That Tuesday, January 25, a storm threatened. For three
weeks, in company with Elder and Mrs. J. N. Loughborough
and their three-year-old daughter, Teresa, Ellen White had
been itinerating among the churches in western
Michigan. As they journeyed by carriage southward, her mind
was of home, her three boys, and her husband who had expected
to join her on this trip, but was prevented from doing so
by urgent duties at Battle Creek. The snow was falling fast
as they drove up at midday to the Hardy home some ten miles
southwest of Grand Rapids. The travelers were invited in
by this Adventist family. Of the reception given, Ellen
White wrote in her diary that evening:
"We were heartily welcomed by the family. A good dinner
was soon in readiness for us of which we thankfully partook.
This is a colored family, but although the house is poor
and al1, everything is arranged with neatness and exact
order. The children are well behaved, intelligent, and interesting."
And then spontaneously she expressed her heart feelings
in words she never thought would be read by others:
"May I yet have a better acquaintance with this dear
family."--Ellen G. White Diary, Jan. 25, 1859.
The people of the Negro community were ever close to the
heart of Ellen G. White. These were days of ferment over
the question of slavery in the United States. A few months
before. as she depicted for publication what had been shown
her in the Great Controversy vision, she had written of
the slave and the slave master and how they stood in the
sight of heaven. See Early Writings, pp. 275, 276.
Obey God Rather Than Man
In the first volume of the Testimonies is found
a dramatic early presentation of the high level on which
Sister White believed we should ever view the question of
slavery. As the Sabbathkeeping Adventists in those critical
days just preceding the Civil war were confronted with the
discussion of the courts that citizens of the North were
duty bound to return a runaway slave to his master, a requirement
thus making all United States citizens parties to the system
of slavery, the Lord of heaven counseled His perplexed people-
"The slave is not the property of any man," wrote
Ellen White. "God is his rightful master," and
"when the laws of men conflict with the word and law
of God, we are to obey the latter, whatever the consequences
may be."--See Testimonies, vol. 1, pp. 20l,
202.
No one writing the history of the Advent Movement could
ever be in doubt as to the fearless position of the movement
in its earliest years in relation to a most grave and explosive
moral issue.
When the Civil War broke out in 1861. all Seventh-day Adventists
resided in the Northern States, and they were united in
their attitude against the inhuman traffic in slaves. While
not a few other religious bodies endeavored to justify slavery.
Seventh-clay Adventists, from the outset, were opposed to
it. And the light given to Ellen G. White unified and solidified
the thinking and attitude of the emerging church.
When the war was over, there was great rejoicing in our
ranks that the slaves were free. But Seventh-day Adventists,
like other- religious bodies. promptly forgot that a large
work was yet to be (lone for the so recently freed slaves.
Perhaps one reason for this was that the work of the church
was very slow in its develo1,inent in the South.
Seventh-day Adventists, not being in direct contact with
situations and conditions existing there in the first two
decades following the Civil War, became quite unmindful
of their responsibilities. As the evangelism of the church
began in a limited way in Virginia. Tennessee. and Texas
in the 1870s. some colored families were among the hearers
and some took their stand for the message. But it is reported
that in 1890 there were fewer than 20 colored Seventh-day
Adventists south of the Mason-Dixon line.
As church leaders assembled in Battle Creek for the General
Conference session of 1891, Ellen White, near the close
of the session, met with them in the committee room of the
Battle Creek tabernacle and read to them a lengthy manuscript
concerning our duty to the colored people. In this she clearly
delineated the close ties of all mankind and called upon
Seventh-day Adventists to take an active part in uplifting
and educating these people so recently out of slavery. (See
article, pages 10-12, for the major portion of this presentation,
which was later issued in pamphlet form.)
This initial statement from the pen of Ellen G. White,
touching on this important subject clearly laid down certain
guidelines. She vividly portrayed the brotherhood of mankind,
indicating that Christ died for the colored people as well
as. for the white people, and in Christs sight it is not
birth, station. nationality, or color that counts, but rather
character. The manuscript from which she read made it clear
that she was well aware that such statements would bring
her into conflict. This she did not covet, but she would
perform her duty regardless of the consequences. As she
neared the close of her address, speaking of the conditions
of those clays, she declared, "Sin rests upon us as
a church because we have not made greater effort for the
salvation of souls among the colored people."
The Heart of Her Message
In the heart of this presentation to the leaders of the
church, Ellen White pointed out that when the love of Jesus
fills the heart. and the Christian becomes one with Christ,
he will have the same spirit that Christ had. She stated
that if a colored brother sits by his side, he will not
be offended or despise him. Both are journeying to the same
heaven and will be seated at the same table to eat bread
in the kingdom of God.
The reading of the message made a deep impression on the
hearts of the leaders of the church. Copies of the document
in manuscript form were sent to certain workers, and copies
were circulated somewhat in Battle Creek; but little was
actually done. Then it was that Ellen Whites own son, Edson,
who had been engaged in business in Chicago, found a copy
of this appeal. He read it and it gripped his heart. He
determined to do something. The task was challenging. It
seemed to James Edson White to call for new and unique methods.
With some river boat experience, his mind turned to a floating
home and chapel. He moved ahead in constructing at Allegan,
Michigan, a missionary boat, which he christened The
Morning Star. With this mobile home, office, chapel,
printing office, schoolroom, and living quarters for associate
workers, he pioneered well-organized missionary endeavors
for the Negro community along the Mississippi River in the
Deep South.
