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15. The Reverends James C. Chandler and Wayne Kelly Pittman
- University Press of Mississippi
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Z 157 Z chapter 15 The reverends JaMes C. ChandLer and wayne keLLy PITTMan Annette Wilson lives just a few houses down Spencer Street from Mount Zion Baptist Church, which her husband, Harper, attends. But her alleZ giance has always been to Hattiesburg’s oldest African American church, Mount Carmel Missionary Baptist Church, established in a log cabin in 1888. She was just a girl when the Reverend Dr. James C. Chandler beZ came pastor of her church in December 1954, and she came to love him for his support of the church’s youth and their activities. Mount Carmel’s hundredZyear history describes his arrival as pastor as ushering in a “new era of progress” as he stressed active participation by all. Lillie McLaurin, the Mobile Street news dealer, was twentyZseven when Reverend Chandler was called to the Mount Carmel pulpit. She was already a keen observer of the black community scene, and she knew her church. “For the first five months, he was teaching, not preaching.” She detected a certain restlessness in the congregation. “He hadn’t preached like they were used to.” So she was blunt with her new minister. “The membership wants some gravy, holler a little.”1 Chandler did, and the “Amens” started to flow. Small, dynamic, and outgoing, he became the best preacher in town. Minnie Daniels Halyard, sixteen at the time, remembers how good he was with teenagers, how he knew all their names, what a strong Sunday School he ran. The third Sunday of each month was Youth Day, with children coming to Mount Carmel from all of the nearby Baptist churches. Both junior and seZ nior choirs were considered without peer in the community, and Chandler started a Men’s Day and a Women’s Day, to spur a little gender competiZ tion in generosity. The church was $8,000 in debt when Reverend Chandler B. F. Bourn, storekeeper and freedom fighter, 1957. Courtesy of the Bourn family. The Reverend Sam Hall’s employment picture at Hercules Powder Company in Hattiesburg, 1939. Courtesy of Maynard Tuck. [52.205.218.160] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 07:50 GMT) Jesse Stegall when he testified in 1962. Courtesy of Jesse Stegall. Jesse Stegall reviewing his application form in 1989. Courtesy of the author. Addie Burger in front of her husband’s diplomas, 1989. Courtesy of the author. Eloise Hopson at her piano, 1989. Courtesy of the author. Reverend and Mrs. Wendell Phillips Taylor, 1990. Courtesy of the author. David Roberson with two of his students at Roberto Clemente Community Academy in Chicago, 1989. Courtesy of the author. T. F. Williams, the sparkplug from Palmer’s Crossing, 1989. Courtesy of the author. Willie and Iola Thigpen, 1989. Courtesy of the author. [52.205.218.160] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 07:50 GMT) Theron Lynd still at work after being found guilty of civil contempt by the Fifth Circuit, 1963. Credit: Associated Press. R. C. Jones, a Peay plaintiff and mentor to David Roberson, 1989. Courtesy of the author. Lynd’s successor as circuit clerk, Marian Brown, changed the registrar’s office, 1989. Courtesy of the author. The Baptist preacher Sam Hall as he retired from Hercules after forty-one years, 1979. Courtesy of the Hall family. The first black in a “white man’s job” at Hercules, Richard Boyd, still smiling despite its having taken fifty attempts before Registrar Luther Cox registered him, 1991. Courtesy of the author. The priest who helped, Father John Izral, with the author in New Orleans, 1993. Courtesy of the author. T. F. Williams and the author renew acquaintances in Palmer’s Crossing, 1989. Courtesy of the author. [52.205.218.160] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 07:50 GMT) Judge Thelton Henderson, 2009: as a young lawyer, Henderson was the first African American on the Civil Rights Division trial staff. Courtesy of Judge Thelton Henderson. John Doar receiving, on behalf of Civil Rights Division lawyers (1960–67), the Humanitarian Award of the Choral Arts Society of Washington, D.C., at its annual concert in memory of Dr. King. January 11, 2009. Courtesy of Margot Shulman. Fifth Circuit Judge Richard Rives saved John Hardy from criminal prosecution, c. 1962. Courtesy of Fifth Circuit Clerk’s Office. Vernon Dahmer, Jr., thinks of his father’s sacrifice as he watches President Obama’s inauguration with his brother Dennis (left) and thirteen-year-old Deryk Dahmer at the family home in Kelly Settlement, 2009. Courtesy of Rick Guy, Clarion-Ledger. Two...