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REVEREND ROBERT L. BRADBY: ESTABLISHING THE
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1910-19’46

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REVEREND ROBERT L. BRADBY: ESTABLISHING THE KINGDOM OF GOD
AMONG MIGRANTS, WOMEN AND WORKERS, 1910-1946

By

Julia Robinson Harmon

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
In partial fulfillment of the requirements
For the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of History
2002

ABSTRACT
ESTABLISHING THE KINGDOM OF GOD: MIGRANTS, WOMEN, AND
WORKERS AND THE LEADERSHIP OF
REVEREND ROBERT L. BRADBY, 1910-1946
By

Julia Robinson Harmon

The history and activities of Second Baptist Church under the dynamic leadership of
Reverend Robert L. Bradby demonstrates how one black religious institution evoked
fundamental changes in the social, cultural and political milieu of Detroit during two
major periods in American History--the Great Migration and the Great Depression.
Reverend Robert L. Bradby's leadership of Second Baptist established him as a
forerunner of the black “self-help” tradition in Detroit and exposed the latent power of
the Black Church to transcend its private domain and evoke changes in the public sphere
of Detroit’s black community. At the core of Bradby’s actions and the ministry of
Second Baptist Church were theological imperatives of liberation and resistance. For
Bradby and the members of Second Baptist Church, resistance and liberation were
divinely sanctioned initiatives inextricably connected with the gospel message of the

New Testament.

Copyright by
JULIA ROBINSON HARMON
2002

DEDICATION

To the Members of Second Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work represents a tremendous amount of support and encouragement over a
number of years on my behalf. Family, fi'iends, colleagues and professors have offered
support in ways too numerous to count. Yet, the very first acknowledgement I make must
is to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am first a servant and minister of the Gospel
within the Baptist and Presbyterian Faiths. One of my highest educational goals is the
pursuit of the knowledge of God in order to walk in the calling of a
“preacher/evangelist.” For me, Jesus Christ and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit has
brought me to this place in life and I am thankful to him for this privilege.

This study also represents the many prayers and words of support given to me by my
husband, parents and mentors. Without their sacrifice of time, money and love, I would
not have been able to put the many hours of research into this work.

The foundation of my doctoral education and the progress of reaching this phase in
my career are credited to my doctoral committee, Dr. David T. Bailey, Dr. Darlene Clark
Hine, Dr. Wilma King, Dr. Joseph Scholten and Dr. Dinah Ramey. Words cannot
express the depth of gratitude I have toward all of you for allowing me the opportunity of
studying and being mentored by you. Each of you has offered not only your skill as
historians, but also your wisdom of life and your friendship. I am blessed by each of you
and I am humbled by the experience to have learned from you. I am especially thankful
to Dr. David T. Bailey for his continued support and help throughout my tenure at
Michigan State University. He has been my mentor as well as my fi’iend. His

encouragement will always be cherished.

I also want to thank Dr. Nathaniel Leach, church historian of Second Baptist Church
in Detroit for gathering and organizing a lifetime of historical materials on Second
Baptist Church. His efforts for over 66 years cannot go unnoticed for he has been
instrumental in preserving the Christian cultural heritage of black Detroit and one of the
earliest histories of the northern black institutional religion.

Another individual I must thank is Reverend Jesse Perry, Chaplain of Alma College in
Alma, Michigan. Rev. Perry has opened many doors of opportunity for me in life. He has
been my mentor, friend and confidant. It is impart to his presence in my life that I began
thinking about graduate studies. His early mentorship and support of my educational
goals cannot go unnoticed. I am truly thankful to him for sparking a light in me to pursue
higher education.

I also want to thank Pastor H. Levi McClendon for his incredible support and help to
me over the last three years. His benevolence has enabled me to finish this last phase of
my degree as well as financially support my family. He has been my spiritual mentor,
fiiend, colleague and confidant. I am most appreciative of his kindness toward me in
helping obtain my educational goals.

Finally, I want to thank all of the members of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Lansing,
Michigan, St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Detroit, Michigan, the David Harmon
Memorial Scholarship Fund and the many friends and family who have prayed and
supported me through the years. My achievements reflect the time, talent and love that
have been imparted to me from all of you. Thank you all for granting me the honor of

studying the life and history of African American culture.

vi

PREFACE:

As an African American woman growing up in Detroit, Michigan, the Black Church
secured a central purpose in my upbringing. My parents agreed early on that they would
keep their respective church homes. My father was a Baptist, born and raised in the
church, whereas my mother, Annetta Marie Robinson and grandmother, Marie Frances
Jackson were Presbyterians. As Presbyterians, my mother and grandmother attended the
first black Presbyterian Church established in Michigan, St. John's Presbyterian Church.
As a child, I grew up alternating churches on Sundays. I was a Presbyterian on most
occasions, but the songs and fervor of the Baptists drew me closer than the sometimes-
stoic services of the Black Presbyterians.

Being an African American Christian, I was always fascinated with how my parents
and the ministers of both the Baptist and Presbyterian churches understood the Gospel
message in relationship to the black experience of discrimination in America. Black
History month was always a big event in both churches. The sermons I heard during
February of each year would intertwine the teachings of Jesus with black the struggle for
freedom. The Exodus story and Jesus’ death and resurrection were themes that told of
God’s willingness to free black Americans from inequalities. Pictures of black Jesus’
laced the walls at Second and even in some classrooms at the Presbyterian church where I
was member. The one question that kept playing over in my mind was did Jesus really
teach the equality of all people, especially black people? As I grew older, I began to
search for the answer to this question in the preaching and teachings of black ministers in
my respective churches. Second Baptist held a longer history of black clergy who were

activists, so my thoughts turned more toward Second Baptist.

vii

My father, grandmother and grandfather on my paternal side attended one of the most
prestigious black churches in Michigan, Second Baptist Church of Detroit. The church’s
1940 History booklet lists the names of my paternal grandparents, Dora and William
Robinson, on the active member list. Attending Second Baptist Church was what started
my fascination with the history of the Black Church. Second Baptist already had a rich
history when I was a little girl attending the church. Tradition held that it was the first
black church ever started in Michigan, and the last stage in the Underground Railroad
during the early 19th century. Tours were always being conducted at the church for
curiosity seekers and history buffs who wanted to see where Second Baptist hid the
runaway slaves coming up from the South and trying to get to Canada.

Another impetus for my interest in the Black Church and particularly that of Second
Baptist was the relationship my father and grandfather had to the church and to the
Detroit automotive industries. My grandfather, William Lensey Robinson was a painter at
Ford Motor Company during the 19208. He named my father after Henry Ford and his
son Edsel Ford, which made my father’s name Edisel Henry Robinson.

What I remember most about my grandfather were his hands. On one of his hands,
his index finger was out almost down to a nub. As a child, I would ask him to tell me the
story of how he lost his finger. He would reply that he lost his finger working at the Ford
Motor Company in the company’s stamping plant. Sometimes, my grandfather would
look wistfully at his nub of a finger and smile sometimes. Ford Motor Company had
compensated my grandfather for the loss of his finger, and he had been able to open up a
community store in Detroit’s “Black Bottom.” Grandpa Dao Dao would tell me other

stories about his time at Ford Motor Company, how he worked in the paint department as

viii

a spray painter. He would laugh sometimes about having to take two and three showers
just to get the fumy smell of paint off of his body.

My grandfather came to work at Ford Motor Company right after World War 1.
Receiving an honorable discharge at the rank of sergeant from serving in the Army
during the war, my grandfather was hired in Ford Motor’s paint department. He worked
there from around 1918 to 1926. When my grandfather joined Second Baptist right after
World War I, Reverend Bradby was in his eighth year as pastor of the church and had just
built a relationship with Ford Motor Company through its chief executive Charles E.
Sorenson. My family always believed that my grandfather received a recommendation
from Reverend Bradby for employment at Ford Motor Company and the rest, as they say,
is history.

The combination of being an honorary member of Second Baptist, knowing part of its
rich history and the relationship between my father’s name and the Ford Motor Company
began an intensive interest in finding out more about Second Baptist’s history during the
time my grandfather worked at Ford Motor. Rumors of the power and influence of one
of Second Baptist’s greatest pastors, Reverend Robert L. Bradby, heightened my interest
in the church’s history. One rumor in particular spurred me to write this dissertation and
put all the pieces of my grandfather’s employment, my father’s name, and the role of
Second Baptist together in order to tell the full story behind my families connection to the
church and the Motor city. The rumor was that Bradby was one of Henry Ford's top
employment recruiters for black labor in Detroit. According to Second Baptist church
historian Nathaniel Leach, Reverend Bradby had a lucrative relationship with Henry Ford

that paved the way for thousands of African Americans men, like my grandfather, to gain

ix

jobs at Ford Motor Company. It was said that a recommendation from Bradby was all one
needed to gain employment at Ford, which paid twice as much as any other job a black
man could obtain in the 1920s.

These rumors created a lot of questions in my mind. How did my grandfather gain
employment at Ford Motor Company? Was it true that Bradby wrote him a letter of
recommendation to Henry Ford? Did my grandfather’s appreciation to Henry Ford and
Reverend Bradby influence him not only to remain a loyal member of Second Baptist for
over seventy years, but also to even name his own son after Henry Ford and his son Edsel
Ford? These questions pushed me to find an answer and to investigate further the life and
history of Reverend Robert L. Bradby and Second Baptist. My initial investigations into
these areas yielded far more insight into my family, my culture and the black community
of Detroit from which I grew up. My findings exceeded my expectations and deepened
my understanding of the power of the Black Church within the Afiican American

community.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1

CHAPTER ONE:

REVERND ROBERT L. BRADBY: FORERUNNER

OF THE BLACK SELF-HELP TRADITION-1910-

1940 .............................................................................................. 16

CHAPTER TWO:
MIGRANTS, ROBERT L. BRADBY AND THE MINISTRY OF SECOND
BAPTIST ........................................................................................ 69

CHAPTER THREE:
REVEREND BRADBY, BLACK WORKERS AND HENRY FORD ................. 95

CHAPTER FOUR:
REVEREND BRADBY, BLACK CHURCHWOMEN AND THE
MINISTRIES OF SECOND BAPTIST

................................................................................................... l3 1
CHAPTER FIVE:

THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS BEHIND THE MINSTRY OF

REVEREND ROBERT L. BRADBY

AND SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH ..................................................... 170
CONCLUSION:

SECOND BAPTIST AFTER BRADBY .................................................. 183
APPENDICES ................................................................................ l9 1
BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................... 192

xi

INTRODUCTION

Historically, the Black Church has been one of the most prominent institutions within
the Afi'ican American experience. Scholars have herald it to be the seedbed of black
culture and identity. Its foundation has its baptism in the institution of Slavery and its
formation in the early years of Reconstruction.1 AS C. Eric Lincoln states, “The black
man’s...religion was the organizing principle around which his life was structured. His
church was his school, his forum, his political arena, his social club, his art gallery, his
conservatory of music. It was lyceum and gymnasium as well as sanctum, santorrn”2 The
social and historical conditions in which African Americans lived created a locus of
space and power that offered protection, understanding, and even methods of resistance
in the face white oppression. Many African Americans founded this locus of space and
power in the religion of Christianity. By the early twentieth century, African Americans
who found empowerment in doctrines of Christianity had firmly established one of the
most dynamic and prominent institutional forms of their beliefs in the black church.
During the Reconstruction Era, the Black Church became one of ,the primary cultural
bases of black identity, respect and empowerment.

The black pastor became the central figure who embodied these ideologies. The black
pastor/preacher became a living symbol of black empowerment, respectability and even
resistance. He or she was the leader and visionary of the Black Church, and subsequently

the black community. Undergirded by those whom John Dittrner calls the “local people,”

 

' Albert J. Raboteau, Slave Religion: The Invisible Institution in Antebellum South, (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1978).

2 C. Eric Lincoln, Foreword to Leonard E. Barrett’s, Soul F orce: African Heritage in Afro-American
Religion, (New York: Anchor Press, 1974), viii.

the black preacher welded considerable power and influence on behalf of his people and
against those forces which sought to disenfranchise the black community.3
Although at times the Black Church and its leadership has been criticized for
being seemingly accommodating to the white power structure in its social- political
perspectives, it has steadily engaged in radical agendas of self-empowerment and modes
of black resistance in the face of white oppression. These radical agendas of self-
empowerrnent reflect what Gayraud Wilmore, Vincent Harding, and Manning Marable
refer to as “spiritual strivings.” These “spiritual strivings” within the black community
encompass the black struggle for freedom and equality and mirror the tenuous movement
of a body of water. For Harding, “There is a River,” and for Marable the struggle is
mirrored in the image of “Blackwater.” For Wilmore, the ebb and flow of the waters of
freedom and equality bubbled up within the black worshipping community and rose in its
depth in the Black church and its affiliated agencies.4 For Wilmore, the black church
reflected three characteristics of what he calls the “radical tradition” in black religion: the
struggle for independence from white power structures; the revalorization of Africa; and
the acceptance of protest and agitation as theological prerequisites for black freedom as
well as for all oppressed groups.5
Wilmore’s contention that the acceptance of protest and agitation as theological
prerequisites for black freedom speaks to the dynamic hermeneutical principles African
Americans gleamed from the message of Christianity and later established as the

fundamental social practices of the black church, particularly in the early twentieth

 

3 John Dittmer, Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi, (Urbana: University of Illinois
Press, 1995).

‘ Vincent Harding, There is a River: The Black Struggle for Freedom in America, (Harcort Brace J ovanich,
1981).; Gayraud S. Wilmore, Black Religion and Black Radicalism, (New York: Orbis Books, 1996), xiii.

century. The pursuit of freedom and equality was not just a political agenda in the minds
of black churchmen and women. It was a divinely appointed “call” of God upon those
whom God had chosen to carry out the task. The black pastor was accepted and held
responsible by God and the community to fulfill this “calling.” Functioning in the
“calling” of Moses as seen in the book of Exodus, the black pastor/preacher was
understood to be divinely appointed to lead the oppressed people of God out of the
proverbial white racist Egypt, and teach them how to conqueror and possess the
“Promised Land” of black enfranchisement and equality. Just as Moses and Joshua lead
the Hebrews in war against the Canaanites in possession and maintenance of the
Promised Land, so the black pastor was to led his congregation in radical resistance
against the “Canaanites” of white oppression.

Yet, the black pastor was understood to operate under a new methodology than that
espoused in the Old Testament. As a follower of Jesus Christ, the black pastor was to
engage in radical methods of resistance that reflected the non-violent revolutionary
activities of Jesus Christ in the Gospels. Radical methods meant standing against the
“status quo.” For black America this meant resistance against inequality and racism in
America through non-violent black “self-help” agendas such as social service programs,
which gave blacks educational, housing and employment opportunities. These black self-
help agendas constituted avenues of protest and agitation against abusive white power
structures.

Protest and agitation agendas espoused and even carried out by the black church were
steeped in theological imperatives founded upon the Old and New Testament. It is clear

that Jesus of the New Testament and Mose and the minor prophets of the Old Testament

 

5 Ibid., xiii.

are the focus of black clergy and Christians who believed that God was on their side. The
social actions of the black church established a means by which African Americans could

effect change in American society. As Gayraud Wilmore argues,

“But there is little doubt that the data support the contention that there were distinctive and
disruptive survival and liberation motifs in the development of religion among Afro-Americans,
and that whatever impetus for fundamental change in American society did come out of the black

community had indispensable support, if not its inception, in black religious institutions.”6

This study investigates an important example of the religious institutions to which
Wilmore alludes in his statement. Specifically, this work addresses the role and response
of one African American church within the city of Detroit, Michigan during the early
twentieth century. The history and activities of Second Baptist Church under the
dynamic leadership of Reverend Robert L. Bradby demonstrates how one black religious
institution evoked fundamental and far reaching changes in the social, cultural and
political milieu of Detroit during three major periods in American History--the Great
Migration, World War I and II, and the Great Depression which transformed the secular
spheres of black women, migrants and workers in the city of Detroit, Michigan.

Chapter one of this work analyzes the life of Reverend Robert L. Bradby and his
tremendous influence as a pastor and race leader in early twentieth century Detroit.7
Influenced by the ideology of Progressivism and the theology of the Social Gospel,
Bradby’s brand of leadership blended these two concepts into a Christian social
imperative that spoke to the needs of black Detroiters during the early years of the Great

Migration and sustained them through the Great Depression. Chapter two traces the

 

‘ Ibid., xiv.

7 Race leader is defined as one who seeks the social, political, cultural and economic advancement of their
race through mediums of protest, accommodation, and resistance. In this narrative, race leader refers to
African American men women who engaged in activities that promoted the economic, political, social and
cultural welfare of the African American community.

activities of Second Baptist during the Great Migration, emphasizing Bradby’s uncanny
ability to harness white power structures and local people to the needs of thousands of
black migrants pouring into Detroit. Under the leadership of Bradby, Second Baptist
became known as the “home of strangers,” a place that welcomed the black newcomer
with both the love of the Gospel and a social service program that fulfilled the social,
cultural and economic needs of the migrant. Chapter three describes one of the most
powerful triangular relationships ever established between the black church, the black
community and the automotive industrial world—that of the relationship between
Reverend Robert L. Bradby, Henry Ford of Ford Motor Company and the Detroit black
community. Handpicked as a representative of the Detroit African American community,
by one of the most powerful whites in the nation, Bradby used his connection to Henry
Ford to exercise considerable power and influence in the Detroit community. Bradby’s
recommendations to Henry Ford on behalf of black workers changed the automotive
industrial world and made the black worker permanent part of the industrial working
class. Chapter four addresses the foundation of . Bradby’s leadership powers and the
effectiveness of Second Baptist’s in Detroit by looking at the role and dynamic activities
of black churchwomen in Second Baptist. In doing so, chapter four addresses the
informal power structures within the black church that sustained and even enhanced black
male leadership and the effectiveness of the black church. Black churchwomen at Second
Baptist and the many church auxiliaries and self-help groups they lead, constituted the
driving force behind Second’s successful ministries to Detroit blacks and the “unspoken”

power that backed Bradby’s leadership.

The conclusion of this work addresses the multiple layers of ideology within black
church theology. Issues of liberation and resistance and the rhetoric of the Social Gospel
are prominent features in Second’s theology. In fact, these three motifs are fundamental
to Bradby’s understanding of the “kingdom of God.” Second’s theology also reflected an
African American Christianity that balanced biblical parallels drawn from both the Old
Testament and New Testament.

The history of Second Baptist during the inter-war years brings to light a new aspect
of Migration History, .i.e., the religio-cultural experiences of black migrants as they
entered Detroit. There has been tremendous work done in regards to the massive
migration of African Americans from the South to the North. Many of these studies have
looked at the lives of black migrants as they came to settle in places such as Chicago,
Philadelphia and even Detroit. Yet, the majority of these works have ignored the
activities of black pastors through the local church during the early part of the twentieth
century. Few if any studies have addressed the role of the Black Church during one of the
most crucial periods of African American History, that of the Great Migration. Those
analyses that have paid heed to the actions of the Black Church and the black pastor
during this period, have only given a cursory investigation black male Christian
leadership and the support networks that sustained them through the church.

There is a need within scholarly circles to re-address the movement of the Black
Church during the early twentieth century, particularly during the eras of the Great
Migration and the Depression. An investigation into these areas will provide a deeper
perspective of the role of the urban black church in the lives of African Americans,

specifically in terms of the nature and power exemplified in leadership of the black

pastor. For many migrant families, the locus of black cultural formation and identity was
predicated upon the theology and social-political experiences of the black pastor.

Historian Milton Semette laments this hiatus in historical scholarship, stating
“Surprisingly little attention has been paid to the impact of the Great Migration on
churches in the North and in the South.”8 Semette’s words hold weight when one takes
an in-depth look at existing migration scholarship. Traditionally, historiography on the
Great Migration has focused on the socioeconomic aspects of the massive movement,
while other works have tended to look at “race relations” imperatives. This vein of
scholarship on black migration has emerged from urban studies programs, which limit
their observations to issues of notions of race, class, and ghetto formation.9 Throughout
these studies, there has been very little attention given to the cultural experiences of
African American migrants.

To date, Milton Semett's Bound for the Promised Land ( 1997) offers the first full
investigation into the role of the twentieth century black church in the Great Migration.
His work breaks new ground within scholarly circles of African American history and
American religious studies with regard to the role of the Black Church during the Great
Migration. His conclusions herald the Black Church's awesome impact on the social
consciousness of black southern migrants; as well as on their ability to thwart racists
agenda's in their pursuit of the "Promised Land. " He writes, "The emphasis on the role
of black churches in social action, a theme dominating the civil rights and Black Power

generations, can also be found in the Great Migration era. "10

 

8 Milton C. Semett, Bound for the Promised Land: A fi'ican American Religion and the Great Migration,
(London: Duke University Press, 1997), 3.

Ibid.
'° Ibid., 247.

Clarence Taylor’s The Black Churches of Brooklyn, which also notes the role of black
churches in Brooklyn, New York during the Great Migration, presents a surface
investigation of the actual experiences of black migrants and the specific roles the black
church played in the migrant’s life.11

Works offering a gendered analysis of the black church during the Great Migration are
also limited in fully ascertaining the impact of the northern black church in the lives or
migrants. Although many of these studies note the informal power structures black
churchwomen welded in supporting northern black churches, through church auxiliaries
and clubs these works neglect to provide deeper insight into the part black churchwomen
played in helping the church meet the needs of migrants. Again such works as Darlene
Clark Hine's When the Truth is Told: A History of Black Women ’s Culture and
Community in Indiana, 1875-1950 (1981), Anne Meis Knupfer’s Toward A Tenderer
Humanity and a Nobler Womanhood (1996) and Everyln Brooks Higgenbotham’s
Righteous Discontent note the power of black churchwomen and women’s clubs in the
advancement of black uplift and self-help programs. These works speak to the impact of
black women in sustaining the church to meet the needs of 'migrants. Hine and
Higgenbotham’s work do a much stronger job than Knupfer in defining the informal
power structures that black churchwomen had in supporting the black church and racial
advancement. Higgenbotham’s study further addresses the theological imperatives

behind black Baptist women’s participation in the black church, lending more insight into

 

‘1 Clarence Taylor, The Black Churches ofBrooklyn, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994).

the support systems of black church and the theology that informed black women’s
religious experience.12

Another study by Hine, Hine Sigh:t Black Women and the Reconstruction of
American History (1994) has a chapter on “Black Women in the Middle West.” A
section of this chapter focuses on the contributions of black churchwomen and
clubwomen in helping migrants adjust to urban life. Her work even touches on the lives
of some of the most prominent churchwomen at Second Baptist, such as Lillian Johnson
and Fannie Richards.13

Although studies like Hine’s, Knupfer’s, Higgenbotham’s and Taylor's address the
black church, and the activities of black churchwomen during the Great Migration and
the Depression, these treatises do not completely lend themselves to an in-depth analysis
of the theological imperatives behind black churchwomen’s response to southern
migrants, particularly in places like Detroit. Victoria Wolcott’s Remaking Respectability:
African American Women in Interwar Detroit (2001) is the first work that looks in detail
at the role of black churchwomen in Detroit during the Great Migration and Depression.
Building on Hine’s study, Hine Sight (1994), Wolcott combines social black history with

a gendered analysis that embraces the religious life of black Christian women. Her work

 

’2 Darlene Clark Hine, When the Truth is Told: A History of Black Women ’5 Culture and Community in
Indiana, 1875-1950, (Indianapolis: National Council of Negro Women),; Ann Meis Knupfer, Toward a
Tender Humanity And A Nobler Womanhood: African American Women ’s Clubs in Turn-the-Century
Chicago, (New York: New York University Press, 1996); Evelyn Brooks Higgenbotham, Righteous
Discontent: The Women 's Movement in the Black Baptist Church. 1880-1920, (Massachusetts: Harvard
University Press, 1993).

’3 Darlene Clark Hine, Hine Sight Black Women and the Re-Construction of American History,
(Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1994).

sheds more light on the role of women and the black church during early twentieth
century.14

Wolcott, however, does not offer a full narrative on the nature of the local black
church in Detroit and the interconnectedness of black male Christian leadership with that
of black churchwomen in the migrant community during the interwar years. Wolcott
does address the social imperatives behind the activities of black churchwoman and
clubwomen in Detroit, though arguing that at the forefront of their efforts in black self-
help agendas were issues of respectability. For Wolcott, the “remaking of respectability,”
becomes one of the driving forces behind black churchwomen’s support of the black
church and their outreach to Detroit migrants.

Key examples of this drive for respectability among Detroit women are found in
Wolcott’s chapter entitled “Neighborhood Expansion and the Decline of Bourgeois
Respectability in the 1920s.” In this chapter, Wolcott devotes a section to looking at
black churchwomen and their club organizations; specifically, she investigates the role of
churchwomen at Second Baptist and the leadership of Rev. Bradby. According to
Wolcott, the activities of black churchwomen were instrumental in helping migrants
survive urban life and offering a variety of social service programs to the Detroit black
community.15 Crucial here is that Wolcott notes that religious imperatives are
interwined with issues of respectability and agendas of black self-help. In chapter four of

this work, I argue that Christian imperatives of establishing the kingdom of God are the

 

1’ Victoria Wolcott, Remaking Respectability: African American Women in Interwar Detroit, (Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 2001).
”Ibid., 259.

10

foundation of Second Baptist’s churchwomen clubs programs promoting respectability in
the community.

Wolcott’s study constitutes the third scholarly publication on the activities of Second
Baptist and the leadership of Rev. Robert L. Bradby. Although she devotes an entire
section of her work to addressing the experiences Second Baptist’s churchwomen and
Bradby’s leadership in establishing a settlement home for migrants called the Baptist
Christian Center, her work does not go into any depth with respect to the life of Bradby
and his leadership strategies.

To date, there has not been a significant body of literature produced on the life and
ministry of Rev. Robert L. Bradby and Second Baptist church, outside of a few
references to Second Baptist and Bradby in masters theses and dissertations.
Contemporary scholarship, such as Wolcott and Semett, devote a small space to Bradby,
mentioning his connection with Ford Motor Company and its impact on the Detroit
Community. Outside of these scholars, Richard Thomas’ work Life for Us Is What We
Make It ( 1992) gives a bit more insight into the leadership activities of Bradby and
Second Baptist, especially with regard to the rise of unions in black Detroit.l6

Older works, produced in between the late 19603 and early 19803 by labor and
Detroit historians, note the influence of Bradby and Second Baptist on the Detroit
community in the early twentieth century. Such works as David Allan Levine’s Internal
Combustion, August Meier and Elliot Rudwick’s Black Detroit and the Rise of the UA W
(1979), Elizabeth Ann Martin’s Detroit and the Great Migration (1993) and Oliver

Zunz’s The Changing Face of Inequality (1982) present a cursory analysis of the

 

’6 Richard Thomas, Life for Us Is What We Make It: Building Black Community in Detroit, I 915-1945,
(Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1992).

11

activities of Bradby and the ministry of Second Baptist. These historians note Bradby and
Second in relation to black community building in Detroit and the automotive industry.17

Second Baptist’s church historian, Nathaniel Leach and Edith Gamble’s Eyewitness
History Second Baptist Church of Detroit, 1836-1976 presented the very first in-depth
analysis of Bradby’s life and ministry and the role of Second Baptist in early twentieth
century Detroit. Published in 1976, this work addresses the history of Second Baptist
from its establishment in 1836 to up through the late 1970s.

The authors based their narrative on a number of personal interviews and writings
from prominent members and pastors of Second. This work is rich in historic details of
Second, Bradby’s life and ministry, and the many church actions of Second’s clubs and
auxiliaries. Despite the richness of information gathered by the authors, this work lacks a
broader interpretative analysis. The impact of broader historical context such as the Civil
War, Reconstruction, the Progressive Era, the Great Migration, World Wars I and II and
even the Civil Rights Movement are not addressed in this work. Leach and Gamble’s
studied a micro-history of a micro-history. Neither author related the history of Second
Baptist and its prominent members and ministry to overall Detroit History and black
community building. In 1988, Leach produced a revised addition to Eyewitness History,
entitled Second Baptist Connection, which made minor corrections and adding twelve
more years of church history to the book. Leach’s study, however is extremely rich in
primary resources and detailed documentation, making the work a fundamental part of

the historiography on black church history, Black Detroit history and local black church

 

17David Allan Levine, Internal Combustion The Races in Detroit [915-1926, (W estport: Greenwood Press,
1976); Oliver Zunz, The Changing Face of Inequality: Urbanization, Industrial Development, and
Immigrants in Detroit, 1880-1920, (Chicago: University Press, 1982).; Elizabeth Ann Martin, Detroit and

12

18 In addressing local church history, scholars have a better picture by which to

history.
assess community formations in urban contexts.

Cara Shelly’s article, published in 1990, “Bradby’s Baptist,” was the second full
length study of Bradby and Second Baptist during the interwar years in Detroit. Shelly’s
article not only addressed Bradby’s early life, but the impact of Second Baptist in the
black community and Bradby’s relationship with Ford was explored as well. However,
like Wolcott, Shelly’s investigation lacked deeper insight into the nature of Bradby’s
leadership and the social-historical forces that shaped his pastorate. Moreover, Shelly’s
work ignored the role of Second’s churchwomen in helping Bradby meet the needs of
migrant newcomers. Both scholars neglected to note the impact of Progressivism and the
Social Gospel upon the actions of Second Baptist and Bradby.19

Although Wolcott’s work presented a better job of addressing gender dimensions
with ministry of Second Baptist, her assessment of Bradby is only peripheral. Like
Shelly, Wolcott did a surface reading of Bradby’s ministerial activities towards migrants.
Both works also neglected the theological realities and imperatives in Bradby’s
leadership and the ministry of Second Baptist. Further, neither of these studies fully noted
Bradby’s impact on labor relations in Detroit and Second’s impact on the automotive
industrial world.

Outside of published works referencing Bradby and Second Baptist, unpublished

works such as master theses and dissertations also touched on the life of Bradby and his

 

the Great Migration, 1916-1929, (Dearbom: The Bentley Historical Library, 1993); August Meier and
Elliot Rudwick, Black Detroit and the Rise of the UA W, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979).

’8 Nathaniel Leach and Edith Gamble, Eyewitness History, Second Baptist Church of Detroit, 1836-1976,
reel 3, Second Baptist Church Papers, Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley Historical Library,
University of Michigan; Nathaniel Leach, The Second Baptist Connection: Revised Edition Eyewitness
History Second Baptist Church, (Detroit: Second Baptist Church, 1988).

13

activities through Second. Cara Shelly’s article was based on her master’s thesis. Other
studies addressed Bradby’s ministry in the field of Labor and Urban history. For
example, Lloyd Bailer’s dissertation “Negro Labor in the Automobile Industry and
Norman Kenneth Miles’ “Home At Last: Urbanization of Black Migrants in Detroit,
1916-1929,” gave a cursory investigation into the life of Bradby and the role of Second
Baptist in the lives of migrants and Detroit community building. Bailer’s work looks a bit
deeper into Bradby’s leadership of Second and his impact on the black working class in
Detroit.20

This present work presents a fuller assessment of the life of Bradby and Second
Baptist. The ultimate goal of this study is to bring the life and ministry of Rev. Robert L.
Bradby to the fore in scholarly circles of investigation. For the leadership of Bradby and
the ministry of Second Baptist impact multiple fields of scholarly inquiry. His life and
leadership activities through Second Baptist offer a window of analysis by which to gain
more insight into such fields as Labor History, Black Intellectual History, Religious
History, African American Religion, African American Religious History, Black
Intellectual History, Migration History and even Reform Theology. Further, this work
adds to the corpus of materials on Black Urban History of Detroit. Progressivism, the
Social Gospel Movement, the Great Migration, the Great Depression, World Wars I and
II, the rise of the Detroit black working class and the push for unions during the twentieth
century all find resonance in the dynamic history Second Baptist Church of Detroit and

the leadership of its 19th pastor Rev. Robert L. Bradby.

 

'9 Cara Shelly, “Badby’s Baptist: Second Baptist Church of Detroit 1910-1946,” Michigan Historical
Review, 17, no. 1 (spring 1991): 1-33.

2° Cara Shelly, “Bradby’s Baptist: Second Baptist Church of Detroit 1910-1946,” (master’s thesis,
University of Michigan, 1990).

14

This study addresses the role of Second Baptist and its leading pastor in response to
these tumultuous periods. I approach this task always addressing the theological
underpinnings behind the historical activities of Second Baptist and Bradby. In this
respect, this work is the first of its kind in blending history and theology in addressing
Black Detroit during the early twentieth century. A two-dimensional perspective of the
social historical contexts in which African American existential realties incorporated
theological premises for survival, resistance, identity, culture, and even respectability
provide a larger window by which to understand the nature of the Black Church and
African American Christianity.

Pulling together the strands of information cited in master’s thesis, dissertations and
sections from secondary sources about the life of Bradby and Second Baptist, this
narrative will build up on these works in presenting a clearer picture of local black
Christian leadership in the black church. Through such archival materials as journals,
letters, anniversary booklets, church minutes, and church newspaper articles, I have
pieced together the dynamic activities of Second Baptist during the interwar years in
Detroit. Minutes from church events and National Baptist meetings, 'mini biographies and
sketches of Bradby’s early life are joined together with bits of information from
dissertations, books and master’s thesis to present the reader with the full life of Rev.
Robert L. Bradby and the forces that shaped his life.

Most importantly, this study can provide a format for the analysis of prominent black
religious leaders in older communities that were shaped by the Great Migration. This is
crucial is giving a more rounded perspective of black Christian leadership and the

structured networks by which these leaders cradled the events of the Great Migration.

15

CHAPTER ONE: REVEREND ROBERT L. BRADBY
FORERUNNER OF THE BLACK SELF HELP TRADITION

John Hope Franklin and August Meier argue that black leaders of the twentieth
century were “propagandists, in that they sought through their speeches, writings, and
other activities to mobilize blacks to struggle harder for racial advancement and

freedom.”1

Franklin and Meier’s assessment points to a significant facet of black
leadership. Black leaders of the twentieth century used the pen as well as their oratorical
skills to direct the minds of African Americans toward actions of black self-help and
racial advancement. Although the anthology covered many outstanding figures in black
leadership during the twentieth century, the work admittedly noted that the leadership of
black ministers was not addressed.

Though acknowledging the absence of this aspect of black leadership, Franklin and
Meier’s understanding of the nature and impact of twentieth century black leadership is
incomplete without recognizing the power and dynamic partnership between the black
preacher and the Black Church. Black leadership in America has its roots in the Black
Church. Even from the earliest days in slavery, the black preacher was understood to be
the leader and mobilizer of what E. Franklin Frazier and Albert J. Raboteau term “the
Invisible Institution.”2 Indeed, the most recognized black leader of our time, Dr. Martin

Luther King Jr. was a prime example of the influence a black preacher could weld when

backed by the local power of the Black Church.

 

I John Hope Franklin and August Meier, Black Leaders of the Twentieth Century, (Chicago: University of
Illinois Press), x.

2 E. Franklin Frazier, Black Church in America, (New York: Schocken Books, 1963); and Albert J.
Raboteau, Slave Religion: The Invisible Institution, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978).

16

Yet, years before Dr. King rose to take the baton of leadership in the black
community, there were other ministers who walked the struggle for freedom. Ministers
such as Richard Allen, Alexander Crummell, and Bishop Henry M. Turner were
forerunners of black leadership and black self-help in the Christian tradition. Central to
the influence and success of these men was their connection with the Black Church and
their deep-seated faith.

This section addresses the life of Reverend Robert Lewis Bradby of Second Baptist
Church in Detroit who stands in the shadows of these forerunners of black leadership.
Rev. Robert L. Bradby used the Black Church as a vehicle for black empowerment and
enfranchisement in the lives of black Detroiters. Bradby’s effective use of the black
church to enfranchise the Detroit community was based on his drive to advance what he
understood as the “call” to establish the “kingdom of God.” Biblical motifs taken from
the Old and New Testament informed Bradby’s brand of leadership through the black
church.

For Bradby, the fight against racism and black disempowerment was a fight to
establish the Kingdom of God, a reality where the principles of righteousness, equality
and justice were practiced and maintained within all aspects of African American
existential realities. The Lord God Jehovah through his son Jesus Christ had proclaimed
through the Bible that all those who called themselves his followers must fight for the
establishment of hiskingdom by resisting oppression, fighting for justice and proclaiming
salvation to the poor and hopeless (Amos 5:11-12, 24). The writings of the minor
prophets of the Old Testament held resonance for Bradby and he drew the heart of his

theology from their perspectives on justice, mercy and righteousness. In doing so, Bradby

l7

lived his theology out through practical means of preaching racial uplifi, creating social
service programs, and publicly speaking out against discriminatory policies in the Detroit
comnnity.

One of the most fundamental manifestations of Bradby’s theology of the “kingdom
of God,” were the numerous letters he wrote on behalf of his congregation, his uncanny
ability to mobilize white support, and his skills in organizing his parishioners to struggle
for racial advancement through church auxiliaries and organizations. Bradby’s leadership
of Second Baptist demonstrated the powerful influence that black leadership exercised
when sustained by and through the local black church. Second Baptist Church was known
throughout the city of Detroit as a place of racial uplifi and power among whites as well
as blacks. Reverend Robert L. Bradby was a quintessential “Race Man” who under
divine/sacred initiative fought against the subordination of blacks. 3

In essence, Bradby’s leadership of Second Baptist filtered through the black
community of Detroit and splashed over white power structures in a fashion reminiscent
of Vincent Harding’s “river” and Gayraud Wilmore’s “bubbling and meandering stream.”
What is more poignant is the theological imperatives inherent within Bradby’s leadership
and the social activities of Second Baptist Church, which mirror what theologian Ched
Myers refers to as radical discipleship.

According to Ched Myers, “radical discipleship” means approaching the Bible with
social, political and economic questions in mind. Thus, biblical scriptures are understood
to be authoritative only in the sense that it leads society to “repentance” and “resistance.”

For Myers, “repentance” means a turning away from abusive power structures that

 

3 A "race man" is an individual, typically a black male who pursues justice, equality and political power
primarily on behalf of the African American community. .

l8

subvert justice and legitimate the oppression of peoples of color. “Resistance” is
understood to be a divine mandate of rejecting and standing against oppressive ideologies
and entities that that fight against equality and freedom. Although Myers posits these
oppressive forces as “imperialism” with all its multifaceted manifestations in society, this
work recognizes that for individuals like Bradby and the members of Second Baptist
imperialist realities were dressed up in white racist social, political and economic policies
that oppressed the African American community in Detroit.4

Bradby’s theology demanded that he confront and combat these racist policies through
- aggressive and progressive agendas of black self-help and resistance. For Bradby, these
agendas of protest and agitation were biblically based in the New Testament Gospels and
in Christian doctrine. Again, a key ideology held prominent in the mindset of Bradby and
demonstrated in the Gospels was the theological concept of the “kingdom of God.” In
the preface of Second Baptist’s Church History booklet, celebrating its 104th anniversary,
Bradby writes of establishing “a larger and more extensive program of the “kingdom of
God.” He claimed that God had given him and his church this challenge and that they are
humbly dedicated to completing this task. For Bradby, this divine initiative of
establishing the “kingdom of God” is God’s will and the destiny of his church. All
members of Second Baptist are “called” to this task and demanded to “surrender” to

God’s will, following His divine mandate “whitersoever He may lead.”5

 

4 Although this work understands Bradby and his leadership of Second Baptist to be a reflection of Myer’s
“radical discipleship,” it does not agree with Myer’s perception of the authority of scripture with regard to
radical discipleship. Bradby as well as those who followed him did not limit biblical authority to issues of
repentance and resistance. On the contrary, they understood biblical authority to extended its truths beyond
these two issues and encompass a multiplicity of realities that impacted African American existentialism.

5 Reverend. Robert L. Bradby, “Preface,” History of Second Baptist Church 1836-1940, Second Baptist
Historical Collection, Second Baptist Church, Detroit.

