My grandfather, Rev. Claude Warren, spent much of his ministry in Baraboo and Land O’ Lakes Wisconsin.  Regardless of his northern roots, he also served as an interim pastor for a time in the 1950’s in Alabama, a time of great changes for society. Here’s his essay on the subject.

From Reverend Claude Warren’s memoirs, circa 1959

A YANKEE PREACHER IN THE DEEP SOUTH

When a Yankee preacher is invited to take an interim pastorate in the Deep South he feels the need of advice as to the best method of presenting his message to a congregation of different background and tradition from his former experiences.

After preaching for nearly fifty years in the Midwest and California the call came from the Pilgrim Congregational Church, of Birmingham, Alabama, but before accepting I sought advice from a brother pastor, who was northern born and had served successfully several churches both North and South. Though northern educated he knew and loved the South and had mastered the art of understanding the right approach in difficult situations. Here is what he told me.

Northern ministers should remember that southern people have a different background which must be appreciated. Don’t assume that your attitude on racial problems is right and all others wrong. Keep in mind that North and South need to get to know each other better. When your southern friends ask your views on the race question don’t rush in with a solution. Admit that Chicago and Detroit are far from finding their solution to this problem and are therefore in a poor position to give advice to others. Ask for a “rain ticket” on this question. Be humble and respectful in dealing with those whose family traditions are different from yours. Don’t start fighting the Civil War all over again, even though the nation is soon to celebrate the centennial of the conflict between the states. Don’t assume that your side was always right and others always wrong. Remember there are many good people with Christian convictions on both sides of the Ohio River.

My northern born friend, now a successful pastor in Georgia, reminded me to keep in mind the five loves which southern people cherish, namely, love of fishing, hunting, horseback riding, poetry, and oratory. With these things in mind what preparations could I make before beginning my ministry in Alabama, land of Peter Marshall and Helen Keller? Not being an expert in the first three qualifications I decided to specialize on southern poetry and oratory. I learned that southern people will travel miles to hear an eloquent speaker. A genuine pulpit orator always draws a large congregation, likewise with eloquent political speakers.

I began to read the speeches of Henry W. Grady, former editor of the Atlanta Constitution and one of the truly great orators of the past century. His speech delivered in Boston in 1881 was the first address by a southerner in that Yankee center of culture following the close of the war between brothers. His vivid and moving description of the ex-Confederate soldier returning home to find his farm devastated, his home mortgaged, the landscape blackened by Sherman’s march to the sea leaving a trail of ruin sixty miles wide and three hundred miles long, constitute one of the most eloquent tributes to southern heroism. Yet this soldier was able to “read his glory in a nation’s eyes.” Although the city of Atlanta was almost totally destroyed in 1864 by Sherman’s army yet ten years later it was rebuilt. While the northern soldier returned to find his home, farms and factories untouched by the ravages of war, his southern brother faced poverty and destitution such as the North never experienced. Grady’s brave words, “The South found her jewel in the toad’s head of defeat” reflect a heroic spirit in accepting the end of slavery as her people rose from the ashes of despair.

When northern people consider the sad spectacle of the so-called reconstruction policy of Congress for ten years after Appomattox can we blame the South for its bitterness toward their captors. The South suffered as the North never suffered. Has not the time come for the North to repent of its sins committed during this tragic era? (Read Claude G. Bowars’s book, “The Tragic Era”). But alas the average northerner has never read this sad chapter of U.S. history. The history books pass over it lightly.

I also began to read Lee’s affectionate farewell to his soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia. Here is the message of a brave and noble Christian leader, seldom equaled in history, with not a word of bitterness over the loss of his beautiful home at Arlington, Virginia, which was later sold for taxes, which Lee was not permitted to bid upon, and for which Lee never received a cent of reimbursement during his lifetime.

At the time of the surrender Lee said to his men: “You will take with you the satisfaction that proceeds from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed. And I earnestly pray that a merciful God will extend to you his blessings and protection. With increasing admiration of your constancy and devotion to your country and the grateful remembrance of myself I bid you an affectionate farewell.“ R.E. Lee.

As Lee turned his horse to ride away his men crowded around him to shake his hand or touch his uniform or the flanks of his horse, tear streaming down their cheeks, not cheering but saluting their leader who had never failed them. In the words of a famous southern pastor, “He is riding to one of the high hills of history, so that men might look up and learn how to win honor from defeat, and how to make the failure glorious. This vanquished victor of the stainless soul is riding forward to take an undisputed place in the halls of universal fame.”

Perhaps more than any of his fellow Americans, North or South, after the death of Lincoln, Lee reflected Lincoln’s spirit of “malice toward none, with charity for all.”

What was his message concerning reunion of states? “The war has gone against us” he said. “Let us accept it with wisdom and acquiesce with candor.” As president of Washington College from 1865 to 1870 he urged his fellow southerners to work with him for a “new America, stronger, wise and better than the old.”

