The Tribune. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1951-19??, 1953-06-27
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
A WHITE sOUTHERNER

WISH 10 tnank you and DR.. L. E, Pax
ION Tor your statements in recent issues
of THE TRIBUNE.
1t was gratifying to see a demonstra-
ZION OF such good sportsmanship az Won
olsplayed in your editorial reporting YOUR
poiitlcai defeat. This can only Increase
the respect of all readers and broaden
your opportunities for public service and
future office
DR.; Paxton's declaration that .White
people are interested and do help Negroes"
Is Che Kind of statement which is needed
from prominent Negro citizens.
For so long Indignation has been a re-
mote IDEAL that it is SO hard to realize
that 1t is actually taking place-and with
increasing speed The long awaited day is
the immediate tomorrow, and we have only
few hours left in which to dissolve ac-
cumulated wrath if we are to have brother
hood and not strife
Let the vultures of mankind hover
watchtully over dying evils. Christians If
ooCh groups must point to the wav of
love, forgiveness and understanding.
mere was time-only yesterday. onlv
ehls morning, even-when quick anger was
the proper defense against white supren.
acy Whlch was too often taken for granted
81. Paul EFFORTS us, BE angry but sin not
ana never let the sun go down upon vour
.Wrath- There was good cause for anger
lhiS morning, but the sun is setting now
Through the South whites offer Won
Ihelr hands in increasing numbers. Upon
your ability to grasp them in warmth and
Fellowship the welfare of the nation de-
pends Will we of the South be torn or
welded? The answer lies with YOU who
have uncounted wrongs to harbor-or to
forgive.
In support of Dr. Paxton's contention.
offer you summary of a fight for
brotherhood which was instituted entirely
by white Southerners within their own
group. Readers of my former 'Facts and
Figures of Good WHIP may recall mention
of it while it was still going on. At last
the full story is in
The struggle began June 1852 when the
Board of Sewanee, the University of the
South, situated in Tennessee, met to de-
bate the question of whether Negroes
should be encouraged" to enter Sewanees
Theological School. Encouraged" was the
right word for no Negroes had ever ap
piled.
Sewanee University, owned by the
twenty-five Southern dioceses of the Epis
copal Church, is a private school, not sub
lect to Federal rulings. Thus it's decision
to face this issues was entirely voluntary
The. Board decided that Southerners
were not ready" for migration in this
school. But-alleluia !-Southerners rose up
and rejected this as an insult
Eight of the nine members of the the
illogical faculty resigned in protest. The stu
dents polled themselves and reported that
81 percent favored the admission of Me-
groes. Southern women's auxiliaries pro-
tested against the decision, and letters
poured in condemning it.
Church papers ran scathing editorials
demanding reversal of the "uniustifiable
decision, and a transplanted Southerner
now dean of famous New York cathedral
refused an honorary degree from Sewanee
on the ground that he did not wish to be
associated with "white divinity.
When the board had it's annual meeting
June 18th, 1868, it debated the issue again
and then voted. The result was SEVENTY
EIGHT TO SIX IN FAVOR OF INTEGRA-
TON!
With alarming rapidity Southern Ne
groes are being given the terrible ordeal of
the opportunity to realize the brotherhood
of man. Have they the Christian and the
human love needed? Have they the power
to renew themselves in forgiveness, the cou-
rage to believe that in their hands rests
the future of the nation, and the vitality