19

This epitaph, written in 1940, heralded not just the future aspirations of Bradby and
Second Baptist, it also reflected the tremendous efforts of the Church in years past. Under
the leadership of Bradby, Second Baptist became the foremost place of refuge and social
uplift for black Detroiters and migrants during the interwar years and the Great
Depression. The church held the reputation among black Detroiters and southern
migrants newly come to Detroit of being the “Home of Strangers.” Bradby’s guidance of
this “Home of Strangers” reflected his understanding of the “kingdom of God,” and
demonstrated a theological perspective grounded in liberation motifs. The “program of
the kingdom of God” for ministers like Bradby was most assuredly tied to the social-
political and economic uplift of its parishioners and especially of the surrounding black
society. For Bradby, the kingdom of God was established when black Detroiter’s gained
voting rights, were accepted in white establishments and were afforded the same
opportunities for schooling, housing and employment as their white brothers and sisters.
Bradby’s leadership was founded upon a social political reading of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ.

Bradby’s early life and conversion experience had a tremendous impact on his
understanding of God and his vocation. The record of Bradby’s early life paints him as a
pauper growing up in a small farming community, who faced many challenges, yet
eventually overcomes these obstacles to become a prominent minister in Detroit. Bradby
worked extremely laborious jobs to support himself. He also suffered tremendous losses
of loved ones before he finally came to settle at Second Baptist. He is portrayed as an

extremely hard working individual, ambitious and self- sufficient.

20

Bradby’s life was shaped by a number of forces. Growing up during the Progressive
Era in Canada, his early life was shaped by the reform activities and sentiments of black
and white Christian evangelicals bent on changing the world for God. Religious
reformers throughout the 19’h century were looking to put order back into society. The
Second Great Awakening spurred many of these reformers black and white, to engage in
benevolent acts such as feeding the poor and educating the illiterate.

Black Baptist churches in Canada reflected the sentiment of the times and were
actively engaged in reform activities within their respective communities. Many of the
black Canadian Baptists crusaded against slavery during the 1840s and actively
encouraged fugitive slaves to take refuge in their communities, especially after the 1850
fugitive slave law. An act of the British Imperial Parliament in 1833 abolished slavery
throughout the British colonies, and gave much strength to black Canadians reformers in
speaking out against slavery in America.

Many of the leaders of black Canadian reform, efforts were Afiican American Baptist
ministers of small congregations throughout Ontario.6 These small congregations
emerged from numbers of fugitive slaves entering Canada from Detroit, via the
“Underground Rail Road.” Hundreds of fugitive slaves crossed into Canada at Windsor,
and at Fort Malden, located at Amherstburg. Along with fugitive slaves were many

Native Americans living around Windsor. Blacks, Native Americans and many other

 

6 Robin W. Winks, The Blacks in Canada A History, (London: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1997),
338.

21

nationalities were found to intermingled and settled in the surrounding areas around
Windor.7
Black Canadian reformers and ministers living around Windsor, Ontario were
particularly active in black uplift and the fight against slavery during the early 18008.
However, by the late 1860s, black Canadian reformers were experiencing a loss of
equality and freedom. According Robin W. Winks, the Emancipation Proclamation
sparked fear in the hearts of white Canadians, ironically in those who had earnestly
waited for the end of slavery in America. Winks argued that President Lincoln’s
proclamation, it was feared “would foster a “general irruption” of Negroes into Canada
West.” A8 a result, many Canadian whites began to “exclude black children from
common schools, refused work those few new refugees who did arrive, and encouraged
those already present to return to the dis-United States.”8 Black Canadians continued to
suffer loss of freedom and equality throughout the late 18008. As Winks notes, “the
Negro in Canada found himself sliding down an inclined plane from mere neglect to
dislike.”9 Racist stereotypes of blacks from America filtered into Canada and tainted the
perspectives of traditionally liberal white Canadians. By the early tvientieth century, “evil
moved with as much grace as virtue, and the Negro sank to his nadir in Canada.”10
Born on September 17, 1877, Robert Lewis Bradby opened his eyes during this
nadir of black life in Canada. The only son of James and Mary Eldridge, Bradby was
reared in a log cabin house in a small village bordering an Indian Reserve in Ontario,

called Middlemus, about 100 miles from Windsor. Like the many other black families

 

7 “Minutes of the Amherstburg Association, Pathfinders of Liberty and Truth, 1841-1940,” p. 1-2, reel 2,
box 2, Second Baptist Church Papers, Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley Historical Library,
University of Michigan.

8 Robin W. Winks, The Blacks in Canada A History, 289.

22

living in Ontario, Bradby’s parents may have crossed into Canada from America,
“bringing their families and household goods in wagons drawn by ox-teams.”11
Surviving the early death of his mother when he was five years old, Bradby grew up
under the tutelage of his father, grandmother, two uncles and one Aunt. Bradby’s father
was a logger and a cook in a sawmill, who sang church hymns when Bradby was a boy.
Bradby’s father singing of church hymns may point to some of the religious practices of
black Canandians in the late 19th century. Many black settlers in Canada were known to
“assemble themselves together to give praise to their God, who had delivered them from
the bonds of slavery. . 3’12
Living in Middlemus, farm work, such as raking and forking hay, driving teams and
harvesting grain were daily activities for the young Bradby. Working for twenty—five
cents a day, Bradby relates minding cows and driving them up a night for a pound of
butter a week, and gathering eggs for the farmers for one egg out of a dozen.13 Around
age fourteen, Bradby joined his father at a logging camp in Inwook, Ontario. He was
made his father’s partner in cutting wood and logs for three dollars a week. He then,
moved with his father to another section of Inwook, when his dad became head cook and
he became second cook in large saw mill camp.”
By the late 18908, Bradby was twenty years old. He moved to Chatham, Ontario

where he worked as a butcher and then as a molder and striker in the brick mills.

Chatham was one the locuses of black life in Canada. During his time in Chatham,

 

9 Ibid., 292.

‘° Ibid.

1: “Minutes of the Amherstburg Association, Pathfinders of Liberty and Truth, 1841-1940,” p. 1-2.
Ibid.

'3 “Subject of Schetch: Reverend Robert Lewis Bradby,” Second Baptist Historical Collection, Second

Baptist Church, Detroit, Michigan.

‘4 Ibid.

23

Bradby attended the common schools of Canada and finished high school. It was in
Chatham that Bradby had his first experience with God. He writes that one-day while
walking down the road he was arrested by the Spirit of God, who put him in
remembrance of the hymns his father sang. The encounter changed Bradby’s life forever.
He writes of being forced to leave the cattle he was driving, and of going straight to the
First Baptist Church of Chatham where he gave his life over to Jesus Christ under the
leading of Reverend J. H. Penick. Bradby was twenty-two years old at the time.15

Interestingly, Bradby’s conversion is reminiscent of the Apostle Paul’s “Damascus
Road” experience in the New Testament. Saul, who became Paul as the scriptures relate,
encountered the Spirit of God while traveling down the road to Damascus. Saul’s
encounter with the Spirit of God created sweeping changes in his life, so much so that
even his name was changed. Indeed, Bradby took on a whole new identity himself from
his own experience with God. Choosing to be baptized on Easter Sunday in 1899, Bradby
solidified his commitment to Christ by submerging his body in the creek that ran at the
back of the church. From there he dedicated himself to working in the church’s youth
organizations and was eventually elected superintendent of the Sunday School. Later, he
was elected deacon of the church.16

First Baptist was the first black church established in Chatham, under Elder William
White. Winks notes that the black church in Chatham arose because of the rising number
of blacks in that area around the 18408. Founded in 1843, First Baptist “rendered great
service, as a soul saving and life-saving station” in Chatham’s black community.17 The

church was known for its active Sunday School, organized in 1882, and its Women’s

 

‘5 Ibid.
'6 Ibid.

24

missionary society established in 1883. With a membership of 184, First Baptist of
Chatham had as many as thirty ministers serving at its senior pastor. Bradby was the 18th
minister to serve as senior pastor of the church.

Having established himself as a strong, upstanding member of the black
worshipping community in Chatham, Ontario, Bradby soon felt the “call” to preach the
Gospel. The church speedily granted his preaching license. In fact, First Baptist Church
in Chatham was so smitten with the young preacher that it elected him as its pastor soon
after his licensing.

As an established preacher and pastor, Bradby soon married. On May 14, 1900
Bradby was wed to Miss Maud Snell. Two years later, he received a call to pastor the
First Baptist Church of Windsor, Ontario. It was during his time in Windsor that he
attended McMaster University, a Baptist College and Seminary in Toronto, Ontario.
Bradby was one of ten African Americans ever to attend the prestigious university.18
Some years later, Bradby received an honorary Doctors of Divinity degree from Virginia
(Lynchburg) Theological Seminary and a law degree from Wilberforce.19

Bradby’s tenure at First Baptist Church of Windsor lasted seven years. The church
was very supportive of Bradby’s educational pursuits and granted him a leave of absence
to finish his studies. The Amherstburg Regular Baptist Association also provided
financial assistance to Bradby while he attended MacMaster University. The black

churchwomen of the Amherstburg Association, the Women’s Home and Foreign Mission

 

’7 “Minutes of the Amherstburg Association, Pathfinders of Liberty and Truth, 1841-1940,” p. 79.
'8 “Subject of Sketch: Reverend Robert Lewis Bradby,” Second Baptist Historical Collection, Second
Baptist Church, Detroit, Michigan.
19 .
Ibid.

25

Society, were especially supportive of Bradby’s education, giving as much as $300.00 in
one year, a phenomenal amount in the early 1900.20
During his time at McMaster, Bradby was ordained as a minister by an ordination

council. Dr. Holland Powell, then pastor of Second Baptist Church of Detroit was part of
the ordination council.21 Soon after, Bradby received a call by Second Baptist Church of
Detroit to be Dr. Holland Powell’s successor in the pastorate. Bradby, however turned
down the opportunity and opted to gain more experience in Windsor.22

Bradby’s leadership abilities began to grow during his time as pastor of First Baptist
Church of Windsor. Bradby’s resume notes that he began to definitely “build himself and
his work into strength and real helpfulness to humanity.”23 Bradby’s promoted changes
within the small church. A new Bible was purchased for the pulpit, pews received new
hymnbooks and a banister was built around the stairs entering the Church. The church
even received a new coat of paint, a rebuilt school-room to the cost of $1200.00 and a
new stone walk.24

Bradby even rejuvenated stagnant church auxiliaries and started new ones. He is noted
for establishing a Sinking Fund Treasury for the needy and a Literary Society. He re—

established the B.Y.P.U. and the Ladies Aid and Women’s Home Missionary Society.

 

2° “Minutes of the Amherstburg Association, Pathfinders of Liberty and Truth, 184l-l940,”p. 63.

2’ Note: Reverend Holland Powell originated from Richmond, Virginia and was married to Rebecca
Morton a Washington DC. schoolteacher. He was Second Baptist’s 17th Pastor in December 1901. Powell
recollects that when he was first called to Second, he arrived one month late because he “previously
preached at the ordination services of an energetic young man—Robert L. Bradby—in the First Baptist
Church in Windsor.”; Nathaniel Leach and Edith Gamble, Eyewitness History: Second Baptist Church of
Detroit , (Detroit: Second Baptist Church, 1976), 17, Reel 3, Second Baptist Church Papers, Michigan
Historical Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, Michigan.
22“Subject of Sketch: Reverend Robert Lewis Bradby,” Second Baptist Historical Collection.

3 “Resume of Rev. R.L. Bradby in the Ministry,” Fifth Anniversary of the Pastorate of Robert Lewis
Bradby. . .November 7-14, 1915 Commemorative Program, Second Baptist Historical Collection, Second
Baptist Church, Detroit.

2‘ Ibid.

26

Under his pastorate, First Baptist was known as a Church that saved many souls and
raised substantial proceeds for its membership and surrounding community. 25

Bradby’s ministry skills at First Baptist also impacted the lives of two African
American men, who were so inspired that they decided to follow in Bradby’s footsteps.
One, S. L. McDowell, was converted, licensed to preach and later ordained to the
ministry under Bradby’s charismatic leadership. In 1910, Reverend S.L. McDowell
became the pastor of University Avenue Baptist Church in Toronto, Ontario. Another
man, C.L. Wells, was also converted under Bradby’ pastorate. Wells was licensed and
ordained to the ministry under Bradby and then became Bradby’s successor at First
Baptist. Bradby’s mentorship of Reverend C.L. Wells was so successful that Wells lead
the church into building a new house of worship by raising about $14,000.00, a
phenomenal monetary figure for an African American community in 1915. 26

By 1909, Bradby had received another call to pastor at the Third Baptist Church of
Toledo, Ohio, which he accepted. Pastoring only eleven months, from December 1, 1909
to November 1, 1910, Bradby began to show signs of his leadership abilities by
establishing plans for the erection of a new church building and helping establish another
African American church in Canada. In 1909, Bradby along with another minister named
Rev. Edward Burton helped to organize the Appin church. Under Bradby’s help the
church was established with fourteen charter members and was accepted into the

Amherstburg Regular Missionary Baptist Association.27

 

25 .
Ibid.

26 Fifth Anniversary of the Pastorate of Robert Lewis Bradby. . .November 7-14, 1915 Commemorative

Program, Second Baptist Historical Collection, Second Baptist Church.

27 “Minutes of the Amherstburg Association, Pathfinders of Liberty and Truth, 184l-1940,”p. 34.

27

In 1910, however, Second Baptist of Detroit issued Bradby another call to its
pastorate. Second Baptist’s persistence impressed Bradby and he accepted the position
on November 1, 1910.28 Although Bradby left his position in Canada, he still continued
to hold connections with the Amherstburg Regular Missionary Baptist Association.29 He
continued to be an active member of the Association throughout his ministry activities in
Canada. During the years 1906 and 1907, Bradby served as moderator. In 1916, he was
one of the keynote speakers of the Amherstburg Association Baptist Young Peoples
Union (B.Y.P. U.), encouraging young African Americans in the church work and in the

30 While pastoring at Second Baptist, Bradby sought to strengthen his

Baptist doctrine.
connection with his Canadian Christian brothers and sisters by “extending an invitation to
the Association to join the Wolverine Convention of Michigan in 1920. Bradby then, was
the “Fraternal Delegate” of the Convention}1 The Amherstburg Association accepted

Bradby’s invitation and “for the next four years or five the two Associations worked

together, being called the “Michigan and Ontario Convention.”32 Although the Michigan

 

28Fifih Anniversary of the Pastorate of Robert Lewis Bradby. . .November 7-14, 1915, Second Baptist
Historical Collection.

29 Delegates from the Amherstburg, sandwich and Detroit Baptist churches organized the Amherstburg
Association in October 1841. These individuals meet in the home of John Liberty and “Believing that the
time is now come that we should form ourselves into an Association because we cannot enjoy the
privileges we wish as Christians with the white churches in Canada.” Under the direction of Madison

J .Lightfoot, Anthony Binga, and William C. Monroe, the association grew from 47 members to over a
thousand representing almost twenty churches, with only five in the United States; Winks, The Blacks in
Canada A History, 342.; and “Minutes of the Amherstburg Association, Pathfinders of Liberty and Truth,
1841-1940,”p. 6.

3° “Minutes of the Amherstburg Association, Pathfinders of Liberty and Truth, 1841 -1940,”p. 37.

3’ The Wolverine Convention of Michigan operated as an association of black churches in Michigan. The
Amherstburg Association accepted Bradby’s invitation, but later severed its ties in 1924 or 1925 due to the
influx of ministers leaving Ontario to go serve in the United States. The members of the Amherstburg
Association related that “this connection with the Wolverine Convention proved rather costly. . .for in some
of our ablest young ministers attended sessions, made new contacts, were offered more attractive
positions. . .thus many of our pulpits were left empty”; Ibid., 35.

32 Ibid.

28

and Ontario convention split around 1925, Bradby was still very active in the
Amherstburg Association. In 1924, Bradby was made a lifetime member of the
Amherstburg Association, further solidifying his ties to his Christian Canadian heritage.33

Bradby’s early life and ministry in Canada reflected the powerful influences of the
Reform movement, the legacy of the Second Great Awakening, and black racial reform
efforts. Growing up during the one of most tumultuous periods racial attack against
black life in Canada, Bradby encountered God personally, like that proclaimed by
Protestant evangelicals. His personal relationship with God and his experience within the
black Baptist faith predisposed Bradby’s personal theology and sense of vocation. Bradby
grew up in a black Christian tradition that had always condemned slavery as a moral evil
and had always pursued black uplifi. Black Baptists in Canada were activist a best and
race leaders foremost. Moreover, black Canadian Baptists were reformers, seeking to
change the status quo through educational and Christian means. Like their white
Christian brothers and sisters, Canadian Baptist sought to rid the world of evil and affect
a benevolent social order. Canadian Baptist joined and organized the Amherstburg
Association in response to ecclesiastical racism and the need to educate and uplift the
black race. In response to racism, the founding members of the association wrote,
“Believing that the time is now come that we should form ourselves into an Association
because we cannot enjoy the privileges we wish as Christians with the white churches in

Canada?”4 Educationally, the association declared, “That we admire education in the

 

’3 Ibid., 36-37.

3‘ Ibid.,6.

29

highest degree, and recommend our ministers to seek to become educated.”35Thus,
Bradby matured and learned the principles of Christianity in the social-political contexts

” 66

of “protest, resistance, and “black uplift” through education. It is these perspectives
housed in Christian principles and practices that Bradby brought to ministry of Second
Baptist. Maintaining ties at home, Bradby steadily built the ministries of Second Baptist
through his Canadian Christian background as its 19th pastor. Bradby’s experience and
Seond Baptist’s tradition of “racial self -help,” went hand in hand. For Bradby stepped
into one of the first African American religious centers ever established in Michigan.

Protest, praise, and agitation were the foundation of Second Baptist’s inception and
ministry. The rise of Second Baptist had its roots in the 1833 Blackburn Affair in
Detroit, Michigan. During the incident, the charter members of Second Baptist formed a
bond around what Gayraud Wilmore notes as agendas of praise, protest, and agitation,
which eventuated in the organization of the first black church, established in the state of
Michigan.

Fugitive slaves, Thornton and Ruth Blackburn escaped to Detroit in 1831 from a
plantation in Louisville, Kentucky. Two years later, the Blackbums’ master sent his agent
to Detroit to retrieve his property, the Blackbums. Following a short trial, the Blackbums
were arrested on Friday, June 14, 1833 and held in the jail on “Saturday since the steamer
would not arrive until Monday to take them (the Blackbums) back to Kentucky.” That
Sunday, two free black women, Mrs. Madison J. Lightfoot and Mrs. George French paid

a visit to Mrs. Blackburn at the jail. Mrs. Blackburn “walked out of jail with Mrs.

Lightfoot after Mrs. French had “exchanged clothes with her secretly. While Mrs.

 

35 Robin W. Winks, The Blacks in Canada, 343.

30

Blackburn escaped, Mrs. George French was arrested, released on a writ of habeas
corpus, then re-arrested. She later escaped to Windsor, Canada.3’6

On June 16, 1833 Mr. Blackburn was escorted to the steamboat to be taken back to
Kentucky. While being transferred a “mob of Negroes took him by force and helped him
to escape to Sandwich in Canada.” During the mob, violence erupted leaving one African
American shot and the sheriff, John Wilson “with a fractured skull and missing teeth.”
The Blackburn Affair caused mass panic among Detroit whites. Rumors of blacks
shooting white men and even killing the sheriff spread through the streets of Detroit and
caused “every colored man in the streets to be arrested and jailed. Those sentenced had to
work on the street with a ball and chain at their feet.” Mr. Lightfoot was jailed for three
days “because he refused to tell who gave Mrs. Blackburn a pistol. Mr. French fled to
Canada to be with his wife until 1835 when they returned to Detroit.37 Mr. French’s
flight to Canada reflected the plight of many blacks involved in the Blackburn Affair.
Mayor Marshall Chapin “ordered out of town all Blacks who could not produce
Certificates of Freedom or Bonds of Good Conduct.” Thornton Blackburn was arrested
in Windsor and later released. Later, he traveled to Amherstburg and then to Toronto,
Ontario where he became a property owner. In 1843, Blackburn traveled back to
Louisville, Kentucky to help his mother escape from slavery.38

The Blackburn Affair sparked the free black community of Detroit to push for greater
levels of freedom. This was especially the case with regard to the Church. Lightfoot and

French were activits against black oppression and intertwined their beliefs of black

 

36 “William C. Monroe,” in Nathaniel Leach and Edith Gamble, Eyewitness History Second Baptist Church
of Detroit 1836-1976, reel 3, Second Baptist Church Papers, Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley
gistorical Library, University of Michigan.

Ibid.

31

freedom with that of Christianity. Their participation in the Blackburn Affair was an
overflow of their Christian beliefs. As Christians, the Lightfoots and Frenches were
active members of First Baptist Church of Detroit, Michigan organized in 1827.

Two years after the Blackburn Affair, First Baptist dedicated its new brick church
building on Fort and Griswold Streets in Detroit in 1835. Nathaniel Leach records that
the church’s minutes spoke of a small black membership that “expected complete
integration, complete freedom.” The Lightfoot and French families, being prominent
black members at First Baptist, continually fought for greater freedom, respect and
equality at the church. Joined by William C. Monroe, another free black member at First
Baptist, these families gathered to form the first black worshipping community in Detroit.

In February 1836, William C. Monroe confronted Rev. Robert Tumbull, then pastor of
First Baptist, with his “intentions to be a minister of the gospel and to help my people
gain complete freedom.”39 Monroe’s goal of gaining complete freedom meant freedom
fi‘om being forced to sit and worship in First Baptist’s balcony and freedom to be
respected on an equal level as the white members of First Baptist. On March 5, 1836,
Monroe along with the Lightfoots and Frenches as well as other black members of First
Baptist “severed connections with First (Brick) Baptist Church signing our petition to the
Legislature to organize the Society of Second Baptist Church of Detroit. Thirteen blacks

signed the petition—Robert Allen, Jacob Brown, William Brown, Daniel Buckrnan,

 

38 Nathaneil Leach, Second Baptist Connection Revised Edition Eyewitness History Second Baptist Church
o{Detroit, (Detroit. Second Baptist Church, 1988), 14.
Ibid., Leach and Gamble, Eyewitness History.

32

Richard Evans, Mr.and Mrs. George W. French, Mr. And Mrs. Madison 1. Lightfoot,
William c. Monroe, William Nash, Benjamin Reed, Samuel RobinSon.40

These thirteen pioneers sought to escape the racial discrimination they experienced at
First Baptist, and petitioned the Society of First Baptist Church to approve a new church
of their own for them to worship. On March 23, 1836 the thirteen ex-slaves were allowed
to establish a church by the approval of the Territorial Legislature of Detroit and referred
to themselves as the Society of Second Baptist Church. This momentous decision
established Second Baptist Church as the very first African American Church in
Michigan. ‘1

Interestingly, the minutes of First Baptist record that the church did not accept the
petitioner’s request until October 6, 1838. -It appears that the black members of First
Baptist continued to worship at the church from 1836-1838. In April of 1837, for
example, First Baptist records meeting with “colored brethren wishing to hold meetings
on Sunday and Thursday evenings. Church requested the colored brethren to report to
church at the next meeting in writing, whether they wished to continue their standing
with church or whether they wished to separate from the church?”2 William C. Monroe
related that the thirteen members of the Society of Second Baptist “meet in each others
homes” with Monroe as pastor and “Madison J. Lightfoot and George French as Clerk

and Deacon respectively?”3 Yet, this group maintained its membership with First Baptist

 

‘0 Leach, The Second Baptist Connection Revised Edition of Eyewitness History Second Baptist Church of
Detroit, (Detroit: Second Baptist Church, 1988), 15.
4 C

Ibid.

‘2 Leach, Second Baptist Connection, 15.

‘3 “William c. Monroe,” in Nathaniel Leach and Edith Gamble, Eyewitness History Second Baptist Church
of Detroit 1 836-1976, reel 3, Second Baptist Church Papers, Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley
Historical Library, University of Michigan

33

while it held private meetings, even voting to build their own church at the cost of
$480.00.

Despite maintaining connections with First Baptist, Monroe and Lightfoot were bent
on establishing their own church. Monroe wrote of wanting complete freedom as reason
for his intention to establish a separate church group. The minutes of First Baptist
reflected Monroe’s claim for more fi‘eedom in the church. In July 6, 1837, the minutes of
First Baptist noted a request by the church that Madison J. Lightfoot and the other black
members of the church “sit in the gallery.” Struggling to maintain ties at First Baptist and
gain recognition in church meetings and conferences, the black congregants of First
Baptist were consistently denied equal rights even within sacred spheres. Lightfoot
response was recorded to “plainly refuse(d) to accede to the rules of the church.” 4"

In response to such ecclesiastical racism, the black congregants of First Baptist
limited their attendance at church meetings. On Sunday, September 16, 1837, First
Baptist appointed a committee to address “why they (colored brethren) so frequently
absented themselves from meetings of the church?” Due to the lack of attendance by
black congregants, First Baptist decided to “appoint Bro. French to notify the colored that
they could sit below with the other colored members for meetings.” Other black
congregants were still relegated to the notorious gallery. For example, in that same year,
an African American male named Cornelius Mitchell requested the church’s permission
“to sit below with the other colored members for meetings?"6

The continual denial of all African American congregants to sit on the floor with

white congregants at First Baptist was a constant reminder to black leaders like Monroe

 

44 Leach, Second Baptist Connection, l4.
‘5 Ibid.

34

and Lightfoot of the need to separate from such racist treatment within Christian contexts.
The Gospel held no room for discrimination in the worshipping corrrrnunity for Monroe
and Lightfoot. The actions of First Baptist toward black congregants struggle for higher
levels of freedom modeled a total antithesis to the Gospel message. For example, in
Lightfoot’s refusal to sit in the gallery during church meetings, the church’s response was
“to exclude Madison J. Lightfoot from all fellowship connection and communion with
the church.”"7 Although some black congregants were allowed to sit on the floor with
whites, blacks were continually restricted to the balcony.

The dynamics between the black congregants and First Baptist is telling. Through
praise, as seen in black members forming their own group with their own pastor and
deacons to worship, black congregants' of First Baptist praised God free of white restraint
and yet created a form of protest against ecclesiastical racism. Protest came in resistance
to being relegated to the gallery of the church during meetings and forming their own
worship services in the homes of black church members. Agitation was reflected in the
constant vocal protest of members like Monroe and Li ghtfoot against unfair treatment at
church meetings and even refusing to attend church functions. Protest and agitation were
also seen in black congregants petition to form a church independent from First Baptist.

The agitation against First Baptist’s racial policies and the protest of this
discrimination came through agendas of praise. In November of 1837, First Baptist
recorded the request of Brother George French “for the colored to meet together on
Lord’s Day and one evening during the week.” First Baptist granted the petition with the

stipulation that the “colored being present at covenant meetings and Communion

 

‘6 Ibid.
‘7 Ibid.

35

sessions.”48 The black congregants of First Baptist continued to push for more
opportunities to worship free from white racial constraints, eventually moving steadily
toward separation from First Baptist.

Although Second Baptist’s church history proclaims March 5, 1836 as the founding
date of its organization, the minutes of First Baptist reflect that thel thirteen members of
the Society of Second Baptist did not leave the church all at once. Historian Nathaniel
Leach notes that “some Blacks deliberately remained on the roll fighting eighteen months

”49 The minutes of First Baptist also note that the petition

for full rights and privileges.
was granted without the church’s full approval. The only reference to the petition for the
Society of Second Baptist being fully granted was in October 6, 1838 where “by the
request of the colored brethren and sisters, in writing, the following persons were by vote
dismissed from the church with the privilege of uniting with a sister church of the same
faith, or uniting in the constitution of a church of the same faith.” Among those “colored
brethren and sisters” were George French, Maria Evans, Rich Evans, Eliza Walton and
Betsey Hanister. Madison J. Lightfoot was dismissed July 6, 1837, being expelled from
the congregation.

Despite the slow beginnings, the thirteen members of the Society of Second Baptist
declared their Articles of Incorporation on March 18, 1839 “at that Meeting House on
Fort Street on a lot now held by George French on Beaubien Farm between Beaubien
Street and St. Antoine Street in the City of Detroit.” At this momentous meeting, the

thirteen members of the Society of Second Baptist voted to “be forever called and known

by the Title and designation of the Trustees of the Second Baptist Church of the City of

‘8 Ibid.
4’ Ibid.

36

Detroit.” George French, Jacob Brown, Richard Evans, Madison J. Lightfoot, Robert
Allen, Danial Buckman, William Brown, William Nash and Samuel Robinson were
“declared duly elected Trustees of the Church.”50

From these tumultuous beginnings Second Baptist of Detroit reflected the tenacity of
early free blacks in Detroit who fought against racism and oppression wherever it reared
its head. Maintaining the sanctity of Gospel, the black congregants of First Baptist joined
together through praise, protest and agitation to establish the first black independent
Christian institution in Michigan. As such, Second operated as a vehicle of black
enfranchisement, hope and freedom in Michigan. By the 18408, Second had united with
the Detroit Anti-Slavery Society, and its first pastor, William C. Monroe was one of the
Underground Railroads’ station masters. Throughout the antebellum period, Second
Baptist operated as one of the last stations in the Underground Railroads 1 As Monroe
wrote, “My work was threefold: preaching, teaching and railroading. Throughout the
South, Detroit and Second Baptist Church were known for slave smuggling. .In Michigan
there were refuge stations every fifteen miles. I had the unique honor of being a station
master, hiding, feeding and instructing the passengers during the day, then taking them to
the waiting barges and canoes during the night.”52

Second Baptist was designated as the last station on Route No. 1 on the Underground

Railroad, which was a network of white and black anti-slavery supporters who helped

 

’0 Leach and Gamble, Eyewitness History

“It should be noted that Second Baptist was founded one year before Michigan gain statehood. And during
that year, the Michigan Territorial Law of 1827 was in acted. This law was essentially a “Black Code,” and
“Act to Regulate blacks and mulattoes and to Punish the Kidnaping of Such Persons. “ Slaves unable to
gain their freedom as a gift or purchase chose to run away toward the North which was free or Canada.
Historian Dr. Nathaniel Leach states that Second Baptist assisted over 4,000 slaves to freedom during a
thirty year period. ; Ibid., 16 and 20.

’2 Ibid.

37

slaves escape from the South to Northern free states by hiding them in homes and other
places from fugitive bounty hunters. Slaves who came through Second were routed over
to Ontario through towns such as Windsor, Amherstburg (Fort Malden), Colchester,
Dresden and London.53 Through the Underground Railroad, Second Baptist continued its
tradition of praise, protest and agitation against black oppression. It joined with other
anti slavery adherents in Michigan who fought against the April 13, 1837 law which
forbade black from residing in the Michigan territory without a certificate certifying their
free status.54
Seventy years later, Bradby stepped into the shadow of great Christian race leaders
like William C. Monroe. The very founding of Second reflected a tradition embedded in
protest against black oppression and the struggle for black freedom. Continually building
Second’s membership in the 18408, Monroe proclaimed, “Our church membership
increased slowly—even cautiously, taking in dedicated freedom workers—from 13 to 15
in 1840, and 15-17 in 1841 adding William Webb, Willliam Lambert, George DeBaptiste
and Dr. J. Ferguson.”55
In 1910, Rev. Robert L. Bradby continued the tradition inherent in Second Baptist’s
ministry to the Detroit Community. As one of its “dedicated freedom workers” Bradby
exemplified the brand of Gospel reflected in the early activities of Second’s charter
members. Praise, protest and agitation were the tools of Bradby’s fight for fi'eedom and
his understanding of the Gospel brought to the fore God’s kingdom in the ministries of
Second Baptist. For Bradby, freedom, righteousness and justice were realties to be

sought after and struggled for within the African American reality. As a preacher, Bradby

 

5’ Ibid.
5‘ Ibid.

38

took these beliefs into the pastorate of Second Baptist during the second decade of the
twentieth century.

The first few years of Bradby’s pastorate were tempered by personal tragedy. Three
years before his becoming pastor of Second Baptist in Detroit, Bradby’s father died in
January 1907. Four years later and one year into his new position at Second Baptist,
Bradby’s wife, Mrs. Maude Snell Bradby, died on July 4, 1911. While she lived, Maude
Bradby was active in Second Baptist’s Altar Circle. She was one of the charter members
of the Altar Circle, yet her failing health prevented her from taking a more active part in
the group. Members of the Altar Circle remember Maude Bradby referring to her
husband as “elder” on many occasions, demonstrating her love and respect for Rev.
Bradby and his calling as the pastor of Second.56

Despite these setbacks, Bradby continued his pastorate at Second and married again
one year later to Mrs. Louise Taliferro. Mrs. Taliferro was Canadian born, but moved to
Detroit during her childhood. Her mother came from Kentucky, a member of a well-
respected family named Butcher. When Miss Taliferro met Bradby, she was a member of
Second Baptist and a Sunday school teacher. Together, she and Bradby produced four
children: Robert Lewis, Katherine, Bernice, and Martha Bradby.57

The early years of Bradby’s ministerial career had already predisposed him to meet
the needs of church members and the surrounding community. His efforts to improve the
church educational groups and even raise money to fix church buildings provide a

glimpse into Bradby’s understanding of Christianity. For Bradby, true Christianity called

 

ss -

Ibid.
5” “Cavalcade of Second Baptist Church,” 29 March 193 7, p. 12, reel 2, Second Baptist Church Papers,
Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.

39

for practical expressions that touched every day experiences, as seen from fixing the
stone walk to the church door to establishing an literary group to enhance the educational
development of the community.

It is clear from the beginnings of his life as a pastor that Bradby reflected the
teachings of the “Social Gospel.” Although it is uncertain whether or not Bradby
ascribed to this teaching during this period, it is very likely that he may have been
influenced by the rhetoric of the Social Gospel. Bradby reached adulthood at the height
of the Social Gospel Movement and his Canadian Christian background experienced the
actions of black Canadian racial reformers.

What is clear is that Bradby understood biblical mandates to be actively lived in
meeting practical needs of the community, particularly the black community.58 In this
respect, the Social Gospel as well as Progressivism influenced Bradby. These two
influences caused Bradby to engage in a social-political reading of the Gospel early on in
his vocation. Moreover, his sense of “calling,” as a preacher and his sense of leadership
took root from the ideology of Progressivism and the Social Gospel.

Accepting the pastorate of Second Baptist in 1910, Bradby steps into Detroit at the
height of the Progressive Era. Evangelical reformers calling themselves “Progressives”

engage in a series of movements that seek the restoration of American Society. The

 

57 F ifth Anniversary of the Pastorate of Robert Lewis Bradby. . .November 7-14, 1915, Second Baptist
Historical Collection.

58 The rise and rhetoric of the Social Gospel or What scholars refer to as social Christianity came to the fore
between 1865-1920. Social reform movements also developed during this period. At the heart of some
social reform movements was the rhetoric of the Social Gospel. According to Shailer Mathews, an adherent
of the teaching, the social gospel is the “application of the teaching of Jesus and the total message of the
Christian salvation to society, the economic life, and social institutions. . .as well as to individuals; Shailer
Mathews, “Social Gospel,” A Dictionary of Religion and Ethics, edited by Shailer Mathews and Gerald
Birney Smith, (New York: 1921); Ronald C. White, Jr. “Social Christianity and the Negro in the
Progressive Era, 1890-1920,” (Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 1972); Ronald C. White, Jr., Liberty and
Justice for All: Racial Reform and the Social Gospel( 187 7-1 925), (New York: Harper & Row Publishers,
1990), xvii..

4O

values, behaviors and institutions of America are sought to be reformed according to
Christian, moral principles. Like many cities across the nation, Detroit’s industrial world
while sparking massive productivity, had also created an unequal distribution of wealth,
goods and services. Further, crowded neighborhoods, poverty, crime and disease began to
blanket Detroit communities. Immigrants and southern migrants crowding the streets of
Detroit as well as the nation exacerbated these ills of society and caught the attention of
courageous Progressives who tried to address these problems. Avenues of Progressive
reform emerged in traditional institutions such as churches, schools, charities and the re-
valorization of the family.

At the heart of Progressive reform was the ideology that society was the responsible
party for the problems of the world. As such, it was society’s responsibility to address
and reform, if necessary, the wrongs of society. Institutions had the power to transform
society and advance individuals toward higher levels of morality. Urban reform was the
primary concern among Progressives. Education and social justice were targets in
bettering urban society.59

Bradby was a man of his times and progressive ideology fueled his belief in black
equality and liberation. As a race leader, Bradby walked a moderate line in his
acceptance and operation of Progressive ideals. His role at Second Baptist reflected both
the mindset of ex-slave Fredrick Douglass who believed in “ultimate assimilation through

self-assertion, and on other terms,” and the mindset of educator Booker T. Washington,

 

59 Robert H. Wiebe, The Search For Order, [877-1920, (New York: Hill and Wang, 1967), 2 and 63. For
more information concerning the Progressive Era see: Robyn Muncy, Creating a Female Dominion in
American Reform, [890-1935, (Oxford University Press, 1991); Richard Hofstadter, The Age of Reform,
(New York: Vintage Books, 1955); Ellis Hawley, The Great War and the Search for a Modern Order;
Allan Dawley, Struggles for Justice: Social Responsibility and the Liberal State, (Cambridge: Belknap
Press of Harvard University Press, 1991).

41

who promoted a strategy of “black self-help.”60 Bradby understood, then, that ultimate
assimilation was contingent on black self- help agendas. Like Booker T. Washington,
Bradby believed that part of black self-help agendas were tied to temporarily

1 As a minister of the Gospel, Bradby

accommodating white power structures.6
incorporated the ideals of accommodation and black self-help in his leadership methods.
His acceptance of the pastorate at Second Baptist established him as the nineteenth
pastor of the historic church and gave him an area by which to promote his social-
political theology for black uplift and the establishment of God’s kingdom. Like many of
his white counter-parts in the ministry, Bradby was a promoter of progressive ideals. As
historian Richard Hofstadter notes, “As practical participants and a8 ideologists and
exhorters the clergy made themselves prominent, and a great deal of the influence of
Progressivism .. .may be charged to their place in its councils.”62 Robert Wiebe supports
Hofstadter’s point declaring, “In a sense, reforming clergyrnen served as the honorary
chairmen of progressivism. It was still important for most Protestants to feel the presence
of a Christian justification, and progressives regularly urged the ministers to join them,
not as advisers but as sponsors who could spread that distinctive aura of righteousness
about the cause.”63
Beyond progressive ideals, the type of Gospel Bradby preached centered itself on the
theology in the rhetoric of the Social Gospel. Theologian Walter Raushenbush’s writings

appear to have heavily influenced Badby’s theology and leadership of Second Baptist. A

white Baptist preacher, Rauschenbush wrote of a social Christianity, 3 Gospel that

 

6" Richard Hofstader, The Age ofReform, (New York: Vintage Books, 1955), 152.

6‘ Ibid..

‘2 Ibid.

‘3 Robert H. Wiebe, The Search for Order 1877-1920(New York: Hill and Wang, 1967), 208.

42

manifested the attributes of the kingdom of God practically. During his tenure at
Rochester Theological Seminary, Rauschenbush produced “some of the most influential
statements of the new social Christianity.”64 His worked entitled “Christianity and the
Social Crisis (New York, 1907), may have impacted the young Bradby. For
Rauschenbusch states that “There are two great entities in human life—the human soul
and the human race—and religion is to save both. The soul is to seek righteousness and
eternal life; the race is to seek righteousness and the kingdom of God?65 As to the role
of the minister of the Gospel Rauschenbush asserted “He can soften the increasing class
hatred of the working class. He can infuse the spirit of moral enthusiasm into the
economic struggle of the dispossessed and lift it to something more than a “stomach
question.”66

Bradby’s leadership of Second Baptist and the many auxiliaries he organized
reflected Rauschenbush’s mandates of the social minister. For Bradby, the kingdom of
God was most concerned with the struggles of the dispossessed. African Americans
constituted one of the communities of the dispossessed. Even the writings of
Rauschenbush recognized this reality. As Rauschenbush notes, “We have been cursed for
a generation with the legacy of sectional hatred, and the question of the status of the
black race has not been solved even at such cost. If Pharaoh again hardens his heart, he

967

will again have to weep for his first born and be whelmed in the Red Sea’ The young

Baptist preacher Bradby recognized this fact and blended his understanding of the Social

 

:‘ Richard Hofstader, The Progressive Movement 1900-1915, (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1963), 79.
5 .

