“From Colored to Christian: 50 Years of New Identify for the CME Church”
A black man walks into a café one early morning and noticed that he was the only black man there. As he sat down, he noticed a white man behind him.
The white man said, “Colored people are not allowed here.” The Black man turned around and stood up. He then said:
“When I was born I was black
When I grew up I was black,
When I’m sick I’m black,
When I go in the sun I’m black,
When I’m cold I’m black,
When I did I’ll be black.
But you sir…
When you’re born you’re pink,
When you grow up you’re white,
When you’re sick, you’re green,
When you go I the sun you turn red,
When you’re cold you turn blue,
And when you die you turn purple.
And you have the nerve to call me colored?”
The black man then sat back down and the white man walked away…
Author Unknown
Although the author if this writing is unknown, he seems to genuinely capture what man blacks feel today when someone calls them “colored.” The fact that we were once “colored” still doesn’t quite sit well in our minds. Many who lived during the 1940s and 1950s, a time of rising social tension, can attest to how race, self identity, social status, and even self worth were all summed up in that one word. It isn’t (or wasn’t) really a dirty word, or a bad word, or even anything like the so-called “N” word, it was just a word whose meaning had changed. So it was that because of that one word in 1954, the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church took a giant leap away from its heritage and changed its name. For certain the change was a reflection of the ties – a response to an awakening of social status and an awareness of self rather than change based on a new theological enlightenment. Nevertheless, in changing the name of Colored Methodism, the CME Church embarked on a different direction, a new threshold, a new day. The change for CMEs was very much about a word, a language, a social context, and a movement.
Pardon
me, your epidermis is showing, sir;
I couldn’t help but note your shade of melanin;
I tip my hat to the colorful arrangement;
Cause I see the beauty in the tones of our skin
We’ve gotta come together
And thank the Maker of us all.
We’re colored people, and we live in a tainted place
We’re colored people and they call us the human race
We’ve got a history so full of mistakes
And we are colored people who depend on a Holy
Grace.}
A piece of canvas is only the beginning for
It takes on character with every loving stroke
“This thing of beauty is the passion of an
Artist’s heart by God’s design, we are a skin kaleidoscope.
Ignorance has wronged some races
And vengeance is the Lord’s
If we aspire to share this space
Repentance is the cure.
We’re
colored people, and we live in a tainted place
We’re colored people, and they call us the human race
We’ve
got a history so full of mistakes
And we are colored people who depend on a Holy Grace.
Well,
just a day in the shoes of a color-blind man
Should make it easy for you to see
That these diverse tones do more than cover our bones
As a part of our anatomy.
We’re
colored people, and they call us the human race
We’re colored people, and we all gotta share this space
We’re colored people, and we live in a tainted world
We’re colored people, every man, woman, boy and girl.
“Colored People”…produced
by Toby mckeehan and mark heimermann
written by toby mckeehan and george coocchini
up in the mix music/tigerback music
There seems to be at least a loose agreement among scholars about the origin of the use of the word “colored” in the literature on African American socio-linguistics. Most scholars seem to agree that the first uses of the word “colored” for persons of African decent who lived in the United States dates back to some time before the 19th century. For example, Tanu T. Henry (2001) attributes the label’s use to Europeans who originated the word “Negroes,” for Africans as early as the 17th century, deriving “Negroes” from the Spanish word for black. Euro-Americans later adopted the term “colored” for blacks as the opposite of the label “white.” This of course was the color-based word Caucasians used to refer to themselves. “Negro” was used a a more formal expression by the whites as opposed to the more informal/conversational word “nigger,” which of course was a derogatory derivation of Negro Seattle times writers Ferdinand M. deLon and Sally Macdonald (June 28, 1992) expressed what is generally accepted as a dual prominence and use of both the words “colored” and “Negro” throughout the first half of the 20th century. They suggest that a sort of “competition” existed between the two words from the turn of the century through to at least the 1950s.
Consequently, the expressions of self identify in the race from the late 19th century to the middle of the 20th century can be seen in a great deal of the literature from that time. Representatives of that era was the self designation of a new denomination (that emerged from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South) which easily adopted the name “Colored” as a reflection of its pride and place in the socio-religious spectrum that existed in 1870. In 1910, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded, and despite the recurring debate over self-identify of the black race over the years, the name of the NAACP did not change. The CME Church did change its name.
