesleyan College, this committee presented a resolution for merger and a simplified plan of agreement. After much discussion a simplified resolution was approved 372 to 273.”
 
Simplifying resolutions did not simplify the journey. It took the words, actions, and prayers of thousands of people to integrate the South. Rev. Joseph Lowery, a Methodist minister, beloved Georgian and Civil Rights icon, was one of those who prayed integration into existence. Of the many prayers he offered to God, here is the one he delivered at President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009. 
 
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, 
Thou, who has brought us thus far along the way, 
Thou, who has by thy might led us into the light, 
Keep us forever in the path we pray, 
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, 
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee. 
Shadowed beneath thy hand, 
May we forever stand true to thee, oh God, 
And true to our native land. 
We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we’ve shared this day.
 
Anne Packard serves as Conference Historian and director of the Arthur J. Moore Methodist Museum on St. Simons Island. Contact her at apackard@epworthbythesea.org.