Ibld.

‘6 Ibid., 80.

‘7 Ibid.

43

Gospel with addressing “the status of the black race” through Booker T. Washington’s
self-help ideology.

A fundamental aspect of Bradby’s Washington-Rasuchenbush theology was the
concept of the kingdom of God. Writing one year prior to Bradby's tenure at Second
Baptist, Social Gospel leader, Washington Gladden, considered the "father of the Social
Gospel," and Frank Mason North proclaimed the basic concepts of the Social Gospel
Movement, particularly as it related to urban ministry. Frank Mason North's address
entitled "The City and the Kingdom" was presented at Chautauqua, New York on July 9,
1909.68 North's addressed posited "the centrality of the kingdom of God in the teaching of
Jesus and how that message related to the church's mission in the city. "69 For North, "the
way to the Kingdom is not over the ruins of the city, but through its streets...the
Kingdom is coming! We dream of it, we work for it. The city is here, the very heart of the
divine strategy, the key of the mighty campaign."70

The "divine strategy" was the city and the minster of the Gospel was called to reform
the ills of urban life through practical manifestations of the teachings of Jesus. In October
of that same year, Washington Gladden's sermon to the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions carried North's theology of the kingdom further

stating "the nation is to be an important agency in the kingdom."71 For Gladden, the

nation had a divine mandate to advance the kingdom of God. As historian Donald K.

 

68Frank Mason North, "The City and the Kingdom," in ed. Harry F. Ward, Social Mnistry: An Introduction
to the Study and Practice of Social Service, (New York: Eaton & Mains; 1910), 293 318.; Donald K.
Gorrell, The Age of Social Responsibility The Social Gospel in the Progressive Era 1900-1920, (Georgia:
Mercer University Press, 1988), 124.
6" Gorrell, The Age ofSocial Responsibility, 124.
70 1b d

r .
7‘ Ibid., 125.

Gorrell affirms, "In social-gospel thought, the nation, city, and church were all
instruments to be utilized to achieve the larger kingdom of God."72

Bradby's theology and leadership agenda at Second Baptist mirrored the philosophy
of North and Gladden. The very organizational structure of Second Baptist during the
19208 and 308 functioned under Gladden's social-political theology and North's racial
consciousness of the black race. For part of North's address spoke to the plight of Afiican
Americans. He warned "the Negro will not be a successful factor in our modern
civilization unless he can survive the test of the city. . .Through sea and desert he may be
led, but he comes to the Kingdom only through the conquest of the high-walled cities."73

Taking up North's concern, Bradby made sure that the black community of Detroit
would have ample opportunity to conquer the "high-walled city" through the many self-
help agencies and organizations he established through Second Baptist. Further, Bradby
made a point of living out the very precepts of Gladden's beliefs about the kingdom of
God. For the kingdom of God to Gladden was, "Every department of human life--the
families, the schools, amusements, art, business, politics, industry, national policies,
international relations-«will be governed by the Christian law and controlled by Christian
influences."74 Bradby's leadership of Second Baptist applied Christian principles to the
very departments of human life Gladden referred. As the following analysis will show,

the family, school, amusements, business, and even industry were areas of reform and

uplift by which Bradby applied Christian principles to effect change.

 

72 Ibid., 126.

73 Frank Mason North, "The City and the Kingdom," in ed. Harry F. Ward, Social Ministry: An
Introduction to the Study and Practice of Social Service, (New York: Eaton & Mains; 1910), 31 1-312.

7’ Washington Gladden, The Church and the Kingdom, (New York: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1894), in
Robert T.Handy, Social Gospel in America, 1870-1920: Gladden, Ely, Raushenbusch, (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1966) 104.

45

At the age of 33, Bradby took over the leadership of a church that was drastically
losing members, conducting services within a building in bad need of repair and situated
right in the middle of the “Red Light” District of Detroit, a spot full of gamblers,
prostitutes, and thieves. Added to these tensions was the racial climate of the city.
Detroit was racially divided, yet growing and experiencing an industrial revolution that
caused the lines of division to overlap one another.

One of the primary causes of this reality was the automotive industry. For Detroit, the
automotive industry created immense changes in the city’s social patterns. Immigrants
and migrants began to flood the city looking for new opportunities for wealth. The impact
of these two groups pushed Detroit to establish new sanitary, health, and educational
programs to facilitate the growing numbers of people. These two groups also resulted in
Detroit having over crowded housing, making immigrants and migrants alike seek other
means of financial assistance and accommodations.”75

The influence of the automotive industry also created a shift in the distribution of
economic power in Detroit. Merchant capitalists were no longer the power holders in
Detroit; names like the Fords and Dodges became forces of influence throughout the city.
Despite the power and influence the automotive industry brought to Detroit, it also
created a vacuum for racial tensions to develop. Racial tensions emerged between the
white and black factory workers, especially within the automotive industry itself. White
factory and autoworkers resented having to work with African Americans. Many whites

demonstrated their resentment by harassing and even threatening blacks with death

threats.

 

75Melvin G. 11011 ed., Detroit, (New York: A Division of Franklin Watts, 1976), 120.

46

Despite the growing racial tension, Detroit continued to undergo immense changes in
its character and growth. The city was filled with real estate brokers, wholesalers and
lumber barons as well as the city’s economic elite.76 These groups reflected the earlier
Detroit, a commercial city run by old merchant aristocracy and small time peddlers.
However, a new class of workers entered Detroit by the turn of the nineteenth century.
By 1900, Detroit began to come under the influence of the automotive industry. As a
result, a population explosion took place," Detroit was propelled into becoming the
foremost rank-jumping city in the nation. From thirteenth in population in 1900 it leaped
to ninth in 1910 and then to fourth in 1920.”77 By 1904, the United States Census
Bureau reported “the total number of factory employees was 60,554, of which the
automobile industry registered 2,232.78 The State Labor Department estimated that the
total value of manufactured product of Detroit was at $1.45 billion.79

Amid the wealth and growth of Detroit’s economy, Second Baptist struggled to adjust
to its new surroundings. As the new pastor of Second, Bradby and his church were faced
not only with the vices of the “Red Light” district and the dilapidated building, but also
the growing needs of thousands of black migrants entering Detroit to take their share of
the new wealth that flowed through Detroit’s expanding economy.

Described as a “broadgagued, catholic-spirited gospel preacher, full of the spirit of

human kindness, ever ready to co-operate heartily in every effort for the advancement of

 

76Ibid., 117.
77Ibid..
78Ibid.,,l 19.

79 Ibid.

47

the Redeemer’s Kingdom and the uplift of his fellowman;”80 Bradby was up to the
challenge as he skillfully mobilized his church to meet the momentous tasks before them.
The advancement of the “Redeemer’s Kingdom” was at the heart of his radical plan to
meet the needs of Detroit’s black community and disciple the massive influx of migrants
coming into Detroit.

For Bradby, the advancement of the “Redeemer’s Kingdom” was tied to the social-
political and economic uplift of the Detroit African American community. Jesus Christ
exemplified a life dedicated to meeting the needs of the poor and oppressed of the world.
Bradby embraced Christ’s example and immediately began enhancing the ministerial
structure of Second Baptist to meet the massive needs of oppressed and disenfranchised
African American migrants, workers and women living within the Detroit community.

During the first few months of his pastorate a Second Baptist, Bradby ran a series of
revivals, and organized a committee to raise money for church renovations. By the time
Bradby stepped into pulpit of Second Baptist in 1910, the church was losing in
membership, dropping from 300 members during the 18808 to 250 members by 1910.81

Bradby’s skill in preaching inspiring sermons and his ability to organize effective
ministry gained him a membership of over 1000 members within the first five years of
his tenure at Second. Charles T. Cole Jr., of Cole Funeral Home in Detroit and relative of

Bradby noted, “Uncle Robert was well known for his hellfire and damnation sermons,

 

8° “Resume of Rev. RL. Bradby in the Ministry,” Second Baptist Historical Collection.
81Norman Kenneth Miles, “Home at Last: Urbanization of Black Migrants in Detroit, 1916—1929” (Ph.D.

diss., University of Michigan, 1978), 195.; Fifth Anniversary of the Pastorate of Robert Lewis Bradby,
Second Baptist Historical Collection, Second Baptist Church.

48

preaching the evils with which we are surrounded.”82 Many of Second’s new
congregants witnessed a pastor who took delight in interacting personally with his
membership. Member and Treasurer of the Gymnasium at Second, Frank L. Mooris,
noted “Rev. Bradby took great interest in our class, and donned his gym apparel to
engage with us in exercises.”83

Some of Bradby’s success in recruiting members to Second was due to his boldness in
evangelism on the streets of Detroit. Following in the footsteps of one of the foremost
black spokesman for the Social Gospel, Reverdy Ransom, Bradby would evangelize
through some of the worst parts of Detroit.84 It was not unusual for Bradby to go
witnessing door to door on the streets of Detroit spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ and
inviting people to become members of his church. Bradby preached on street comers,
offering timely sermons on the comer of St. Antoine and Gratiot in an effort to transform
the “Red light” district in which his church was surrounded. Like Ransom, Bradby even
entered pool halls, gambling rooms, local bars and even prostitution houses were specific
appointments on Bradby’s lists of evangelical visitations. Bradby also had a gift for
finance. In 1910 he sparked his small congregation to contribute $500.00 per month to

fulfill the financial needs of the church. The church’s Fifth Anniversary Program reported

the membership contributing only $348.00 during this time. However, by 1915, Bradby

 

82 Nathaniel Leach, Second Baptist Connection, Revised Edition Eyewitness History,(Detroit: Second
Baptist Church, 1988), 68.

83 Nathaniel Leach, Second Baptist Connection, 69.

8’ Reverdy C. Ransom was an outstanding church leader, black activist and writer. Throughout historical
scholarship of black social protest and black Christian leadership, Ransom is herald as the black "father of
Social Gospel." Graduating fi'om Wilberforce University in 1886 and attending Oberlin College, Ransom
was trained as a preacher in the A.M.E. Church. In 1924, he was elected as the 48'” Bishop of the Church
and remained in the position until his retirement in 1952.; Ralph E. Luker, The Social Gospel in Black and
White American Racial Reform, 1885-1912, (London: University of North Carolina Press, 1991), 173-174.

49

had inspired his congregation to give over twelve times that amount making an annual
contribution of $4252.63.85

One motivation behind his activities was to provide a positive alternative to places
migrants might look to for assistance and livelihood. Bradby’s strategy was to target the
massive influx of migrants from the South in an effort to steer them clear of the vices of
the Red Light District. The task Bradby assigned himself was to say the least,
momentous. Four years into his pastorate at Second, World War I began and with it a
mass recruitment of young white males for the armed services. The automotive industry
needing to replace its white labor supply and began looking toward African Americans in
the South. From 1910 to 1920 the African American population in Detroit had more than
tripled, jumping from 5741 in 1910 to 40, 838 by 1920. Out of this group, 18,472 were
young black males over 21. Afiican American women accounted for 12,107 over 21
years of age. 86

In meeting the needs of southern migrants Bradby began to structure his support
network with capable men and women. John H. Fairfax, the treasurer of Second Baptist
was a graduate of Detroit Business College. Miss Winifred Cooper was a skilled
secretary and aid to Bradby Reverend Edward C. Simmons was one of Bradby’s most
proficient assistant pastor, and Green Davis Jr. was a prominent businessman in Detroit,
who oversaw all the financial records of Second Baptist. Bradby utilized these capable
black men and woman as the organizing structure of his ministerial efforts at Second. The

church secretary and assistant pastor were full time paid staff under Bradby.

 

85 Fifth Anniversary of the Pastorate of Robert Lewis Bradby, , Second Baptist Historical Collection.

g6The Negro In Detroit: Report of the Major ’3 Committee on Race Relations, Detroit: Detroit Bureau of
Government Research, 1926.

50

In fact, Second was one of the few churches that had filll time employees outside of the
pastorate. Bradby was the highest paid black minister in Detroit, making a salary of over
$4,000.00 a year.87
The talents of these men and women under Bradby helped him create a strong
ministry to Detroit migrants. Heavily influenced by the achievements of Reverdy
Ransom, Bradby orchestrated the ministries of Second like that of Chicago's Institutional
Church and Social Settlement founded in 1900. The Chicago church was designed by
Ransom to "served both new migrants and middle-class black Chicagoans."88 Mirroring
Ransom, Second Baptist expanded its facility to include a large auditorium, a kitchen, a
gymnasium, and other large rooms. And like Ransom, Bradby organized and even
encouraged men's groups, women's clubs, "a nursery, a kindergarten, clubs for boys and
girls"...employment networks, "concerts, classes in sewing, cooking, and music," and
even lectures by leading black speakers such as Dr. Mordecai Johnson, then President of
Howard University.89
Bradby’s power, backed by the local church made him a prominent figure in social,
political and economic arenas in Detroit. Influential figures such as Henry Ford, Mayor
Frank Murphy and the Detroit Urban League all sought Bradby’s leadership skills and
ability to amass the local black Detroiters for change. Henry Ford of Ford Motor
Company solicited Bradby’s leadership in supplying the company with black labor
during World Wars I and H. Mayor Frank Murphy attempted to pursue Bradby for black

voters during his campaign. The Detroit Urban League not only called on Bradby to

 

87 Cara Shelly, “Bradby’s Baptist: Second Baptist Church of Detroit l910-l946,”32.

88 Ralph E. Luker, The Social Gospel in Black and White American Radical Reform 1885-1912, (Chapel
Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1991), 174.

89 Ibid.

51

assist their efforts in providing Detroit economic industries with skilled, unskilled and
domestic black labor. The Urban League also utilized Second as a meeting place and
rallying center for black self-help efforts in Detroit.

Bradby made a point of positioning Second Baptist to be at the forefront of black
self-help efforts with regard to new migrants. From 1910 to 1946, Bradby "dedicated
himself to helping migrant greeting all inbound trains and offering migrants the services
of Second Baptist." 90 Seventy-five year member Irene Cole Croxton remembers these
committees meeting trains around the clock and bringing them to Second to feed and
house them. Croxton even relates, “Many of them slept on the church benches until Rev.
Bradby could find them homes to stay in. He tried to find jobs for them.”91 Another
member of Second, Mildred Dillard Croff states that Bradby organized a “program of
Education and Social Service to help these brethren from the South.”92

Bradby also collaborated with white ecclesiastical organizations in an effort to
advance the needs of migrants. The Metropolitan Detroit COuncil of Churches,
established in 1919, was organized to address the issues of poverty and social reform
among Detroit communities. The organization operated under the ideology of the Social
Gospel movement, which sought to advance the teachings of Jesus Christ in resolving
social evils such as injustice, racism and equality. A key component of the Council's
understanding of the Social Gospel was the advancement of the “kingdom of God.” Like

Bradby, the council believed, “by this fine cooperation of the churches, through the

Council, a manifest force and dignity to the great enterprise of the Kingdom of God in

 

9" Elizabeth Ann Martin, Detroit and the Great Migration 1 916-1929, (Dearbom: Bentley Historical
Library, 1993), 37.

52

Detroit are secured.”93 Bradby’s presence on the committee was instrumental in shaping
“white perceptions of the African American community and establishing reform
programs to meet the needs of new migrants entering Detroit.94
Throughout the 19208, Bradby continued to be a minister actively engaged in
confronting and combating racism. This point is especially evident when he accepted the
position of president of the Detroit branch National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People in 1925. For Bradby, the uplift of the race was tied to destroying racist
agendas. Moreover, Bradby believed that if he could get the black church to back the
efforts of the NAACP, black Detroit could make significant strides in overcoming white
power structures. One hundred percent NAACP church membership was part of Bradby’s
goal. Bradby was president of the NAACP from 1925 through 1926.95 I
Bradby believed in the power of the black church to change society so much that he
ran for the office of city councilman that same year. Yet, the power latent within the
black church did not come to the fore for Bradby. He was voted out of the primary
election?6 The reason for such a defeat, especially when the candidate was backed by one

of the largest churches in the city, is unfathomable. It quite possible, though, that race or

 

9' Nathaniel Leach and Edith Gamble, Eyewitness History Second Baptist Church of Detroit, p.45, reel 3,
Second Baptist Church Papers, Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of
Michigan.

92 Ibid.,, 46.

93 “Detroit Protestantism in United Effort, 1920-1921,” pg. 6, box 1, folder I, Metropolitan Detroit Council
of Churches Papers, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University.

94 Victoria W. Wolcott, Remaking Respectability: African American Women in Interwar Detroit, (Chapel
Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2001), 66.; “Detroit Churches Illustrate Value of Christian
Cooperation,” 1922-1923, box 1, folder I, Metropolitan Detroit Council of Churches Papers, Archives of
Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University; Wolcott cites the following quote from the Detroit
Council of Churches Papers, “The Social Service Committee has aided materially in the reorganization of
the Detroit Good-Will Industries during the year. It has worked among the colored people, particularly the
newcomers from the South, and has endeavored to strengthen the church and social service agencies which
are working among the colored people.”

95 Dr. Nathaniel Leach, The Second Baptist Connection, 39.

53

denominational prejudice played a hand in the election. It appeared that the Detroit
community still wanted a definite separation of church and state. Regardless of the
reasons, Bradby never ventured back into the political arena.97

Despite this set back, Bradby’s leadership was recognized four years later in 1929 by
the chief executive of the State of Michigan, Governor Fred W. Green. Governor Green
appointed Bradby as a representative of the National Inter-Denominational Alliance of
America. The alliance sought leaders of all races throughout the country to be
participants. It is not surprising that one of the highest officials in Michigan recognized
the dynamic leadership and influence of Reverend Bradby. In all respects, by 1929
Bradby had definitely established himself as one of the prominent black leaders of the
African American community.98 His position was unique in that he was both a black
Christian leader of Afiican Americans, and a "hand-picked" representative of powerful
whites, such as Henry Ford of Ford Motor Company.

Yet, the most potent aspect of Bradby’s power to impact and invoke changes within
the Detroit community was made evident through a weekly church newsletter called the
Herald, of which Bradby was the chief editor. Through the weekly articles of the Herald,
Bradby was able to speak out against racist practices in the Detroit community, persuade
his congregants to support various fundraisers, political candidates, local black
entrepreneurs and to attend cultural events. The Herald was even used as a literary pulpit,
by which Bradby could address the New Testament Gospel message to such issues as

tithing, thrift, respectability and the coming “kingdom of God.” In essence, Bradby and

 

96 Records of the Detroit Election Commission, 1920-1925, Old County Building, Detroit, Michigan.
97 Cara Shelly L. “Bradby’s Baptist: Second Baptist Church of Detroit, 1910-1946,” 29..; Norman Kenneth
Miles, “Home At Last: Urbanization of Black Migrants in Detroit, 1916-1929,” 6.

54

the Herald were one voice speaking to the Detroit community. As such, the Herald
became one of Bradby’s greatest tools of protest and agitation against white power
struggles, while also operating as medium of “radical discipleship” among the black
community. Liberation, the “kingdom of God,” and the call for “black self-help” were
primary themes running throughout the Herald.

For example, Bradby made sure that the Herald promoted his readers to vote and
even offered instructions in filling out voting ballots. The Herald also encouraged its
readers to back certain candidates that were cognizant of black social and political
agendas.99

During the Great Depression, Bradby urged members to keep hope in the Lord to meet
their financial needs and continuing giving their tithes to the church. He writes, “If you
do not have a quarter, bring a dime. ..the price of a few packages of gum, the admission
to a show, the cost of a few cigars...that can well be done without.”100 He goes on to
encourage their faith in God to provide for them saying, “God will take care of you if you
will obey Him. ..No matter how dark the world becomes, no matter how the harvest fail,
or how hard the times are, we can go right on rejoicing in the Lord. All shall work
together for our good. . .Crushed flowers emit the sweetest odors; trimmed vines, though

99101

they may bleed, bear the most luscious fruit. Here Bradby relies heavily in his

address on biblical passages from the Old and New Testament (Romans 8:28 and

 

98 Second Baptist Herald, 20 January 1929, No. 2, Second Baptist Historical Collection, Second Baptist
Church, Detroit.

99 Second Baptist Herald, 9 October 1927, 3 June 1928, 9 September 1928, 17 February 1929, 6 October
1929, reels 9 and 10, Second Baptist Collection, Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley Historical
Library, University of Michigan.

‘°° Second Baptist Herald, 12 July, 1930, 5 October 1930, 26 June 1932, reel 10, Second Baptist Collection,
Michigan Historical Collection.

‘°‘ Second Baptist Herald, 10 August 1930, 16 August 1931, 26 June 1932, 14 August 1932, 4 March 1934,
Reel 10, Second Baptist Historical Collection, Michigan Historical Collection.

55

Habakkuk 17-18), adapting the meaning of these passages to the social-economic realities
of his parishioners. It is clear here that Bradby approaches biblical texts from a social-
political perspective in an effort to encourage the migrant community and his

2 Hunger, poverty and hardship were all realities experienced by God's

congregation.10
people in the Old and New Testaments, yet God proclaimed help and aid through his
prophets and the divine power to transform the oppressive circumstances of his people
into a means of benevolence and benefits.

Bradby’s leadership continued to demonstrate strategies of resistance, agitation and
protest against white power structures in the pursuit of black freedom. Outside the
Herald, Bradby’s letters was the second most powerful weapon welded against black
disenfranchisement in Detroit. Under girded by the largest black church in Detroit,
Bradby’s letters carried a weight unlike any other black minister in Detroit. His letters
commanded the respect and attention of the highest political and economic officials in the
Detroit community. According to Martin, a letter of recommendation from Bradby was
“considered tantamount to securing a job at Ford (Ford Motor Company).”103

Men like Henry Ford, Mayors Frank Murphy and James Couszen, Governor
Fitzgerald, and the city treasurer, Charles L. Williams took note and even collaborated
with the pastor of the largest black church in Detroit. Many of the letters written to these
men were on behalf of needy migrants and church members under Bradby’s care.

Writing to one of Henry Ford’s black employment officers, Donald J. Marshall, Bradby

recommends a young African American male named B.B. Brown for employment at Ford

 

'02 Romans 8:28 reads according to the New International Version of the Bible, “And we know that in all
things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”;
Habakkuk 3117-1 8 reads “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines though the

56

Motor Company. Bradby request Marshall to “kindly investigate his (B.B. Brown) name
and do whatever you can for him. With grateful appreciation, R.L. Bradby.”104
Another letter, written in 1925, calls the attention of Major Frank Murphy to the plight
of a Mrs. Carrie Poole, a homeless mother of six children. Bradby requested any
assistance that the Mayor could provide for this mother and her children. Bradby even
solicited the help of the Governor Fitzgerald on behalf of the Detroit black community.
He requested that Fitzgerald fill one of two vacancies in the Circuit Court Commission of
Detroit with an individual that was cognizant of the needs within the African American
community. Bradby’s letter is quite bold in his address to the governor. For in his letter,
Bradby not only reminds the governor of the support that the Detroit black community
has given him over the years, but also criticizes him for the lack of consideration the
black community has received from him in the past. Bradby writes, “I am very sure that
as you look over the work in Michigan you will agree with me that our group with the
potential strength it has with the earnestness and loyalty with which it has supported your
cause is deserving of. . .more consideration that we have received.”105
In addition to securing jobs for his community and pushing government officials to
elect candidates who supported the black community, Bradby’s ministries extended to
paying off the debts of church members as well as keeping agencies from foreclosing on

their houses. During the mid-1920s and early 30s, black workers in Detroit became easy

targets for white installment salesman--“Black workers, therefore bought many goods on

 

olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the
stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”

103 Elizabeth Ann Martin, Detroit and the Great Migration, 1916-1929, 21.

‘0‘ Letter, R.L. Bradby to Mr. Marshall, October 18, 1926, Second Baptist Papers, reel 3, Michigan
Historical Collection, Bentley Historical Library, Ann Arbor.

“’5 Letter to Governor of Michigan, Mr. Fitzgerald, October 7, 1935, reel 3, Second Baptist Papers,
Michigan Historical Collection.

57

the installment plan, which kept them perpetually in debt. Such indebtedness forced
employers to gamishee black workers’ wages more than any other group. This especially
hurt them during recessions and depression.”106

Bradby’s letter to Colonial Department Store in Detroit, supports this’ claim. Writing
to Colonial Department Store in Detroit on behalf of his church member Samuel Maya,
who has been delinquent in his payments to the store, Bradby informs the store that
Maya’s delinquency has been due to his being out of “work for some little time.” In effort
to get the store to give Maya time to repay his debts, Bradby ask for the store to extend
Maya’s credit with the promise that if payment is not made in a timely manner, that
Second Baptist itself will pay ofi‘ the debt. Bradby’s letter is telling in that he positions
the economic and social power of the black church in meeting the needs of one of his
members. ”7

Economically, Bradby realized that Second Baptist, with a membership of over 2000
could more than pay off the debt of one of its members. Socially, though, Bradby
established for his parishioners respectability in the eyes of the Colonial Department store
by positing a sacred institution and the good recommendation of a minister behind the
character of Maya. Maya’s example is one of many incidents that Bradby addressed with
respect to his members. In many cases, Bradby used Second Baptist’s position as a sacred

institution to lend respectability and creditability to the social status of his congregants

and even migrants.

 

“Richard w. Thomas, Life For Us Is What We Make It: Building Black Community in Detroit, 1915-1945,
(Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, l992),46.

lo7Letter R.L. Bradby to Colonial Department Store, October 8, 1931, reel 3, Second Baptist Papers,
Michigan Historical Collection.

58

Other letters written on behalf of church members are addressed to the Detroit City
Treasurer and certain judges. In 1931, Bradby writes Detroit City Treasurer, Charles L.
Williams on behalf of Mrs. Annie Jenkins, a widow who is in danger of losing her home.
Judging from the date of the letter, Bradby writes the City Treasurer during the Great
Depression. Many of his members and migrants are under great financial stress during
this period. In an effort to support his members, Bradby writes not only to the City
Treasurer, but to judges, employment superintendents of stores and the like pleading with
these agencies to extend credit, provide employment and even parole family members of
his congregants who are incarcerated.

Writing to the City Treasurer, Bradby explains the plight of Mrs. Jenkins expressing,
“All her life savings are in this home. It would be tragic if she lost it, and

”‘08 To Honorable

I will thank you very sincerely for whatever help you can give...
Judge Eward Jefferies, Bradby writes on behalf of a female congregant’s son, named
Sonny Thomas who has been sentence to Jackson prison from one to fifteen years.
Bradby reminds the judge that the Parole Commission has agreed to free Thomas based
on the recommendation of the judge who sentenced him. Bradby pleads with Judge
J effiies to recommend that Thomas is freed based on the good standing membership of
Thomas’s mother at Second and her need for the services of her son. Bradby closes his
letter to the Judge Jefferies by reminding him of the need for justice. He writes, “If your

honor can see the justice in this move, I will very greatly appreciate it.”109

 

"’8 Letter, R.L. Bradby to Charles L. Williams, May 13, 1931, Second Baptist Papers, reel 3, Michigan
Historical Collection.

'09 Letter, R.L. Bradby'to Judge Jeffries, July 8, 1931, Second Baptist Papers, reel 3, Michigan Historical
Collection.

59

Another female member of his church finds help in Bradby’s letters when he writes
to Superintendent Murphy in hopes of providing her employment. Bradby explains to
Murphy that his member is a recent widow, supporting two daughters and .in danger of
losing her home. He ask Murphy to find her a job as a maid in the J. L. Hudson Company
stating, “I am sure that there will never be any cause for regret if she is employed, and I
will consider it a personal favor if there is anything that you can do for me in this
matter.”1 10

Throughout the years of the Great Depression and early part of the 19408, Bradby
continued his correspondence, continually working to support the black community in
whatever way he could. A journal of his writings reflect numerous letters recommending
individuals for jobs, seeking clemency from traffic officers, and asking judges and
wardens for parole. On February 7, 1941 Bradby wrote a judge “advising him to consider
a Negro case.111 On January 24, 1941 Bradby took measures to pay a widow’s balance on
a debt she owed.112 In October 22, 1943 Bradby recommends another member for an
internship; and in April of 1944, Bradby wrote another recommendation for a job for

another individual. 1 13

These letters were written all on behalf of his congregants and
those within the migrant community.

Despite the tremendous strides Bradby made in establishing self-help efforts in the
Detroit community, the years of the Great Depression began to take their toll upon the

effectiveness of Second Baptist and Bradby’s health. During the late 19203, Second’s

 

“0 Letter, KL. Bradby to Superintendent Murphy, June 4, 1934, Second Baptist Papers, reel 3, Michigan
Historical Collection.

111Address book and memoirs, Second Baptist Papers, reel 3, Bentley Historical Library.

”21bid.

“’Ibid.

60

financial status began to wane. The church was behind in its utility payments and Bradby
was writing letters pleading with creditors to wait until the church could raise enough
money. He usually requested creditors to wait until certain holidays such as Easter or
Thanksgiving to raise money for the church expenses. However, by the 19308, Second
was definitely in financial trouble. Bradby writes one of the church’s creditors, a coal
supplier, stating, “I can’t ask you to be patient because you have, but I hope you will
believe in the absolute certainty of getting your money.”1 14

By 1933, Bradby had voluntarily taken a pay cut in his salary. The threat of financial
ruin of his church and his own inability to even pay his son’s college tuition caused
Bradby undue stress, and eventuated in a nervous break-down between 1930-1931.
Second Baptist weekly newsletter the Herald made constant remarks about the failing
health of Bradby, “urging members to try to keep him in good condition through
cooperating with him every way we can.”1 15

A slow depression began to build within Bradby as he found himself and his church
unable to meet the needs of his congregation. Themany loans Bradby had given or even
cosigned for needy parishioners were going into default. Many members blamed Bradby
directly for the lack of funds during the Depression. Bradby took the censure of his
members to heart and began to feel greatly unappreciated. Writing to his former associate
pastor, Bradby lamented, “It is a pity but it seems true when we try to do our best we are

the least appreciated.”l 16

 

114 Letter, Bradby to Green Davis, November 24, 1931, Reel 3, Second Baptist Papers, Bentley Historical
Library.; Cara Shelly, “Bradby’s Baptist: Second Baptist Church of Detroit l910-1946,” 38.

“5 Second Baptist Herald, February 8, 1931, August 16, 1931, September 6, 1931, reel 10, Second Baptist
Papers, Michigan Historical Collection.

“6 Letter, R L.Bradby to RA. Mood, April 23, 1931, and KL. Bradby to Jessie Strudie, November 30,
1931, reel 3, Second Baptist Papers, Michigan Historical Collection.

61

Insult adding to injury, Bradby began showing signs of a bad heart condition.
Nevertheless, he continued most of his daily activities, even holding a rally in favor of
presidential candidate Herbert Hoover in 1932. A known Republican, Bradby boasted an
attendance of over a thousand people at the rally. Despite the reforms of the New Deal,
historia Cara Shelly notes that Bradby’s message to Second continued to “favor racial
self-help and Christian sharing. ‘Service, brotherhood, sacrifice unending until the
redemption of the race,’ ran the litany.”l 17

These themes continued to be at the forefront of Bradby’s self-help activities
through Second Baptist. By 1945 Bradby’s health took a turn for the worse. Hi8 failing
heart condition continued to worsen causing him to limit some of his ministerial activities
at the church. The change in Bradby’s work habits came too late. On June 3, 1946,
around 9:30 am. Bradby sat down to do his last sermon and died in the process of
tailoring the word of God to the conditions of his people. His successor, associate pastor
Allan A. Banks Jr. remarked at Bradby’s passing that he was “a man of sterling
qualities...a learned scholar, possessing a melodious baritone voice.”118 Yet, Bradby’s
congregation saw more in their pastor than just a scholar. The members of Second Baptist
understood Bradby’s continuous drive to bring forth the kingdom of God in their lives.
Therefore the members of Second memorialized Bradby to the world as main steadily

advancing the kingdom of God even until his last breath. They write, “He went like the

engineer of a Gospel Train—his hand upon the throttle and his eye upon the rail.”119

 

117 Cara Shelly, “Bradby’s Baptist: Second Baptist Church of Detroit l910-l946,” 42.; Second Baptist
Herald, September 6, 1931, January 1, 1933, April 8, 1934, reel 10, Second Baptist Papers, Michigan
Historical Collection.

“8 Nathaniel Leach, Second Baptist Connection, 40.

“9 “Obituary of Reverend Robert L. Bradby,” Box 10, Glenn Papers, Burton Historical Collection, Detroit
Public Library.

62

Bradby orchestrated the ministries of Second Baptist to improve the quality of
freedom of black migrants and Detroiters. His church made a concerted effort through its
auxiliaries and church programs to established the “humanity” of the black community in
the eyes of white Detroiters. Bradby and the members of Second understood that God’s
love was connected to God’s call for justice and righteousness for all peoples. For Bradby
humanity dignity was a divinely proscribed biblical right and be structured the very
foundations of his ministry to met this biblical mandate.

His participation and support of the Metropolitan Detroit Council of Churches
clarified his beliefs. The Metropolitan Detroit Council of Churches, established in 1919,
aimed to address public interest through biblical mandates. These biblical mandates were
couched in the rhetoric of the Social Gospel Movement. According to Wolcott, Bradby
joined the council in order to influence white opinions of African Americans and assist in
developing reform programs that targeted black migrants.120

Bradby’s participation in the council gives more weight to the assertion that the
nature of Bradby’s leadership was steeped in Christian theology, social reform and the
theology of the Social Gospel. His ministerial activities clearly reflect a social political
reading of the gospel. Wolcott notes that Bradby and his connection with the Detroit
Council of Churches reflected a massive institutionalization of the Social Gospel
Movement. She further argues that Bradby’s joining of the council “help shape white
perceptions of the African American community and developed reform programs that he

felt would aid recent migrants.”121

 

12° Victoria W. Wolcott, Remaking Respectabilit. 66-67-
121 Victoria W. Wolcott, Remaking Respectabili’)’, 66-

63

Although historian Richard Thomas claims that Bradby was “shortsighted” in his
strategy to meet the needs of the black community, he does note that Bradby was one of
many black leaders desperate to search for empowerment of the black community.
Thomas’s assessment may hold weight in some aspects of Bradby’s vision, yet one
cannot deny that Bradby made a powerful impact and transformation on the lives of
African American migrants and the black Detroit Community. Bradby’s leadership was
an instrument of black enfranchisement in Detroit and he used the latent power of the
black church to gain levels of opportunities unheard of in the black community in the
past. Bradby was an activist and his preaching and his pen were his weapons of choice in
the fight for black freedom and racial uplift. However the most powerful impetus behind
his efforts was his theology. Bradby was not an “other-worldly,” “pie in the sky”
preacher. He was a “this worldly” preacher, one concerned with the here and now of his
people. Bradby was a man who understood that at the heart of the gospel message was
God’s plan to establish a kingdom which exemplified justice, righteousness and equality,
was a call to “radical discipleship.” For Bradby, God demanded that he train and rise up
individuals who went against oppressive status quo formations in society. Individuals,
who withstood injustice, spoke out against the oppression of the poor and powerless and
preached righteousness.

Bradby’s letters in protest and agitation against racial discrimination were calls to
repentance by white oppressors. His establishment of social services programs that met
the needs of thousands of migrants were acts of resistance against white oppressors in the

South. Hi8 recommendations to Ford on behalf of jobless blacks in the city were tools of

 

empowerment and examples of God’s provision to those who trusted in the God of the
Exodus to deliver them from the slavery of black disenfranchisement.

His life and ministry reflect the actions of other black religious leaders of his time.
Black social gospel adherent Reverdy C. Ransom and even the activities of Father Divine
find resonance in the leadership of Bradby. Sparked by Christian imperatives, Father
Divine fed thousands of homeless people black and white through his Peace Mission
Movement. During the Great Depression, Father Divine enabled many blacks to obtain
jobs as domestic servants in Sayville, New York. Pastor Reverdy Ransom, through
Chicago's Institutional Church and Social Settlement, created outreach programs to the
black community, providing employment, housing and even food to poverty-stricken
migrants.122 Influenced by the rhetoric of Social Gospel and Progressivism, both Ransom
and Father Divine embrace the Christian motif of the "kingdom of God." Bradby's
actions at Second Baptist mirrored his contemporaries in this respect, linking the
ideology of Booker T. Washington to the theological premises. of the Social Gospel.
During his tenure at Second, Bradby continued to add to his accomplishments in
advancing the kingdom by serving as “the vice president of the National Baptist
Convention and the Liberty Life Insurance Company, trustee of Roger Williams
University (Nashville, Tenn) and the Utica Normal and Industrial Institute (Utica, Miss),
member of the Negro Business League, the Negro Sanhedrin and other Detroit

Progressive organizations.”123

 

122 Berly Satter, "Marcus Garvey, Father Divine, and the Gender Politics of Race Difference and Race
Neutrality," American Quarterly, 48, no. 1 (1996): 43-76.

123 Nathaniel Leach and Edith Gamble, Eyewitness History Second Baptist Church of Detroit, 1836-1 976,
2 1 .

65

In this respect, Bradby stands in the circle of black Christian leaders of the 19th and
20th century. Although not as violent in his approach to black advancement and racial
uplift as such forerunners of black Christian leadership as Denmark Vessey and Nat
Turner, he does reflect the non-violent revolutionary actions of black race leaders such as
Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, Alexander Crummuell, Jarena Lee, Rebecca Cox Jackson
and Fredrick Douglas. These men and women tied the tenets of the Gospel to self-help
agendas of black uplift and advancement. Education, social mobility and practical
application of Christian truths were the means for the uplift of the race. The concept of a
righteous kingdom established by God where justice and equality also ruled as prominent
ideals within the minds of these black Christian leaders.

Yet, Bradby stands out as a race leader unlike his forerunners in that his drive for
racial advancement was not a goal in an of itself. For Bradby, the advancement of God's
kingdom and his rule upon the earth was of primary importance; the racial uplift of black
Detroiters was just one facet of the advancement of God's kingdom. For his
contemporaries and his predecessors sought black freedom and equality as a goal unto
itself, while Bradby first and foremost sought the kingdom. Black uplift was a by-product
of the overall pursuit of the kingdom of God.

Benjamin B. Mays and Joseph W. Nicholson remarked on the potentialities of the
black church to become the greatest spiritual force in the United States. However,
Woodson noted that the “. . .potentialities were dependent in large measure upon the
leadership as expressed in the Negro pulpit.”124 Reverend Robert. L. Bradby’s leadership

of Second Baptist Church demonstrates the potentialities that Mays and Nicholson knew

66

lay dormant in the black church. Bradby’s tenure at Second brought the power of the
black church to the fore and constituted a dominant spiritual force in the Detroit
community transforming the public realities of migrants, women and workers in Detroit.
He continuously walked a continuum of radical and accommodationist agendas in his
leadership of Second. His Rauschenbusch-Washingtonian theology, which tied the Social
Gospel to "black self" strategies, presented a race leader who sought the advancement of
his people and reflected the ideologies of his time. Progressivism, "black self-help," and
the Social Gospel were ideals and theologies that were manifested in life of Second
Baptist and the leadership of Bradby.

Reverend Robert L. Bradby stands as the forerunner of black self-help in Detroit and
an exemplary of the power of gospel to impact the social-political contexts of its
adherents. The leadership of Bradby and activities of Second Baptist mirrored the larger
black self traditions of America. As early as the 17008, the “black church provided the

”125 Black pastors such as

spawning ground for the earliest black self-help activities.
Richard Allen helped to establish a medium of mutual aid and empowerment within the
black family and the community through the black church. Race leaders and prominent
organizations built on racial pride and advancement were created in the pews of the black
church. Like his predecessors, Bradby entered a Detroit church that had a long history of
black self help. Second Baptist and Bethel Afiican Methodist Episcopal church were the

first black institutions to establish black -—self help agendas in education. These churches

held schools in their respective basements. Second and Bethel also established and

 

124 Benjamin B. Mays and Joseph W. Nicholson, “The Genius of the Negro Church,” in Milton C. Semett,
African American Religious History: Documentary Witness, Second Edition, (Durham: Duke University
Press, 1999), 434.

