Racial Crisis at First Baptist Church, Atlanta

On Sunday, April 21, 1963 four negro students from Morehouse College entered the church through the educational building and took seats in the sanctuary, disregarding the requests of ushers that they be seated downstairs in the auxiliary auditorium. As I was seated in the choir, I noticed that three men were standing around a negro boy seated to my left near the rear of the auditorium. They lifted him from his seat by his arms and ushered him from the auditorium. Another negro boy was seated about one-third of the way back on my left. As he was taken from his seat, he folded his knees and was carried down the aisle out the back of the auditorium. Another student was taken out the front of the sanctuary before the choir came in. The fourth student, sitting to my right near the front, remained during the whole service.

The above paragraph was the first paragraph in Rod's report to the church's committee formed to deal with the crisis. The early 60's was an intense time for dealing with race relations and most churches were either black or white in attendance. Rod was very much involved with the discussions and processes which followed the events described above. To discuss the issues, First Baptist Church elected a Church Study and Reference Committee and Rod was an elected member of that committee. Rod and the students of the Baptist Student Union of Georgia Tech were deeply involved in discussions with the church and with students at the colleges of the majority black Atlanta University complex. Rod kept records of the discussions which ultimately amounted to a 350 page summary of events. For the church, discussions ultimately led to a proposal to the membership of Atlanta First Baptist Church to admit all who came to worship regardless of race. This proposal was mailed to the membership and approved by a large majority of the returned ballots. It was announced to the membership of the church on December 21, 1963. It made Page 1 news in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution on December 22.

Rod and Brenda were subsequently privileged to become close friends with Samson and Lydia Shiyanbola who became the first black members of First Baptist Atlanta. They were from Nigeria and Samson was a graduate student in Atlanta. They came by to visit us in 1979 from Lagos,Nigeria where they then lived.