Calling on President Grant in the White House he assured the nation of his loyalty to the government of the United States. More than any other man he became the true successor of Abraham Lincoln.

In my early sermons in the South I referred often to both Lee and Lincoln as eminent Americans, both of whom read the same Bible and prayed for strength to perform their respective duty as each man understood it. We have only to read Lee’s affectionate letters to his wife and children during the Virginia campaign to appreciate the depth of his religious life. “I never hated the North,” he would say, “and there never was a day when I did not pray for them.” Read his message to his soldiers to observe the call for the “Day of Prayer” in 1863, reminding them to refrain from hatred against those on the other side. Lee remembered his favorite nephew, son of a beloved sister, who served bravely as major, (William Marshall) in Grant’s army. Lee understood as few men did that this was a war of brothers against brothers and uncles against nephews.

When I would refer in a sermon to Lee’s letter to his sister, a northern sympathizer, asking her to pray for him and not to blame him for defending his native state, I could not fail to observe a bit of moisture in the eyes of my congregation. At the close of the service, men whose fathers had fought under Lee and Stonewall Jackson would grip my hand in silent appreciation for their pastor’s effort to recognize true heroism.

When I told my southern friends that my own family was divided in this awful conflict, some serving under Lee, others under Grant, and that one great uncle almost died in Libby Prison, Richmond, Virginia, I felt I was being received into their hearts as a pastor who tries to understand their background and traditions.

One sermon was most favorably received. It was the story of two Marys: Mary Custis, who married Robert E. Lee, and Mary Todd who became the wife of Abraham Lincoln, both born in the South and brought up in homes opposed to slavery, two famous women who loved their husbands and helped them to find their true place in history. I would read Lincoln’s letters to Mary Todd during their engagement and Lee’s letters written from West Point to Mary Custis, also Lee’s letters to his wife during the war on the sad occasion of the death of a beloved daughter, Anne who dies in North Carolina, whose funeral Lee was unable to attend, for he was defending Richmond against an advancing Union army.

Both the Lincolns and the Lees lost a beloved child adding additional sorrow to the tragedies of war, Willie Lincoln at age eleven died in the White House in February, 1862, and Anne Lee in October of the same year. “I cannot express the anguish I feel” wrote Lee to his son Bob. “To know that I shall never see her again on earth, that her place in our circle which I always hoped one day to enjoy, is forever vacant, is agonizing in the extreme.”

Another letter to Lee’s daughter Mary expressed the same heartache: “I have always counted, if God should spare me a few days after this Civil War is ended, that I should have her with me, but year after year my hopes go out, and I must be resigned.”

At Lee’s request two lines were carved on Anne’s tombstone:

“Perfect and true are all his ways,
Whom heaven adores and earth obeys.”

This reveals Lee’s familiarity with Scripture, Revelation 15:3, “Lord God Almighty. Just and true are they ways.” In her last hour Anne asked for her Bible and pointed to this verse in Revelation, then asked her mother if they would ever see their lovely home in Arlington again and died in her mother’s arms.

Lee’s favorite was Psalm 37 which was read at his funeral with emphasis on the verse 37, “Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace.”

A favorite verse for Lincoln was Exodus 14:13, “Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.” He would quote this verse to his critics. Another favorite was Mark 3:25, “If a house be divided against itself that house cannot stand.” This became the subject of his famous “House Divided” speech in his debate with Douglas.

Both Lee and Lincoln were profound students of the Bible, Lee carried a copy of the Bible with him constantly all during the Virginia campaigns.

From my Birmingham pulpit I appealed to the lovers of Lee and Lincoln to forget past differences and to join hands and hearts to work for a better America.

Last of all I learned to love and memorize Southern poetry, especially Sidney Lanier, master of the poetry of nature, for “the little gray leaves were kind to him and the thorn tree had a mind to him when in to the woods he went, and out of the woods he came content with death and shame.” This was the basis of my first Easter sermon in the Deep South. I knew my congregation loved this great Southern poet, whose poetry reached the heart, stirred the imagination and deepened the faith of all true believers.

It was the spring of 1956 when I caught my first glimpse of dogwood trees in full blossom. As I announced the opening hymn on Palm Sunday, “For the beauty of the earth”, I urged the people to “sing for joy, spring is here, the dogwoods and azaleas are in blossom and the hills are splashed with color and beauty.” Take the azalea trail to Mobile, Alabama if you would enjoy spring time in the South, a journey that will warm your heart. When spring comes round in Alabama the preacher can announce truthfully, “This is the day which the Lord hath made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the House of the Lord.”

The congregation loved it. The people would look up to the preacher as if to say, “Here is a Yankee who really loves the South.”