67

connected with national black organizations such as the National Baptist Convention and
the Phyllis Wheatley Home. They organized outreach programs to needy migrants and
even sought was to gain housing and employment opportunities for the black community.

Like other black self help organizations in Detroit such as the Detroit Urban League,
the Booker T. Washington Trade Association, the Detroit Negro Business League and the
Housewives League of Detroit, Second Baptist, under Badby’s direction, joined in a long
line of black self-help organizations in Detroit and worked in conjunction with these
groups to advance the progress of the black community. The life and ministry of Bradby
through Second stands in a cloud of witnesses in black Detroit that advance the black self
help tradition and laid the foundation for this tradition throughout the later part of the

twentieth century. 126

 

125 Richard W. Thomas, The State of Black Detroit: Building From Strength. The Black Self-Help Tradition
in Detroit, (Detroit: Detroit Urban League, Inc., 1987), 3.
‘26 Ibid., 14 and 24.

68

CHAPTER TWO: MIGRANTS, REVEREND ROBERT L. BRADBY AND THE
MINISTRY OF SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH OF DETROIT

In 1918, one of the founding fathers of the National Urban League issued a
challenge to Detroit black churches. George Edmund Haynes called for the
implementation of dramatic social programs by Detroit local churches in order to address
housing, employment, and issues of respectability among the thousand of the migrants
pouring into Detroit. Reverend Robert L. Bradby took up Haynes challenge and instated
programs of black self-help through the ministries of Second Baptist Church. Thirty-six
years later, Second Baptist member Mary Etta Glenn, remembered how Bradby and
Second met Haynes’ demand. She states, “Second Baptist has been of service in advisory
capacity in every phase of community life. Under the leadership of its late pastor, R.L.
Bradby, education has received a boost among students in the Baptist church. The
membership is organized into many worthwhile auxiliaries, which promote practical
functions advocated from the pulpit.”1
This chapter addresses exactly how Bradby met Haynes’ challenge and argues that
Bradby met and supplied the needs of thousands of migrants through the black church.
This chapter further argues that one of the primary motivations behind Bradby’s mission
to the migrants was his agenda of establishing the “kingdom of God,” since racial uplift

and advancement were tied to biblical motifs of God’s kingdom of justice, righteous and

freedom. In Bradby’s mind Haynes’ challenge was just an echo of the divine mandate

 

l“Negro Church in Detroit,” 2 February 1946, Box 9. Folder 1, Glenn Papers, Burton Historical Library,
Detroit Public Library.

69

given in Matthew 28: 18-19: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. . .”2

Bradby made a point of organizing church auxiliaries and groups to meet the
overwhelming needs of black migrants and the Detroit black community. Bradby’s
actions reflected the urgency of Haynes’ challenge. The challenge Haynes made cames at
a very crucial time in Detroit migrant history. Detroiters were faced with the problem of
adjusting to and accommodating the needs of thousands of southern migrants pouring
into Detroit almost by the hour.

The first wave of the Great Migration came during the First World War. By 1918, it
was estimated that more than 500,000 southern migrants left the South for Northern
cities. Detroit, Michigan was one of those principle cities to which black southern
migrants flocked to in large numbers. Many of these sojoumers came to Detroit in
response to the economic devastation of South due to low cotton prices, floods and the
tenacious boll-weevil. The combination of these catastrophes eventuated in the economic
disenfranchisement of hundreds of African Americans in the South. Other migrants came
to Detroit to escape the “Jim Crow” conditions of the South. Southern blacks faced
disempowerment socially and politically through the experiences of mob violence, racist
agendas in the court system, and poor housing and schooling for their children. These
burdens drove southern blacks to leave the inhospitable conditions of the South and seek
a better quality of freedom in the North.3

The automotive center of the world in 1918, Detroit became a locus of refuge and

economic prosperity in the minds of black migrants. African Americans beat a well-

 

2 Matt 28: 8-19, New International Version.

70

trodden path to Detroit from southern places as far away as Florida. Georgia, Tennessee
and Alabama were also places from which black migrants came to Detroit.4
Southern black migrants came in masses to Detroit seeking to better their condition in
life. One of the major draws for these migrants was the “five dollar a day” promise issued
by Ford Motor Company to eager laborers seeking employment. This was unimaginable
to black workers, who in the South had worked for far less than that amount in a week.
Moreover, the worst working conditions at Ford were five times better than any job
blacks held in the South. The words of a 1920 social worker proclaim, “In Detroit, they
made from six to eleven dollars a day. ‘There are hundreds of Negroes in Detroit, who
are making more money in one day than they made in the South in one week.”5

The majority of these migrants were young men between the ages of 18 and 40.6 From
1916 to 1929, Detroit experienced a great influx of blacks into its metropolitan areas. In
fact, “between 1916 and 1930, an estimated one million Black Southerners migrated to
northern cities. Detroit’s black population experienced an explosive increase between
1910 and 1930.”7 The US. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Census, reported that in
1910 there were 5,741 blacks living in Detroit. By 1930 the Bureau records an

overwhelming increase of 120,066 blacks living in Detroit.8

 

3 George Edmund Haynes, Negro New-Comer in Detroit, Michigan: A Challenge to Christian
Statesmanship A Preliminary Survey. (New York: Home Mission Council, 1918), 6-8.

4 George Edmund Haynes, Negro New-Comer in Detroit, Michigan, 8.

5 Richard W. Thomas, Life For Us Is What We Make It: Building Black Community in Detroit, 1915-1945,
(Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1992), 31.

6"The migrants who flocked to Detroit between World War I and The Great Depression included more than
sharecroppers and other assorted types of common labor. Some were business and professional people”;
Ibid., 39.

7Elizabeth Anne Martin, Deumnd The Great Miggrtion 1916-1929, (Dearbom: The Bentley Historical
Library, 1993), 3.

8Source: US. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Negroes in the United States, 1920-1926.; I

71

Despite massive opportunities proclaimed in Detroit for black migrants, many faced
white prejudice and rising animosity, causing some migrants to struggle in maintaining a
positive perspective of the North. Discrimination confronted them at every turn. White
businesses, despite their willingness to hire blacks for unskilled jobs, almost never hired
them for skilled positions. Even the education systems, with their segregation laws,
sought to establish black migrants as handicap and retarded in their ability to learn.
Furthermore, real estate codes restricted these migrants to live in housing areas, which
were at best intolerable even for animals to inhabit.9 ’

The impact of such an influx of black migrants into Detroit doubled the city’s
population in less than a decade. In 1910, Detroit census estimated a population of about
465, 766. By 1918, the city had increased its population to around 800,000. With the
increase in population came tremendous community problems for Detroit. Housing
became one the most pressing problems. Food and clothing and even jobs were readily
provided through agencies such as the local black church and the Detroit Urban League,
but shelter was a whole other issue. Many of Detroit’s black population were already
housed in crowded residences of the “Negro District.” Streets such as St. Antoine,
Hastings, Rowena, Macomb, Lafayette, Beaubien and Rivard were areas where black

migrants were crammed into along with older residents of Detroit’s black community.

 

9 Although more jobs were now available to Blacks, they were usually the jobs with the longest and most
grueling duties. Employers used stereotypes about Black migrants to justify placing them in the least
desirable positions. Some employers gave Blacks the toughest assembly jobs, claiming that African-
Americans were faster than anyone else in performing "’rhythmic” tasks. Others, conversely, complained
that the African-American worker was ‘too slow.’”’ Employers also used stereotypes as an excuse to place
blacks in the hottest jobs. It should be noted however, that working class whites were also migrating to
Detroit during and after World War 1. Interestingly, these white migrants also came from the South to the
North in search of jobs. Nevertheless, the mid -l9208 showed Detroit to be a rapidly growing community.;
Elizabeth Ann Martin, Detroit and the Great Migration 1 916-1929, 16 and 4.

72

Adding insult to injury with regard to the impact of the black migrant on Detroit,
older residents of Detroit strongly resented the coming of what the Director of Negro
Economics with the Depart of Labor, George Edmund Haynes terms the “Negroes of the

”10

undesirable type. According to Haynes, some of the migrants were disreputable
characters, gamblers who were drawn to the race-track. These groups tainted the already
tenuous relationship with white Detroiters and cast a bad light on the whole of the black
community.

As Director of Negro Economics with the Department of Labor, Haynes produced a
survey on the conditions of migrants in Detroit in 1918, with guidelines and questions on
how best the “Christian church thru its members and organization so extend its service to
these people as to help them make the necessary adjustments. ...in obtaining those ethical
and religious ideals which will make them an asset and not a liability to the community

”11 Many of these ideals came from white bourgeois ideals

into which they have come.
or respectability.

Haynes’s survey reflected the plight many migrants faced once they entered Detroit as
well as the mindset of many older residents of Detroit to the new migrants. Outside of
population swells and job opportunities, black residents of Detroit were primarily
concerned about the housing of these migrants and the impact they would have on their
current status in the eyes of white power structures of Detroit. Previously, old Detroiters
had enjoyed a level of acceptance and accommodation from whites in Detroit. By 1918,

Haynes noted that white perspectives had changed as a result of black migration to

Detroit. Older black residents built up resentment against black migrants due to white

 

1° Haynes, Negro New-Comer in Detroit, Michigan, 8.
“ Ibid.,lO-ll.

73

tendencies to increasingly segregate all black Detroiters. As Haynes notes, “With the
large increase in the number of Negroes and the coming of many of the less desirable
type, there was a reaction of these older residents against a gradual tending toward
segregation of all Negroes. There was also a class feeling growing out of their more
favorable conditions.”12

Overcrowded housing, unemployment and the subtle but steady loss of respectability
and acceptance by white Detroiters of the black community pushed individuals and
agencies like Haynes to call for the Christian Church to help in meeting the
overwhelming needs of the black southern migrant and the existing black community of
Detroit. He declared that the plight and well being of every African American is tied up
in the plight of the black worker, especially those who are on trial in the industrial
agencies of Detroit. For Haynes, black workers are the testing ground of the legitimacy
and respectability of the Detroit black community and for that reason alone they must
“make good” in the eyes of their white employers. Haynes issued a charge to the Black
Church stating, “This is largely the work of preachment from the pulpit and the platform.
What a world of service is open here to the Negro churches!”l3 Many migrants came
“from states which were largely Baptistic in their religious faith, and as a result a large
percentage of these Negroes, having religious affiliations, were Baptists...Thus it came
about that early in the great migration, the social agencies of Detroit came to look to the

Baptist leadership and service in this tremendous social and religious problem.”l4

 

12 -
Ibld.

'3 Martin, Detroit and the Great Migration [916-192, 20.

1’ “Baptist Christian Center,” box 6, folder 1, United Community Services-Central Files Collection,

Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University.

74

Situated in the middle of a rising industrial city full of racial prejudice, and flooded
with black migrants starved for work and housing, Reverend Robert L. Bradby of Second
Baptist Church in Detroit took up Haynes’ charge and geared the church’s ministry to
meeting the aforementioned needs of the black migrant. Bradby used his church as a
vehicle of resistance and transformation within the lives of African American migrants,
women, and workers. Though operating as a sacred institution, Second Baptist moved its
influence to the public arenas of the Detroit business and industrial community and
subsequently transformed the secular realities of migrants, women and workers in
Detroit, Michigan.

Under Bradby’s guidance, Second Baptist became a medium of black enfranchisement
and racial up-lift through “launching an extensive program of education and social
service to help their brethren from the South.”15 Victoria W. Wolcott asserts that “under
the leadership of Bradby, the Second Baptist Church played a key role in the assimilation
of migrants—second only to the Detroit Urban League.”16 Bradby and the ministry of
Second continued a tradition of “racial self-help” among black Detroiters during the early
twentieth century. '7 By the 19008, Second Baptist Church evolved to become the comer

stone of the black community in Detroit in the early twentieth century. In 1910, Second’s

 

‘5 History of Second Baptist Church 1836-194 9, Second Baptist Collection, Second Baptist Church,
Detroit, Michigan, 6-7.

16 Victoria W. Wolcott, Remaking Respectability: African American Women in Interwar Detroit, (Chapel
Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001), 64.

'7 Indeed, Bradby and the Detroit Urban League maintained definite ties, making Second Baptist one of the
main centers for black labor recruitment by the League. In fact, historian Richard Thomas notes that
Bradby even “extended an open invitation to the League to use the church auditorium for public meetings.’
Bradby also donated gym equipment to the Urban League to support Forest Washington’s plan to build a
community gym.; Richard W. Thomas, Life for Us Is What We Make It: Building Black Community in
Detroit, 1915-1945(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992), 59.

9

75

membership had tripled, growing from the thirteen scant individuals to 3500 with a
building fund of $1000.00.18

Continuing the tradition of “black self-help” that Second Baptist upheld for its earlier
years, Bradby endeavored to protect and uplift the inexperienced migrant coming into
Detroit. He pushed Second Baptist to become the foremost place of black “self-help,”
thereby becoming what migrants termed the “Home of Strangers.” Bradby’s action
reflected the times. Progressivism, social reform and the Social Gospel became
influential forces driving his push for Second Baptist to become the locus of self-help in
Detroit.

As early as 1904, Second Baptist had already begun to operate as a “Home of
Strangers.” In that year, Mrs. Etta Taylor, long-time member of Second Baptist,
organized the Christian Industrial Club with the purpose of providing young men and
women with assistance newly coming to Detroit. The club’s emphasis however was on
meeting the needs of young women migrants entering the city. The Christian Industrial
Club assisted these women in finding jobs and safe lodging. The club also established
another support for young migrant women in the Frances Harper Inn. The Inn operated as
a boarding house for employed women. Second Baptist assisted the Inn through a small
monetary fund in order to keep the Inn open. Although the Inn provided a safe means of
housing for women migrants, it was poorly funded and was known by only a few

members of the black community.19 Bradby ensured the continuation of the Industrial

 

18Mary Branton Tule, “Second Baptist Church Eyewitness History,” reel 3 Second Baptist Church Papers-
Pastor’s Papers R. L. Bradby, Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of
Michigan.

‘9 Nathaniel Leach and Edith Gamble, Eyewitness History: Second Baptist Church of Detroit , (Detroit:
Second Baptist Church, 1976), 17.

76

Club and encouraged the group to extend its support as the migration population began to
explode in Detroit.

During the first wave of the Great Migration, Bradby helped to establish one of the
most outstanding ministries to migrants between 1917 and 1919. During these crucial
years, “the church launched an extensive program of education and social service to help
their brethren from the South.”20 One facet of this program of education and social
service was the establishment of committees within the church that were sent out to meet
“every train coming into Detroit to greet and offer assistance to the Negroes arriving

here 9921

Second Baptist became the “chief center with committees to meet incoming
trains to offer the assistance of the church.”22 Bradby had committees meet migrants at
bus depots and train stations around the clock. Many of these newcomers spent their first
night in Detroit, sleeping on Second Baptist’s church benches, some even staying in
Second’s lower auditorium, the church gym.23

Fully aware of the plight facing black migrants in Detroit, particularly women, under
Bradby’s leadership another effective ministry was established. Although there were
many other women lead clubs and auxiliaries that Bradby help to establish, none was as
impactful as the Big Sisters Auxiliary. Organized in 1919, the aim of this group was to

maintain a home for young migrant women and other young girls in need. The group

provided protection and instruction to the young black women of Detroit, giving them

 

2° “Preface,” History of Second Baptist Church 183 6-1 94 0, Second Baptist Collection, Second Baptist
Church, Detroit, Michigan.

21 Ibid.

22 “Second Baptist Church of Detroit Members Manual,” Second Baptist Church Papers, p. 9, reel 2,
Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.

23Leach and Gamble, Eyewitness History, 45, reel 3, Second Baptist Church Papers, Michigan Historical
Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.; Leach, Second Baptist
Connection, 37.

77

examples in respectable womanhood. Bradby allotted a certain amount of church funds
to the maintenance of the Big Sisters home which was located on 2141 St. Aubin in
Detroit. Many migrant women found protection from the Red Light District of Detroit as
well as solace from women who adhered to Christian principles.

Bradby’s ministry to migrants was so effective that his church services were filled
to capacity, thereby creating a need for associate ministers, the first being Reverend
Charles A. Hill, 1919-1920.24 One member, Dr. Nathaniel Leach stated, that it was quite
common back then for the church to have to turn away hundreds of worshippers from the
church doors because the church was so crowded.25

Bradby also helped to orchestrate the Baptist Christian Center to meet the needs of
migrants. In August of 1918, during one of the hottest afternoon that month, Bradby met
with W.P. Lovett, of the Detroit Citizens League, and Rev. H.C. Gleiss, Superintendent
of the Detroit Baptist Union, to discuss how best to accommodate the needs of migrants
pouring into Detroit by the thousands.26 This meeting sparked the establishment of the
Advisory Council for Negro Work of the Detroit Baptist Union, which organized the
Baptist Christian Center. The center operated as a vehicle of Christian socialization

within the lives of newcomers.27 The main emphasis of the center was to “meet the

 

2’ Other associate ministers acquired by Second under Bradby’s tenure were Reverend Lee T. Clay, 1920-
1922, Reverend H.L. McNeil, 1922-1926; Reverend Robert A. Moody, 1926-1929, and Reverend Edward
C. Simmons, 193 5-; “Preface,” History of Second Baptist Church 1 836-1940, Second Baptist Collection.

25 Dr. Nathaniel Leach, Interview, April 18, 2001.

26 It was estimate that during the summer of 1918 black migrants were pouring into Detroit at “the rate of
about 2000 or 2500 per month. The number of Negro Baptist churches increased from two in 1916 to 88 in
1935, from a membership of about 900 to at least 30,000.”; “Baptist Christian Center,” box 6, folder 1.
United Community Services-Central Files Collection, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State
University.

27 Note: The Advisory Council for Negro Work of Detroit Baptist Union consisted of 56 churches, all from
the Baptist denominations both black and white within Detroit. Despite the interracial make-up of the
council, the center consisted of an all black faculty. The headquarters of this group was at 1718 Russell

78

social needs of the Negro migrant who came to Detroit in such large numbers during the
1918 and 1919; to provide a place where the underprivileged and needy Negroes could be

assisted, and to secure employment.”28

The center targeted three main groups of
newcomers: children, young people and adults. The catalyst for Bradby’s support and
implementation of the Baptist Christian Center was the theological imperative of
establishing the “kingdom of God.” The center believed, “the child is the future disciple
of the kingdom, related in a vital way to the purposes of God. . .his education both in faith
and works of Christianity, is tremendously important.”29

Here, we see aspects of the theology of Social Gospel in Bradby’s ministry works
towards migrants. The Baptist Christian Center was geared toward educating young
migrants and church members in the fundamentals of respectability and Christianity. The
center proclaimed and operated on the premise that the principles of Christianity must be
lived out in everyday situations. Here, progressive reform principles were manifested.
Classes in the Bible, Missions, Theology for women and young ministers, English
classes, dressmaking, art, cooking and music were taught at the center.30 Even a class on
“Health and Home Nursing,” was taught every Thursday with an attendance of twenty-

31

five women. Bradby gave his total support to the Baptist Christian Center, even

 

Street. In 1933, center moved its location to Joseph Carnpau & Andt Street .; “Baptist Christian Center,”
United Community Services Papers, Central Files, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs.

28 Mattie G. Anderson, “Baptist Christian Center,” United Community Services Papers- Central Files,
Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs.

’9 “Christian Center of Detroit Michigan-Baptist Christian Center,” United Community Services-Central
Files Collection, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs.

30 “Christian Center of Detroit Michigan-Baptist Christian Center,” p. 2, United Community Services—
Central Files Collection, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs.

31It should also be noted that Mattie G. Anderson, head of the Baptist Christian Center, related that “in the

fall of 1934 to the summer of 1939 a Nursery School for under-nourished children of preschool age was
conducted at the Center. This school was staffed entirely by WPA workers and the food for these children

79

participating in the March 25, 1935 Rededication Ceremony of the Center as its main
speaker.32 According to Wolcott, “the Baptist Christian Center was designed to be

“purely a social application of Christian teaching.”33

The social application of Christian
principles at the Baptist Christian Center reflected Bradby’s social political reading of
biblical. At the core of the center’s ministry to migrants was the understanding that the
center operated as a “settlement house, which has as its primary purpose the promotion of
godliness among its members; but happily it seeks to do this through...practical
activities.”34

For Bradby, the Baptist Christian Center was another arm of the black church and
reflected the church’s mission to establish the kingdom of God by meeting the needs of
the black community, migrants, women and workers. Bradby pushed Second Baptist to
create schools, clubs, social groups, literary societies and other social services groups that
functioned as mediums of black “self-help” in the lives of migrants. Affiliates of the
Baptist Christian Center credit Second Baptist and Bradby for making “heroic efforts to

cope with the situation. They organized themselves for institutional work. They put in

play equipment and enlarged their staff...”3’5

 

was furnished by the same organization”; Mattie G. Anderson, “Baptist Christian Center,” United
Community Services-Central Files Collection, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs; Ibid.

32 “Rededication Baptist Christian Center,” box 6, folder 1, United Community Services-Central Files
Collection, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University.

33 Wolcott, Remaking Respectability, 66-67.

3‘ Butzel’s report on the activities of the center note that “athletics, music and elementary handicraft, and
even “cooking,”. . .all these are connected up with religion. For example cooking is combined with a bible
class. At the moment the girls are learning stories and passages from the book of Mark; when they have
committed the required materials to memory, they will cook a food beginning with the letter M, macaroni
this time”; Rosalie K. Butzel, “The Baptist Christian Center,” United Community Services-Central Files
Collection, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs.

35 “Baptist Christian Center,” United Community Services-Central Files Collection, Archives of Labor and
Urban Affairs.

80

Undergirded by a few full time staff members, trustees and deacons, Bradby began
organizing ministry committees that addressed every need known to the migrant. Under
Bradby, Second began to expand its Sunday School in order to accommodate the massive
number of migrant children pouring into the city. The leadership of black women
replaced the patriarchal leadership of the past in the school, and thrust Second Baptist to
extending its ministry into the very homes of its parishioners. By 1940, the Sunday
School consisted of over 800 students with ten separate divisions. Sections of the Sunday
School started from “cradle rollers” up through adult and leadership training. Each
department held its own worship periods and quarterly departmental meetings. Indeed,
Bradby ran his Sunday School along the lines of a large scale university.36

Second even established a Social Service Department designed not only to address
issues of housing and employment for the black community, but also to train the teachers
of the Sunday School Department. Training was primarily based in preparing young
people, particularly women in dressing making, home nursing, public speaking, basic
electronics and stenography. The overarching emphasis of this training was the
development of job skills among the Detroit black community for employment
purposes.37

Black women were key participants in many of the ministries, but nowhere as much
as in the Second’s Sunday School department. Black women operated as leaders and
teachers within the Second’s Sunday School department and overwhelmingly

outnumbered black men in the same positions. Black churchwomen became the locus of

 

3° “The General Sunday School of Second Baptist Church,” p. 43., History of Second Baptist Church I 836-
1940, Second Baptist Collection, Second Baptist Church, Detroit.

37 Cara Shelly, “Bradby’s Baptist: Second Baptist church 1910-1946,” (Ph.D., diss, University of Michigan,
1990), 23.

81

power behind Bradby’s effectiveness within the Detroit community, especially with
regard to the newcomer and the nuclear black family. As stated earlier, the Big Sisters’
Auxiliaries was established under Bradby to maintain a settlement house for black
migrant women.

Another effective ministry under Bradby that was headed primarily by black
churchwomen was the Home Department of the Sunday School of Second Baptist. The
Home Department was designed to take the teachings of the Sunday School into the
homes of families whose parents and children did not attend Church or Sunday School.
The Home Department also distributed religious tracts and magazines, visited the sick
and shut-in at hospitals, sanatoriums and even held socials with programs designed to
discover new talents.38

Mrs. Birdie Wilson operated as the first superintendent of the Home Department,
organizing Sunday School literature to be distributed in various homes and even setting
up lessons to be taught by workers. Other leaders of this department were
Superintendents, Mrs. Daisy Woodward, Mrs. Clara Banks; and Mrs. Ella M. Harris.
These women consisted of Second’s main outreach program to the Detroit migrant
community. As leaders under Bradby, these black women understood prayer, faith in
God, and volunteer service as the basis for their work. Because they had access to the
homes of black Detroiters, they were instrumental in alerting Bradby and the church to

the conditions of black congregants and their needs.39

 

31;“Horne Department of the Sunday School,” History of Second Baptist Church 1 836-1940, Second Baptist
gollection, Second Baptist Church, Detroit.
Ibid.

82

Bradby was also instrumental in establishing clubs that trained members and migrants
in respectability and godliness. The Dress Well Club, the Baptist Training Union, The
Baptist Christian Center, and the Cultural Committee of Second Baptist Church were
organized for the direct purpose of orienting members to exemplify behavior that
reflected biblical mandates and respectability. In 1919, one of the men’s group of
Second Baptist Church, the Loyal Christian Brotherhood joined with the Young Negroes
Progressive Association to form the Dress Well Club. This group was organized to
create a more positive image of black newcomers in society, stressing the importance of
correct public behavior, dress, and personal appearance. The Club was open to all black
persons in Detroit. The one rule of the club was that its members had to carry a card
listing sixteen guidelines to be observed at all times. According to Miles, these points
emphasized “the most pressing behavioral problems in the black community of a non-

criminal nature?"O

Dress well-don’t wear dirty clothes on street cars, or flashy clothes
Don’t wear overalls on Sundays

Don’t sit barefooted in from of your house or loll around barefooted on Belle Isle
Don’t allow women to go out in bungalo aprons of budoir caps
Don’t braid children’s hair in knots, alley, and canals

Don’t loaf-get a job at once

Don’t talk loud in public places

Don’t keep children out of school

Don’t send for family unless you have a job

Don’t think you can keep a job unless you are _s_ob_er

. Don’t fool with patient medicines

. Don’t fail to be an active church member

. Don’t buy on installment

. Start a savings account

. Don’t spend all the money for pleasures

. Call on the Urban League if you need help

PPNQP'RP’NE‘

HD—‘l—‘I—‘I—‘O—ih‘
amending—p

 

4° Norman Kenneth Miles, “Home At Last: Urbanization of Black Migrants in Detroit, 1916-1929,” (Ph.D.,
University of Michigan, 1978), 170.

83

“These rules will help blacks make good, and keep down prejudice, race friction, and
discrimination?“ Although under the guidance of the Detroit Urban League, Reverend
Bradby strongly encouraged the formation of the Dress Well Club and even published
some of the ideology of the Dress Well Club in the church’s weekly newsletter, the
Second Baptist Herald.42 For Bradby, respectability was a reflection of Christian
morality and of the Social Gospel.

In February of 1933, Bradby oversaw the establishment of the Baptist Training Union.
Under the leadership of Mrs. Mary E. Cole General Director, this group had as its
objective the training of new members in the fundamentals of Christian service. New
congregants were trained how to be upstanding participators in the various church
ministries and social functions. The Baptist Christian Center operated along the same
lines as the Baptist Training Union, yet sought to extend the principles of Christian living
beyond the doors of the church into the community.

Another ministry to the growing migrant community was organized in September
1937. The Cultural Committee of Second Baptist was launched to sponsor programs
designed to enhance and introduce the black community to the art of public speaking,
dramas and cantatas. Biblically based, this committee felt it had a divine mandate to
nurture the cultural consciousness of its fellow parishioners and the surrounding black
community.

The establishment of such dynamic ministries unto migrants solidified Second Baptist
as being the “Home of Strangers” in the eyes of black migrants. Yet, as in any family,

strife and conflict occur at times, and this was the case at Second Baptist. Despite the

 

’1 Dress Well Club, Dress Well Club Card, 1917, Detroit Urban League Papers, Michigan Historical
Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.

84

draw of Second Baptist to southern migrants, the church known as the “Stranger’s Home”
held some members that were hostile toward new migrants. Resentment arouse between
Old black Detroiters and the “New” Detroiter newly come from the South. Much of this
resentment sprung from inter- and intra-racial tensions. Members of the “old guar ,”
those Detroiters who had settled in Detroit during the antebellum period, had integrated
into the white community with a small degree of acceptance and privilege. Many of
these blacks held prominent positions in social-political arenas of Detroit’s society.
However, with the influx of rural southern migrants into the city, white elites began to
perceive all African Americans as one group. Whites made no distinction between what
they understood as “uncultured” migrants and the “Old Detroiters.” Old Detroiters
recognized the change in white perceptions of black Detroiters and began to create class
distinctions within the black community, especially within the church. New Detroiters
felt the rejection from Old Detroiters and developed disdain for those blacks they felt
were interested more in their own advantages than in the welfare of the whole
community.43

Bradby was optimistic about the relationship between Old Detroiters and newcomers
within his congregation. He believed, like other ministers in his day, that the importance
of cooperation would impact the minds of both groups for the advancement of the race.
Cooperation and racial uplift was Bradby’s goal, especially as it related to the economic
prospects of his growing migrant church community. The Holy Scriptures in the Bible

upheld the principles of cooperation and racial uplift. God pushed for racial uplift when

 

‘2 Cara Shelly L. “Bradby’s Baptist,” 29.; Keith, “Home at Last,” 169-170.

43 The Negro In Detroit: Report of the Major ’s Committee on Race Relations, Detroit: Detroit Bureau of
Government Research, 1926. ; and Cara Shelly L. “Bradby’s Baptist: Second Baptist Church of Detroit,
1910-1946,” Michigan Historical Review 17, no. I (Spring 1991): 7-8.

85

he freed the Israelites from Egyptian tyranny. Bradby understood God calling him to do
the same for the African American community. Yet for Bradby, part of this divine duty to
uplift the race was tied to issues of respectability. Historian Victoria Wolcott notes that
the Detroit Urban League worked in tandem with Second Baptist in promoting in a
discourse of respectability that emphasized domesticity, thrift, outward appearance in an
effort to help migrants integrate into urban life. According to Wolcott, Second Baptist
was the major institution, outside of the Urban League, that promoted an ideology of
respectability among the black community. As the head pastor of Second Baptist,
Bradby establishment of ministries such as the Christian Industrial Club, the Dress Well
Club, Big Sisters Auxiliary and the Baptist Christian Center was clearly a reflection of
his adherence to Christian beliefs and issues of respectability. These two realities became
the foundation of his understanding of “racial uplift.”

These components of Bradby’s theology and his understanding of “racial uplift” can
also be seen in his editorial writings. As head editor of the church’s newspaper, the
Herald, Bradby wrote powerful editorials and articles encouraging his members to adhere
to the ideologies of thrift, respectability, and entrepreneurial ship. One article recites a
member asking if going into business for oneself was a good idea. The Herald answers
with an affirmative “yes, if you are able to work hard and save your money?‘14 Bradby’s
control of the Herald ensured that there were weekly articles and advertisements that
reflected the business interest of the black community. Even the church’s anniversary

booklets were filled with prominent black entrepreneurs.

 

“ Second Baptist Herald, 5 September 1926, 3 October 1926, 17 June 1928, Second Baptist Collection,
Second Baptist Church, Detroit.

86

Bradby took his drive to enhance the economic status of migrants within Detroit to
another level when he made connections with Ford Motor Company. A man of vision
and tenacity, Bradby recognized opportunities for advancement. He was not blind then to
the positive prospects of interacting with one of the most powerful forces within the
Detroit community. Receiving a luncheon invitation issued by one of Ford’s top
executives, Bradby stated that he walked into the office of CE. Sorenson. Sorenson
showed Bradby a drawer full of knives, guns and other paraphnelia used as some of the
African Americans employed in the plant against white workers. Sorensen asked for
Bradby’s cOOperation in quelling the violence, while asking if Bradby would recommend
more suitable black workers for employment at the plant.

The luncheon was the beginning of a lucrative relationship between Bradby, Second
Baptist and the Ford Motor Company. By 1919, Ford had issued a new policy of
employing blacks in all hourly wage classifications. The five-dollar a day wage Ford
paid to its workers attracted large numbers of black men. Yet Ford was looking for
trustworthy African Americans to employ in his plant. Historian David Allen Levine,
writes that the “men at Ford, as always, sought to ensure a supply of sober, efficient,
dependable workers. . .More and more Henry Ford came to rely on another means of
screening workers. He developed close relations with Detroit’s respectable clergy.”45

Bradby, as the pastor of one of the largest, if not the largest African American

church in Detroit, figured prominently in Ford’s hiring practices. For Ford, Bradby could

 

’5 It is important to note that African American ministers have been utilized in recruiting strategies in other
industries such as steel and meat-packing. Yet, Henry Ford’s connection with black clergy stands as the
most expansive and prominent use of black ministers in employment practices. “Remarks by R.L. Bradby,”
28 September 1931, Second Baptist Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan; David
Allan Levine, Internal Combustion: The Races in Detroit 1915-1926, (London: Greenwood Press, 1976),
97.; Lloyd H. Bailer, “Negro Labor in the Automobile Industry,” (Ph.D., diss., University of Michigan,
1943), 113.

87

supply hard working, respectable black men to his plant, while Bradby could provide
church members with jobs and receive other monetary support from the company. In the
early stages of the relationship, both the Ford Motor Company and Second Baptist
benefited greatly from their interaction. As historian Oliver Zunz writes, “Ford was the
only employer in the city (Detroit). . .to develop openly a hiring network among Blacks in
Detroit through Reverend Bradby of the Second Baptist Church.”46

It is important to note that Bradby was not the only minister to enjoy Ford’s
solicitation. His connection with Ford placed him at the top of black ministers whose
influence could shape an entire community. Ford eventually began to solicit the help of
another outstanding black ministers, Father Everard Daniel of St. Matthew’s Episcopal
Church and Reverend William Peck of Bethel A.M.E. Bradby, however, was to have
recruited the largest number of African Americans for Ford Motor company.“ A more
thorough discussion of the Bradby-Ford relationship is found in chapter three.

Despite the achievements made for migrants through Second at places like Ford Motor
Company and other industrial agencies, by the early 19308 the Detroit African American
community was feeling the economic devastation of the Great Depression. Bradby’s
weekly mailing itinerary is filled with letters to business owners, mortgage companies,

and installment companies on behalf of his members. Many of these letters plead with

 

‘6 Oliver Zunz, The Changing Face of Inequality: Urbanization, Industrial Development, Immigrants in
Detroit, [880-1920, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982), 396.

’7 Levine notes that “The Reverend Bradby was a personal friend of some of the top officials and Father
Daniel was a favorite of Henry Ford himself. Mr. And Mrs. Ford visited St. Matthew’s annually, and Ford
made several substantial contributions to the church. The St. Matthew’s parish house was Ford’s gift. More
over, the Negro-Relations executive of the Ford Motor Company, Donald Marshall, was a member of St.
Matthews.” ; Levine, Internal Combustion: The Races in Detroit, 98.

88

utility companies and the like to extend installment agreements in order to keep his
members from being evicted or the heat being shut off.48

Despite the strains of the Depression, Second Baptist maintained an uncanny ability to
accommodate the needs of many migrants and blacks within Detroit. Much of this ability
was attributed to the influence of numerous letters Bradby wrote on behalf of migrants
and hurting church members. Poverty, unemployment, imprisonment and racial
discrimination were catalysts that sparked Bradby’s pen to move in resistance and protest
against black disenfranchisement and oppressive white power structures on behalf of his
members. Bradby’s letters reflected the growing needs of the Detroit community and
provided him an aggressive tool by which to promote the justice and equality that God’s
kingdom demanded in the lives of Afiican American migrants.

Bradby’s letters are written to some of the highest officials within the community of
Detroit. One letter, written to Detroit Prosecutor Harry S. Troy speaks out against the
racial discrimination experienced by some of his members at a local delicatessen.
Bradby writes, “They insistently refuse to serve colored people sitting at the counter.
Their excuse always is that the seats are reserved, which of course it is not true. I have
just come from there...the assistant manger’s exact words to me were: “I will be dead a
thousand years before a nigger will ever sit down at my counter.”49 Bradby urges the
prosecutor to write to the establishment and remind the racist owners of the dangers of
disregarding the rights of African Americans according to the laws of the State of

Michigan.

 

‘8 “Addressee record book listing problem and date of letter,” Second Baptist Papers, reel 3, Michigan
Historical Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.

89

Bradby attacked racism wherever it reared its head. Writing to Miss Vilena
McDonald, the supervisor of Health Education at Northwestern High School, Bradby
strongly protest the segregation and mistreatment of students in Class B-9. He writes, “I
am sure that you will not continue to segregate the children because they are colored and
thereby add further humiliation to what they already have to suffer because of American
Prejudice.50

Throughout the 19308, Bradby continued to wage war against racism and black
disenfranchisement within Detroit society. Writing to C.J. Winniegar, Superintendent of
the Personnel Department at Dodge Motor Car Corporation, Bradby requested that the
Superintendent rehire a recently laid off African American man, named Mr. Alfred Ryan.
The letter allows a glimpse into the character of Bradby, for he writes this letter on behalf
of an individual who is not a member of his church. Mr. Alfred Ryan is a struggling
African American man trying to survive during the Great Depression in Detroit. He has
no claim on Bradby, apart from being a soul in need of comfort and salvation through the
multifaceted ways Bradby can dispense it.

In the letter, Bradby relates how the Depression has seriously crippled the financial
stability of Ryan, who has been a diligent elevator operator for twelve years at the Dodge
Motor Car. Using the power of his recommendation, Bradby reminds the superintendent

of his parishioner’s loyalty to the company and personal credibility, stating, “I have

 

49Letter, R. L. Bradby to Harry S. Troy, March 27, 1931., Second Baptist Papers, Reel 3, Bentley Historical
Library.

5° Robert L. Bradby to Vilena McDonald, 25 September 1926, Second Baptist Papers, reel 3, Michigan
Historical Collection. .

90

known him for a great number of years and he is one of the finest men I have ever
known.”5 1
Bradby’s desire to meet the needs of the migrant community even reached the highest
of political officials in Detroit. In 1931, Bradby wrotes a letter to the mayor of Detroit,
John W. Smith, in hopes of gaining employment for A.J. Bell and Thomas M. Harris. He
wishes to have the two placed as “motormen.” Bradby also request a position for a black
male with an artificial limb. He writes, “I am keenly interested in getting them a position
where their worth and quality will speak for itself..... If you assist me in this matter, I
shall consider it a favor that will demand my life-long gratitude.”52
Bradby knew the power he could weld on behalf of his community. He makes no
blatant boast about his charismatic influence on his large church community, yet his letter
implies that the mayor would be wise in meeting the demands of Bradby, if for nothing
else to gain the support of the most influential connection to black voters in Detroit.

Over a hundred of Bradby’s letters operated as either a weapon against racist
agendas or as a stimulant to the consciences of white officials who withheld the means of
existence from those they had exploited. Hi8 correspondences also alerted him to the
growing needs of the migrant community. In response, the ministries of Second Baptist
were continually expanded to address the conditions of the black community.

Bradby’s ministry to black migrants in Detroit demonstrates what historian Milton

Semette notes as a “filsion” between two understandings of the church’s mission within

the black church. “Praise” and “protest” are two African American church traditions that

 

51Robert L. Bradby to C. J. Winniegar, 26 May 1931, Second Baptist Papers, reel 3, Michigan Historical
Collection.

52Robert L. Bradby to Mayor John W. Smith,7 January 1925, reel 3, Michigan Historical Collection.

91

merged together in the North as a result of the Great Migration. The praise and worship
of the God of the Old Testament was blended together with non-violent revolutionary
protest activities of Jesus in the New Testament. Both realities became fluid entities
within the theology of the early twentieth black church that intermingled with each other
through physical manifestations of preaching, social service programs and black pride.
As Semett notes, “There were Pharaohs on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line
preventing an Afiican American exodus of significant magnitude until World War I.”53
Bradby and the church community of Second knew well the oppression of the “Pharaoh”
in the North.

