On the steps of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Reverend Billy Graham warned against the evil of racism and gave support to the passage of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1957.
The July 14, 1957 event was part of the New York City crusade that ran from May 15th to September 1st. Graham preached in person in the city to over 2 million people. The New York Sunday Mirror puckishly headlined, “Bea the Devil out of New York,” claiming “The brash, blasé big town sands ready to be jolted from the Battery to the Bronx as Evangelist Billy Graham squares off against Sin the world’s most unhallowed battleground…The bell sounds May 15th in a six weeks’ knock-em-down and drag-em-out fight to the finish.” One of the biggest devils that Graham had to slay was racism.
America was turning against its racist past, but the battle was intense, nowhere more so than in the churches of the Deep South, from which Graham had come. He told associates that he wanted to church to lead the changes. In the previous Fall, Graham set out in Life magazine his belief that racism was a sin. One further step was his sermon on the steps of the African American Cornerstone Baptist Church.
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s old college roommate, Sandy Ray, pastored the church. He invited Graham to give a Sunday sermon on Sunday afternoon at 2:30 pm to 3000 people. Graham made several headlines that day. It was featured in a front-page article on the Harlem-based Amsterdam News on July 20, 1957.
First, he preached at an African American church where all races were welcomed. He was hosted by two nationally-prominent African American pastors, Revs. Sandy Ray and Gardner Taylor. Second, he drew a bright red line between God and racism. “Some say God loves certain people or certain races more. But God had no pets. We are all the same in the sight of God, whatever the color of our skins.” Echoing the words of King, Jr., the evangelist pointed out that God “does not look on the outside, but into our hearts.”
Second, Graham gave an endorsement to breakthrough federal legislation that would establish a special office in the Attorney General’s department for the enforcement of civil rights, particularly with the right to vote.
This was an audacious risk for the evangelist. In his home state of North Carolina, schools, theaters, sports teams, and water fountains were segregated by race. Anyone who didn’t toe the racial line got beaten up or worse. Nationally, over 1200 White and 3600 African Americans were lynched, often for breaching the color line drawn after the Civil War. A minister could lose his congregation and support. Like many Americans at the time, Graham decided that he had to follow God rather than racial self-interest. Graham went even further than a passive acceptance. He laid down a gauntlet to the racists.
Graham told the world, through his Cornerstone sermon, that racists may never get into heaven “because they don’t want to give up prejudice…” The audience of African Americans responded deeply to the evangelist. The Amsterdam News estimated that 400 accepted Christ that afternoon. On the church steps, an event went well noticed around the country and world. Four days later, King, Jr. joined Graham at Madison Square Garden. Two weeks later, King, Jr. preached twice at Cornerstone Baptist. The number of African Americans attending Graham’s crusades in the Garden jumped up to 20% of the audience, according to an estimate of the magazine the U.S, News and World Report. However, Graham received angry, vile telephone calls and letters. One prominent southern Christian fundamentalist leader pronounced Graham’s ministry dead.
The battle with the devil was joined, but not over.
Additional reading:
William Martin. 1991. A prophet with honor. New York: William Morrow and Company.
Curtis Mitchell. 1957. God in the Garden. New York: Doubleday & Company.
