The Christian Chronicle (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 75, No. 4, Ed. 1 Sunday, April 1, 2018 Page: 7 of 35
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Christian Chronicle and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Abilene Christian University Library.
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ACROSS THE NATION
THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE 7
APRIL 2018
KEEBLE: Preacher'hated racism, but he loved the souls of men'
F
More from this series: www.christianchronicle.org
Gray served as one of Keeble’s “boy
preachers,” who joined him at gospel
meetings across the nation.
Later, Gray chose to become
an attorney instead of a full-time
preacher. He was the first civil rights
attorney for King and represented
Rosa Parks, the black seamstress who
refused to give up her Montgomery,
Ala., bus seat to a white man in 1955.
Online: Marshall Keeble's
enduring print legacy
"The book will be preaching after you and I have
gone home," Marshall Keeble wrote in 1931 to
Benton Cordell Goodpasture, an editor of The
Gospe/Morate. Goodpasture attended a gospel
meeting in Valdosta, Ga., where Keeble preached.
The editor had the minister's sermons transcribed
into a book that catapulted Keeble to national
prominence among Churches of Christ. Abilene
Christian University in Texas presents a special
exhibit of Goodpasture's correspondence with
Keeble and historic photographs. Find links to the
exhibit at www.christianchronicle.org.
Hundred, of prepk, both ne*rc *nd
white, will Mtlrnd the Mrrire* al iht.
Revival becauM . . . National and High
church of CKrm U an integrated church.
W
Racial reconciliation
k and the church |
\ 1968 - 2018
The church wjw inu*giiUc<] several month* ago when
Christians of ihr all-negro Chestnut Street church of Christ
were invited to unite with their while brethren in the
churches of Christ in this urea.
The Natlunni and High churrh in a happ\. united,
growing church. We take pride and pleasure in announc-
ing this Revival with thr Iw loved Marshall Keeble of Nash-
ville, Tennessee,
INTEGRATION: BETTER SLOW THAN WRONG
Keeble’s gospel meetings often
drew whites as well as blacks, mak-
ing him a tar-
get of the Ku
Klux Klan. But
some criticized
him for not
taking a more
militant posi-
tion on racial
equality.
“Integration?
I would rather
get it slow than
get it wrong,”
Keeble said
in 1964. He
described how
he had raised
$50,000 for
an all-white
Christian college, prompting school
leaders to decide “they could not
take the money I raised and turn our
colored children away.”
In the 1940s, Gray attended the
Nashville Christian Institute, a
Tennessee school for black children
where Keeble was the president
bers of the Church of Christ I am
quite confident that it was difficult
for him to understand how one of
his former boy preachers would now
be standing in courtrooms fighting
against racial discrimination.”
In the recent interview, Gray said
of Keeble: “He did a tremendous job
with the church. I never expected
him to do what Dr. King did.”
monetary support, which made it
possible to travel broadly and plant
so many congregations.”
A Chronicle editorial published
after Keeble’s death said: “There
was another-world splendor about
the person of Marshall Keeble while
he was in the pulpit. He was popular,
not only with his own race, but the
white people felt he also was their
friend and evangelist.
“Even though some of his best
friends did not agree with his position
on racial problems, they admired him
for his unquestioned spirituality, his
serene demeanor, his dedication to
the Word of God as his guide, both in
his life and the doctrine he preached.”
ABOUT W
Mnr.bAll KeebuH
• fid Years of Age®
• fiS Yean * Goapel
Preacher
• Baptised aver
47,000 People into
Christ
• Outstanding
Educator
'LORD BLESS THE KING FAMILY'
While Keeble was popular with
white members of Churches of
Christ, King had many detractors.
Eugene Lawton, minister for the
Newark Church of Christ in New
Jersey, wrote a July 1968 piece in the
Chronicle headlined “Negro Minister
Tells What Discrimination Is.”
Lawton cited examples such as
being unable to attend a Christian
college and being sent to the church
basement for worship.
He ended with this example: “It’s
a preacher being dismissed on
Monday because he prayed ‘Lord
bless the King family.’”
In his memoir “Bus Ride To
Justice,” Gray recounted that some of
his fellow Christians had reservations
about his work as a civil rights lawyer.
“Even Brother Marshall Keeble,
the great pioneer
preacher who had
y carried me, as
a boy preacher,
around with him
representing
k die Nashville
Christian Institute,
m probably did not
I understand my
position,” Gray
wrote.
“One preacher
who had been a
I student at NCI
when I was there
later said to
Brother Keeble
about me, ‘Fred
Gray is smart He is involved in the
Civil Rights Movement”’ the attorney
added. “Brother Keeble is reported to
have replied: ‘He’s too smart’”
But Gray wrote that he understood
Keeble’s position: “A portion of his
preaching and work in the church
had been sponsored by white mem-
Marsha^ Keeble
ProS^nst^ ... r
^GQgPI^OF CHRIST 7^
A MAN OF'ANOTHER-WORLD SPLENDOR'
Edward J. Robinson is a history
and Bible professor at Southwestern
Christian College in Terrell, Texas,
the only historically black college
associated with
Churches of Christ.
He wrote the book
“Show Us How You
Do It: Marshall
Keeble and the Rise
of Black Churches of
Christ in the United
n,. . n States 1914-1968.”
Robinson «Keeble without
question hated racism, but he loved
the souls of men,” Robinson said.
“Consequently, he downplayed racial
insults and racial discrimination
to accomplish the greater good.
... Keeble understood that had he
contested the racial status quo, he
would not have garnered widespread
SERVICES
Oct. 15 thru 22
7:30 p.m.
Monday thru Saturday
10:00 a.m. & 6:00 p.m. Sunday
___________BIBLE CLASSES EACH EVENING FOR PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN___________
PHOTOVIAWWW.THERESTORATIONMOVEMENT.COM
An advertisement from the late 1960s, just before Marshall Keeble's death, invites
believers black and white to a revival at the newly integrated National and High Church
of Christ in Springfield, Mo. The church is "happy, united, growing," the ad says.
FROM PAGE 1
bullet struck Baptist pastor Martin
Luther King Jr. on the balcony of the
Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn.
He was 39.
Sixteen days later — on April 20,
1968 — natural causes claimed Keeble,
who had brought an estimated
30,000 souls to Jesus in a 71-year
ministry career. He was 89.
King was the most .-----------
visible spokesman
of the Civil Rights
Movement while
Keeble — who grew
up in a time of racially
segregated schools
and churches — only
quietly worked for G
integration. y
Fred Gray, a civil rights attorney
and longtime elder of the Tuskegee
Church of Christ in Alabama, knew
both King and Keeble.
“Comparing Keeble to King is to
compare two persons doing different
things in different ages,” Gray, 87,
said in a recent interview with The
Christian Chronicle.
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Tryggestad, Erik. The Christian Chronicle (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 75, No. 4, Ed. 1 Sunday, April 1, 2018, newspaper, April 1, 2018; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1509388/m1/7/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.