However, in the new Promised Land, Bradby understood that God was still the god of
the oppressed, and that he sent his son Jesus to redeem black humanity from white racial
oppression. Jesus’ life and journey to the cross provided Bradby with the example and the
means of this redemption through non-violent actions of protest and agitation on behalf
of the poor, powerless, and oppressed of Detroit.

Bradby orchestrated the ministries of Second Baptist to function through the mediums
of “protest” and “praise” in order to improve the quality of freedom of black migrants
and Detroiters. Praise was manifested through preaching and teaching of Christian
worldviews, values and principles through church organizations as the Baptist Training
Union or the many groups with Second’s massive Sunday School programs. Protest came
through courses designed to train migrants in domestic services, reading and writing and

even in respectable behavior. Protest also came in the form of Bradby’s mighty pen, his

many letters in protest of racist treatment of his members, his recommendations on behalf

 

53 Milton C. Semett, Bound For the Promised Land: A frican American Religion and the Great Migration,
(Durham: Duke University Press, 1997), 248.

92

of jobless migrants and members, his writings pleading with financial agencies to extend
credit to poverty-stricken congregants during the Depression.

In all these actions, Bradby fulfilled his goal of establishing the kingdom of God in
the Detroit black community. Through Bradby, thousands of black migrants experienced
a better standard of living than they ever had in the South. As far as the industrial
corporations of Detroit are concerned, Brady was instrumental in reshaping the social
patterns in the work place. Blacks and whites worked together at Ford and Dodge. They
gained employment working for the city and education board, jobs that were heretofore
unattainable by blacks.

Bradby and the ministry of Second Baptist enabled black migrants to experience a re-
birth in their economic and social situations. In the South, they were utterly segregated,
whereas in the North they could hold jobs in the same company as whites. Bradby’s
ministries also helped to establish the church of Second Baptist as a cornerstone in the
black community of Detroit. Historian Milton Semett supports this point, writing, “On
the whole, Afiican American churches in the North did extend a helping hand to
migrants...Aiding migrants to find housing and employment was seen as a racial
duty...Finally aid rendered was viewed as a necessary extension of the traditional
practice of Christian benevolence?“ Bradby took Semett’s view of Christian
benevolence further and linked it to the establishment of the kingdom of God.

Robert L. Bradby personified the Social Gospel’s theology of social salvation and the
kingdom of God, both aspects, which are found in the contemporary teachings of
liberation theology. Bradby manifested the cry of liberation theologians and reformers

of the Social Gospel. Adherents of the social gospel believed that God had sanctioned

93

them to fight for justice and righteousness in all areas of man’s life. The ultimate
fulfillment of this mandate was the establishment of the kingdom of God. According to
social gospel theologians Walter Rauschenbush, Washington Gladden, and Josiah Strong,
true Christianity was not simply relegated to the spiritual, it was lived and visualized as
taking shape in the present physical world. The immanence of God and God’s rule
according to the dictates of the scripture in all areas of life must be established. The life
and teachings of Jesus Christ constituted the principles of the kingdom. Jesus’ life was
understood to be one divinely sanctioned to fight against every form of social injustice
and inequality.55

In each movement of his pen and in each development of a new ministry unto the
migrant community, Bradby exemplified the doctrines of the Social Gospel. By speaking
out against racism, fighting for jobs on behalf of black migrants, maintaining connections
with the political officials, and even working to free blacks who were incarcerated,
Bradby created an indigenous movement for justice which entailed working for the
social-economic stability of blacks as well as the eradication of racial discrimination.
Bradby embodied Rauschenbush’s “social salvation.” He was not just a preacher that was
concerned over the redemption of souls; he was a social gospel reformer and a race
leader. And he combined these roles to advance the black race and pursue Christian

mandates that spoke to issues of black uplift and freedom.

 

5” Milton Semett, Bound For the Promised Land, 245.

55 Walter Rauschenbush, “Belated Races and the Social Problems,” Methodist Review Quarterly (South),
LXII (April. 1914), 252-259.; Ronald C. White Jr., “Social Christianity and the Negro in the Progressive
Era, 1890-1920,” (unpublished dissertation: Princeton University, 1972), 2-3.

94

CHAPTER THREE: BLACK WORKERS, REVEREND BRADBY AND HENRY
FORD

Richard Thomas’s Life for Us Is Mat We Make It presents a conceptual framework
that explains the dynamics of early twentieth century Detroit and the evolution of the
black community. Hi8 understanding of what he terms the “community building process”
speaks to the totality of historical “efforts of black individuals, institutions, and
organizations to survive and progress as a people and to create and sustain a genuine and
creative communal presence.” At the core of this process is the drive by the black
community to fulfill its vision of freedom and equality. It is a continual massive
movement toward freedom, 21 better quality of freedom than that experienced in the past.
Thomas argues that the blaCk Detroit community building process must be seen in “the
sum total of the historical efforts of blacks in industrial Detroit to survive and progress.”1
These historical efforts must be addressed in a variety of contexts with emphasis on the
relationships between “proletarianization, institutional life, politics, race relations, and
particularly ghetto formation.”2

The leadership of Rev. Bradby and the activities of Second Baptist Church,
particularly in connection with Henry Ford of Ford Motor Company, constitute one
context by which the black struggle for survival and progress can be assessed within the
Detroit community. The intersection of the black struggle for freedom within Industrial

Detroit and that of institutional life as it is understood in and through the black church

 

1 Richard W. Thomas, Life for Us Is What We Make It: Building Black Community in Detroit, 1915-1945,
(Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1992), xi-xii.
zlbid., 277.

95

provides a framework in understanding the nature of black self-help and the pursuit of
freedom during the early twentieth century.

Rev. Bradby organized Second Baptist as a vehicle of black progress and survival in
Detroit. Under his leadership, Second became a medium by which African Americans
could enter into the industrial working class, an area heretofore restricted to them.
Survival was manifested in Second’s massive self-help organizations as seen through its
many church auxiliaries.

The most lucrative relationship created on behalf of the Detroit black community that
promoted the survival and continual progress of the black community in Detroit was
between Bradby and Henry Ford. Here, we have a relationship between secular (Ford
Motor Company) and sacred (Second Baptist Church) institutions, which eventuated in
the advancement and survival of the Detroit black community. Many of the migrants
filtering into Second Baptist’s ministries were given recommendations by Bradby to Ford
Motor Company. Bradby constituted a direct medium for African Americans to enter the
industrial working class, thereby creating both .a means of economic survival and
advancement for blacks into the Detroit industrial working class.

Bradby nurtured his relationship with the Ford Company over a 23 year period. As
a result, Second Baptist soon became known as the place where one could get a job at
Ford. Bradby understood himself to be a significant part of the Ford Motor Company.
Henry Ford and general manger Charles E. Sorenson for the most part, reflected Bradby’s

sentiments and provided special favors to him such as theatre tickets and the like.3

 

3 Robert L. Bradby to Charles E. Sorenson, 7 June 1929; Robert L. Bradby to Charles E. Sorsenson, 14
October 1937; Charles E. Sorenson to Robert L. Bradby, 5 October 1937, accession 38, box 125, Ford
Archives, Dearborn, Michigan.

96

Bradby’s influence in relationship to black enfranchisement within the automobile
industry was seen in the power of his pen. A personal recommendation from Bradby was
tantamount to being guaranteed a job at Ford. But Bradby made it a point to recommend
only those who exemplified good moral character, maintained regular church attendance,
and demonstrated responsible behavior. As historian Milton C. Semett notes, “Bradby
promised to recommend “very high type fellows” to the company.”4

Bradby’s recommendation action in itself, became a means of empowerment for
blacks in Detroit. Blacks were proud to hold a city or factory job, especially at Ford. It
was a sign of prestige and honor to be recognized as a factory worker. Historian
Nathaniel Leach notes that members at Second would proudly wear their Ford badges on
their arms to Sunday morning worship.5 Thus, the self-esteem and perspective of the
black community began to experience a gradual change. Migrants began to support
themselves and maintain their families, while at the same time give money back to the
church. 6

Bradby’s connection with Ford and the power inherent in his recommendation allowed
Bradby to make definite strides in establishing the “kingdom of God” within the Detroit
black community. Economic empowerment in an area heretofore denied black migrants
were now made available through his dynamic relationship with one of the most powerful
individuals in the nation. Bradby realized that he had the opportunity not only to increase

the financial stability of his church community, but also to combat derogatory images of

 

4 Milton C. Semett, Bound for the Promised Land: African American Religion and the Great Migration,
(Durham: Duke University Press, 1997). 148.

5 Natheniel Leach, interview by author, Detroit, Mich., 18 April 2001.

6It should be noted that in 1927, Ford laid off over 1500 black workers, due to the Great Depression.
However, those blacks that maintained their jobs continued to view working at Ford as a status symbol of
progress.

97

African Americans in the eyes of white power structures by providing the industrial
giants with individuals who exemplified the tenets of respectability. These men and
women dressed well, held good church attendance, behaved respectfully, and even were
trained in church-taught courses on thrift and domesticity. 7 These attributes that Bradby
promoted reflected a middle-class bourgeois mentality. As Victoria Wolcott asserts
“Within the boundaries of the Second Baptist Church, a bourgeois discourse of
respectability remained central to reform work, especially as it applied to girls and
women.”8

Many of these individuals were migrants who had been transformed in appearance and
behavior by the preaching and teaching of Bradby. Respectability and Christianity went
hand in hand for Bradby in establishing God’s kingdom among the Detroit black
community. Justice and equality on a certain level was now being established for Bradby
by his relationship with Ford.

By 1929, Bradby had formed longstanding ties with Ford Motor Company and
established the black laborer as a prominent resident among Ford employees. The Second
Baptist Herald, Second’s weekly newsletter, gave front-page recognition to this fact,
reporting, “It is a matter of record that the policy of Ford Company is to employ a fair

percentage of colored employees. We rejoice in the spirit as shown here. This rejoicing

carries with it the hope that the conduct of our laborers will be such as to increase the

 

7 Outside of the establishment of the Baptist Christian Center and the Industrial Club, Bradby also pushed
the development of Second Baptist’s Social Service Educational Institution in 1926 to 1929. The institution
was staffed with 18 teachers with an average enrollment of about 150 students. Courses taught ranged from
home-making, cooking, to reading and writing; “Church History,” History of Second Baptist Church 1836-
1940, Second Baptist Collection, 8.

8 Victoria Wolcott, Remaking Respectability, 161-162.

98

9 The black worshipping community at Second rejoiced in the new

employed ratio.”
economic opportunities opened to them.

In the solicitation of black ministers as employment recruiters, Henry Ford gained
a direct line to black labor, which compensated Ford Motor’s labor shortage due to World
War I and II. Bombarded with government contracts for war parts, and faced with losing
many of his labor supply to the draft, Ford was eager to find another source of cheap
labor to sustain his growing company.

Many in Detroit society began to criticize Bradby, remarking that he pushed to
increased membership roles and his pockets through connection with Ford. Earlier
perspectives of Bradby equated him with both black and white ministers who operated in
the same vein as unscrupulous politicians. In this view, the shady preacher and the
immoral politician sought amicable relations with industrial magnets who could provide
their members with jobs, thereby increasing church attendance which would in turn
increase the revenues of the church and swelled the pockets of the pastor.10 Bradby
heartily denied these accusations and posited that only a small number of his
recommendations were on behalf of his members.ll

By 1931, General Major C.E. Sorensen and Bradby had developed such a lucrative

relationship that Bradby wrote a personal letter of thanks and appreciation to him and

Henry Ford for employing so many of his members. He writes, “I want you to know how

 

9 Second Baptist Herald, 12, no. 1 13 January 1929, Second Baptist Historical Collection, Second Baptist
Church, Detroit.

1° Lloyd H. Bailer, “Negro Labor in the Automobile Industry,” 113.; Levine, Internal Combustion: The
Races in Detroit, 98.; Robert L. Bradby to Donald Marshall, Special Investigator in Personal Department,
20 November 1931, Second Baptist Collection, Second Baptist Church, Detroit; and Shelly “Bradby’s
Baptist: Second Baptist Church of Detroit, 1910-1946,” 17.

11 Robert L. Bradby to Donald Marshall, 20 November 1931, Second Baptist Papers, reel 3, Michigan
Historical Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.

99

happy we all are to know the attitude of the Ford Motor Company toward the unfortunate
members of our group. I think it is one of the most outstanding pieces of work that has
been done in the attitude of the company to people in Inkster.”12

In the beginning stages of the relationship, Bradby specifically established church
auxiliaries and committees in Second Baptist Church to sustained and even advanced the
economic goals of the Detroit black community, thereby building up the Detroit black
community. The Bradby-Ford relationship was an intergral part of what Thomas’s coins
the “black community building process.” This relationship also reflected the theological
foundations inherent in some facets of black community building in Detroit. Black
church leadership in Detroit understood that the advancement of the black community
was contingent upon the advancement of God’s kingdom. Therefore, biblical mandates
were the cornerstone of black self-help agendas and community building through the
black church.

At the core of Bradby’s relationship with Henry Ford were theological. imperatives
based on his understanding of the “kingdom of God.” For Bradby, the advancement of
the kingdom of God was connected with the advancement of black community in Detroit.
This is why towards the end of a twenty-three year relationship between Second Baptist
and Ford Motor Company, Bradby writes of establishing “a larger and more extensive
program of the “kingdom of God?13

This “more extensive program” Bradby refers to includes Second Baptist’s church

auxiliaries and committees as well as his associations with influential people. By 1940,

 

12Robert L. Bradby to CE. Sorenson, General Manager of Ford Motor Company, 8 December 1931,
Papers of Henry Ford, Ace 285, Box 1274-12BRAA BRADF, Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village
Research Center, Dearborn, Michigan.

100

however, Bradby spoke of enhancing Second’s ability to meet the needs of the black
community by expanding the church’s many programs, auxiliaries and committees. An
integral part of this program expansion was Bradby’s drive to strengthen his relationships
with influential white leaders in Detroit, such as the Charles E. Sorensen, General Plant
Manager of Ford Motor Company, Mayor Frank Murphy and Governor Fitzgerald. For
Bradby, influential relationships with white leaders and the expansion of Second
Baptist’s programs to better benefit the black community are all part of establishing
“God’s Kingdom.” Bradby understood that God had given him and his church this
challenge. He held all of his membership responsible for completing this divine task,
claiming that all are demanded to “surrender” to God’s will, following His divine
mandate “whithersoever He may lead.”14
On the most fundamental level, the experience of my paternal grandfather with Rev.
Bradby and Ford Motor Company reflected Thomas’ understanding of black community
building and the theological mandates driving Bradby’s conneCtion with Ford. My
grandfather needed a job, and Bradby saw a way meeting my Grandfather’s need by
giving him a recommendation at Ford Motor. Bradby realized the power in his
recommendation to Ford Motor Company to not only sustain the welfare of my
grandfather but to advance the survival and progress of the black community.
Bradby used the black church to invoke change not only in the social, political,
and economic landscape of Detroit, but also in the spiritual arenas of Detroit. Bradby

understood that African American life was infused the reality of spiritual as well as that

 

’3 Reverend. Robert L. Bradby, “Preface,” History of Second Baptist Church 183 6-1 94 0, Second Baptist
Collection, Second Baptist Church, Detroit.

1‘ Ibid.

101

of the social, political and economic. The growing Detroit black community in the early
twentieth century conceptualized the concepts of freedom, progress, and survival through
theological motifs of the Old and New Testament. Southern black newcomers to Detroit
held conceptualizations of the “Promised Land” found in the book of Exodus, that were
tied to the pursuit of freedom, equality, and black enfranchisement. Bradby and the
leading bodies of Second understood the biblical motif of the “kingdom of God” to be
the black pursuit of freedom and equality and economic advancement in Detroit.

Bradby understood black freedom and advancement to be so inextricably tied to
God’s kingdom that he preached and wrote about these realities in one of Second
Baptist’s most prominent publications, the Second Baptist Herald. In 1929, Bradby
preached a series of sermons on the impact of the black church in Detroit. Throughout the
latter parts of May and June, Bradby preached three series entitled: “The Detroit We’ve
Made,” “The Detroit As Headed,” and “The Detroit Which Can Be.”15 Following these
sermons, Bradby preached a series on the life of Moses. In the June 16, 1929 edition of
the Herald, Bradby writes “The records dealt with during the next few Sunday morning
services will be taken from the book of Exodus, and the study will evolve around the life
of Moses. . .Remember as you read it the significance of the parallel which today is to be
found as pictured in the Egyptians and the Israelites.”16

Bradby’s sermon progression moves from black advancement in Detroit to the life of

Moses with a call to the black church community to note the similarities in relationships

between Egyptians and Israelites with that of blacks and whites in Detroit. His sermon

 

’5 “Pastor to Initiate A Series of Vital Addresses,” Second Baptist Herald, 12, 5 May 1929, Second Baptist
Church Papers, box 5, reel 10, Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of
Michigan.

102

progress ties together black pursuits of freedom and community building with God’s
advancement of the oppressed Hebrew community in freeing ' them from Egyptian
domination in order to build a godly community of believers in the Promised Land.
Brady links biblical conceptions of God’s deliverance and providence to twentieth-
century black progressivism with freedom and community building as ultimate
manifestations of God’s desire to establish a godly kingdom,.e.g., the Promised Land in
Canaan.

Bradby manifested these biblical conceptualizations in practical expressions in and
through the black church. Second Baptist became a vehicle by which Bradby could not
only preach this brand of theology, but could put it into practice through mobilizing his
congregants into a variety of self-help communities on behalf of the black community.

The connection between my grandfather, Reverend Bradby and Henry Ford reflected
a triangular relationship that was developed over and over again among African
American men coming into the Detroit during the early twentieth century. During this
period, many African American men and even some women sought and even solicited the
help of Reverend Bradby to obtain employment at Ford Motor Company. Like my
grandfather, many of these men were returning from the war, but many others were
coming up from the South. Both groups were tantalized by Ford’s five dollar a day
promise issued on January 5, 1917.

Automotive industries like Ford were seeking ways to alleviate the prevailing labor
shortage caused by World War I and the post-war years. Other factors causing wide

spread labor shortage was the cessation of European immigration during this period.

 

“5 “Many Are Catching the Gleam,” Second Baptist Herald, 12, 16 June 1929, Second Baptist Papers, box
5, reel 10, Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.

103

Automobile firms, especially, were prevented from soliciting foreign sources of labor as
they had done in the past. The massive influx of African Americans into the major urban
centers of the North caught the attention of automobile industries, particularly Ford
Motor Company. According to Lloyd H. Bailer, “thousands of southern Negroes left their
homes, some bound for the automobile centers, others in response to the rising general
demand for labor obtaining throughout the North.”17
Second Baptist worked in tandem with white and black labor organizations such as
the Employers Association of Detroit and the Detroit Urban League in an effort to recruit
southern labor for Detroit Industries. The Employers Association of Detroit worked in
connection with the Detroit Urban League and even subsidized the salary of the League’s
industrial secretary.18 I
In return, Bailer noted that the League supplied the Employers Association with black
labor.19 The Detroit Urban League encouraged black southemers to seek the comforts of
Detroit industries through public statements and through agents sent to the South. Bailer
writes of old Detroit residents remembering League owned trucks cruising through black
neighborhoods offering jobs at some of the major industrial plants in Detroit.20 In fact,
the director of the Detroit Urban League, Forrester B. Washington made sure that the
newspapers and other public agencies proclaimed the advantages of working in Detroit,

particularly declaring the high wages black workers were afford in the automobile

 

‘7 Lloyd H. Bailer, “Negro Labor in the Automobile Industry,” (Ph.D., diss., University of Michigan,
1943), 29.
18Ibid., 31.

‘9 Ibid.
2° Ibid.

104

industries.21 Throughout the leagues recruitment efforts, Second Baptist played an
integral part, becoming became one of Forrester B. Washington’s main support networks
in publicizing and recruiting black labor. For Bradby, this connection with the Detroit
Urban League was crucial in his plan of establishing God’s kingdom among the black
community. Through this relationship with the Detroit Urban League and Ford Motor
Company, Bradby could advance God’s agenda by building up the black community
through affording them employment opportunities. This was especially the case in regard
to Ford Motor Company.

According to Bailer, the Ford plants held the greatest attraction for black migrants.
Ford’s five dollar a day wage caught the attention of many newcomers to Detroit. During
the first wave of migration between 1916-1919, and the second wave between 1921 and
1924, Second Baptist under the leadership of Rev. Bradby became a beacon of hope to
Detroit newcomers. Rumors of a black minister who could gain black men employment
at Ford with just the swipe of his pen spread fast among the black community in Detroit.
Southern migrants and other men returning from the war sought help and membership in
the church known as the “Home of Strangers” among black Detroiters. Historian Richard
Thomas notes “If blacks wanted a job at Ford-and just about everybody did-they had to
go to one of the black churches (Second Baptist or St.Matthews) which Ford had blessed
with the privilege of recommendation system.”22 Historian Elizabeth Ann Martin writes

that Bradby’s recommendation was “considered tantamount to securing a Ford Job.”23

 

2‘ Ibid., 32.
22 Richard Thomas, Life for Us Is What We Make It, 273.

23 Elizabeth Ann Martin, Detroit and the Great Migration 1 916-1929, (Dearbom: Bentley Historical
Library, 1993), 21.

105

The foundation of Bradby’s relationship with Ford Motor Company was housed in his
power to write recommendations on behalf of African American community. In granting
Bradby the power of recommendation, Ford enabled Bradby to develop a lucrative
triangular relationship between Bradby, the African American community and Ford
Motor Company, which in turn helped Bradby advance “God’s kingdom.”

By 1919, the pews of Second Baptist were swelling with the influx of black
newcomers to Detroit seeking the “Promised Land” and looking for their black Moses to
lead them to the “milk and honey” of economic enfranchisement. Reverend Robert L.
Bradby constituted a new kind of “Moses,” a man of God who held connections with a
“pharaoh” who was willing to offer a level of economic and social freedom unknown to
the black community in the past.

Prior to 1917, the majority of African Americans were excluded from working in
industrial companies. Jim Crow laws and racist sentiment in the North kept African
Americans out of the predominantly white industrial labor classes. Henry Ford’s five
dollar a day promise and his willingness to hire unskilled black labor changed the face of
the industrial labor class forever.

Suffice it to say that Henry Ford’s hiring policy towards blacks and his solicitation of
the local black church changed the economic, social, and political landscape of Detroit
and exposed the power latent within the black church to effect positive economic changes
within the black community. Through Bradby’s connection with Ford, Second Baptist
became a sacred institution, which had far reaching effects into the secular economic and

social realities of its congregants. In essence, Second Baptist became a vehicle of black

106

agency and power during the early twentieth century through Bradby’s relationship with
Ford Motor Company.

This triangular relationship was the first of its kind in the automotive industrial world
and it transcended secular and sacred boundaries in its inception and operation. As
historian Oliver Zunz states, “Ford was the only employer in the city who initiated a new
policy in 1919 of employing Blacks in all hourly-wage classifications, and the only
employer to develop openly a hiring network among blacks in Detroit through Reverend
Bradby of Second Baptist Church.” 24 1

Although Zunz argues that the relationship between Ford, Bradby and Second
Baptist “had only a limited impact on the sociological composition of the Black
community,” the relationship did expand the power of the black church to transcend its
sacred boundaries and positively impact the social-economic realities of the black
community on a level not experience in the past. Zunz notes that the power of the black
minister to amass a large labor class through the black church was recognized by
industrial magnets like Henry Ford. Henry Ford made it a point to contact Reverend
Bradby because he knew well the potential of black Christian leadership to amass the
“local people,” as historian John Dittimer terms, and mobilize them for action, whether
that action be for social freedom or for economic advancement. A letter from Charles E.
Sorsenson, General Plant Manager for Ford Motor speaks to this fact, stating, “the

contact you have had with us in the industrial work in our plant, is one of the angles that I

 

2‘ Oliver Zunz, The Changing Face of Inequality: Urbanization, Industrial Development, and Immigrants
in Detroit, [880-1920, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982), 396.

107

like to see attached to the work of a pastor, because it certainly gives him a broader
opportunity to help his congregation.”25

Bradby was not the only minister contacted by Ford to recruit a black working class
for Ford Motor Company. Reverend W. Daniel of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church was
also an associate of Ford Motor Company with regards to black labor. Ford Historians
Allan Nevins and Frank Ernest Hill, write that “Henry Ford and Sorensen (Ford’s chief
general manager) developed special confidence in two colored pastors of Detroit, the
Rev. R. L. Bradby of Second Baptist Church and the Rev. Everard W. Daniel of St.
Matthew’s Episcopal Church, who help them find capable men, break up the use of

”26 This “special confidence” that

knives, and compose differences between the races.
Nevins and Hill refer to was particularly evident in Ford’s relationship with Bradby.
Henry Ford found his relationship with the dynamic black minister so beneficial that the
connection between them lasted for twenty-three years.

The beginnings of this relationship reflected the vision and hunger of one black
minister determined to advance the social-political agendas of the kingdom of God
among his congregants. Economic and racial uplift were prime aspirations in the agenda
of the kingdom. Bradby saw in Ford an opportunity to fulfill this divine mandate and
advance the realities of God’s kingdom in the lives of his people. Bradby saw within his

connection with Ford an opportunity to resist black economic disenfranchisement in

Detroit and enhance the quality of freedom experienced by the Detroit black community.

 

25 Charles E. Sorsenson to Robert L. Bradby,p. 38., 2 November 1925, in “15” Anniversary Souvenir
Program,” Second Baptist Church Papers, box 2, reel 3, Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley Historical
Library, University of Michigan.

26 Allan Nevins and Frank Ernest Hill, Ford: Expansion and Challenge 1915-1933. (New York: Charles
Scribner’s Sons, 1957), 540.

108

In 1918 he did not refuse an invitation by Charles E. Sorenson, plant manger of Ford
Motor Company to come a luncheon with some of the top Ford officials.

Bradby remembers walking into Sorensen’s office and watching him pull out a
drawer full of large knives, guns and other instruments used as weapons. Bradby relates
that these weapons “had been carried. . .by members of our group that were creating an
unusual disturbance within the boundaries of that organization?” Sorensen asked that
Bradby assist in quelling the tensions between black and white workers. Bradby offered
his connections and his ability to recommend only the “highest type” of Afiican
Americans to Ford Motor Company. In Bradby’s words, his connection with Ford
enabled him “to do some very definite things for a large number of the members of our
group.” 28 Those “members of our group” of course, were the Negro newcomers flowing
into Detroit and the Detroit black community. As Second Baptist member Frank L.
Morris states, “Fortunately he (Bradby) had the personal fiiendship of Henry Ford and
was, therefore, placed in very favorable position to secure jobs for many of these
migrants. Hundreds were beneficiaries of these efforts, which became known throughout
the Southland, making Bradby a very popular person, a popularity that continued
throughout his lifetime.”29 Another member, Mildren Dillard Croff, notes that Bradby
not only provided migrants jobs at Ford, but he also gained them employment at other

factories.30

 

27“Remarks by KL. Bradby,” 28 September 1931, Second Baptist Church Papers, reel 3, Michigan
Historical Collection.

28lbid.
29 Nathaniel Leach, Second Baptist Connection, Revised Edition Eyewitness History, (Detroit: Second
Baptist Church, 1988), 69.

3° Nathaniel Leach and Edith Gamble, Second Baptist Church Eyewitness History, p. 46, reel 3, Second
Baptist Church Papers, Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.

109

For twenty-three years, Ford continued to uphold Bradby’s recommendations and
solicited his help during times of racial conflict at the plant. Over-this twenty-three year
period, thousands of black migrants flooded Detroit, many finding employment at Ford
Motor Company.31 Migrants especially looked to the motor company as a new means of
economic and social mobility. Large companies like Ford and Dodge eagerly took up the
influx of cheap labor from black mi grants.3 2

Bradby’s connection with Ford helped to turn the flow of black labor into Ford Motor
Company. This lucrative triangular relationship was bittersweet at best for black workers
at Ford Motor. Despite Bradby’s success on a certain level in resisting black poverty and
providing black Detroiters with a higher level of economic freedom, he could not
eradicate racial inequalities inherent in Ford hiring policies and treatment toward black
workers. Many African American families benefited from the five dollar a day wage at
Ford, yet they paid for these benefits at extreme cost to their mental and physical health.

Charles Denby, a black worker living in Detroit in mid 1920s writes in his journal,
“But everybody knew Ford was a “man-killing”. place...Every worker could identify
Ford workers on the streetcars going home at night. Every worker who was asleep was
working for Ford. You’d see twenty asleep on cars and everyone would say, “Ford

workers,” On Sunday Ford workers would sleep on the way to church.”33

 

31"Ford was the largest employer, having sixteen thousand African-Americans on its payroll in 1925.”;
Thomas, Life for Us Is What We Make It, 14.

32According to historian Richard Thomas, World War I and the lack of European immigrant-labor created a
need for a cheaper labor substitute. Companies usually identified the South and its black surplus as an
adequate substitute; Thomas, Life for Us Is What We Make It, 21.

33 Charles Denby (Matthew Ward), Indignant Heart: A Black Worker ’3 Journal, (Detroit: Wayne State
University, 1989), 36, 35.

110

Denby’s recollections reflected the harsh realities of working at Ford. Many black
laborers at Ford were put in the most undesirable positions at the company. In 1926, the
Mayor’s Inter-racial Committee Report, under the direction of Forrester B. Washington,
published a survey on the African American experience in Detroit. In the survey, it was
noted that Ford Motor Company employed approximately 6,000 black men and no black
females. The majority of the six thousand men were employed in unskilled manual
labor.34 Typically, these unskilled jobs were the most undesirable and dangerous
positions in the plant. As historian Elizabeth Martin notes, black workers were given the
longest and most grueling jobs. Blacks were typically given the toughest assembly jobs,
under the racist notion that blacks were faster than whites and performed tasks
rhythmically. Martin relates, “Employers also used stereotypes as an excuse to place
blacks in the hottest jobs.35

Martin’s analysis highlighted the attitude of most white officials at Ford Motor
toward African American workers. An interview of a field investigator at Ford Motor
stated, “Yes, some jobs white folks will not do; so they have to take niggers in,
particularly in duco work, spraying paint on car bodies. This soon kills a white man. I
inquired if it never killed Negroes. “Oh yes,” he replied. “It shortens their lives, it cuts
them down but they’re just niggers.”36

The sentiment of the investigator exposes the underlining perceptions of white

workers towards black workers at Ford and the rationale for placing black workers in the

 

3’ It should be noted that members of the Mayors-Inter-racial Committee included individuals such as Rev.
Reinhold Niebuhr, Pastor of Bethel Evangelical Church, Bishop William T. Vernon, Pastor of Afiican
Methodist Episcopal Church, and Donald J. Marshall, Employment Officer, Ford Motor Company.; “The
Negro in Detroit,” Report Prepared for the Mayor’s Inter—racial Committee by Special Survey Staff under
the general Direction of the Detroit Bureau of Government Research, Inc., Section 111, (Detroit, Michigan,
1926)

35 Martin, Detroit and the Great Migration, 16.

111

most hazardous conditions at the plants. Lloyd Bailer’s work notes that in the 19305,
black automobile workers were primarily placed in the worst foundry positions possible,
even at Ford Motor Company. He writes, “As in the industry generally, Negroes
constitute a higher portion of all Ford foundry employees than any other departmental
group. . .Negro production workers are found in the greatest numbers in those divisions
such as foundry, where the most disagreeable production jobs (even though skilled and

”37 At Ford, Bailer notes that 55% of black workers were placed on

semi-skilled ) exist.
the two toughest jobs in the foundry, that of the reels and the shakeout.

Richard Thomas notes that although the majority of black workers were placed in
strenuous jobs, Ford Motor Company was the only industry that afforded blacks positions
in all facets of the plant’s operations. Thomas writes, “They worked on assembly lines, in
drafting rooms, as bricklayers and crane operators, mechanics, electricians, and tool and
die workers. At a time when few blacks could gain entry to apprentice schools in Detroit

”38 Ford Motor Company had more black

and other cities, Ford welcomed them.
foremen than any other industry and even hired the first black salaried employee in the

automotive industry, James C. Price. Price became the company’s purchasing agent of

abrasives and industrial diamonds in 1924. Opportunities were rich for black workers on

 

3" Bailer, “Negro Labor in the Automobile Industry,” 52.

37 Bailer provides an in depth analysis of the effects of foundry work on the worker. He writes, “Yet
foundry work has a notoriously high death rate.” Citing from a report conducted by Louis I. Dublin and
Robert J. Vane of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Bailer notes that “Fumes, dust, and especially
sudden and extreme variations of temperature are highly conducive to the contraction of respiratory
diseases. . . .The dust count on some foundry jobs is almost unbelievable... The shakeout, an operation in
which the casting is removed from the mold, is by far the worst in his respect. ..The heat, however, is
intense. This operation, of which there are sever variations, was performed exclusively by Negroes in those
plants visited”; Ibid., 62 and 68. For the report given by Louis I. Dublin and Robert J. Vane, Jr. see, Louis
I. Dublin and Robert J. Vane, Jr. Causes of Death by Occupation, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, R. 507
(1930), 49-50.

38 Thomas, Life For Us Is What We Make It, 274.

112

some level at Ford, yet the majority of black workers continued to operate in the most
hazardous conditions at the Company.

Despite the harshness of the labor and the incredibly dangerous working conditions,
Bradby continued to recommend black workers to Ford in an effort to better their
conditions and provide them greater level of freedom. And black workers continued to
flock to Ford Motor Company. In 1930, for example, an Afiican American named Dock
Hombuckle wote Bradby stating, “I called the church this morning but could not get you.
Ford Motor Co. has started to hiring and I want you to get me on there please...I wish
you would get me on at Ford’s Plant. Thanking you in advance for this favor,. . 3’39

By the 19305, Ford Motor Company was the largest employer of black labor in the
nation, and black ministers like Bradby were in large part responsible for this reality. As
Bailer states, “Personal recommendations from individuals known to company
officials...have been instrumental in enabling men to secure jobs...The Negro minister
and, to a lesser extent , the politician, both white and Negro, have figured prominently in
this practice?"0

In certain respects, Bradby’s activities with Ford Motor Company mirrored Joshua’s
predicament in the Promised Land in the Bible. Just as Joshua had to struggle and
conquer the Canaanites before possessing the Promised Land, so Bradby’s recommended
workers had to fight through barriers of racial discrimination at the Ford Work place and
endure hardship through labor in an effort to realize their dreams of freedom. For Bradby,

his relationship with Ford was seen as fulfilling God’s divine mandate in providing

blacks out dense poverty and advancing God’s kingdom.

 

’9 Dock Hombuckle to Robert L. Bradby, 1 April 1, 1930, Second Baptist Church Papers, box 2, reel 3,
Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.

113

Thomas posits a different view of Bradby’s effectiveness in helping black Detroiter’s
realize their dreams. In fact, Thomas argues that instead of Bradby bringing about the
kingdom of God, “Bradby and Second Baptist Church became the gates to the kingdom
of Ford.”41 For Thomas, Ford’s solicitation of black ministers like Bradby, to quell racial
conflicts evolved into a “strategy of corporate paternalism grounded in black community

2 According to Thomas, the black community was made weak and

dependency.”4
subservient to white power. Any freedom of self-initiative was stripped from the black
community once connected to Ford’s supposed benevolence.

Although Thomas recognizes that Bradby’s power of recommendation strengthened
“Bradby’s and the Second Baptist Church’s influence and power in the black
community,” he argues that this power of recommendation served to put black Detroiter’s
“into a state of economic and political dependency.”43 For Thomas, Bradby’s
recommendations constituted “pact(s) with the Devil,”44 and the Kingdom of Ford was
paternalism and a gradual eroding of the agency and self-sufficiency of the black
community.45

Thomas’ language is strong and his assertions hold some level of truth in hind-sight.
However, Bradby did not perceive his connection with Ford as crippling the black

community. On the contrary, Bradby understood that his recommendations to Ford were

providing financial stability and sustenance to anxious black migrants looking for work,

 

4° Bailer, “Negro Labor in the Automobile Industry, 112.
‘” Thomas, Life For Us Is What We Make It, 274.

“Ibid., 273.
”Ibid., 276.

“ Ibid.
‘5 Ibid., 274.

114

food and housing. As one scholar notes, “Those black people who were in a position to
recommend people for jobs in the plants felt that they were rendering a real service to the
community, and were careful not to do anything which would jeopardize their good

standing with the industrial giants.”46

Moreover, Thomas fails to acknowledge that
during the interwar years there were few alternatives for black economic advancement.
The black church and those few agencies that were willing to hire blacks in the 19205
were the only avenues blacks were afforded.

Although the work was strenuous and housing poor, black Detroiters were afforded a
level of economic and political freedom unattainable in the past, especially southern
black migrants. The recommendation system was one of the few avenues presented to
black leaders in advancing the black community during this period. Thomas concurs with
this fact stating, “Given the alternatives, black leaders adopted the most prudent and
creative strategy of community building by aligning themselves to Ford?"7

What is at issue with Thomas is the longevity of the recommendation system in
enhancing the viability of the Detroit black community. Thomas argues that by the 19305,
the system was no longer effective, but extremely detrimental to the economic and
political sufficiency of the black community, which manifested in “corporate
paternalism.” Thomas’s perspective holds weight in this respect. Despite Bradby’s
shortsightedness, one is hard pressed to deny that Bradby effected tremendous positive

changes within the Detroit community, even into the 19305. Thomas even acknowledges

that the Ford family reached out to the blacks in Detroit in an effort to solidify ties and

 

‘6 Norman Kenneth Miles, “Home At Last: Urbanization of Black Migrants in Detroit, 1916-1929,” (PhD.
diss, University of Michigan, 1978), 81.
‘7 Thomas, Life For Us Is Mm: We Make It, 277.

115

benefit the black community. Black women’s and black church groups were invited to the
Ford family mansion. Henry Ford put blacks over Ford exhibits at the 1933 World’s Fair
in Chicago. Thomas further notes that “among all the contributions Ford made to the
social and economic well being of the black community, nothing excelled his assistance
to blacks in Inkster during the Great Depression.”48

Second Baptist Church and the Robert L. Bradby were the primary mediums by
which the black community gained assistance through Henry Ford. Bradby was an
integral part of Ford’s contributions to the black community. As one scholar, Norman
Kenneth Miles notes, “Bradby and Daniels (Father Daniels of St. Matthews Episcopal
Church) were familiar figures around the Ford Company, and were occasionally asked to

’49 Historian Nathaniel Leach, seventy year

tour the plants and lunch with executives.’
member of Second Baptist, writes of Bradby roaming the Highland Park and Rouge
Plants in the Detroit area, “resolving interracial conflicts and tensions and instilling
behavior patterns.”50 Bradby even went as far as holding church meetings in which
workers learned how to be more efficient in maintaining their jobs. Thus, in Bradby’s

mind, his presence at Ford and his recommendation ability was not only doing a service

to the black community.

 

’8 During the Depression, Thomas notes that Ford established a commissary to provide food to the black
unemployed. Many of the unemployed at Inkster were given jobs at the Rouge plant. Ford even paid off
debts, built schools and set up a free clinic within the depressed black community. On Christmas day, Ford
gave out trees and presents to the black children of Inkster. These activities increased black loyalty to Ford
and created a level of prosperity in the black community. In fact, Thomas notes that Ford became
somewhat of a “super-figure” in the community. He writes, “Henry Ford visited the project on many
occasions and was always “mobbed” by the black children. It should be note however, that Thomas
understands these acts as fostering corporate paternalism within the black community.; Ibid., 275.

’9 Norman Kenneth Miles, “Home At Last: Urbanization of Black Migrants in Detroit, 1916-1929,” (Ph.D.
diss., University of Michigan, 1978), 81 .

5° Leach, The Second Baptist Connection, 37.