Then I would quote one of my favorite poems about the Teacher of Galilee, “He calls forth the unknown best from Peter, James and all the rest.” We all have within us an unknown, frequently undiscovered best which needs to be called forth to attain one’s highest usefulness. This led to the message of brotherhood, not a talk on the races of mankind; for there is but one race, the human race, which includes all of God’s children. During Lent a hymn based on John Oxenham’s poem became our favorite hymn, “In Christ there is no East or West, in Him no South of North, but one great fellowship of love, throughout the whole wide earth.”

At a certain Good Friday service in a private school for boys, parents and visitors including the colored maids who worked in the homes of faculty members were present. The maids were given a special invitation to be present. They sat downstairs with the white folks instead of in the gallery by themselves. I reminded my congregation that Christ gave his life for all of us, not for a favored group. This was a new experience for some of my southern white friends and my colored friends were deeply appreciative.

On the following Easter I preached from the text, Exodus 14:15, “Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward.” The prayer before the sermon stressed the need for faith and courage to follow wherever the Lord should lead. At the close of the sermon I announced a special called meeting for the following Monday night at which an important decision was to be made. I reminded them that as descendants of the Pilgrims who were filled with divine discontent, they must never be satisfied with present achievements, but to press forward with a campaign to spread the gospel of good will and brotherhood for all of God’s children. I left them wondering about the purpose of the meeting.

All day Monday I prayed that I might be divinely led to present the message in a way to call forth their unknown best accepting the challenge as God’s call. That night the service was opened with a glorious hymn, “Faith is the victory that overcomes the world.” For Scripture I chose Paul’s words to the church at Corinth, “I will stay at Ephesus until Pentecost for a wide door for effective service has opened to me and there are many adversaries.” (I Corinthians 16:9.) This church, the Pilgrim Congregational Church of Birmingham, Alabama, is facing a great opportunity. Are we ready to start on a journey to our Land of Promise?

Birmingham is a city of over half a million population with 700 churches, mostly Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Disciples, Unitarian, Catholics, with only two small Congregational, one white, the other Negro. The latter is the First Congregational established 75 years ago. Ours, the Pilgrim Congregational, is 50 years old.

A few weeks previous to this meeting I was present at a meeting of six pastors, three white and three Negroes, called for the purpose of organizing a bi-racial group for prayer and fellowship. We decided such a group was needed as the big city ministerial association was restricted to whites only, the bulwark of the cause of white supremacy.

Our question was where to meet for the organization session? What church in Birmingham would dare to invite such a group, and thus defy prevailing public sentiment? Because of our interest in Negro education in Alabama by Congregationalists the committee asked if our church would serve as host church. I replied I was willing but must submit to our church cabinet for final approval. This is why, I explained, we are here tonight.

Of course we all know a risk is involved. In the past ten years, over twenty churches and homes of Negroes have been bombed and one synagogue with record of an attempt by members of the Klan, with no one brought to trial to date. Some of our group feared reprisal and hesitated to take the chance. After an hour’s earnest discussion it was voted with some misgiving to invite the group to our church with the request that it be kept out of the newspapers. One dear old lady said she had her doubts but felt that she could trust her pastor to handle the situation with dignity and fair treatment for all concerned. Another fearful soul spoke up and asked, “Don’t you think our lovely church will be bombed, and our stained glass windows smashed by a mob?” This was a poser for the Yankee preacher. I replied that I had no fear.

“What makes you so sure?”

“Well,” said I with a smile, “you know the story in the Old Testament of Elijah taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire. I wouldn’t mind entering heaven riding on a stick of dynamite. That would make the headlines of every paper North and South – southern mob gets revenge of ‘Damyankee’.”

The effect? Everyone burst into loud laughter and the tension was relieved. The members of the cabinet voted to go ahead, come weal or woe. Somebody had to take the lead. Why not the children of the Pilgrims? A little courage and a bit of humor turned the tide. Let the “bedsheet boys” come. We will take a stand for brotherhood.

Our committee of six sent out about a hundred letters inviting pastors of large and small churches to come to the meeting. Of this number only eighteen responded, ten white and eight Negro pastors. These represented the smaller churches of Birmingham.

It was a wonderful meeting; such good fellowship, such fervent prayer and earnest discussion of our common problems. Several white pastors testified that this was the first time they had spoken to or shaken hands with their colored brethren. We organized on a permanent basis to be called The Birmingham Brotherhood of Clergy. The purpose of the group being “to foster through Christian fellowship and discussion a better understanding of Christ’s purpose for us that we may share through peaceful means this understanding with those about us.”

Our membership grew to about thirty. I was elected as convener with Rev. Harold Long, Negro pastor of the First Congregational Church as secretary. We met monthly, the first four meetings in our church, later we met in various Negro churches. It is significant that out of 700 churches only thirty were drawn into our fellowship. The big white churches remained aloof from this “dangerous experiment.” We felt that a start had been made in what Dr. Fosdick calls “Adventurous Religion” which like the mustard seed of old we trusted would grow.

