Baptist pacifists

[Haruo]

I don't think Mercer would necessarily have much exclusively National Baptist stuff, but I think in the absence of something like the ABHS archives for the NBAs the ABHS is more likely than anyone else to have collected and valued stuff from the NBAs, particularly during the last half century or so. There have been many important Black Baptist churches and church leaders who have been dually aligned between one or another of the NBAs (especially PNBA) and ABCUSA, and that was already a fact back when much of the SBC was still actively pro-segregation and uninterested in the details of what was going on amongst the Black Baptist brethren as long as it didn't involve riding in the front of the bus. So while I don't know what Mercer may house in this regard, it wouldn't surprise me at all if it turned out to be a major bunch of stuff...

[Big Daddy Weaver]

Blake,

Sorry for the delay on your PM. Honestly, here at Baylor, the best person to contact is my dad (Doug_Weaver@baylor.edu).

There is an article by Sandy Martin of the University of Georgia on the topic of Black Baptists and World War II. Pretty sure it was published in Baptist History & Heritage.

As far as pacifism and Black Baptists, the three most knowledgable individuals would be Sandy Martin, Andrew Manis (civil rights scholar and Baptist minister), and Paul Dekar (who has written the most on Baptist Pacifism).

Manis' book Southern Civil Religions in Conflict might be helpful. I don't think you'll find a significant pacifist legacy. I know Manis addresses Black Baptist involvement in 20th century wars.

Also, I think you'll find that the Southern Baptist archive in Nashville has a better collection of African-American related materials than ABHS. Pretty sure that SBHLA has all the old NBC journals and ABHS does not.

[Haruo]

Gandhi was a major influence on MLK and the PNBC. It's possible, too, that ABSW (the former Berkeley Baptist Divinity School) in California, which is PNBC-aligned as well as ABCUSA, may have significant information.

[Big Daddy Weaver]

The GTU Library in Berkeley is pretty decent. They have a good American Baptist collection.

Speaking of collections and archives, I learned that the Paul Pressler Foundation is trying to sell to various libraries a MICROFORM COPY of his personal papers for around $11,000.....

That seems a little pricey for microform which in light of all of the neat, user-friendly digitized collections isn't exactly too appealing...

[Haruo]

[Big Daddy Weaver]

Yea, sorry for noting that. A friend of mine (Angela Yarber) graduated this past year from GTU with phd in Religion and Art. While at GTU, she was an Associate Pastor of an ABC-USA congregation and taught at least one class for ABSW. Angela actually was just called to be the senior pastor at Wake Forest Baptist Church in Winston-Salem NC. Angela's partner just completed her phd in Theology at GTU and I think was a part of the Catholic seminary affiliated with the consortium. I've visited GTU a couple of times. Cost of living too high for me but seemed to be a great place to attend seminary/grad school.

[Blake]

Thanks for the info Aaron. It will come in very handy.

[Haruo]