116

Racial tensions between black and white workers slowly began to build a wedge
between Bradby and Henry Ford, creating a hindrance to Bradby’s divine call. White
workers became more and more disgruntled with the increase in black workers who were
found to compete with them for jobs. In 1929, Glenn Carlson noted that tensions between
black workers and foreigners were excessively high. Bailer argues that these tensions
were between Afiican American and Polish workers. He writes, “Both of these were
relative newcomers to the northern industrial scene and therefore have come into the
most direct contact with Negro labor in the competition for job?5 1

Throughout the late 19205 and early 305 these tensions between black and white
workers escalated. Historian Elizabeth Martin notes that, “Racial violence soon erupted
among working classes in several cities, including Philadelphia, Houston and East St.
Louis.”52 Racial tensions grew even more volatile as white union organizers pushing
industries for higher wages and better working conditions in a period of high labor
demand grew firrious with black migrants who sought any means of immediate
employment. 53

These racial tensions were exacerbated by the continual push for unions and
effects of coming the Great Depression. These pressures created a tremendous strain on
the relationship between Bradby and Ford’s top officials. The first manifestation of this
strain came in the 193 lelection, when Frank Murphy was running for Mayor. Officials at

the Ford Motor Company were against Murphy and supposedly anyone who voted in

 

5‘ Glenn E. Carlson, “The Negro in the Industries of Detroit,” (Ph.D., diss., University of Michigan, 1929),
142-143; and. Bailer, “Negro Labor in the Automobile Industry," 78.
52 Martin, Detroit and the Great Migration 1916—1929, 17.

53"The city government employed 2, 745 African Americans in 1926, including 486 in the Post Office and

2,200 in the Department of Public Works, most of whom worked as street-cleaners or did minor repair
work.”; Ibid.

117

support of him. Black employees at Ford heard rumors that anyone who did not vote the
way Ford demanded would forfeit their job. Many members brought their concerns to
Bradby who set up a church meeting where he could address the rising anxiety of black
workers at Ford.

On September 28, 1931, Bradby stood before his membership and related that he had
just come from a meeting with Ford’s top officials. These men, he assured his
congregation, claimed that the rumors were lies. Bradby posited that he was not speaking
for himself, but on the very authority of the chief executive C.E. Sorenson. Bradby went
on to say that in his meeting with Ford officials he spent three hours pointing out the
dangerous ramifications if such a policy were promoted at Ford Motor Company. He
writes, “I plainly told him that he as a leading citizen of America would not want to drive
the Negro that far back into slavery.” 5" Ford or more than likely Sorenson’s response
was that the company did indeed want the cooperation of the black workers in this matter,
but “we know we can’t get it that way...we are willing to go to the last inch for their
support, but...we are not seeking to use our influence as a big stick over the heads of
anybody.”55 Bradby related these sentiments to his congregation, somewhat alleviating
his congregant’s fears for a while.

However, two and half months later Bradby was shocked to find black workers who
supported Frank Murphy jobless. In Bradby’s mind this could not have been the desires
of CE. Sorenson and the other officials who had assured them of their fairness. Writing
to his childhood friend Mayor Frank Murphy, Bradby states, “I am sure that neither Mr.

Ford nor Mr. Edsel Ford have any knowledge of the treatment that is being accorded to

 

5’ “Remarks by R L. Bradby,” 28 September 1931, box 2, reel 3, Second Baptist Church Papers, Michigan
Historical Collection,.

118

Negroes in his company because they voted for you...But I know of many instances
where colored men are being turned out from the Ford Motor Company just because they
are supposed to have supported you. I can furnish the names of individuals who have
been told that they were dismissed because they were disloyal to the best interests of the
company.”56

Bradby attributed actions as a gross mistake on the part of one of Ford’s first black
employment officers, Donald Marshall. According to Bradby, Marshall was to blame for
this outrage, primarily because Marshall was openly anti-Murphy. Marshall was one of
Ford’s top hiring official for blacks and he publicly attacked Bradby for insinuating
himself into the business affairs of the company. Bradby, however, pushed aside his
initial dislike of Marshall in an effort keep the lines of opportunity open for black
workers.

Writing in November of 1931, Bradby’s frustration and disappointment in the
breakdown of communication between himself and Marshall can be seen between the
lines of his letter. In the opening of the letter, Bradby apologizes to Marshall for
addressing him at his home. Bradby’s words, however cannot await formal notices at
Marshall’s job because Marshall has publicly slandered Bradby accusing him of taking

bribes from Ford. Marshall accused Bradby of taking bribes from Ford such as coal for

over nine years, building up his church membership through Ford’s influence, slandering

 

55 -
Ibid.

56 Robert L. Bradby to Mayor Frank Murphy, 17 November 1931, Second Baptist Church Papers, box 2,

reel 3, Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.

119

fellow ministers such as Father Daniels of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church and starting a
petition at Ford to get him fired from his position as employment officer.57

Marshall’s assertion may have some grounds, but Bradby adamantly denied all of
Marshall’s claims stating, “Of course my church was the same size it is now before I
even started to cooperate with you.” Bradby then denied taking coal from Ford for over
nine years, claiming that the company only gave the church coal one time and “The fifty
ton I received from this year I gave them a check for at cost.” In response to claims of
slandering Father Daniels, Bradby claims, “ I never said anything about Father Daniels
except to say that I respected his stemness and positiveness.” Bradby was especially
sensitive to this claim by Marshall, because Father Daniels’ retaliated in making Bradby
the subject of an entire Sunday service. 58

In answer to Marshall’s biggest claim that Bradby tried to get him fired, Bradby
states, “Now with regard to the petition. May I say to you very humbly and very
earnestly that I knew nothing of it and under no condition would I be party to it. It is
rather hard for you to believe, but if they were bringing pressure on you to lose your job,
I would be one of the men to defend you. . 3’59

Bradby’s elaborate response to Marshall is filtered with tones of reconciliation and
even anxiousness to stay on an even keel with one of Ford Motor’s main employment
officers for blacks. Bradby attempts to assuage Marshall’s anger, while at the same time

alerting him to the necessity to continue to help black Detroiter’s find employment. This

is the heart of Bradby’s concern, for he writes, “Ford Motor Company can live without

 

57Robert L. Bradby to Donald Marshall, 20 November 1931, Second Baptist Church Papers, box 2, reel 3,
Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.

Ibid.
”Ibid.

120

any of us. It might be a struggle but we would live through without them. But we do want
to give our best support to their organization because of certain fine things that they are
willing to do and are doing without discrimination.”60

The conflict between Bradby and Marshall mirrored the growing tensions developing
between black workers and Ford Motor Company. The election of 1931 alone began to
make black workers more conscious of a need to unite with unions that would protect
their jobs as well as their right to vote. This growing consciousness among black workers
and the racial tensions at Ford was an omen of things to come between Bradby and
Ford?1

In an effort to continue his agenda of establishing the kingdom of God among black
Detroiter’s, Bradby steadily maintain his relationship with Ford; but b the mid-19305 this
relationship was on extremely shaky ground. The effects of the Great Depression seemed
to exacerbate the tensions in the relationship. Black workers in Detroit were the first to be
hit by the Depression, especially Ford Workers.

Writing to Bradby in 1932, Thomas H. Jairison pleads, “I am out of work and buying
the home my son occupies, and he has been laid off from the Ford Motor Car Co. since
last June. He has 6 children under 12 years of age...I would appreciate a job with the
Ford Motor Car Co. and pledge my experience, cooperation and loyalty to the Company
and its material and moral interest.”62

Bradby received numerous letters like this one during the Great Depression. Despite

tremendous pressures on the financial stability of his own church and family, Bradby

 

“Ibid.

6’ “Remarks by R. L. Bradby,” 28 September 1931, reel 3, Second Baptist Church Papers, Michigan
Historical Collection..; and Cara Shelly L. “Bradby’s Baptist: Second Baptist Church of Detroit, 1910-
1946,” Michigan Historical Review 17, no. I (Spring 1991): 1 33.

121

continued to try to gain employment for blacks at Ford. Writing Donald Marshall in
1932, Bradby recommends an African American man named James Gaffney stating,
“This man, James Gaffney, is the man about whom I was talking to you yesterday
special...1 was wondering since he has been off so long, he is such a fine chap...if you
could not place Gaffney...Mr. Sorenson’s secretary asked me to send his record through
and I did that.”63

The combination of Ford’s layoffs of black workers and the effects of the Great
Depression created urgency among black workers to join in the push for unions at Ford
Motor Company. These forces eventuated in the demise of the Bradby-Ford relationship
and curtailed Bradby’s further establishment of the kingdom of God in this respect.
Ministers like Bradby and Daniels were Henry Ford’s spoke persons in the black
community and knew that the interest of black communities was tied to Ford’s political
and social appetites. During the 19205 and early 19305 Ford’s interest and that of the
Detroit black community were on an even keel. The rise of black trade unionism shook
the very foundations of the black community- Ford relationship, so much so that Bradby
and Henry Ford never recovered from its impact.

By the mid-19305, the triangular relationship that had worked so well in the past,
benefiting the black community was filled with tension. The black church, Henry Ford
and the black community, were at odds with how to relate to one another. Reverend
Robert L. Bradby found himself in the center of this tumultuous triangle. Bradby became

a black leader torn by his associations and his theological agenda. He was torn between

 

62Thomas H. Jairison to Robert L. Bradby, 1 May 1932, Second Baptist Church Papers, box 2, reel 3,
Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley.

‘3 Robert L. Bradby to Donald Marshall, 3 May 1932, Second Baptist Church Papers, box 2, reel 3,
Michigan Historical Collection.

122

his loyalty to the black community, his friendship with Henry Ford and what he thought
God’s kingdom warranted in the best interest of his people. For over fifteen years,
Bradby and Henry Ford had believed in a mutual relationship where both parties would
benefit. The rise of black unionism created an imbalance in the advantages of the
relationship. Ford felt threatened by black unionism and Bradby was confused as to what
step to take next.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) came to Detroit in 1936 and 1937. At the time, only
a few black workers participated in the sit-down strikes in Detroit during these years. By
June of 1937, however, the UAW had attracted a massive following among Detroit black
workers due to its policy on racial equality. Jack B. Kennedy, head of the Ford
unionization drive, announced at a meeting at Union Hall that, “Negroes have been
assured their rights by their inclusion on all important committees of the union.”64
According to Thomas, Kenndy outlined a policy of “complete equality with white

”65 This policy of racial equality was the catalyst for the drive of black unionism

workers.
and the beginning of the end of the Bradby-Ford relationship. Black unionism created
conflicts with the black community and especially within the black church over whether
blacks should join the union or maintains ties with Ford.

In the beginning of the controversy Bradby remained openly loyal to Ford, even
threatening to boycott the 1937 NAACP Twenty-Eight Annual Conference in Detroit if
the president of the UAW, Homer Martin spoke. Yet within a years span, Bradby’s

position and influence had changed at Ford Motor Company.

 

“Thomas, Life For Us Is What We Make It, 279.
6’lhid, 276.

123

Historian Nathaniel Leach, a member of Second Baptist for over 70 years remembers
Bradby’s dilemma with black unionism and Ford. He writes, “Necessity brought Rev.
Bradby and Ford’s together; unionism caused them to stray apart.”66 Leach argued that
Bradby was neutral in his positions on black unions, despite the fact that Bradby
considered himself an extension of Ford Motor Company. He writes, “Reverend Bradby
could not afford to displease Henry Ford. So he tried to be neutral.”67 Bradby’s neutrality
eventually caused him to lose power. By 193 8, Leach reports that Bradby could no longer
send blacks to get jobs at Ford.‘58

Bradby’s loss of influence with Ford stemmed from the bullying tactics of Ford
officials against the blacks in support of unionism. Black Ford officials such as Donald
Marshall threatened to fire blacks who voted in support of unions and even discredit the
recommendation system at those churches who allowed UAW speakers to address their
congregations. Ministers like Bradby and Father Daniels felt the brunt of Ford’s fear of
unionism. As Leach states, “This edict was bitter to those preachers whose members
wore their Ford badges to church with great pride?“

The black community initially looked to ministers like Bradby and Daniels to set the
tone of response for such actions at Ford. For up until the 19305, the black community
had been unanimously supportive of Henry Ford and openly shunned unions. By late

19305, opinions had changed. Black congregants began to see the loss of power welded

by Bradby and Daniels. Moreover, the Reverend Charles Andrew Hill, previously the

 

66 Leach, The Second Baptist Connection, 40.

67Elaine Latzman Moon, Untold T ales, Unsung Heroes: An Oral History of Detroit '5 A fiican American
Community [918-] 967, (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1994), 97.

68Ibid.

69 Leach, The Second Baptist Connection, 40.

124

associate pastor at Second Baptist in 1919, had now become one of the leading
spokespersons for black unionism in Detroit. Since leaving Second Baptist in 1920 to
pastor Hartford Avenue (now Memorial) Baptist Church, Hill had established himself as
one of Detroits’ leading pro-union ministerial activists. By 1936, Hill had grown in
stature and was openly hosting union meetings in Detroit.

Bradby, on the other hand, had remained loyal to Ford and silent on the subject of
unionism. While his protégé Hill was being threaten by Ford official Donald Marshall,
that he would “fire every black in the neighborhood if he allowed the UAW” to hold
meetings in his church, Bradby said nothing about the strikes and conflicts taking place at
Ford in which many of his membership were involved. Leach states that “Rev. Bradby
was regarded as anti-union by silence regarding back-to work by Blacks to break strikes
and conflicts: 1937 Battle of the Overpass at Ford’s; 1939 strike at Chrysler Motor
Company; 1943 strike at Packard Motor Car Company.”70

Throughout these years, Bradby made it a point not to exacerbate tensions at Ford but
went as far as to proclaim Ford’s generosity and benevolence to the black community. In
January 1941, Bradby was presented as one of the main speakers at pro-Ford banquet
hosted by Donald Marshall and Willis Ward. During the banquet, Bradby declared “If
Henry Ford hires one colored for every ten whites, I am for him first, last and always. It
will be a sad day for us if the Ford Company changes its policy.” Donald Marshall
attempted to solidify Ford support by issuing a veiled threat to “black ministers that their
future was tied to Ford’s victory over the union.” Detroit historians August Meier and

Elliot Rudwick note that the banquet was quite effective in gaining community support

 

70 Ibid.; Thomas, Life For Us Is What We Make, 293.

125

for Ford. They write, “Two days before the Ford walk-out began, the Interdenominational
Ministers Alliance publicly endorsed Henry Ford’s position.” 71
As time went on, however, and Ford began using harsh striking breaking tactics,
support of Ford’s position began to change. The Detroit community was disgusted with
Ford’s strategy of pitting blacks against unionists. As a result, other black ministers, such
as the reverends Horace White and Malcom Dade in Detroit were now joining the ranks
of Rev. Hill and pulling many other ministers with them in support of unionism. Meiers
and Rudwick note “even Robert Bradby failed to deliver his customary public defense of
Ford and maintained uncharacteristic silence,” in the face of Ford’s strikebreaking
tactics.72
The UAW finally swayed black opinion to their cause. Further, the union’s promise
of fighting for black worker’s rights and equality on the job drew not only the support of
black workers, but the support of black leaders who had traditionally been against
unionism. The endorsement of so many black leaders, especially ministers, played a key
part in curbing the victory for pro-union sentiment among black Detroiters. Bradby’s
growing silence towards Ford’s position was one of the factors in shifting support to
black unionism. It appears as the UAW made greater strides at Ford Motor Company,
Bradby began to settle into a slow acceptance of black unionism and realization of his
waning influence at F ord.73

In retrospect, historian Richard Thomas paints ministers like Bradby as black leaders

who failed to keep up with the times and found themselves in a world of perplexity when

 

7’ Thomas, Life For Us Is What We Make It, 293.; August Meier and Elliot Rudwick, Black Detroit and the
Rise of the UA W, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979), 85.

72Meier and Rudwick, Black Detroit and the Rise ofthe UA W, 94.

126

blacks began to push pass traditional means of empowerment. In the beginning of black
unionism, Bradby may have lost his perspective of Detroit’s industrial climate with
regard to the black community. However, by the start of World War II, Bradby’s
awareness of black progress through the UAW was becoming more evident. For example,
when the Baptist Ministers Conference issued two statements in support of Ford Bradby’s
name was conspicuously absent from the statement. And although encouraging his
membership not to back Rev. Charles A. Hill’s endorsement for the Detroit branch of the
NAACP’s presidency in 1942, Bradby eventually became part of the Fair Employment
Practices Committee (FEPC) in his continued effort to help the black community and
usher in God’s kingdom, especially in the lives of black women which would be
discussed in the following chapter. Bradby’s slow reconciliation with black pro-union
leadership in Detroit was reflective of the tenuous movement and interactions between
black leaders who all had the goal of advancing and building the black community. As
Meiers and Rudwick state, “As months passed, in the changed milieu following the Ford
strike, the adversary quality that characterized the relationships between black groups and
the union’s highest leadership. . .would be replaced by united efforts to secure forcefiil
action from the war manpower agencies and the FEPC.74

Thomas posits Bradby as a “good shepher ” who had fashioned a strategy of black
community building that made good sense at the time. The “good sense” that Thomas
refers is the belief that the “interest of blacks were best served by depending on powerful
whites.” Bradby may have ascribed to some part of this belief, but in essence Bradby’s

belief was based on far more than just powerful white benevolence. Bradby operated

 

73 .
Ibid., 102.
7’ Meiers and Rudwick refer to the Ford strike of 1941 and the impact of the race riot of 1943.; Ibid., 119.

127

from a deep seated faith in the God of Exodus and Jesus in the Gospels. Bradby
understood that God’s kingdom demanded the uplifi and advancement of the black
community through whatever means God had ordained. When Ford issued an invitation
to Bradby back in 1919, Bradby saw the hand of God opening a means of opportunity for
his people. Bradby understood his connection with Ford as God’s way of establishing his
kingdom in the lives of black Detroiter’s. In 1919, Second Baptist was bombarded with
migrants seeking the ‘Promised Land.’ Bradby saw in Ford a way to bring the ‘Promised
Land’ to his people on some level. For Bradby, when black migrants and congregants
received food, housing, employment and even a level of respectability in Detroit, it was a
Sign of God’s providence. In this way, Bradby reflected Booker T. Washington's strategy
of accommodating white power structures as a means of black self-help.

Bradby’s perception of God’s kingdom began to evolve beyond Ford when black
unionism emerged among black Detroiters. His acceptance of this new move of God was
reflected in his growing silence in the face of black unionism. His participation in the
FEPC reflects this point and places Bradby’s faith outside the context of Ford‘s
“corporate paternalism.” Bradby’s belief was in the God who would advance his people
in the face of white oppression. For a time, Bradby’s connection with Henry Ford
accomplished this task. As Thomas notes, “By 1933, Second Baptist, still under the
leadership of Rev. Bradby, had raised and spent more than half a million dollars in

”75 A phenomenal figure for a African American

serving the black community in Detroit.
church community trying to overcome racial discrimination and the strains of the Great

Depression.

 

75 Richard Thomas, The State of Black Detroit: Building From Strength, Black Self-Help Tradition in
Detroit, (Detroit: The Detroit Urban League, Inc., 1987), 11.

128

Bradby’s relationship with Ford was one of the foundations of Second Baptist’s
effective ministry to the black community in Detroit. Black workers at Ford brought
their tithes into Second Baptist to financially supporting the many outreach programs of
the church. In Bradby’s mind this was “sanctified money,” money that God had provided
through giving Second Baptist favor with Henry Ford.76 The black industrial working
class made tremendous strides toward the building up of the black community in Detroit
between 1915 and 1930. 77 Thomas further notes that, “Black industrial workers became
permanent fixtures in Detroit’s industrial society by the middle of the roaring twenties.
Captains of Detroit industry no longer considered black workers as temporary relief for
labor starved mills and factories.” For a significant period of time, the Bradby-Ford
relationship was the foundation of African American presence in Detroit’s industrial
society and the bedrock of black community building in Detroit.78

Key here was the unusual power of the black church and black Christian leadership to
invoke change in the social, political and economic landscape of urban centers during the
twentieth century. The present Detroit black community and the Detroit industrial
community both had its roots in the social-political activities of the black church,
particularly that of Second Baptist under Rev. Bradby. Moreover, the Bradby-Ford
relationship can been seen as the bedrock, not only for black industrialization in America,
but also the formation on black community building predicated on theological
imperatives espoused by the black church in Detroit. Reverend Bradby stands as the

forerunner of black progress in Detroit though his connection with Ford. Despite the rise

 

7‘ Interview, David T. Bailey, (19 July 2002).
77Richard Thomas, Life for Us Is What We Make It, 21.

78Ibid., 40.

129

of black unionism and Bradby’s eventual dislike of Ford’s strike breaking tactics, Bradby
recognize how much the black community had benefited from his connection with Ford.
This fact alone caused Bradby to hold Henry Ford in high esteem. Norman Miles
supports this fact writing, “Black preachers found it more expedient to adopt an
accommodationist posture with the white community in order to protect the gains already
made.” 79As church historian Nathaniel Leach states, Rev. Bradby was a forceful leader
against discrimination and segregation who in the end “remained loyal to his old

fiiend”—Henry Ford of Ford Motor Company.80

 

’9 Norman Kenneth Miles, “Home at Last: Urbanization of Black Migrants in Detroit, 1916-1929,” (Ph.D.
diss., University of Michigan, 1978), 222.
8° Leach, The Second Baptist Connection), 40.

130

CHAPTER FOUR: REVEREND ROBERT L. BRADBY, BLACK
CHURCHWOMEN AND THE MINISTRIES OF SECOND BAPTIST

In 1938, Second Baptist’s church secretary Mrs. Winifred Cooper writes of a
“God-called servant” who “came into this field ready to do whateversoever his hand
found to do...” What this “God-called” servant found to do was support the teachings of
the Gospel by securing places of employment for men and women and raising “hundreds
of dollars” for “food, clothing, shelter and medicine to the hungry, sick and needy in our
city. Mrs. Cooper’s “God-called servant” was known none other than Robert L. Bradby,
pastor of Second Baptist Church in Detroit.

Cooper’s glowing tribute to Bradby highlights a lot of what the dynamic minister did
in the lives of the Detroit black community. However, Cooper’s tribute fails to alert the
reader to the true source of power behind Bradby’s ability to meet the needs of men and
women in Detroit throughout a 36-year pastorate. Bradby’s effectiveness was dependent
upon the constant labor of black church women who ran Second Baptist’s many church
auxiliaries, Sunday schools and “self-help” groups. These black Christian women
constituted the practical “grass-roots” power behind Second Baptist’s influence in the
Detroit community and Bradby’s leadership abilities.

Many scholars writing on the history and impact of the black church have studied
remarks such as Cooper’s and been blinded to informal power structures behind black
religious leadership in America. Darlene Clark Hine notes, “Although much has been

written on the institutional life of black Midwestemers—the Afiican American

131

church...too little attention has been devoted to the critical involvement of black
women.”1
The leadership abilities of Rev. Robert L. Bradby and the effectiveness of Second
Baptist Church reflect the tremendous power that black churchwomen wielded at Second
Baptist. This chapter addresses the reality of that power and the dynamic relationship
between Bradby and the women of Second Baptist in effecting racial advancement and
self-help agendas in black Detroit. In doing so, this narrative argues that the women of
Second constituted the stabilizing force behind Rev. Robert L. Bradby’s effective
leadership abilities and subsequently the local black church. An analysis of informal
power structures and formal power structures within the black church will be of primary
focus. It will be clear from the following analysis that black male leadership in the local
church is primarily a product of black churchwomen’s support and labors. As Hine states,
“The church. . .depended heavily upon the labors, commitment, and support of black
women, even when males occupied all visible positions of leadership.”2
This chapter also discusses the nature of black churchwomen’s theology in the early
twentieth century. The women of Second Baptist pursued agendas of racial self-help and
progress out of a need to fulfill theological mandates prescribed from the Bible. Like,
Bradby, the women of Second took inspiration and initiative from a Christian based faith
that like historian Patricia A. Schechter notes about Ida B. Wells-Bamett, “gave rise to a

“visionary pragmatism” that sustained a lifetime of agitation for social justice.”3 Anne

Meis Knupfer’s work on Afiican American Women’s Clubs in Chicago also notes “club

 

1 Darlene Clark Hine, Hinesight: Black Women and the Re-Construction of American History,
(Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1994), 85.
2 Darlene Clark Hine, Hinesight, 83.

132

women articulated their own vision—rooted in the community mores of “other
mothering,” and “a deep seated Christianity.”4

The women of Second Baptist most definitely ascribed to a deep-seated Christian faith
and this faith drew them to support and even carry out many of Bradby’s visions to meet
the needs of the Detroit black community. In doing so, Bradby came to realize the
strength of his power to make positive changes in the lives of the black community
through the mighty efforts of Second’s black women. Bradby’s recognition of black
women’s power within his church caused him not only to support their interests, but also
to seek and protect the interest of African American women in the Detroit black
community.

This chapter highlights not only Bradby’s efforts for social change on behalf of black
women in Detroit, but also the activities a few outstanding women, women auxiliaries
and black church groups at Second that became the power source behind the
extraordinary leadership abilities of Rev. Bradby and the impetus behind Second
Baptist’s effectiveness. Black churchwomen operated from a theology that tied racial
uplift, respectability, and womanhood to biblical motifs of justice, righteousness and
Christian identity and purpose. Through these divine mandates, the women of Second
established settlement houses, literary clubs, fund raising activities, musical concerts,
church missions, day care, health services, domestic training in cooking, millinery work
and even schools for the Detroit black community. The black churchwomen of Second

Baptist sustained the church and were the primary networks by which community

 

3 Patricia A. Schechter, Ida B. Wells-Barnett and American Reform, [880-1 930, (Chapel Hill: University of
North Carolina Press, 2001), 3.

4 Ann Meis Knupfer, Toward a Tender Humanity And A Nobler Womanhood: A fiican American Women 's
Clubs in Turn-the-Century Chicago, (New York: New York University Press, 1996), 7.

133

building occurred in early twentieth century Detroit. The central focus of their activities
through the black church was an agenda black “self-help” based on Christian imperatives.
The women of Second understood that black “self-help” was a God- ordained calling
among Christian women of the black community. Thus, these women understood that
“other-mothering,” the establishment of settlement houses for young women and
migrants, Christian education, domestic training and lessons in “respectability” were tied
to God’s divine mandate to “make disciples of all nations...teaching them to obey” all

the teachings of Christ.”5

As historian Anne Meis Knupfer states, “many of the Afiican
American settlement workers discussed how their practices were informed by a deep-
seated Christian faith. Their religious expressions were reflected in the range of social
service institutions. . .church missions, social centers, and settlements. The settlement
founders and workers especially nurtured these church affiliations. . .creating
collaborative webs of community institutions and support.”6

Many of Second Baptist’s self-help groups and organizations were established by
black churchwomen and were founded long before Bradby stepped into the pastorate of
the church. Second had always held powerful black women in its pews that lead the way
for the black self-help tradition in Detroit. As early as 1901, women like Mary Branton
Tule, Etta Foster Taylor, Fannie Richards, and Irene Cole Croxton, were powerful forces
within the Second Baptist community and laid the foundation for Bradby to effect change
within lives of black migrants and the Detroit community. These women functioned in

what historian Milton Semett is part of the black church tradition. He writes, “In the

black church tradition much of the burden for assisting the poor and needy and building

 

5 “Matt. 28:19-20,” NW.
6 Knupfer, Toward A Tenderer, 9.

134

 

”7 As forerunners of black self help at Second Baptist,

up new missions fell to women.
these black churchwomen laid the foundation for extensive networks of black
advancement, by which Bradby could expand and build upon in meeting the needs of the
Detroit black community.

Second Baptist’s first foreign missionary to Afiica was a Ms. Mary Branton Tule.
Born in Chatham, Ontario on February 18, 1860, Tule was described as “an energetic and

”8 From

earnest Christian worker, ever ready to do her duty in the activities of the church.
an early age, Tule spoke of “being called to the mission field in Africa.”9 Pursuing her
“calling,” Tule joined Second Baptist in 1893. In 1895, Tule fulfilled her “calling.”
Second Baptist sent Tule as a missionary to Cape Town, South Afiica, where “she could
break unto them the Bread of Life?”10 Amid many hardships Tule and her husband John
Tule established a “Mary Branton Tule School.” Tule spent over ten years ministering in
Afiica, nine of those years around Cape Town, South Afiica. Tule would have ended her
missionary career in South Afiica had she not been barred from the country. The nation
South Africa barred all “Negro Missionaries from South Afiica” in 1922. Undaunted,
Tule continued her missionary activities in Monrovia, Liberia, until her death on May 25,

1923.11 Tule was a pioneer in black women foreign missionary activities in the black

church.

 

7 Milton C. Semett, Bound for the Promised Land: A fi'ican American Religion and the Great Migration,
(Durham: Duke University Press, 1997), 115.

8 “Minutes of the Amherstburg Association: Pathfinders of Liberty and Truth, 1841-1940,” p. 68, reel 2,
Second Baptist Church Papers, Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of
Michigan,.

9 Ibid., 67

‘0 Ibid. 68.

“ Ibid.

135

Tule’s activities in South Afiica as a missionary reflect her drive for universal racial
advancement through Christian mandates. Here, the great commission of the Gospel is
blended with black uplift through establishing an educational program with the black
South African Community. Tule’s brand of Christianity was reflective of the ideology
held by other black churchwomen of Second Baptist. The goodnews of the Gospel in its
practical manifestation meant black uplift, especially through educational opportunities.

Fannie M. Richards was another female congregant of Second Baptist that also
understood the Gospel to be connected with black self-help agendas. Like Tule, Richards
realized that the Gospel was made alive to the black community through educational
opportunities. Born October 1, 1841 in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Richards traveled with
her mother, Maria Louise Moore (Richards) to Detroit in 1851. Maria Richard left
Virginia for Detroit because of the enforcement of the 1838 law in Virginia that
“prohibited the return to that State of those Negroes, who after the prohibition of their
education had begun to attend schools in other parts. According to historian W. B.
Hartgrove, Moore had been secretly sending her fourteen children to schools, many of
them attending clandestine meetings around Virginia.12 By the time her children reached
Detroit, “all of them were well grounded in the rudiments of education and given a taste
of higher things.”l3 Fannie Richards came from a background that predisposed her to
fight for the education of blacks. Her mother, determined to resist the law that forbade
“any one from either sitting or standing to teach a black to read,” would have Fannie

Richards along with her other children lay “prostrate on the couch to teach them.”14

 

’2 W. B. Hartgrove, “The Story of Maria Louise Moore and Fannie M. Richards,” Journal of Negro
History, Vol. 1, Issue 1 (Jan., 1916), 24-25.
13 .
Ibld.
“ Ibid.

136

Moore’s decision to move to Detroit was not just based on furthering the educational
opportunities of her children. In 1851, her husband, Adolphe Richards died, leaving
Moore the burden of raising all fourteen of her children alone. The less restrictive Black
Codes in Detroit and employment opportunities drew Moore as well as other prominent
blacks in Fredericksburg, Virginia to move to the North.15 Once in Detroit, “the Richards
colony easily prospered.”

Fannie Richards benefited from the move from Virginia more so than anyone else in
the family. Traveling to Toronto to further her education, she studied history, English and
needlework. Returning to Detroit in 1861, Richards joined Second Baptist at the age of
21 under the care of the church’s seventh minister, Rev. Supply Chase.16 During her first
two years at Second, Richards attended the Teachers Training School in Detroit.

Through Second Baptist, Richards was able to carry on her mother’s passion for
education. Sparked by the opening of a colored public school under a white man named
Whitbeck, Richards opened her own private school for black children in 1863.17 Ranking
the highest in her application for the school, Richards was the first Afiican American

women to be hired by the Detroit Board of Education in 1865. ’8

 

’5 It should be noted that Moore’s husband Adolphe Richards was a native of the Island of Guadaloupe.
When Moore left for Detroit, she traveled with prominent black citizens of Fredricksburg such as the
“Lees, the Cooks, the Williamses and the DeBaptistes.” These families became some of the leading black
groups in Detroit prior to the Great Migration. In fact, the Williamses and the De Baptistes were
instrumental in supporting and even becoming members of the first black churches in Michigan, that of
Second Baptist and Bethel A.M.E. in Detroit.;Ibid., 26.

’6 Rev. Supply Chase was a white missionary from the First Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan;
Nathaniel Leach, The Second Baptist Connection: Reaching Out to Freedom, Revised Edition Eyewitness
Histor3(Detroit: Second Baptist Church), 22.

'7 Richards’ school was said to be located on Riopelle Street, near Macomb, holding 80 seats averaging 77
students attendance. Richards’ salary at the time averaged around $400.00 annually. White teachers were
paid a salary of $600.00 annually in 1871.; Leach, The Second Baptist Connection, 22. and also cited in
Hine, Hinesight, 68.

'8 The following is a detailed account of Richards employment by the Detroit Board of Education. “Going
to her private school one morning, she saw a carpenter repairing a building. Upon inquiry she learned that it

137

Richards had won the right to teach black children through much struggle, even to the
extent of petitioning the Michigan Supreme Court. Helped by. “Providence,” liberal
whites such as “tobacco manufacturer (and later Michigan’s governor from 1873-1876),
John Bagley,” and the members of Second Baptist, Richards was able to raise enough
money to file a lawsuit against Detroit school segregation.19 When the case of Joseph
Workman v. The Board of Education of Detroit came before the Michigan Supreme Court
on May 12, 1869 the ruling reflected the desires of the petitioners. Segregation in public
schools was declared illegal according the dictates of the Fourteenth Amendment. That
same year, the Board of Education offered Richards the first teaching contract ever
offered to a black woman.20

Richards taught school to both black and white children for over forty-three years,
ending the latter part of her career at Everett School in Detroit. Retiring in 1915, Richards
was noted for being a “pioneer,” and an “innovator” who was” dedicated to the

”21 Second Baptist member, Sadie Throgmartin Curley

improvement of her people.
Terrell was six years old when she enrolled in Richards’ first grade class at Everett. She

remembers Richards as “a strict, non-nonsense teacher” who found time to take a

 

was to be opened as Colored School Number 2. She went immediately to William D. Wilkins, a member of
the board of education, who impressed with the personality of the young woman, escorted her to the office
of superintendent of schools, Duane Dotty. After some discussion of the matter Miss Richards filed an
application, assured that she would be notified to take the next examination. At the appointed time she
presented herself along with several other applicants who hoped to obtain the position. Miss Richards
ranked highest and was notified to report for duty the following September. Early one morning she
proceeded to her private school in time to inform her forty pupils of the desirable change and conducted
them in a body to their home”; Hartgrove, “The Story of Maria Louise Moore and Fannie M. Richards,”
Journal of Negro History, 31.; and also cited in Hine, Hinesight, 67.

19Ibid.; Darlene Clark Hine, Hinesight), 66.

2° Hartgrove, “The Story of Maria Louise Moore and Fannie M. Richards,” Journal of Negro History, 31.;
Leach, The Second Baptist Connection, 22.

2’ Nathaniel Leach, The Second Baptist Connection, 22.

138

personal interest in her, making a dress for Terrell so she could be in the school concert.22
Terrell also had Richards as a Sunday School teacher at Second attending class in the
Sanctuary balcony.23

Richards’ achievements coincided with her work at Second Baptist. During her fifty-
three year career, Richards taught Sunday School at Second Baptist. She taught biblical
lessons in another Sunday School class named Class of Ruth No. 4, as well as worked in
tandem with Mary McCoy, a club woman activist and Lottie Wilson Jackson of Bay City,
Michigan to found the Phyllis Wheatley Home in 1898. These three women began
organizing this home for elderly black men and women at Second Baptist in 1897.24
Richards was so supportive of the home in advancing the needs of elderly blacks, that she
served as its' first president of the home. A

The life of Fannie M. Richards stands as a prominent exemplar of the black self-help
tradition at Second Baptist, leading the way for Bradby to build upon the advancements
already accomplished by black churchwomen. Richards was “among the first female
professionals in. . .urban communities, (that) worked for racial advancement on a variety
of fronts.”25 One of the many fronts that Hine alludes to was the black church. Richards
was able to advance not only the establishment of a black private school through her
church connections, she was even able to transform the “laws of the land” through the
black church by rallying around her prominent black church members who raised finds

and publicly supported her petition against the Detroit Board of Education. Richards

 

”Ibid., 71.

23Ibid..

2‘ Hine, Hinesight, 68.; Leach, Second Baptist Connection, 22.
25 Hine, Hinesight, 66.

139

realized the power of black church, when undergirded by savy black churchwomen and
men to effect change in the black community.

Etta Foster Taylor was another prominent member at Second who perceived black
uplift, black self-help and the Gospel of Jesus Christ as three inseparable realities in the
life of the black community. Receiving “divine” visions in 1901 and 1903, Taylor felt
lead by God to pursue extensive church work. Following her divine inspiration, Taylor
organized the Christian Industrial Club in 1904. The club was designed to offer financial
assistance and support to the church. Ten years later, on December 14, 1914, the club
founded the Frances Harper In, a "home for employed girls.

Taylor's visions were sparked by divine imperatives. She and the black churchwomen
of her group sought to meet the needs of young African American women as they entered
the industrial working classes based on Christian principles. Thus, social reform practices
in the church were based on biblical initiatives as well as issues of bourgeois
respectability.

Black churchwomen like Mary Branton Tule, Fannie Richards, and Etta Foster Taylor
were forerunners to Bradby’s black self-help agenda and “calling” to establish the
kingdom of God at Second. They paved the way for Bradby to expand their ministries
and help organize Second into a more effective medium of black-self help in the early
19005. For in the first five years of Bradby’s pastorate, he writes “from 1910 to 1915 I

concentrated on the social betterment and moral uplift of our members, on helping the

140

sick, poor, and unemployed, creating auxiliaries, increasing missionary funds and
improving financial conditions.”26
Contemporaries of Bradby instrumental in establishing Second Baptist and Bradby
as mediums of racial uplift and black self help were black churchwomen such as Irene
Cole Coxton, Lillian E. Johnson, Jarene Macklin, Mary Etta Glenn and Marie Louise
Reid. A5 historian Victoria Wolcott notes, “The church’s female congregants founded
numerous other women’s clubs in the late 19105 and early 19205 to draw new
members...All of these clubs remained active many decades to come, forming the
backbone of community organizing that, like the Urban League, was based on the tenets
of female uplift.”27
One such woman that Wolcott alludes to is Irene Cole Croxton. Croxton was not only
a contemporary of Bradby, she was one his female congregants who stood by him
through the many years of his pastorate, helping him establish church auxiliaries, feed the
homeless and even rebuilding the church after two devastating fires. In short, Irene Cole
Croxton functioned as one of the “backbones” of Second Baptist.
Arriving with her family in 1893, Croxton remembers Detroit having “wooden
sidewalks,” “tall red brick houses with high front steps” and “tall gas towers for street

lights.”28 Her family took up residence on Detroit’s east side on St. Antione Street. While

on St. Antione, Croxton’s family became acquainted with Second Baptist member and

 

2" Nathaniel Leach and Edith Gamble, Eyewitness History, Second Baptist Church of Detroit, 1 83 6—1976, p.
18., reel 3, Second Baptist Church Papers, Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley Historical Library,
University of Michigan.

27 Victoria Wolcott, Remaking Respectability: Afi'ican American Women in Interwar Detroit, (Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 2001), 65.

28 Leach and Gamble, Eyewitness History, p. 44., Second Baptist Church Papers, Michigan Historical
Collection.

141

Sunday School teacher, Mary Jennings.29 One day, Jennings asked Croxton’s mother if
she could take her to Sunday School. The invitation inaugurated Croxton’s seventy-five
year sojourn with Second Baptist. Jennings was Croxton’s first Sunday School teacher
and sparked within the young Croxton a love for God and the ministries of the black
church.

Croxton’s early years at Second were filled with timely lessons from the Bible and
practices for Christmas plays. She writes, “The little folk had a Christmas play. I was an
angel in the play: I wore a white dress with wings and a gold crown.”30 Croxton seems to
have loved her time in Sunday school, she writes of receiving little cards with “Bible
pictures on the front and our lesson on the black.”31 Yet, the most enduring incident of
Croxton’s early life at Second was her conversion experience under Rev. Bradby.

