Mississippi’s history with slavery, segregation, and racism has deep roots, and has caused--and continues to cause--immense turmoil and violence. We like to think we’ve moved past it, but we haven’t. There is still work to do, and we can begin that work by looking to the leaders of the past, and take to heart what Jesus has tried, over and over again, to teach us.

Today’s guest helps us grapple with that history, and shares the story of a group of Methodist ministers who took a stand against racism and segregation in the 1960s. Joe Reiff, retired professor of religion at Emory & Henry College and ordained United Methodist minister, is the author of Born of Conviction: White Methodists and Mississippi’s Closed Society. This book tells the story of 28 white Methodist pastors who wrote a letter in response to white resistance to the civil rights movement in Mississippi. Their action against racism in the Mississippi Methodist church held consequences for them, as well as for white and Black Methodists in the state. 

The signers of Born of Conviction were:

Jerry Furr
Maxie D. Dunnam
Jim L. Waits
O. Gerald Trigg
James B. Nicholson
Buford A. Dickinson
James S. Conner
J. W. Holston
James P. Rush
Edward W. McRae
Joseph C. Way
Wallace E. Roberts
Summer Walters
Bill Lampton
Marvin Moody
Keith Tonkel
John Ed Thomas
Inman Moore, Jr.
Denson Napier
Rod Entrekin
Harold Ryker
N. A. Dickson
Ned Kellar
Powell Hall
Elton Brown
Bufkin Oliver
Jack Troutman
Wilton Carter

The full Born of Conviction statement can be found here.

Buy a copy of Born of Conviction: White Methodists and Mississippi’s Closed Society here.

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