Moving Beyond Charisma in Civil Rights Scholarship : Vincent Harding's Sojourn with the Mennonites, 1958-1966

Abstract: This essay traces the Mennonite sojourn of African-American pastor, scholar and activist Vincent Harding and examines his position in between the Civil Rights Movement and the Mennonite community. In 1963, the most intense of the years he spent among Mennonites, Harding became increasingly frustrated with the hesitancy of white Mennonites join civil rights protests. His advocacy for a more overtly political witness the state led his departure from the Mennonite Church, but not before he had proven highly effective in moving Mennonites toward social protest even though many in the church raised objections based on their understanding of nonresistant doctrine. By focusing on Harding's ability straddle borders, the essay challenges charismatic-focused civil rights historiography, unifies historical treatments of white racism and opens a window into an understudied chapter of Mennonite race relations. ********** Four African-American men spoke at a hastily organized civil rights meeting at Prairie Street Mennonite Church in Elkhart, Indiana September 14, 1963 before Vincent Harding ever said a word. Each them called for action. Ed Riddick, a member of Woodlawn Mennonite Church in Chicago, cajoled the assembled Midwestern Mennonite leaders apply the gospel the whole man ... [including] civil rights. (1) Gerald Hughes, a Lee Heights Community Church leader from Cleveland, spoke of the agonies of the racial problem that required programs. (2) Following Hughes, Goshen College Biblical Seminary student and future Woodlawn pastor Curtis Burrell proposed interracial exchanges in order bring about greater faithfulness. (3) Burrell's fellow seminarian Warren Moore enthusiastically urged those assembled get the church on the move. (4) All the participants at the Prairie Street gathering spoke with passion, fervor and clear vision. They were all, in a word, charismatic. Yet, it was only after African-American Mennonite pastor and activist Vincent Harding spoke, that the direction of the conversation shifted. Largely on the basis of Harding's appeal, those attending the Prairie Street meeting agreed break with the longstanding apoliticism of the (Old) Mennonite church and to influence legislation even as we do ... the [military] draft. (5) Although the four other African-American speakers had also proposed action plans with energy and passion, in the end--as was the case in scores of other Mennonite settings in the late 1950s and early 1960s--it was Harding's voice that prevailed. This essay will explore the reasons for Harding's unique influence on Mennonite attitudes toward political witness the state during the tumultuous years of the Civil Rights Movement. Though he was a gifted and charismatic speaker, Harding's influence ultimately derived from his ability straddle the border between traditional Mennonite quietism and civil rights activism. More than his abilities as a charismatic itinerant preacher, Harding's gift of negotiating boundary lines made him an effective reformer whose impact on the Mennonite church is still being felt. Working tirelessly at the precarious intersection of religious separatism and racial engagement, Harding helped shape the Mennonite church's response the Second Reconstruction. The true measure of Harding's unique role at the border between the Mennonite and Civil Rights Movement communities became most apparent in 1963. During that year, every aspect of white and African-American Mennonite relations, as well as of their engagement with the broader issues of the day, became the focus of intense conversations. Mennonites debated what it meant be nonconformed the world in a time of social crisis. They explored the meaning of legislative advocacy for a more just society as cities erupted in racial tensions and violence. Discussions surfaced in church publications and denominational meetings about the sins of racism, the realities of Mennonite prejudice and the interpretation of biblical passages that allegedly supported African-American servitude. …