He, with his company of workers, reached Vicksburg, Mississippi,
January 10, 1893, ready to open up work. Now, in the practical
setting of a response to her appeals for concerted work
among Americans of Negro ancestry, Ellen White wrote again,
this time a message for the whole church, which was published
in the Review and Herald of April 2. 1895. The
appeal was dual in nature, calling first for recognition
that peoples of all races and nations were brothers in the
sight of God. and second. that Seventh-day Adventists had
a large responsibility to the colored population of the
South.
The article entitled "Work Among the Colored People,"
Opens with the words:
"I have a most earnest interest in the work to be
clone among the colored people. This is a branch of work
that has been strangely neglected. The reason that this
class of human beings who have souls to save or to lose,
have been so long neglected, is the prejudice that the white
people have felt and manifested against mingling with them
in religious worship. They have been despised, shunned,
and treated with abhorrence, as though crime were upon them,
when they were helpless and in need, when men should have
labored most earnestly for their salvation. They have been
treated without pity. The Priests and the Levites have looked
upon their wretchedness, and have passed by on the other
side."
The article, in its clear-cut presentation, left no room
in the hearts of a true Seventh-clay Adventist for animosity
or apathy toward the colored population. Ellen White declared
that the religious bodies generally were agreed that the
colored people should be converted.
"They [the religious bodies] have no objection to
this. They were willing that they should be ~rafted into
the same parent stock. Christ. and become branches with
themselves of the living Vine: vet they were not willing
to sit by the side of their colored brethren, and sing and
pray and bear witness to the truth which they had in common.
Not for a moment could they tolerate the idea that they
should together bear the fruit that should be found on the
Christian tree. The image of Christ might be stamped upon
the soul: but it still would be necessary to have a separate
church and a separate service. But the question is. Is this
in harmony with the moving of the Spirit of God? Is it not
after the manner in which the Jewish people acted in the
clays of Christ? Is not this prejudice against the colored
people on the part of the white people similar to that which
was cherished by the Jews against the Gentiles?"
Two Distinct Classes
Then Ellen White turns to a true distinction in the two
classes in our world, as those represented in the parable
of the invitation to the marriage feast. "There are
two distinct classes,--" she declares, "those
who are saved through faith in Christ and through obedience
to His law, and those who refuse the truth as it is in Jesus."
She urged, "Let national and denominational distinctions
be laid aside. Caste and rank are not recognized by God
and should not be by His workers."
Knowing well that there were large problems in the matter
of a recognition of the principles of the brotherhood of
mankind, and that procedures must be different in different
places, Ellen White further counseled:
"No human mind should seek to draw the line between
the colored and the white people. Let circumstances indicate
what shall be done; for the Lord has his hand on the lever
of circumstances. As the truth is brought to bear upon the
minds of both colored and white people, as souls are thoroughly
converted, they will be-come new men and women in Christ
Jesus. Christ says, 'A new heart also will I give you, and
that new heart bears the divine image. Those who are converted
among the white people will experience a change in their
sentiments. The prejudice which they have inherited and
cultivated toward the colored race will die away. They still
realize that there is no respect of persons with God. Those
who are converted among the colored race will be cleansed
from sin, will wear the white robe of Christs righteousness,
which has been woven in the loom of heaven. Both white and
colored people must enter into the path of obedience through
the same way.
Then she points out in this basic article, appealing to
the church, that-- "the test will come not as regards
the outward complexion, but as regards the condition of
the condition of the heart. Both the white and the colored
people have the same Redeemer, who has paid the ransom money
with his own life for every member of the human family."
Her closing words recognize that-- "as a people we
should do more for race in America than we have yet done.
In the work we shall need to move with carefulness, being
endowed with wisdom from above.
The Notable Series of Nine Articles
This article of appeal was followed shortly by nine articles
in the Review and Herald from November 26, 1895,
to February 4, 1896. These bore such titles as "An
Appeal for the Southern Field," "The Bible the
Colored Peoples Hope," "Spirit and Life for the
Colored People," "Am I My Brothers Keeper?"
In this series of articles Ellen White depicted the situation
among the colored people in the middle 1890s as it was revealed
to her in vision. This picture, drawn of conditions existing
within 30 years of slavery, is not a nice one, for the Negro
had been neglected, and efforts towards his education had
been very largely ineffective. The appeals made by Ellen
White to Seventh-day Adventist lay families who could do
so, to go into the South, not to colonize, but to let their
light shine in various communities, brought a response that
led to a strengthening of a work that was beginning for
Americans of African descent.
One phase of the battle had been won. Seventh-day Adventists
had come to recognize their responsibility to the colored
citizens and the work among them in the Southern States
was now begun. Ellen Whites presentations of race relationships
in the light of Bible principles made it clear to all Seventh-day
Adventists that there was no place for prejudice or distinction
that would bar the Negro from close association in worship
and labor.
These guidelines were forever laid down in the clearest
of terms. Work among these people had now become a clearly
defined part of the work of the church.
It was one thing for Seventh-day Adventists to come to
recognize these principles and to be motivated by them in
their evangelism beamed toward the colored population in
the South. It was another thing to know how to proceed with
the work in the South in such a manner as to avoid creating
prejudice that could lock the doors of the homes and the
hearts of many against the third angels message.