During the first series of revival meetings Bradby preached at Second, Croxton
attended a Tuesday night meeting on March 12, 1911. Prompted by the Spirit, Croxton
approached the Mourners’ Bench where Bradby stood praying. for three or four other
people. He then shook her hand asking her if she was ready to give her heart to the Lord.
Croxton answered “No? Typical of Bradby’s tenacity for the kingdom, his response was
to tell her, “I will pray with you again.”32 According to Croxton, Bradby’s second prayer

made “the heavens opened and Jesus came down and entered my heart, and the Glory of

 

2’ Mrs. Mary Jennings was a long time member of Second, teaching Sunday School, organizing Red Cross
services and even establishing a girls bible class, ages 12 to 16, called the Class of Esther.; “History of
Second Baptist,” p. 56, Second Baptist Collection, Second Baptist Church, Detroit.
:‘1’ 3° Nathaniel Leach and Edith Gamble, Eyewitness History, 44.

Ibid.

32lbid.

142

the Lord shone round me, all my sins were washed away.”33 When Bradby closed in
prayer, Croxton was ready for his second inquiry as to whether she was ready for the
kingdom of God. Her response was an undeniable “Oh yes!” For Croxton, Bradby “was
the one who took time to save my soul.”34 She confirmed her newfound salvation and
Bradby’s power as a preacher of the Gospel by being the first one of his converts and the
first member to be baptized by him.

Croxton’s conversion experience under Bradby made her a life-long member of
Second and a staunch supporter of Bradby’s ministry agendas throughout his forty-six
year pastorate. She was so supportive of Bradby that she accompanied him on his trips
through Detroit’s “Red-Light” districts. She recounts that one Sunday Bradby asked
members of the choir, including Croxton, to go with him to sing on the comer of St.
Antione and Gratiot Streets, filled with pool rooms, gambling and prostitution houses
were situated. That afternoon, the only person from the choir to show up for Bradby was
Croxton. She writes, “When it came time to start, nobody came but him and me, so he
preached the gospel and I sang the hymns. (That is how I got my Hedges and Highways
experience)?35

Croxton ministered with Bradby on numerous occasions in Detroit’s “Red Light”

district, traveling with him door to door offering the salvation message. One door that she

and Bradby knocked on was the house of a white woman living next door to Second.

 

33Ibid.

34Ibid.

35 According to member Frank L. Morris, Bradby “believed in going to the highways and byways to “bring
them in.” So he carried the Message of Jesus Christ to the pe0ple by preaching on street comers on Sunday
afternoons during the summer months”; Leach, Second Baptist Connection, 69.; each and Gamble,
Eyewitness History, 45.

143

Bradby introduced himself and the Gospel message to the woman. The following day,
Croxton relates that the woman came to Bradby’s office declaring to him that she was
starting a new life and that if he were interested in buying her house, she would sell.
Bradby accepted the woman’s offer making an addition to Second on the west side of the
church.36

According to Croxton, Bradby’s presence closed many doors of “sin” in Detroit’s
“Red Light” district and drew many within those doors to join the church. She relates that
an owner of a pool and gambling room closed his place once he met up with Bradby, and
joined Second with his wife and daughter. For Croxton, salvation stories like this one
herald Bradby as a “Crusading Minister, a spiritual power in the community.”37 Yet
Croxton was herself part of Bradby’s spiritual power in the community. Her support and
presence in the “street comer” ministry helped Bradby convey the Gospel to the Detroit
community and lend credibility to Second Baptist.

In fact, Croxton did more than just “street ministry” for Bradby. In 1917, Croxton
along with her former Sunday School teacher, Mary Jennings, help to organize the
Second Baptist Red Cross Unit during World War I. Croxton served as “the chairman of
the Surgical Department making pneumonia jackets and abdominal bandages to send to
our boys overseas.” In 1918, Croxton along with other churchwoman at Second “brought
grapes by the bushels in the Fall and made all the communion wine for the year.”38 She

then joined with Eva Peters, member of Second Baptist, in organizing the Deaconness

 

3‘ Ibid.
3’ Ibid.
38 Ibid.

144

Board. Peters was the board’s first president. Croxton proudly wore the Deaconness’ first
identification badge, 3 blue armband.

During the first wave of the Great Migration, Croxton along with other churchwomen
at Second, helped Bradby meet incoming migrants at train stations round the clock.
Croxton remembers bringing “the homeless people to our church to feed them. Many of
them slept on the church benches until Rev. Bradby found them homes to stay in?39
Because of Croxton’s efforts and the labor of other black churchwomen under Bradby,
many of the needs of migrants were met through the church. As a result, black
churchwomen like Croxton, help expand the membership of Second Baptist, thereby
adding to the power and influence of the church as well as its minister Rev. Bradby. As
Croxton writes, “Many of them (migrants) joined the church. Soon the church was filled
to overflowing congregation. From a membership of 250 it grew to 3, 800.”40

Croxton’s labor at Second are too numerous to convey in total. Suffice it to say that
she stood by Bradby and supported the ministries of Second Baptist with all her might,
even emotionally supporting Bradby during two of the church’s fires.41 The last church
fire in 1918, Croxton remembers standing next to Bradby as they both watch the church
burn. She writes, “We were able to get down the stairs and everyone got out of the church
safely. And for the second time Rev. Bradby stood across the street with tears streaming
down his face and watched the flames destroy his life’s work again.”42

Croxton’s faith in Bradby and her Lord, was reflective of the mindset of many

churchwomen at Second. The members of Second joined together to rebuild once again,

 

’9 lbid.

‘° lbid.

4’ Second Baptist has had three church fires in its history: The first in 1854, the second on January 16, 1916
and the third on January 17, 1917. ; Nathaniel Leach, The Second Baptist Connection, 56.

145

the sanctuary that had brought them so much help. As Croxton writes, “With God’s help
and Rev. Bradby’s courage, we rebuilt the Sanctuary as it now stands where we all
worship today?”

Throughout her tenure at Second, Croxton understood that her labor at the church and
her support of Bradby’s ministry agendas were in essence her service unto the Lord. For
she states, “I have served my Lord in this one church under two pastors, the late Rev. R.
L. Bradby and our present pastor Rev. A.A. Banks for sixty-five years.”44 During those
years Croxton, added to her labors the positions of choir member and singer (35 years),
Prison Social Reform Worker (7.5 years), Hedge & Highway Missionary (64 years),
Director of Young People (4.5 years) and Extension work in Billy Graham Prayer Band
(22 years).45 Croxton stood in the light of her predecessors at Second Baptist. Black
churchwomen like, Mary Branton Tule and Etta Taylor, all of whom understood church
work and church club organization as part of the “divine calling” to uplift the race and
glorify God. Croxton never saw her labors on behalf of her church or her pastor a burden.
She asserts, “I have never asked for or received any remuneration for my services. My
labor has been a labor of love for God and man.”46 Here, again, is another example of
Christian imperatives being the driving force behind black churchwomen clubs and
organizations in the church. From making homemade communion wine and organizing a
Deaconess Board to feeding hungry migrants and singing in the choir, Irene Cole

Croxton’s labors at Second were a reflection of her drive for racial advancement and her

need to fulfill the “call” of God upon her life.

 

’2 Nathaniel Leach and Edith Gamble, Eyewitness History, 45.
43 .
Ibid., 46.
“mm.
45Ibid.

146

Lillian E. Johnson, another member at Second who tied her labors for the Lord to her
labors at the church and church club organization. As vice president of the Earnest Well
Workers of Second Baptist, Johnson lead the black churchwomen of Second in
supporting the financial obligations of the Church through fund raising. Johnson
understood that the Earnest Well workers constituted one of the fundamental levels of
missionary work through the church. Meeting the financial needs of the church in order
to meet the needs of the community were of utmost importance. Bradby realized the
necessity of church groups like the Earnest Well Workers and made it a point to promote
their agendas for the establishment of what he understood was the “kingdom of God.”
The Earnest Well Worker’s motto was “I am the Walking Lady, 1 am on my way to the
Earnest Workers Club, Second .Baptist Church. Please don’t stop me please give me a
donation.”47 And donations is what the Earnest Workers provided for Second. Through
“fundraising, charity events and good will,” these churchwomen helped sustain the many
ministries that Second offered to the Detroit community. Outside of the Earnest
Worker’s club, Johnson served as the president of Second Baptist’s Class of Esther.
Organized in February 1908 by Mary Jennings, the class was geared toward young black
girls ages 12 to 16 teaching them biblical principles.

Lillian B. Johnson was also one of the founding members of the Detroit Study Club.
The Detroit Study Club was organized specially as a literary club initially to study the
works of poet Robert Browning. Writing in a hasty hand, Johnson remembers Mrs. Gay
Lewis Pelham, founder of the Detroit Study Club approaching her for membership in the

club while she was on her way to the streetcar line. Johnson states “of course I was glad

 

‘6 Ibid.

147

to join a literary club and later was notified of my acceptance, the time and place of the
next meeting.”48

In the Detroit Study Club, Johnson saw another opportunity to promote racial
advancement and black uplift among young black women. Her leadership of the club was
just another extension of her church work. For Johnson not only inspired women to
enhance their intellectual abilities through her leadership in the Detroit Study Club, she
also infused these agendas with Christian motifs espoused by the church. For example, in
1928 Johnson lead the Detroit Study Club in examining the history of Christianity from
its beginning and development.”49 Later on that same year, she engaged the club in a
debate over the topic “Resolve That Christianity 15 An Asset to Society.” The thirtieth
anniversary booklet of that same year records Johnson in support of the belief that
Christianity did constitute an asset to society.50 Johnson’s Christian theology was
inseparable from her drive to uplift her race through literary knowledge. Her
establishment and leadership of the Detroit Study Club and the Earnest Workers is a
reflection of the theological imperatives held by most black club women in Detroit, who
worked in tandem with the church to advance their race and effective change in their
local communities. These social spaces afforded black churchwomen were crucial outlets
in black female Christian agency in resisting black oppression. Historian Victoria

Wolcott notes that Lillian E. Johnson “remained in leadership positions throughout the

 

’7 “Scrap Book, History of the Earnest Worker’s Club of Second Baptist Church, 1908-1946,” Second
Baptist Collection, Second Baptist Church, Detroit.

48Lillian B. Johnson, “The Founding,” typescript, 19 March 1938, Detroit Study Club Collection, box 2,
Burton Historical Library, Detroit Public Library.

’9 Lillian E. Johnson, “Reminiscences,” typescript, 2 March 1928, Detroit Study Club Collection, box 2,
Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.

s"“Detroit Study Club Thirtieth Anniversary 1898-1928,” Detroit Study Club-Lillian E. Johnson Collection,
box 2, Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.

148

interwar period.”51 Wolcott’s statement is a testament to Johnson’s thirst to continually
institute black self-help agendas through the church and throughout the Detroit
community.

Another black churchwoman at Second who sought to raise the intellectual
consciousness of the black community was Mrs. Jerene Gurley Macklin. Under Bradby,
Macklin organized The Cultural Committee of Second Baptist Church. The cultural
committee’s motto was “A Life of honor and of worth, has no eternity on Earth.” Under
Macklin, the committee’s main goal was to sponsor programs that would “develop talent
in the church and community in the art of public speaking, dramas, and cantatas.”52

Macklin’s leadership of the Cultural Committee was so successful that Bradby openly
commended her for her leadership skills. Celebrating his 34th anniversary at Second,
Bradby makes mention of Macklin’s achievements stating, “The members of the
organization have done a fine piece of work under the leadership of Mrs. Macklin and
others cooperating with her in bring to our city such outstanding characters as they

presented last year and are presenting this year.”53

One of those outstanding characters
Dr. Mordecai Johnson, then president of Howard University, who was the quest speaker
for the committee forums for five consecutive years.“ Macklin definitely stands as one

of the cornerstones in Bradby’s use of the church to supply educational program to the

Detroit black community.

 

5’ Victoria Wolcott, Remaking Respectability, 65.

52 “The Cultural Committee of Second Baptist Church,” History of Second Baptist Church 1836-1940, pg.
37, Second Baptist Collection, Second Baptist Church, Detroit.

53 Robert L. Bradby, Souvenir Program, The Second Annual Fall and Winter Forum Series Presented by
the Cultural Committee of Second Baptist Church October 15, I944-Apri122, 1945, box 10, Glenn Papers,
Burton Historical Library, Detroit Public Library.

5“"l‘he Sands of Time,” 3 0”I Anniversary of the Cultural Committee, Second Baptist Church of Detroit, box
9, Folder 1, Glenn Papers, Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.

149

Second Baptist member, Mary Etta Glenn was another strong laborer under Bradby,
supporting the church’s ministries. Glenn became a member of Second Baptist around
1918. She migrated from Bibb County, Georgia to Detroit in 1917. When Glenn arrived
in Detroit, it was under the prayers and hopes of her mother, grandmother and aunt.
Throughout her life, Glenn mirrored the complex values instilled in her by distant family.
Unlike tradition pictures of isolation, Glenn’s life revealed that the mail became a
medium of emotional support, and a spiritual spring to her familial roots. All three
women left Glenn a legacy of faith in the God of the Bible. They encouraged Glenn as
she embarked on her new journey in the North to call upon God and his guidance in her
life. On January 29, 1922 Glenn’s aunty writes, “Let me urge you, entreat & beseech that
you continue to pray asking God for his comforter that his guiding arms will be around
you his eye will direct you to the better paths of life. . .with all our prayers and carefulness
we are made to live the path of righteousness. But as I for said take Jesus with you all the
way and he will make us serviceable of our wrongs...”55Her grandmother, Rosetta
Mckinney writing in 1922, prays for “God to be with us until we meet again.”56 Clearly,
Glenn came to Detroit with a deep-seated Christian belief. This faith becomes a
manifested reality when she begins involving herself within the ministries of Second and
supporting Bradby’s “kingdom” agendas. The prayers and advice that Glenn’s aunt and
grandmother sent in the letters sustained Glen as she spent almost ten years searching for

a place of solace. These prayers finally brought Glenn to her destination as she came to

 

’5 Aunt Sarah to Mary Etta Glenn, 29 January 1922, box 17, Glenn Papers, Burton Historical Collection,
Detroit Public Library.

’6 Rosetta McKinney to Mary Etta Glenn, 27 August 1922, Box 17, Glenn Papers, Burton Historical
Collection, Detroit Public Library.

150

the doors of Second Baptist in 1932. She writes, “I became a member of Second Baptist
Church in September 1932. Became a member of the Deaconess Board two years later.”57
Glenn was one of the thousands of women migrants pouring into Detroit during the
first wave of the Great Migration. She like many others had heard of the massive job
opportunities in Detroit and of a black pastor that was able to provide housing,
employment and sustenance for the soul. Mary Etta Glenn decided to unite herself to
Second Baptist and gain the resources the church offered to incoming migrants like
herself. Historian Victoria Wolcott notes, “Glenn was an active member of Detroit’s
Second Baptist...whose pastor hired social workers and developed programs to instruct
new migrants in cleanliness, domestic skills, and deportment.”58 Under Bradby, Glenn
was instrumental in organizing black self-help programs for neighborhood improvement.
She was an active member in the Earnest Workers Club of Second Baptist, holding the
positions of chairman and president; she was also president of the Foreign Missionary
Society of Second Baptist and member of Second Baptist’s Altar Circle and Deaconess
Board. During her later years at Second, Glenn served as the vice president of the
Second Baptist Credit Union, the chairman of the Personnel Committee, and the vice
chairman of the Constitution & By-Laws Committee of Second Baptist Church.59

Glenn’s labors at Second Baptist even included promoting black intellectualism in the

church, exposing the congregation to one of the great black thinkers of our time. As an

 

’7 “Scrap Book, History of Earnest Worker’s Club of Second Baptist Church, 1908-1946, Second Baptist
Collection.

53 Victoria Wolcott, Remaking, 12.

59 Outside of Second Baptist Glenn writes that she was a sustaining member of the NAACP, YWCA and
the Patron of Arts Club as well as the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. She held the
position of supervisor at the Detroit Post Office in Detroit, maintaining “membership in the National
Association of Postal Supervisors, Detroit Branch National Alliance of Postal Employees and its women
auxiliary.” Glenn was also the” founder of the South Eastern Improvement Association and chairman of its
Civic Committee”; Mary E. Glenn, “Mary E. Glenn,” box 10, Glenn Papers, Burton Historical Collection.

151

active member of the Association For the Study of Negro Life and History, Glenn helped
organize lectures highlighting the achievements of Dr. Lorenzo Johnston Green and
Carter G. Woodson.60 Woodson corresponded regularly with Glenn in an effort to build
up the membership of the association. He wrote, “We desire to thank you for whatever
cooperation you may give, and to assure you that the results obtained from the effort will
be productive of great good in prosecuting the study of the Negro scientifically that the
race may not become a negligible factor in the thought of the world.”61 Carter G.
Woodson spoke many times in Detroit. In February 8, 1948, he spoke at a mass meeting
at Second Baptist Church at 4:00 pm. Among those in attendance were some of the
prominent black churchwomen of Second, such as Lillian Johnson and Mrs. Mary E.
Glenn herself.

Glenn was definitely a woman of social conscience and action in the church and her
efforts help Second raise the level of racial uplift among its congregants. Her work and
connection with the Association for Negro Life and History enabled Bradby to support
black self help efforts and raise racial advancement through the church. Regular
correspondance from Glenn to Bradby showed the labor of one black churchwoman who
supported and even empowered the effectiveness of Bradby’s leadership.

For example, in 1943 Glenn worked as part of the convention committee for the
Association. Writing a letter to Bradby, Glenn informs him of the upcoming Negro
History Convention in Detroit on October 29, 1943. Outstanding black leaders such as

Mary McLeod Bethune, then National President of the Association of Negro Life and

 

60 “Sign Up Sheet for Attending the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History at Second Baptist
Church,” 8-15 February 1948, box 16, Glenn Papers, Burton Historical Collection; “Memorandum-
Lorenzo J. Greene,” box 17, Glenn Papers, Burton Historical Collection.

152

History(ASALH) and Carter G. Woodson were in attendance at the convention. Glenn
reminded Bradby that even Charles Wesley, then President of Wilberforce University,
would be present at this momentous occasion. Glenn asked for Bradby’s assistance in
publicizing the event, writing, “if you would mention the time and place of the
convention with any other facts which you may care to add...I ‘ve been shown many
curtesies with undertaking but, I still NEED the “emphasis” of the Pastor of Second
Baptist.”62 In still another letter, Glenn wrote, “please help publicise this conference by
announcing it to any group. . .and urge your congregation to attend the sessions.”63

The letters demonstrate the dynamic power structures within the black church. Here,
a prominent member of Second Baptist, a black churchwomen who runs in circles of the
black elite, must still implore the formal power structures in the church (pastor) to
advance change and progress in the community. Bradby, in turn recognizes the informal
power structure in the activities of black churchwomen like Glenn and utilizes them to
advance not only his leadership of Second Baptist, but to impact the surrounding black
community. This is reflected in Bradby’s letter to Glenn. In January of 1943 Bradby
writes of looking forward to Glenn’s return from vacation, stating “I shall be praying for
you. . .be glad when you return.”64

The life and ministry of Second Baptist’s second missionary, Mary Louise Reid stands

as another example of how black churchwomen supported and even advanced the power

of Bradby and Second Baptist to effective positive change in the black community. Mary

 

6' Carter G. Woodson to Mary Etta Glenn, 1 February 1938, xox 16, Glenn Papers, Burton Historical
Collection.
62 Mary Etta Glenn to Robert L. Bradby, 15 October 1943, box 16, Glenn Papers, Burton Historical
Collection.

63 lbid.

153

L. Reid came to Second in 1920 from the American Baptist Home Mission Society of
New York. Reid was sent to Michigan to do missionary and social service under the care
of the Detroit Bapitst Union. Second Baptist was her first point of contact and ministry
center.65

Reid was especially instrumental in supporting Bradby’s ministry to migrants. She not
only reached out to Detroit newcomers during the 19205, she even assisted Bradby in his
daily pastoral responsibilities. Her journal records numerous trips to the sick and shut-in
of the church, new members, hospital visits and teaching morning bible classes.

Reid even supported Bradby’s efforts to establish the kingdom of God among black
migrants in Detroit. Bradby’s vision and leadership eventuated in the establishment of the
Baptist Christian Center. As the first director of the Baptist Christian Center, Reid
oversaw the running of one of the first black settlement house established for incoming
migrants in Detroit.66 The center’s purpose was to minister to incoming migrants
assisting them in securing employment and training them in Christian principles. One of
the primary groups the center targeted was young black females and mothers. Reid was
responsible for instructing not only the children of migrants, but teaching the women in
classes on cooking, sewing, gardening, music, Negro history and housework. Many of
her courses fell under the title “Domestic Science Class?“

A typical day for Reid consisted of teaching morning Bible class at Second, visiting a

new member, making a house visit and then holding domestic classes at the Baptist

 

6" Robert L. Bradby to Mary Etta Glenn, 28 January 1943, box 17, Glenn Papers, Burton Historical
Collection.

65 “History of Second Baptist,” Second Baptist Historical Collection, Second Baptist Church, Detroit
6" “Baptist Christian Center,” box 6, folder 1, United Community Services-Central Files Collection,
Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University.

‘7 “Missionary Social Worker (reid), 1925-1926,” Second Baptist Church Papers, Michigan Historical
Collection.

154

Christian Center between 7:00 pm. and 8:00 pm. Reid even ministered to black mothers
suffering with supposed delinquent children. One 1927, journal entry in particular,
related Reid making a special visit to “police headquarters with a Mrs. Tate concerning
her son?68 It appears that Reid made personal crisis visits when Bradby could not.

Yet Bradby was found to be very interested in the social welfare of the young women
and mothers at the Baptist Christian Center. In a report on the activities of the center
dated October 28-December 31, 1921, Bradby writes of holding forty personal talks with
mothers and girls at the center. He goes on to note that over 4, 553 students, many of
them women, receiving training that year in some department of the center.69

In November of 1928, Second Baptist sent Reid as their second missionary to Afiica.
Following in the footsteps of Miss Lula Cooper in 1923 (Second’s first missionary), Reid
was sent as a representative of the black Baptist faith to the Foreign Field, subsidized on
a monthly stipend of sixty-five dollars. Other church auxiliaries under the leadership of
black churchwomen gave Reid the extra money and supplies she needed to “support a
Mission School in Monrovia, Liberia.”70 Reid spent three years working in Liberia, when
she had to return home to Second Baptist after a bout with fever in 1931.71

Adding to her other achievements at Second, Reid continued to advance racial uplift
through the church by establishing church groups such as the Naomi Circle and the

Young Peoples Missionary Society (renamed Missionary Society No. 2 in 1931) in 1920

 

6“ Ibid.

69 Robert L. Bradby, “Report for Quarter, Oct 28-Dec 31, 1921 of Baptist Christian Center,” 28 October —

31 December 1921, box 75, folder 21, United Community Services-Central Files Collection, Archives of

Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University.

:3 “History of Second Baptist Church,”p. 7., Second Baptist Collection, Second Baptist Church, Detroit.
Ibid.

155

and the Mother’s Club in 1931. 72The Mother’s Club evolved into the Second Baptist
Women’s Council in 1934. She was also a teacher for Second’s Ladies Bible Class.

Kate Johnson was yet another black churchwoman at Second that supported Bradby’s
kingdom agenda in meeting the needs of migrants and the Detroit Community. On
November 25, 1919, Bradby issued a call to the woman of Second to attend a mass
meeting at the church in order to discuss how best to meet the needs of migrant women
flowing into Detroit by the hundreds. Over one hundred woman attended the meeting.
From this meeting, the Big Sisters Auxiliary was organized with Kate Johnson elected as
president. Johnson was instrumental in mapping “out the work for the organization,
meeting with the approval of all members.” Johnson supervised fifteen sub-groups under
the Big Sisters Auxiliaries.

The main focus of the Big Sisters Auxiliary reflected the theological and social
concerns of Bradby. Bradby was anxious over the young migrant flowing into Detroit and
being targeted by houses of prostitution from the “Red Light” district. He wanted to curb
the flow of these desperate young women going into the Detroit’s dangerous night-life.
More over, Bradby wanted to advance the economic and social opportunities for these
young women by giving them other alternatives than that offered by the “Red Light”
district. The Big Sisters aimed at “maintain(ing) a home for young women or such other
help for the uplift of the Race.” Bradby wanted a place where young migrant women
could stay while finding respectable employment and permanent housing in Detroit. 73

Kate Johnson rallied to Bradby’s goal and over the next four years oversaw the

recruitment of more than “four hundred Christian women” who helped to raise five

 

72 Leach, The Second Baptist Connection, 39.

156

thousand dollars “for the purpose of buying a home on the comer of St. Aubin and

”74

Antietam Streets. As Wolcott states, “The women of the church engaged in charity

work throughout the 19205 and 19305, focusing on young women in the community who,
they felt, needed to be guided through the dangers of a new city.”75

Under Johnson’s leadership and Bradby’s vision, the women of Second Baptist were
able to purchase a twenty-one thousand dollar house, which stood as “a beacon-light for
the protection of our girls.” The black churchwomen of the Big Sisters Auxiliary
established the home to “stand as a monument to our splendid women of Detroit.”76
Their motto mirrored the National Association of Colored Women’s motto, “Lifting As
We Climb.” Like Bradby’s racial self-help agenda, the motto of the Big Sisters reinforced
the tenets of racial uplift through Christian practices.77

Women like Kate Johnson, Irene Cole Croxton, Lillian Johnson, Mary Glenn, Mary L.
Reid and J erene Gurley Macklin constituted the informal power structures behind
Bradby’s formal power within the community. In fact, Bradby’s effectiveness and power
was contingent upon black churchwoman and their “grass-roots” power. Thus, the black
churchwomen of Second functioned in the same capacity a historian, Clarence Taylor
notes about the black churches in Brooklyn. He writes, “Despite the effort to exclude

women from positions of formal power in the mainline churches, women forged a

leadership and helped continue the religious, social, and cultural mission of these

 

7’ “Cavalcade of Second Baptist Church,” 29 March 1937, p 14, reel 2, Second Baptist Church Papers,
Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.

7’ “Cavalcade of Second Baptist Church,” p. 14., Second Baptist Church Papers, Michigan Historical
Collection.

75 Victoria Wolcott, Remaking Respectability, 65.

7" “Cavalcade of Second Baptist Church,”p. 14., Second Baptist Church Papers, Michigan Historical
Collection.

157

churches. By doing so, they helped build the institutional structure of the churches and
were able to gain recognition and distinguished positions.”78
Other informal power structures enhancing Bradby’s leadership effectiveness were
the many church auxiliaries that were organized and led by black churchwomen of
Second. Like Taylor’s assessment, these church auxiliaries created leadership among
black women at Second, while at the same time supporting the church’s mission to the
Detroit community. Bradby even writes of openly encouraging and occasionally
personally directing the organization such churchwomen lead auxiliaries such as the
Naomi Circle, Altar Circle, Silver Leaf Club, Ladies Usher Board, Ladies Aid Society,
Big Sisters Auxiliary, Worthwhile Club, the Christian Women Workers Club, the Baptist
Training Union, the Cultural committee 'and the Women’s Council.79 According to
Wolcott, “all of these clubs remained active for many decades to come, forming a
backbone of community organizing. . . .that was based on the tenets of female uplift.”80
These clubs were based on more than just female uplift. Female uplift was a
manifestation of a deep-seated Christian faith that linked black uplift, respectability, and
womanhood with divine mandates from the Bible. Many of the clubs forged in and
through black churches like Second, reflected the attributes and were even based on
female characters in the Bible.
At Second Baptist, such groups at the Class of Ruth, No. 4, taught by Fannie Richards,

the Class of Esther organized in 1908 by Mary Jennings, and the Naomi Circle founded

in 1920 by Mary L. Reid were based on female biblical characters found in the Old

 

77 It should be noted that Kate Johnson was also one of the charter members of the Altar Circle at Second
Baptist. This women lead group supplied furnishings for the altar and pulpit during Sunday Services;
“Cavalcade of Second Baptist,” p. 13., Second Baptist Church Papers, Michigan Historical Collection
7‘ Clarence Taylor, The Black Churches ofBrooklyn, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994), xix.

158

 

Testament.81 The Class of Ruth, No. 4 and the Naomi Circle were taken from the book of
Ruth, and the Class of Esther was from the book of Esther in the Bible. Ruth, Naomi and
Esther were all godly women in the Old Testament that shared a deep faith in God and
were preservers of Israelite culture. Ruth and Naomi were not only blessed women of
God, but these women were also instrumental in ushering in the savior of Israel and the
Christian world, Jesus Christ. For Jesus of Nazareth can trace his lineage back to the
book of Ruth. Black churchwomen, looking to uplift their race and womanhood found
validation in their identity as black Christian women modeling their lives after mighty
biblical women God had used to raise, and even uplift Israelite culture.

The Naomi Circle was first called the Mother’s Guild. This group was designed to
teach and train women in the tenets of the Christian faith as well as offer good role
models of Christian women to the black community. The Naomi Circle then evolved to
provide Bible study, missions work, teaching and evangelism. Bible study was combined
with missions’ work that included educational programs to raising money for the church.

The Altar Circle, the Silver Leaf Club and the Ladies Usher Board were other
women lead groups at Second that supported Bradby and Second Baptist in response to
Christian imperatives. Interestingly, these groups were started in the homes of black
churchwomen, thus expanding their private sphere into the public arena of the black
church. Further, the private sphere of the homes of these black churchwomen was infused
with the sacred as the activities of the local church many times took life from the very

living rooms and kitchens of black churchwomen.

 

79 Leach and Gamble, Eyewitness History, 22.

80 Victoria Wolcott, Remaking Respectability, 66.

81 “History of Second Baptist Church,” p. 55 and 82, Second Baptist Historical Collection, Second Baptist
Church.

159

For example, the Altar Circle was started in the home of Second Baptist member,
Mary Osby.82 Osby called seven women in the church to a meeting along with Rev.
Bradby. On December 13, 1910, Bradby meet with “the following ladies: Mrs. Kate
Johnson, Mrs. Emma Cole. Miss Louise Taliaferro (now Mrs. Bradby), Miss Sadie
Taliaferro (now Mrs. Coleman), Miss Ethel Johnson and Mrs. Mary Osby.”83 At the
meeting, Bradby was made chairman and Mary Osby the president. Under Bradby, these
women “furnished Sacramental Wine of the Communion each month, purchase altar
scarfs, decorated the church for special occasions, and contributed to the church
whenever we could.”84 On other occasions the group sent Christmas baskets to the poor,
and supplied “the special water phosphate for pastor on Sundays.” On the whole, these
women were crucial to the weekly upkeep and maintenance of the sanctuary. In short,
this group was one facet of the informal power structures that supported Bradby and
Second’s formal power.

The Silver Leaf club was organized in the home of Elizabeth Ecclestone, in March
1915. Second Baptist members Eva Peters, Mamie Ridley, Sadie Hardy, Pearl Bexley,
Racel Cash, Frances Davis and Horace Cash meet to organize a group that would “help in
the church wherever and whenever needed.” The group organized under Eva Peters as
president and Harriet Milton as vice-president. Under Peters, one of the first
accomplishments of the Silver Leaf Club was to “put carpet down the aisles of the

church, curtains in the pastor’s study, furnish the ladies rest room.”85 The Silver Leaf

 

82 The Altar Circle had its inception on March 14, 1909 under Rev. W. J. Jones. Originally called the
Pastor’s Aid Circle, the group fell dormant just prior to Bradby’s coming to Second Baptist in November
l910.;Ibid., 74..
8’ “Cavalcade of Second Baptist,” p. 12, Second Baptist Church Papers, Michigan Historical Collection.
34 .

Ibld.

“5 lbid., 16.

160

Club’s colors were silver and green and they functioned under the motto “Nothing great
is easy.”86

Cornelia Holland Lindsey held the first business meeting of the Ladies Usher Board in
her home, 712 Russell Street in February 1, 1916. Eight members were in attendance and
the first elected officers were Florence Cortney as president, Marie Wright, as secretary
and Mamie Clark as the group’s treasurer. The duties of the Board were to “render
services in any way that was needed, assist the pastor, congregation and the church in its
financial support by paying dues, giving socials and personal donations from each
individual.”87 From its inception in 1916 up through 1937, black churchwomen held
leadership positions in the group, providing tremendous help to Bradby and the church,
even to the point of donating $300.00 for the purchase of chimes for the Second’s church
organ.

Other notable churchwomen at Second Baptist who supported Bradby were Frances
Gaskins Smoot who organized the Ladies Aid Society in February 28, 1918, and Mrs.
Jackson who founded the Worth While Club in May 1931. Like other women lead groups
at Second, Smoot organized the first meeting of the Ladies Aid Society in her home on a
Thursday evening. The Ladies Aid Society primarily supported Bradby and the church

through financial contributions. This group, like the others sought to “aid the pastor and

church in every way we can financially.”88 The Worthwhile Club’s goal was to

 

36 Ibid.
8’ Ibid., 13.

88lbid., 16.

161

 

 

 

“cultivate the missionary spirit in the church, to encourage systematic missionary giving,
and to promote missionary education”89
The Christian Women Workers’ Club and the Second Baptist Women’s Council were
also lead by notable women at Second. Mrs. L. W. Tyrell called a meeting at her home on
December 30, 1931. From that meeting the Christian Women Worker’s Club was
organized. The club’s aim was to “elevate standards of womanhood by promoting love,
peace and harmony.”90 The church’s second missionary, Mary Louise Reed, organized
the Women’s Council of Second Baptist. On March 5, 1934, this group was organized to
“assist with youth programs, spiritually and financially.”91
Such groups as the ones aforementioned constituted major power sources under
Bradby and helped him to effect change within the Detroit community. Bradby utilized
the strength of women leadership in the church to meet the needs of migrant and the
Detroit black community. Without the black churchwomen of Second, Bradby’s
effectiveness and his leadership abilities would have been limited to a great extent. Yet,
Bradby new the power of churchwomen and encourage strong leadership among them.
This is especially seen in his participation in the Seventh Annual Session of the
Woman’s Division of the Metropolitan Baptist Association in 1926. Members of the
association were Second’s outstanding church women such as Elizabeth Eccleston, Irene
Croxton, and Sadie Ewell to name a few. Bradby not only gave his support to the

women’s division of the Baptist Association, he actively participated in the Association.

As the State president of the Metropolitan Baptist Association, Bradby was asked to give

 

8’ Second Baptist Church of Detroit Members Manual,” p.46, Second Baptist Church Papers, Michigan
Historical Collection.
9° Nathaniel Leach, Second Baptist Connection, 61.

162

 

remarks at the Seventh Annual Session of the Women’s Division. On July 8, 1926,
Bradby gave remarks at the meeting, recognizing the “struggles and hardships” the
churchwomen “had undergone to try to build up” the Association. Bradby encouraged the
women to “consecrate” themselves “for the Master’s work and get in closer touch with
God.”92
President Sadie Peoples and vice-president A. J. Bryant took up Bradby’s challenge
and brand of theology in a variety of ways.. The Association agreed to apply the lessons
taught by various churchwomen at the meeting in order to better the race and raise the
level of womanhood. A paper given by Mary E. Cole, entitled “A Mother’s Interest in a
Modern Girl,” was read and discussed by the Association. Bible lessons titled “Hope
lessons,” and Israel’s Home Training,” all sought to blend the sacred with the domestic
sphere of black churchwoman in an effort to advance black uplift in the community.
Mary E. Cole blended motherhood, the Gospel, respectability and racial

advancement in her paper to the Association. She writes,

“Every mother should in early childhood teach her girl Christian Education...Christian education
means to know Jesus Christ, to love Him, and to serve Him. . .if we save a girl, we save a soul plus
a life and generation...yes our modern girls who must and will make and shape the future
generation; the girls who must craddle the future MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL, psychologists,
physicians, philosophers and poets; yes the girls who must give to the world the future Booker T.
Washington, L.K. Williams and Nannie H. Burroughs—what about them?”93

According to Cole, the young women of the black community must be raised and
instructed in a way that would continue the advancement of the race, nurturing men and
women who follow in the foot-steps of black leaders like Burroughs and Washington.

Respectability and the ministry of the Gospel were avenues of training for young black

 

9’ “Second Baptist Church of Detroit Members Manual," p. 45, Second Baptist Church Papers, Michigan
Historical Collection.

92 “Minutes of the Seventh Annual Session of the Women’s Division of the Metropolitan Baptist
Association held with the Second Baptist Church Ypsilanti, Michigan,” p. 17., 7-10 July, 1926, Second
Baptist Church Papers, Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.

163

women. As Cole states, “Mothers, if you desire your girls to be IDEALS, you must set
the examples...lf we are to save our girls, we must lower our skirts, wash SOME of the
paint from our cheeks and lips, stop dancing, playing cards, and getting intoxicated. Then
we will have few marriages on style and fashion; less divorces on cruelty and non-
support; happier homes and healthier lives.”94 Coles’ statement mirrors what historian
Evelyn Brooks Higgenbotham notes about Baptist’s women’s moralistic emphasis. She
states, “The Baptist women’s moralistic emphasis and cocem for “respectable” behavior
translated into a belief in the primacy of spiritual over material progress, and yet their
emphasis offered each striving soul an attempt to gain personal dignity and worth in this
world despite its racism and poverty.”95

Cole’s paper reflected the overall . mindset and theology carried by Baptist
churchwomen in the North, especially those at Second Baptist. The message of Jesus
Christ was inextricably tied to issues of respectability, womanhood, and racial
advancement. Respectability was not a goal and issue unto itself in the minds of black
churchwoman, it was just another facet of the “call” by God to be upstanding righteous
women who reflected godly attributes of justice, righteousness, and equality. For
Bradby, these goals were all tied to the biblical motif of the “kingdom of God? Black
Baptist women of the North understood Bradby’s reality of the Gospel and even ascribed

to this belief themselves. As Cole writes, “We have the opportunity to create in her

(young modern girls) CHRISTIAN IDEALS, so she will CREATE A CHRISTIAN

 

93'lbid., 25

9“Ibid., . 27.

95 Evelyn Brooks Higgenbotham, “Religion, Politics, and Gender: The Leadership of Nannie Helen
Burroughs,”in Judith Wisenfeld & Richard Newman, editors, This Far By Faith: Readings in African
American Women 's Religious Biography, (New York: Routledge Press, 1996), 146.

164

CIVILIZATION. This is our privilege and our task.”96 The advancement of the black
race, for black churchwomen was quintessentially the advancement of the “kingdom of
God.” Black churchwomen conception of “the kingdom of God,”i.e.., “Christian
Civilization” was based in a theology that drew upon the ideals of black uplift,
Christianity and the cult of true womanhood. As historian Anne Meis Knupfer states,
“Club women thereby created intricate layers of social uplift. . .they emphasized not only
their own but all women’s responsibility in race elevation”97

Nationally acclaimed religious leader Nannie Burroughs also understood the theology
behind black advancement and heralded Bradby for his efforts toward the race and his
support of black woman leadership. As secretary of the National Baptist Women’s
Convention and founder and president of the National Trade and Professional School for
Women and Girls in Washington DC, Burroughs stood as the leader of black
churchwomen in the Baptist faith and was herald a race leader of her time. Higgenbotham
heralds Burroughs as the “finest representatives of the black Christian tradition. Nannie

”98 Burroughs recognized the

Burroughs is the feminine in our religious tradition.
accomplishments and support of Bradby toward the her race and her gender. Writing in
November 7, 1925, Burroughs congratulates Bradby on his 15th anniversary at Second. In
her letter, Burroughs applauds Bradby for his service in Michigan and his brand of

theology. She writes,

“My Dear Doctor Bradby, Congratulations upon the occasion of your anniversary as pastor of
the Second Baptist Church...Your theology is modern in its construction and dress, but apostolic
in its content. Your sermons sparkling with originality, expressed in terms of modern thinking,

 

96 “Minutes of the Seventh Annual Session of the Women’s Division of the Metropolitan Baptist
Association held with the Second Baptist Church Ypsilanti, Michigan,” p. 27, Second Baptist Church
Papers, Michigan Historical Collection.