I was proud to serve this church as interim pastor for sixteen months until the permanent pastor arrived to continue the work. Ours was the first church in the city to open its doors to such a bi-racial group. We also had the honor to serve as hostess to the “Fellowship of the Concerned,” a group of white and colored women of the churches of different denominations of Alabama and Georgia. About thirty white and twenty colored women met for all day session with lunch served at noon; the main address given by the President of a nearby Negro college.

I learned later that the committee had tried to secure an invitation from several white churches but were turned down. Ours was the only church to extend a friendly welcome. I was proud that two women of our church gave addresses of welcome. The high point of the meeting was a talk by a dear old colored woman, age 70, who related her experiences driving a car pool for nearly a year furnishing transportation to factory workers in Montgomery, Alabama. In spite of abuse and profane language by a white mob threatening violence she would smile and never talk back to her assailants, an example of true Gandhian spirit. The wife of a high school teacher in Montgomery told me that “our Negroes are the real heroes and we are proud of them.” What a beautiful name, “Fellowship of the Concerned.” Our church felt honored with the presence of these dedicated women of the South.

On another occasion our church was asked to send representatives to the First Congregational Church for their annual Laymen’s Sunday. Six young men attended and were graciously received. I was informed that this was the first occasion in years when so many white folks attended a Negro church as special guests. A letter from their pastor thanked us for our presence saying that “the ice has been broken, and a closer fellowship opening.” A few Sundays later I was invited to be in their pulpit to bring a message of greeting from the members of Pilgrim Congregational Church.

Since my retirement I have received many letters from white and colored pastors that our brotherhood continues to function. On one occasion they raised over $250.00 for hospital and other expenses for a young Negro boy who had been brutally attacked and left to die on a rural highway. Fortunately, two state policemen found him and brought him to the hospital in time to save his life. Our brotherhood paid the bills in the spirit of Good Samaritans.

The South needs to read again General Lee’s message to his army, dated August 13, 1863. “Soldiers, we have sinned against Almighty God, we have forgotten his signal mercies and have cultivated a revengeful, haughty and boastful spirit. We have relied too much on our own arms for the achievement of our independence. God is our only refuge and strength. Let us humble ourselves before him. Let us confess our many sins and beseech him to give us a higher courage and purer patriotism, that He will convert the hearts of our enemies and that He will hasten the time when war with its sorrows and sufferings shall cease and that he will give us a name and place among the nations of the earth.” R. E. Lee, General.

After the war Lee urged his fellow Southerners to “work for a new America, to lay aside all bitterness and remember that we are in the hands of a kind and good God who will do for us what is best.” Lee was big enough to admit he had been wrong and great enough to labor for the next five years in the realm of education to try to right the wrong.

We should also read again Lincoln’s words on the Day of Prayer issued in April, 1863:

“…looking for pardon of our national sins and the restoration of our new divided and suffering country to its former and happy condition of unity and peace.”

Again in August, 1863, Lincoln urged the people “to call upon God to subdue the anger which has produced and so long sustained this needless and cruel rebelling.”

The South should read a recently discovered diary of a Confederate nurse of Mobile, Alabama, who closed her diary with this message to her southern friends: “We must forget all the wrongs inflicted on us by our foes, in the knowledge that we have sinned against ourselves.”

Today many liberal minded southerners admit they have denied the Negro his rights and privileges of citizenship. One prominent editor confesses, “our sin is ever before us. It is the Negro.” The old South would keep the “Negro in his place – that of an inferior.” The liberal group is made up of ministers, educators, editors, scientists, social workers, farmers and factory workers, and mill owners. They are in the minority but their numbers are growing and their influence spreading ever widening circles. The New South is rising from the ashes of bombed homes and churches, and burned crosses.

The time has come for churches and synagogues, North and South, to repent of past sins, to join hands and hearts to work for a better America.

The time has come for the North to get to know Lee better and what he sis as President of Washington College, in Lexington, Virginia, to reunite the two sections in peace and unity. He called upon President Grant in the White House to express his loyalty to the government of the United States.

The time has come for the South to know that Lincoln, in one of his last messages called upon all Americans “to work not only for a union of states, but a union of minds and hearts as well.”

Both Lee and Lincoln believed in the power of hope. Said Lee, “the greatest lesson of history is hope.” Lincoln urged the people “nobly to save the last best hope of earth.”

There are many good people on both sides of the Ohio River. Let’s get better acquainted.

Of my fifty years working in the Lord’s vineyard in Illinois, Wisconsin, Upper Michigan, Iowa and California, I can truthfully testify that my two years in the Deep South were the happiest and most fruitful of all.

Rev. Claude Warren