As noted above, several important literary pieces were written as a reflection of self-identity of blacks in the latter part of the 19th century and the turn of the 20th: G. F. Richings’ Evidences of Progress Among Colored People (1897 and 1902); Frederick Douglass’ The Future of the Colored Race (1886); and the writings of Charles Chestnutt, whose work extensively dealt with race and color issues around the turn of the 20th century. Certainly there were countless others. Ironically, as now in the 21st century this race refers to itself primarily in terms of its Afro-centrist identity (Afro-American, Afri-American, African American and so on), “African” was the term of choice for many blacks as early as the late 18th century. Many in the black community (primarily the affluent and politically conscious) chose the word “African” as the term they used to describe themselves (Henry, 2001) well into the 1800s. “African” was not a fleeting reference, but a label that had strong social footing, and Africanism was manifested in the identities of many organizations that we3re established at that time: Boston’s African Meeting House, Kentucky’s African Brotherhood, New York’s African Free School and many others (Henry 2001). Of note the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church were formed during this period of African self-identity, the early to mid-1800s. Like the NAACP the two “African denominations kept their designations throughout the continual and recurring debate about race over the ensuing years.
By the mid-1950s, the nation was experiencing a monumental turning over of the social order. After more than a half century of struggle to find its social niche in post-Civil War Reconstruction, blacks’ roles in World War I and Ii abroad versus injustices for blacks at home, the Great Migration and the Great Depression, and the lynchings and Jim Crowism in the south, somewhere in the midst of history, the word “colored” no longer worked. To a certain extent, Alain Locke’s expression New Negro (1925) had won.
But by 1954, even the word “Negro,” with or without the capital “n” was questionable in terms of its social acceptability. Geneva Smitherman (2000) tells us that by 1930, the major European American (white) media were using “Negro” instead of “colored” to describe black people. And for the record, they were using the capital “N.” But by the early- to mid- 1960s Negroes in America were “Black,” a word that encompassed the fullness of a new cultural awareness, power and self validation.
Taking into account this kind of fluidity in racial identity, it is no wonder that in 1954, the CME Church had on its agenda at the General Conference the changing of the name of the Church.
It is no small matter that according to Bishop Othal H. Lakey’s the History of the CME Church (Revised) (1966), the CME Church became the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church on May 17, 1954. History records that on that same day the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which says that no state may deny equal protection of the laws to any person within its jurisdiction. The decision declared that separate educational facilities were inherently unequal. It indeed was a landmark decision that started the momentum for change in the life of all blacks. Bishop Lakey (pgs. 539-541) informs us that at that time, the CME Church was experiencing al of that which defined the nation and black people as a whole. Indeed our leaders during that day also knew what it was like to endure the stigma of oppression, racism, inequality, and injustice. The “Colored” designation of the denomination, which had been so proudly worn for nearly a century, was showing wear and tear. There was time for a change.
On May 12, 1954, Dr. Channing Tobias, a member of the New England and Middle Atlantic conference, appealed to the General Conference, saying, “I would like to ask for special consideration for an important resolution pertaining to the elimination of the word “Colored” in the name of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church.” A resolution followed summarizing the “inconsistency of having a racial designation in the name of our Church.” According to the Church’s History, several persons in addition to Tobias signed on to the resolution, including W. L. Graham, Mrs. E.W.F. Harris, Henry C. Bunton, N. S. Curry, E. W. Taggert, Aaron Brown, and J. B. Bullock. Certainly there was opposition to the change. But ultimately, on may 17, 1954, as stated above, CME became CME, that is, the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. We became CME despite the perception of inherent redundancy in the juxtaposition of the words “Christian” and “Methodist,” despite the perception that all we did was choose a word that enabled us to keep our “C.” On that day, proud Colored Methodists became proud Christian Methodists, a name that resounds among us as strongly today as it ever did 50 years ago.
Today, in a era of continual upheaval and change – a time of uncertainty – when our spiritual and political leaders are flawed, as well as ourselves; today. A time that has witnessed the strivings of many who, even since 1954, have given their lives for our freedoms. In a time of war, a time of peril, a time of indecision, a time of decision. Through many dangers, toils and snares, we have already come. ‘Twas grace that brought us safe thus far and grace shall lead us home. And although it really doesn’t matter exactly what our name may be, we honor not just our church that has a new name for 50 years, but we honor god’s Church universal. It is our faith in Him, not in ourselves, not in our name, that ultimately will see us through.
Citations
Henry, Tanu T. (2003). Black Labeling: What’s in a name? Africana.com, Microsoft Corporation.
Dr. Leon, Ferdinand M. and Sally MacDonald (June 28, 1992). Name Power: Taking Pride and Control in Defining Ourselves. “The Seattle Times/Post-Intelligencer” (Seattle, WA), pg. A1.
Smitherman, Geneva (2000). Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood and the Amen Corner. Mariner Books.
Terrell, Mary Church (February 13, 1898). The Progress of Colored Women, An address delivered before the national American women’s Suffrage Association at the Columbia Theater, Washington, D. C.
Othal H. Lakey (1996). The History of the CME Church (Revised). Memphis: The CME Publishing House.