Page 10 The Skanner August 31, 2016
News
Divided America: Neighbor Churches, Split on Race Lines, Work to Heal Divide
MACON, Ga.— There
are two First Baptist
Churches in Macon —
one black and one white.
They sit almost back-
to-back, separated by a
small park, in a hilltop
historic district over-
looking downtown.
About 170 years ago,
they were one congrega-
tion, albeit a church of
masters and slaves. Then
the ight over abolition
and slavery started tear-
ing badly at religious
groups and moving the
country toward Civil
War. The Macon church,
like many others at the
time, decided it was time
to separate by race.
Ever since — through
Jim Crow, the civil rights
movement, desegrega-
tion and beyond — the
division endured, be-
coming so deeply rooted
it hardly drew notice.
Then, two years ago,
the Rev. Scott Dickison,
pastor of the white
church, and the Rev.
James Goolsby, pastor
of the black church, met
over lunch and an idea
took shape: They’d try
to ind a way the congre-
gations, neighbors for
so long, could become
friends. They’d try to
bridge the stubborn di-
vide of race.
They are taking up this
work against a tumul-
tuous backdrop, includ-
ing the much-publicized
AP PHOTO/BRANDEN CAMP
By Rachel Zoll
AP Religion Writer
The Rev. James W. Goolsby, Jr., senior pastor of the First Baptist
Church, left, and the Rev. Scott Dickison, senior pastor of First Baptist
Church of Christ, right, pose for a photo at Dickison’s church in Macon,
Ga., on Monday, July 11, 2016. There are two First Baptist Churches
in Macon _ one black and one white. Two years ago, Dickison and
Goolsby met to try to ind a way the congregations, neighbors for so
long, could become friends. They’d try to bridge the stubborn divide
of race.
deaths of blacks at the
hands of law enforce-
ment and the rise of the
Black Lives Matter move-
ment.
Next month, they will
lead joint discussions
with church members on
racism in the history of
the U.S., and also in the
history of their congre-
gations.
“This is not a conver-
sation of blame, but of
acceptance and moving
forward,” Goolsby said.
Like many American
institutions, houses of
worship have largely
been separated by race,
to the point that the Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr.
called Sunday mornings
“one of the most segre-
gated hours.” Recently,
several denominations,
from
the
Episcopal
Church to the Southern
Baptist Convention, have
tried to look critically at
their past actions going
back centuries.
In the early 1800s, in
Baptist churches of the
South, whites and blacks
oten worshipped to-
gether, but blacks were
restricted to galleries or
the back of the sanctuary.
Eventually, black popu-
lations started growing
faster in many commu-
nities. Whites, made un-
easy by the imbalance,
responded by splitting
up the congregations.
This was apparently
the case for First Baptist
in Macon, which built
a separate church for
blacks in 1845, then inal-
ized the separation two
decades later soon ater
the Civil War ended.
Goolsby and Dickison
said their respective
churches were enthusi-
astic about plans to work
together, under the aus-
pices of the New Baptist
Covenant, an organiza-
tion formed by former
President Jimmy Carter
to unite Baptists.
Yet excitement mixed
with apprehension, since
the efort would inevita-
bly require “some chal-
lenging conversations,”
Dickison said, including
a re-examination of the
oicial church history,
which had been recorded
in mostly benign terms,
with almost no recogni-
tion of racism.
“We need to go through
this kind of conversion
experience of confes-
sion, of repentance and
of reconciliation. We
need to have that when
it comes to race, not just
in the country but with-
in the church,” Dickison
said.
Goolsby recalled that
ater the massacre last
year at the historic black
church in Charleston,
South Carolina, he was
outside a store, awaiting
his wife, when Dickison
called.
“Scott shared how he
felt, how he was strug-
gling with what he would
share with his congrega-
tion,” Goolsby said. Dick-
son asked how he could
show support.
“I said, ‘We’re already
doing
it,’”
Goolsby
said. “The mere fact he
thought to call me was
huge.”
The stakes were even
more personal months
later, when the white
church invited black
church members for a
youth trip to Orlando.
Goolsby’s teenage son
was among those invited.
Read the rest of this story at
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OBITUARY: Eugene Hughes, Sr.
aka Gene Diamond
April 18, 1938 – August 13, 2016
Gene was born in
land
Southern Illinois. Af-
Community College
ter graduating from
developed into what
Douglass High School
is now known as the
in Mounds, Illinois,
Mt. Hood Jazz Festi-
where he was a “star
val. He was a premier
member” of the basket-
performer with “Art
ball team, he moved to
Quake” and the “Cathe-
Chicago and married
dral Park” concerts.
his high school sweet-
Gene’s musical versa-
heart. It was while liv-
tility allowed him to
Eugene Hughes, Sr.
ing in Chicago that he
move with ease from
started his professional singing ca- sensitive love songs to funky blues
reer.
to country.
His experience of singing in the
To continue his legacy, Gene leaves
Junior Choir of the family church his wife of 59 years, Leora Hughes,
served as a natural induction to his two sons, Eugene, Jr. of New York,
working with James Cleveland Gos- NY and Brian C. of Portland, OR and
pel Chimes and Mahalia Jackson. his only daughter Beverly F. of Ow-
His transformation to a jazz sing- ings Mills, MD. He also leaves two
er occurred as he worked with The granddaughters, Briana Hemphill,
Ramsey Lewis Trio, Gene Harris and a graduate of Temple University and
the Three Sounds, The Bobby Bryant Nya Hughes, a second year student
Quintet, Quincy Jones’ Orchestra, a Stanford University. Additionally,
Gerald Wilson’s Orchestra, H.B. Bar-
celebrating his life is his sister,
num, and numerous others.
Geneva Adams, his brother, Robert
Ater moving to Portland, Ore- Earl Hughes, both of Illinois and a
gon, he performed on television, in host of cousins, nieces, and neph-
concerts, at intimate nightclubs, on ews. The family asks anyone who
radio, and at jazz festivals. His work wishes to honor Gene’s life to make
with the music department at Port- a donation to ‘’First Tee.”