97 Anne Meis Kupfer, Toward A Tender Humanity, 15.

98 Evelyn Brooks Higgenbotham, “Religion Politics and Gender: The Leadership of Nannie Burroughs,”
Judith Weisenfeld & Richard Newman, This Far by Faith, 154.

165

 

 

with Christ as the center. 1 observe that you have a passionate enthusiasm for moral righteousness
and social justice.”99

Bradby carried his enthusiasm for moral righteousness and social justice into the many
letters he wrote on behalf of Second’s churchwomen and young migrant girls. In these
letters, Bradby addressed job discrimination, employment needs, be petitioned top white
officials to help pay debts or withhold foreclosure on women’s mortgages during the
Depression and even petitioned parole officers on behalf of black women’s sons.

Second Baptist member Sadie Throgmartin Curley Terrell credits Bradby for helping
her gain employment as “the first black clerk in the Mechanic Bank located on Mechanic
at St. Antione Street in 1926.”100 In September 30, 1929, Bradby wrote a letter to the
Detroit Conservatory of Music on behalf of Florence Shumake stating, “Mrs. Shumake is
very worthy and will I am sure reflect credit upon any effort that we may put forth to help

3’10] Another letter written in 1931 asked for employment for Second Baptist member

her
Myrtle Jackson, stating, “It is our understanding that she is now seeking a position with
the Welfare Department of the City of Detroit, and'we are very happy to add our word of
recommendation to her character and worthiness.”102

Other letters written on behalf of widows during the Great Depression by Bradby are
sent to the Detroit City Treasurer. Annie Jenkins was the beneficiary of one of Bradby’s

letters in May 13, 1931. Jenkins owned $88.83 for 1928 taxes. The city was foreclosing

 

99 Nannie H. Burroughs to Robert L. Bradby, 7 November 1925, “Souvenir Program 15th Anniversary of
Second Baptist Church, 1910-1925, p. 43, reel 3,, box 2, Second Baptist Church Papers, Michigan
Historical Collection.

'00 Leach, Second Baptist Connection, 71.

’0' Robert L. Bradby to Mrs. Clemments, 30 September 1929, reel 3, box 2, Second Baptist Church Papers,
Michigan Historical Collection.

1°? Robert L. Bradby to Whom it May Concern, 21 April 1931, reel 3, box 2, Second Baptist Church
Papers, Michigan Historical Collection.

166

 

 

on her home due to back taxes. Bradby writes the City Treasurer pleading, “All her life-
savings are in this home. It would be tragic if she lost it, and I will thank you very much
sincerely for whatever help you can give.”103 Bradby pens another letter to the
Department of Welfare on behalf of Eutella Nay. Bradby first addresses the harsh
treatment Nay received at the hands of a white social worker. He writes, “if what she
reports with regard to his treatment of her is true, it is hardly less than slavery days?
Referring to her financial condition Bradby states, This woman is living in a room
without even anything to cook with. She has not always been in this position. Her
husband was once a minister. He is dead. If there is any adjustment you can make in this
case I will appreciate it. If not I am going to take it up with the Welfare Commission and
the mayor.”104

These letters are telling in that they demonstrate Bradby’s concern for the plight of
Afiican American women and his power to call upon some of the highest white power
structures in their defense. Bradby battled discrimination on behalf to black women,
especially his church members on every fi'ont and sought their social and economic
advancement wherever he could.

This is especially seen in his efforts to gain employment for Afiican American women
at Ford Motor Company. Ford’s hiring practices toward black females mirrored that of
other industrial companies, only hiring white women at best. In 1942, when the Ford

Plant Willow Run began hiring female labor, black women were excluded. Black leaders

like Bradby fought hard to open Detroit war production industries to Afiican American

 

”’3 Robert L. Bradby to Charles L. Williams, 15 May 1931, reel 3, box 2, Second Baptist Church Papers,
Michigan Historical Collection.

10‘ Robet L. Bradby to Miss Cavanaugh, 15 November 1931, reel 3, box 2, Second Baptist Church Papers,
Michigan Historical Collection.

167

 

 

women. Bradby came to the fore again for racial justice on behalf of black women.
Joining the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC), Bradby along other black and
white leaders from the Detroit FEPC Council approached one of Ford’s top officials at
the time Harry Bennett for bettering hiring policies toward black women. According to
historians August Meier and Elliot Rudwick, Bennett’s patronizingly praised, Bradby
“for his early “constructive influence” on Rouge’s Negro workers, noting how the

”105 Despite Bennett’s

company “didn’t have hear as many knifings as they used to.
sarcasm, Bradby and the FEPC did receive a cursory promise that “Negro females would
be hired, “as soon as Negro groups, whose sole interests are political, stop their
agitation.”106

Although Bradby and the FPEC continued to wage an uphill war against Ford’s hiring
practices towards black women, the progress of the campaign was slow and arduous.
Bradby’s participation in the FPEC reflected his theology that sought the advancement of
both black men and women through protest agitation based on biblical mandates.

As a race leader, Bradby was heavily supported by the effectiveness of Second Baptist
and its ministries to the Detroit black community. Second Baptist enabled Bradby to
advance the needs of the black community and gave him a lot of power and influence in
social political circles of white power structures. His leadership and effectiveness in the
Detroit community and at Second Baptist was sustained and supported by the black
churchwomen of Second Baptist. Second Baptist’s longevity financially, socially and

politically were due to the labors and efforts of its churchwomen and their effective

leadership in the church. As Darlene Clark Hine affirms, “Black women propelled the

 

”5 August Meier and Elliot Rudwick, Black Detroit and the Rise ofthe UA W, (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1979), 138.

168

 

 

church towards service as a welfare agency and shaped it into an institution for social as
well as spiritual uplift. The black women bore the responsibility of urging, cajoling and
guiding the church towards assumption of leadership in the amelioration of the causes of
poverty, sickness, illiteracy, crime, prostitution, and juvenile delinquency.”107
Second’s black churchwomen like Fannie Richards, Lillian Johnson, Irene Cole
Croxton as well as the many women lead church auxiliaries and clubs at Second Baptist
were the virtual “back-bone” of the vitality and life of Second Baptist and the leadership
of Bradby. These women were the true power behind Bradby’s formal power and
Second’s status as the foremost black church in Detroit. As Hine states, “despite the
undeniable importance of black male preachers, the strength and vitality of black
churches rested in large part on the constant support of black women.”108
Scholars have in large part ignored the role of black churchwomen in the local black
church. There is a need within scholarly circles to continue to address the role of black
churchwomen in the black church, for if one pays close attention they will see that the
black pastor welds no power and effects no lasting change without the labors of black
churchwomen. The interconnectedness of these two figures in the black church has yet to

be fully addressed as they relate to activities of black self-help and uplift in twentieth

century America.

 

“’6 Ibid., 147.
107 Hine, When the Truth is Told, 21.
“’8 Ibid., 20.

169

THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS BEHIND THE MINISTRY OF REVEREND
ROBERT L. BRADBY AND SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH

The life of Rev. Robert L. Bradby and the history of Second Baptist speak to the
larger role that black churches played in urban community building in the twentieth
century. As one of the main agencies of black self help, the local black church became
the seedbed of black agendas of racial advancement, social mobility, and resistance
against white racism. Second Baptist was a medium of empowerment that afforded the
Detroit black community higher levels of enfianchisement on a number of levels. Bradby
stood as a Christian activist that pursued the advancement of black needs.

His life and his church lend insight into the theological foundations of the 20th
century black church and herald the evolution of black theological thought in the 21St
century. This chapter presents an overview of those theological foundations resonant in
black churches like Second and reflect upon how the nature of early black Christian
theology in the church mirrors contemporary concepts found in Liberation Theology.

A product of his times, his ministry and theology reflected the ideals of Progressivism
and the theology of Social Gospel reformers such as Reverdy Ransom, Walter
Rauschenbush and George Gladden. Combining the ideologies of these men with the
social-political strategies of Booker T. Washington, Bradby effected black progress in
Detroit through avenues of praise, protest, resistance, agitation and accommodation.

Praise was demonstrated in the many sermons he preached. Protest came through the
power of his pen as he wrote letters decrying racist treatment of his members. Resistance
and agitation were the attributes of his letters as well as the many auxiliaries and clubs he
set-up. Accommodation was manifested through his relationship with Henry Ford. The

recommendations he wrote on behalf of jobless migrants, bankrupt widows and blacks

170

 

 

seeking educational opportunities were all reflections of what Gayraud Wilmore terms
"the radical tradition" in the black church. For Wilmore, "It is this radical thrust of blacks
for human liberation expressed in theological terms and religious institutions that is the
defining characteristic of black Christianity and black religion in the United States..."1
The radical tradition was the black pursuit of freedom and equality in America through
means of protest and agitation. Protest and agitation were actions grounded in Christian
principles based on the activities of God in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New
Testament. The reform activities of black progressive ministers like Ransom and Bradby
mirror Wilmore's understanding of the radical tradition and address the fundamental
foundations of black institutional religion in America.

Although black uplift methods at Second Baptist were at times seen as
accommodating white power structures, such as Bradby’s relationship with Henry Ford,
such accommodation carried undercurrents of resistance and black empowerment.
Through accommodating Ford’s need for labor, Bradby used Second Baptist as an
employment agency in an effort to financially help jobless migrants and resist black
disenfranchisement.

Bradby's accommodation spoke to the dynamic continuum of accommodation/protest
that the black church has operated on throughout its history. As C.E. Lincoln writes,
“Sometimes accommodation also meant that black preachers were manipulated and used
by whites. But the pole of resistance meant that it was possible to resist the

accommodative forces and pressures of American mainstream. Politically, resistance has

 

’ Gayraud Wilmore, Black Religion and Black Radicalism An Interpretation of the Religious History of
Ara-American People, Second Edition, (New York: Orbis Books, 1996), x.

171

 

included both self-determination and self-affirmation.”2 Bradby’s leadership of Second
Baptist did both. His connection with Ford, the letters he wrote on behalf of the black
community and the ministries he set up to assist the community all reflected actions of
self-determination and self-affirmation; yet these actions also accommodated the needs of
white power structures like Ford Motor Company. Henry Ford wanted to influence the
Detroit black community, so he targeted the most prominent and influential institution
within its culture, the black church. Ford gained influence and cheap labor, the Detroit
community resisted poverty and unemployment to a degree.

The significance of Bradby and Second Baptist's reflection of the radical tradition in
black culture speaks to contemporary understandings of black Christian leadership, and
African American herrnetical understandings of God in relationship to the black
experience. In Christian contexts, the African American experience of racism colors
biblical texts and perceptions God and Jesus Christ. The activities of Second Baptist and
the black self help ministries the church established to assist the Detroit community give
insight into the nature of black church theology in the twentieth century.

What is clear is that the brand of theology espoused and practiced by Bradby and
Second Baptist was grounded in the Afiican American experience of social, political, and
economic disenfranchisement. This aspect of Second Baptist provides insight into the
interpretative frameworks Afiican Americans have held toward the tenets of Christianity
throughout the 19m and 20th centuries. As such they reflect contemporary motifs found in

Liberation Theology.

 

2 C.Eric Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya, The Black Church in the Afiican American Experience,
(London: Duke University, 1990), 15.

172

Theologians Christopher Rowland and Mark Corner assert, “the poor are privileged in
the eyes of God.” They state “While this divine preference is seen in the legal
prescriptions of the Torah and in the condemnations of the canonical prophets of Israel’s
social arrangements, it is affirmed particularly in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.3 Jesus is
said to affirm in the poor and in doing so, he claims that they are the inheritors of the
“kingdom of God.”4

For liberation theologians, God is understood to correct human mistakes by advancing
his kingdom through acts of justice and resistance to oppression. Key biblical texts such
as Matthew 5:3: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God;” and
Micah 6:8: “Has he showed you, 0 man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of
you? To act justly and to lovemercy and to walk humbly with your God;” were drawn
upon to understand the mandates required by God. Moreover, Jesus stands as an example
of a poor man who serves God by pursuing the kingdom of God. Jesus is not resigned to
poverty, but takes up this condition in order to give others hope of rising above their own
poverty. Liberation theologians do not glamorize poverty, but define it as a “lack of

”5 God is revealed as one who ushers in his kingdom “first

resources necessary for life.
and foremost for those who, by virtue of their situation, have most need of it: the
afflicted, the hungry of this world.”6 Thus, the kingdom of God comes to impact and
change the existential realities of the poor and oppressed.

The members of Second Baptist embraced Jesus as the radical who challenged

oppressive conditions in the "status quo" and modeled the very theological foundations of

 

3 Christopher Rowland and Mark Corner, Liberating Exegesis: The Challenge of Liberation Theologr to
Biblical Studies, (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1989), 91.

4 Matthew 5:3, New International Version of the Bible.

5 Rowland and Comer, Liberating Exegesis, 47-48.

173

their ministries to reflect his revolutionary activities. Rev. Robert L. Bradby preached
sermons that challenged his membership to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, resisting
injustice in every facet of life and invoking structural transformations in society in pursuit
of a higher level of freedom for the black community, the poor and impoverished.
Sermons entitled, “The Detroit We’ve Made,” “The Detroit As Headed.” And “The
Detroit Which Can Be,” focused on the doctrines of the Gospel and the social uplift of
the black race. 7

Bradby's declaration in 1940 stating that the ultimate goal of Second was to continue a
“larger and more extensive promotion of the program of the Kingdom of God, was in
essence a program of the “social betterment and moral uplift of our members on helping
the sick, poor, and unemployed, creating auxiliaries, increasing miSsionary funds and
improving financial conditions."8 These actions constituted non-violent, revolutionary
ways of combating economic and political disenfranchisement among Detroit blacks and
reflected biblical mandates from the Old and New Testament.

Church auxiliaries such as the Big Sisters, Missionary clubs, the Second Baptist
Educational department, the Baptist Christian Center and the many committees set up to
meet incoming migrants around the clock at train and bus stations were manifestations of
the advancement of the Kingdom of God. These church auxiliaries and clubs were
mediums of resistance to white oppression and empowerment toward the black
community. The church committees, who met incoming migrants and took them into the

church to feed, clothe and even house them for a night were radical resistance activities

 

6 .
Ibld., 48.

7 Nathaniel Leach and Edith Gamble, Eyewitness History, Second Baptist Church of Detroit, 1836—1876,

reel 3, box 2, Second Baptist Church Papers, Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley Historical Library,

University of Michigan,.

174

against poverty. The many letters Bradby wrote on behalf of migrants and church
members for jobs and housing, educational opportunities or even in protest against
discriminatory practices were quintessential acts of justice and protest against the evils of
society which reflected theological imperatives in biblical texts such as Amos 5: 24: “But
let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing streaml; Zechariah 7: 9-
10: “This is what the Lord Almighty says, Administer true justice; show mercy and
compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or poor.
In your hearts do not think evil of each other;” and Matthew 25: 44-45 “They also
answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or
sick or in prison, and id not help you? He will reply, ‘1 tell you the truth, whatever you
did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” Justice on behalf of the
poor, and meeting the needs of those hungry, sick and thirsty in society was part of Jesus’
great command to his followers. Bradby took these divine directives to heart and modeled
the ministries of Second Baptist to fulfill the scriptural mandates proclaimed by the minor
prophets of the Old Testament and Jesus Christ in the New Testament.

Bradby’s letters and the ministry of Second Baptist also eventuated in structural
transformations within social and economic circles in Detroit. Through Second, Bradby’s
lucrative relationship with Henry Ford of Ford Motor Company shook the automotive
industrial world, making the black worker a permanent fixture in the Detroit automotive
industrial working class. Second Baptist’s ministry to incoming migrants changed the
social- political and demographic landscape of Detroit. The overall population in Detroit

from 1910-1918 tripled in size. The black community increased almost a hundred fold

 

8 Reverend Robert L. Bradby, “Preface,” History of Second Baptist Church, 1 836-1940, Second Baptist
Historical Collection, Second Baptist Church, Detroit.

175

due to opportunities made available through such agencies as the black church and the
Detroit Urban League. In fact, to some degree poverty and social-political
disenfranchisement was successfully resisted through the actions of churches like Second
and black Christian leaders such as Bradby.

Bradby’s leadership and the ministries of Second Baptist mirrored Gayraud Wilmore
and Vincent Hardings concept of the “radical tradition” in black religion. The “spiritual
strivings” of freedom and equality that Manning Marable alludes to are manifested in the
“radical tradition” of the black worshipping community through “praise” and “protest.”
Coupled with Bradby’s letters of “agitation and protest,” addressing employment,
housing needs and discriminatory practices; were sermons of “praise” relating how the
black community could build a better Detroit with the help of God. The many church
committees and auxiliaries he organized and encouraged reflected the radical tradition of
pursuing avenues of freedom and equality for the Detroit black community. Through the
radical traditions of “praise,” “protest,” and “resistance,” Second Baptist and Bradby
refused to accept the status quo of white racism and black disenfranchisement. These
actions of praise, protest, and resistance constituted the advancement of the “kingdom of
God,” and were marked manifestations of justice and the pursuit of freedom in the black
community.

This radical tradition was also found in the activities of black churchwomen who
upheld the formal structures of leadership in the black church. Black churchwomen
welded considerable agency in Second, so much so, that they were the very cornerstones
of church ministry. For in expanding the private spheres of their homes to embrace the

social-theological and political agendas of the black church, these women became the

176

 

 

 

“backbone” not only behind Second’s effective, but also the power supporting black male
Christian leadership. It cannot be ignored that the majority of Second Baptist's church
clubs and self-help groups were organized and lead in the homes of black churchwomen.
Mirroring the activities of black women church clubs in Indiana, Darlene Clark Hine
affirms, "Black women meeting in each other homes week after week for ten, thirty and
more years developed much more than leadership skills, positive self images and
strategies for organizing communal charity. They nurtured and created a black female
community and cultural network identified by its own special style, substance and
language."9

Building on Hine's assessment, I argue that part of the "substance" of these black
churchwomen groups were founded in Christian theology based on biblical imperatives.
Many of the meetings black churchwomen held were opened and closed with prayer.
Typically, the prayer would be a request that the God of the Bible would bless, strengthen
and give insight into how the group could best meet the needs . of the "kingdom," the
church and the black community. Prayer and petition to God for change and guidance
were translated into black uplift agendas that withstood racism, derogatory images of
black females and provided Afiican American women with an empowered identity, even
a divine identity in some respects. For the black churchwoman was first a Christian, a
daughter of God who had God's stamp of approval upon her personhood through her
personal belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yet, black churchwomen
were also part of the oppressed black race. Black women, especially black churchwomen

suffered not only from racism, they also suffered fiom ecclesiastical sexism in the

 

9 Darlene Clark Hine, When the Truth is Told: A History of Black Women's Culture and Community in
Indiana, 1875-1950, (Indianapolis: The National Council of Negro Women, 1981), 27.

177

church. Black women at Second, although afforded leadership positions in the
educational departments and other auxiliaries of the church, were systematically kept out
of key leadership roles such as Associate Pastor or Pastor. Societal mores based on
patriarchal notions of women's inferiority and conservative readings of biblical texts such
as 11 Timothy 2: 12 kept black women from leadership positions in the church.

Black churchwomen identified with the oppressed groups of the Bible. Many times
they would read scriptures in the beginning of their meetings focusing on the role that
Jesus or God played in delivering the oppressed from bondage, or supporting the needs of
women in the Israelite community. As theologian Renita J. Weems writes, "the Bible has
some power on its own, and it is certainly true that it has been able to arrest Afiican
American female readers and persuade them to make their behavior conform according to
certain of its teachings. Where the Bible has been able to capture the imagination of
African American women, it has been and continues to be able to do so because
significant portions speak to the deepest aspirations of oppressed peOple for freedom,

" 1° The black churchwomen of Second embraced the

dignity, justice, and vindication
biblical motif of the kingdom of God, and like Bradby, understood that its manifestation
came through protest, resistance and reform.

This interpretative tradition also reflected the reality of African Diaspora
consciousness among early 20th century Afiican American Christians, especially black
Baptist. The aspect of African Diasporic consciousness manifested within the Black

church is realized in what philospher John Mibiti terms as the Afiican worldview or

cosmological thought. Specifically, it is the blending of secular and sacred spheres into

 

1° Renita Weems, "Afi'ican American Women and the Bible," in Cain Hope Felder, editor, Stony the Road
We Trad: African American Biblical Interpretation, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991). 63 and 70.

178

one unified whole within the African’s psyche that is seen in the theological perspectives
and actions of the 20th century black church.

Philosopher John Mibiti declares, “Wherever the African is, there is his religion: he
carries it to the fields where he is sowing seeds or harvesting a new crop; he takes it with
him to the beer party or to attend a funeral ceremony; and if he is educated, he takes
religion with him to the examination room at school or in the university; if he is a
politician he takes it to the house of parliament?”

With regard to the black church then, this Afiican mentality transformed the doctrines
of Christianity and overshadowed Afiican American hermeneutical perspectives with
regard to biblical texts, thereby making Christianity into a mechanistic religious reality in
their lives. It is this Afiican worldview and cosmological thought that contemporary
scholarship argued was carried over within the Diaspora, and which resides in and
continues to reside in the minds of Afiican Americans.

Second Baptist and the leadership of Reverend Bradby is one reflection of the reality
and continuity of African Diasporic consciousness in the 20th century black community.
Under the preaching and teaching of Bradby, Second Baptist understood Christianity as a
faith that transcended the sacred and embraced the secular world and all of its
experiences. Christianity became a means of “salvation” and empowerment in the face of
white racial oppression and black disenfranchisement. Thus, the Afiican American
practice of Christianity functioned in the same capacity that traditional Afiican religion
had functioned.

Overall, the nature of the black church and its drive for freedom and equality are

rooted in biblical mandates. Traditionally, scholars have interpreted the spiritual

179

strivings of the black church solely as a pursuit of freedom and equality. The activities of
Second Baptist and the leadership of Bradby speak to something beyond the mere pursuit
of freedom and equality as a goal unto itself. Black self-help agendas in the church
geared to freedom, equality and overall black uplift were tied to the ultimate pursuit of
establishing God’s kingdom on Earth. As Rowland and Comer state, It is impossible for
the Kingdom of God to come on earth within the hearts of individuals, without its being
expressed in the social relations that govern their lives as individuals.”12

Another facet of Bradby's perception of the kingdom was drive to establish the
humanity of Afiican Americans in early twentieth century Detroit. For Bradby, black
humanity was tied to black freedom and these two concepts were founded upon biblical
understandings of God’s love and justice. As theologian Allan Boesak contends, “Human
dignity for all is a fundamental biblical right... In the Bible there is a close connection
among God’s love, God’s justice or righteousness, and human rights.”13 Bradby
believed this and for him the establishment of black humanity was connected to issues of
respectability and black equality.

In helping establish such groups as the Dress Well Club and the Baptist Training
Center, Bradby sought to teach migrants the tenets of respectability. Although his
methods may have reflected white middle class bourgeois perceptions, the foundation of

his actions were based his theological understanding of righteousness and humanity.

Righteousness meant right living and right behaviors according the scriptures. For

 

“ John 5. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, ( New York: Praeger, 1969), 2.

‘2 Rowland and Comer, Liberating Exegesis, 162.

’3 Allan Boesak, Black and Reformed: Apartheid, Liberation and the Calvinist Tradition, edited by Leonard
Sweetrnan, (New York: Orbis Books, 1986), 6-7.

180

example, Paul writes that he becomes all things to all men and do not like your good be
evil spoken — all in order to reflect Christ to the world.14

Bradby knew that the gospel of Jesus Christ upheld the struggle for black humanity in
America. As Boesak points out, “black Christians knew that the gospel of Jesus Christ
does not deny the struggle for black humanity, and it was with this light from God’s word
that they went into struggle, both within the church and outside it.”15

Bradby realized that the gospel of Jesus Christ was commiserative with the struggle
for black liberation and black humanity. This constituted the kingdom of God for Bradby
and he set the course of his leadership agenda but the pursuit of it. Black liberation,
equality and the establishment of black humanity was the kingdom of God. For Boseak
asserts, “The church is called to proclaim this kingdom with its justice, love, peace,
wholeness...under all circumstances to follow in the footsteps of the Lord whose
kingdom it proclaims...lt cannot but proclaim a message of liberation from misery,
oppression, poverty, domination, exploitation, fear.”16

Reverend Robert L. Bradby and the ministry of Second Baptist to southern black
migrants reflected this understanding of liberation theology and gave practical expression

to its truths. Second Baptist fulfilled Hayes charge to the church of applying the

“principles of the Christ to a concrete religious and social situations. . .to secure or train in spirit and
technique men and women of vision to assist in the exacting, executive and administrative work
which the joint community organization. . .should undertake. The expansion of work in employment
placement, training courses for those employed. . 3’”

 

‘4 I Cor 9: 19-23 and Rom. 14:16.

’5 Boesak, Black and Reformed, 21 .

16 Allan Boesak, Black and Reformed, 66.

’7 George Edmund Haynes, Negro New-Comer in Detroit, Michigan: A Challenge to Christian
Statesmanship A Preliminary Survey. (New York: Home Mission Council, 1918), 37and 39.

181

Bradby accomplished these directives through his leadership of Second Baptist. The
Detroit migrant and black community made tremendous strides under the care of Second
and gave validity to power of the black church to transform the secular spaces of African
Americans in a racially divided world. Under Bradby, Second Baptist’s ministries to the
black community reflected the seeds of liberation theology taking sprout long before the

term was ever coined.

182

CONCLUSION: SECOND BAPTIST AFTER BRADBY

“Onward Bradby, Onward”
(Tune: “Onward Christian Soldiers”)
Presented by Senior Choir, 1923
Dedication to Rev. R. L. Bradby

Onward, Bradby, Onward
Onward to the fray.
Never stop to whimple
Never say thou ‘Nay’
Just press on and upward
Whatever men might say.
You just preach true gospel
Till the final day.1

The “final day” for Bradby came on June 3, 1946. The last sermon he preached at
Second Baptist was on Palm Sunday, June 2, 1946, entitled “The Kind of Church I would
Like to Help Build.”2 Ironically, Bradby succeeded in building the kind of church he had
envisioned. For Second Baptist became one of the most successful black churches in
Detroit during the early twentieth century. By 1943, Bradby had “served in 1,716
Sunday services, preached 3, 432 sermons, pastored 11, 715 persons for Church
membership, baptized 2,244 Converts and united 1, 617 Couples in Holy Wedlock.”3
These numbers do not include the thousands of individuals and families that received
employment and housing through Bradby’s recommendations not only to Ford, but to
other agencies in Detroit.

A staunch Progressive and adherent to the Social Gospel, Bradby lived out reform

agendas through his theology of the kingdom of God. His life and the ministry of Second

 

1 Nathaniel Leach, Second Baptist Connection Revised Edition Eyewitness History Second Baptist Church
of Detroit, (Detroit: Second Baptist Church, 1988), 90.

21bid., 36.

3 “Program of the Thirty-third Anniversary of Dr. Robert L. Bradby. D.D. LI.D.,”reel 3, Second Baptist
Church Papers, Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.

183

Baptist demonstrated how one black religious institution evoked fundamental and far
reaching changes in the social, cultural and political milieu of Detroit during three major
periods in American History---the Great Migration, World War I and II and the Great
Depression. Reverend Bradby’s leadership established him as a forerunner of the black
“self-help” tradition in Detroit and exposed the latent power of the Black Church to
transcend its private domain and evoke changes in the public sphere of Detroit’s black
community. At the core of Bradby’s actions were theological imperatives of liberation
and resistance. For Bradby and the members of Second Baptist Church, resistance and
liberation were divinely sanctioned initiatives inextricably connected with the gospel
message of the New Testament and the proclamations of the minor prophets in the Old
Testament.

Bradby’s successor Rev. Allan Arthur Banks Jr. canied on Bradby’s kingdom
agenda and reflected the continuous tradition of black self help at Second Baptist. Born in
Bryan, Texas, Banks grew up as the son of a Baptist preacher and public school teacher.
He attended High School in Pocatello, Idaho and then returned to Texas to gain his
Bachelor of Arts Degree from Bishop College in Marshall, Texas. He received his
Masters of Arts Degree in Economics at Howard University, Washington DC. During his
tenure at Howard, Banks felt a “call to the ministry.” He then went on to receive a
Bachelor of Divinity Degree from the Howard University School of Religion. Some years
later Banks received an honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from Bishop College and
Arkansas Baptist College. 4

In 1943, Banks received an invitation from Second Baptist to come an interview for

the position of Associate Pastor. The invitation came to Banks while he was working at

184

Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington DC. under senior pastor Rev. Early L. Harrison.
As the Assistant Pastor and Director of Religious Education at Shiloh, Banks grew in his
leadership abilities and even married Victoria Allen on August 30, 1942. That same
week, Banks took up Bradby’s invitation and went to Detroit to be interviewed for the
position of Associate Pastor and Director of Religious Education at Second Baptist. The
interview included the preaching of a “trial sermon.” On June 20, 1943, Banks preached
a sermon entitled “The Mizpah.” This was a timely sermon for Second was in the midst
of the 19405 Race Riot in Detroit. His second sermon, “Living in Two World,” gained
him the position of Associate Pastor. From 1943 to 1946, Banks assisted Bradby as
Second’s fifth Associate Pastor, a position held vacant since 1929. On a salary of $35.00
a week, Banks oversaw the massive educational ministries of Second Baptist.5

Three years into his duties, Banks was faced with Bradby’s unexpected death. Six
months later, Second Baptist elected Banks as the church’s 20tln pastor on January 2,
1947. During Banks tenure, Second continued to move forward in advancing black
progress. In 1949, church member Ralph Bunche put Second Baptist on the map when
he received the Spingam Medal from the National Association for the Advancement for
Colored People (NAACP). One year later, Ralph Bunche received the Nobel Peace Prize,
the world’s highest award ever received by an Afiican American.

Other advances made in the Detroit community through the ministries of Second
Baptist were such organizations as the Downtown Business and Professional Club.
Under Banks organization, this club supported black businesses in downtown Detroit.

Another ministry through Second came through Bank’s wife, Victoria Banks. In 1952,

 

4 Leach, Second Baptist Connection, 42.
5 lbid.

185

“Governor G. Mennen Willliams appointed Mrs. Banks as a member of the Michigan
Social Welfare Commission” in an effort to provide economic support for more of
Detroit’s Afiican American families. Second Baptist even participated in early Civil
Rights Movement, walking in protest marches and contributing $2600.00 to the Martin
Luther King Montgomery Improvement Association on December 9, 1956.6 In 1956,
Second Baptist also purchased another property to accommodate its growing
congregation. Located in the heart of Detroit’s Greektown, Second brought property at
461 and 419 Monroe with a $400,000.00 bank loan, a phenomenal sum go be loaned to a
predominantly black institution at the time.

Second tore down its property at 419 and 461Monre, eventually expanding and
rebuilding a larger edifice at 441 Monroe Avenue, still in the heart of Greektown. It is
this church building that as a little girl I attended with my father and Grandfather. As a
little girl, I heard the glorious stories of Bradby and the power of Second Baptist in
Detroit. Although Rev. Banks lead Second through another successful tenure, over time,
the church’s membership began to wane.

By the time I sat in the pews of Second in the early 19805, many of Second’s
ministries erected under Bradby had been disbanded. In 1928, Second boasted of a
membership around 3,000. Today in the 21"t century, Second has maintained a
membership just under 900 congregants. Many of these members seem to live off the
memory of Second during its “Golden Years,” under Bradby, where hundreds of
congregants would form lines two hours before service just to get a seat; and black
workers at Ford proudly wore their Ford emblems as arrnbands during Sunday Service.

Second Baptist’s church historian Nathaniel Leach remembers turning away hundreds of

 

6 Ibid., 43.

186

worshipers from the 11:00 am. Sunday service, simply because there was just not enough
room. Many black congregants, he recalled, would stand wall to wall during morning
services just to hear Bradby preach.

During the late 19805 and throughout the 19905, the membership of Second
continued to decline. When I spoke at Second’s Annual Women’s Day Service in the
Spring of 2002, the church pews were barely filled with members. Under the pastorate of
Second Baptist’s 23rd pastor , Reverend Kevin M. Turman, the church has leveled off to
a membership of 880. Although not as active at it was in the past, under Rev. Turman
Second continues to provide spiritual substance and social-economic assistance to the
Detroit Community. Turrnan has caught and continued the tradition of black self-help
through the divine initiatives inherent in the Christian motif of the “kingdom of God.”

Celebrating Second’s 159th Anniversary, he stated,

“It is difficult to fully grasp the meaning of having been in the kingdom building enterprise for
these many years. Consider that back before there was a Civil War in America, there was a Second
Baptist Church. Our doors remained opened through two World Wars. The Great Migration which
brought hundreds of thousands of Afiican-Americans to the North. The Industrial Revolution, The
Civil Rights Movement, the Detroit riots, and the protest of the 19605 and 19705 are all events
during which we have continued to lift up the cross of Christ.”7

Turrnan’s words ring true, for Second Baptist still continues to uplift the black race
through establishing God’s kingdom. On the most fundamental level, Second Baptist
established a dynamic black Christian institutional base in Detroit. Second Baptist was
the “Mother” of Detroit black Baptist churches. From its rise in 1837 to the middle of the
twentieth century, Second Baptist has mothered over 30 black Baptist’s churches in
Detroit. This record alone reflects the church’s tradition of constantly establishing the

“kingdom of God” in the Detroit community.

187

As an African American woman preacher, I have had over three opportunities to
preach and teach at Second Baptist. It has been an honor to grow up connected with such
an historic church and rich history. As the first African American woman to ever speak
on the church’s anniversary, I felted privileged and humbled to be a part of Second
Baptist’s history. This work hoped to capture the Golden years of Second Baptist and the
power within Second’s theology that kept it thriving though so many “dangers, toils and
snares.”

AS honorary member of Second, its history is as close as home. My father and
grandfather’s connection with Second Baptist ordered my steps to inveStigate and put to
pen the marvelous triumphs of the black church in Detroit. My father, who is now
deacon of Second Baptist, was privileged to know Bradby and other influential church
members such as Mary Etta Glenn and Irene Cole Croxton. He, like other members of
Second Baptist, seemed to run in circles of powerful black activists. As a brand new baby
coming into the world, my father, Edisel H. Robinson was delivered by none other than
Dr. Ossian Sweet, who lived just three blocks down from my grandfather on Chene and
Madison Street, in what was know as “Detroit’s Black-Bottom.” Dr. Sweet was the first
Afiican American property owner to successfully beat a murder charge and maintain the
right to protect his home.8 Supported by the NAACP, assisted by Rev. Bradby, and
legally represented by one of the greatest defense lawyers in the country, Clarence

Darrow, Sweet won the right to live in a predominantly white neighborhood and protect

 

7 “A Word From Our Pastor. . .Rev. Kevin M. Turman,” Second Baptist 159'” Anniversary Celebration
Souvenir Book, (Detroit: Second Baptist Church, 1995), 3.

188

his property in 1925. Second Baptist supported Dr. Sweet during his ordeal. Bradby
offered his church for a meeting place for the defense team and assisted Sweet’s family
during the trial, which took place from October 30 to November 4, 1925.9

After the trial, Sweet moved back into Detroit’s Black Bottom where he continued to
practice medicine. On April 12, 1934 Sweet’s path crossed with the Robinson family
when he delivered my father in my grandfather’s home on 1955 Madison Street off of St.
Auburn and Orleans. As a boy growing up on the streets of Detroit, my father remembers
running into Dr. Sweet at times. Sweet would look at my dad and exclairn, “Don’t I know
you, your one of my boys aren’t you?” My father would laugh and acknowledge that
Sweet was right.10

During the church’s 159th Anniversary, my father served as the chairperson of

Second’s Anniversary Committee. Cherishing his time at Second he wrote,

“I am thankful to God for letting me be a part of a church, that has since 1836 been showing the
way, the truth, and the light to all people. Second Baptist Church should shine bright, with the
remembrance that she has confessed and been baptized in slavery, edified and tested in the
Reconstruction period, and has been certified and ordained to witness to the forgiveness, power,
and the love of God from “1836 to Eternity.”ll

My father’s words are telling, for Second Baptist has existed throughout major
historical periods in American History. It is humbling to trace the power of black agency
through the black church and see one’s own reflection. This work offers a glimpse into
one facet of the Afiican American experience during the tumultuous periods of the
interwar years. It presents a micro-history of a larger narrative of Afiican American

Christianity and Institutional Religion. The history of Second Baptist and the activities of

 

: Joseph Tunini, “Sweet Justice,” Michigan History Magazine (July/August 1999); 23-27.
Ibid.
1° Edisel H. Robinson, Phone Interview, July 28, 2002.

189

its 19th pastor provides a window by which to understand the nature of the black church
in American and black Christian leadership. This work also notes how the urban black
community of Detroit, Michigan found part of its roots in the “Mother” of black churches
in Detroit. Black community building in the early twentieth century is inextricably tied to
the local black church, for in the beginning of the twentieth century the local black
church was the seedbed of black life, power and identity. The history of Second Baptist
reflects this reality and speaks to power of the Gospel to speak to the multifaceted
dilemmas faced by the Afiican Antican community. As the words to the following

song declare:

“Second Dear Second”
(Tune: “Juanita”)
By Victoria Banks
Written 1957; Adopted 1958

In Detroit City
Stands the Second Baptist Church,
Where Freedmen worshipped
With the Master’s touch.

Here in downtown Detroit,
Eighteen-thirty-six, the year,
When they called on Jesus
Both in songs and prayers.

Then, Dear Second,

Through the years, you’ve stood the test;
Second, Dear Second, you deserve our best! ’2

 

“ “Our Chairperson Edisel H. Robinson,” Second Baptist 159'“ Anniversary Celebration Souvenir Book,
(Detroit: Second Baptist Church, 1995), 5.
’2 Leach, Second Baptist Connection, 90.

190

APPENDICES

Second Baptist — “Mother” of Detroit’s “Black” Churches
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH

October 20, 1827

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH of Detroit
March 5. 1836
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Eoscooal Church (Baptist) Baptist Baptist
Church (Windsor) 1870 cfg’s'?‘ Church c1313" an“: Church CS? 333’
1846— 1853 (Extinct) I 1916 1ng 1922 '1941
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church Church Church Church Church Church Church (Baptist) Church 1940 church
1936 1932 1957 1948 1949 1957 1977 1969 1945 1924
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1939 1945 1937 1943 ‘978 1%3
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Chg? Presentation: Nathaniel Leach. Historian. Second Baptist Clutch
(Extinct)

 

 

 

191

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Manuscripts

Detroit Study Club Collection, Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.
Correspondance and miscellaneous materials of Second Baptist member
Lillian E. Johnson.

Detroit Urban League Papers, Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley Historical
Library, University of Michigan. Includes detailed information on Detroit’s
African American community during the turn of the century.

Ford Archives, Dearborn, Michigan. Correspondences of Henry Ford and
Ford Motor Company.

Glenn Papers, Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library. Includes
correspondences and miscellaneous materials of Second Baptist member Mary
Etta Glenn.

Papers of Henry Ford, Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village Research Center,
Dearborn, Michigan.

Second Baptist Collection. Second Baptist Church, Detroit. Includes anniversary

pamphlets, letters, and memoirs of Rev. Robert L. Bradby and prominent
members at Second Baptist Church.

195

 

Second Baptist Church Papers. Michigan Historical Collection. Bentley Historical
Library, University of Michigan. This large collection includes, correspondences,
Second Baptist Church minutes, Anniversary booklets and other
Miscellaneous papers of Rev. Robert L. Bradby and Second Baptist Church of
Detroit.

Archive Materials
Haynes, George Edmund, Negro New-Comer in Detroit, Michigan: A Challenge to
Christian Statesmanship A Preliirrary Survey . New York: Home Mission

Council, 1918.

Records of the Detroit Election Commission, 1920-1925, Old County Building, Detroit
Michigan.

The Negro In Detroit: Report of the Mayor's Committee on Race Relations. Detroit:
Detroit Bureau of Government Research, 1926.

. Report Prepared for the Mayor's Inter-racial Committee by Special Survey
under the general Direction of the Detroit Bureau of Government Research, Inc.
Detroit, Michigan, 1926.

United Community Services-Central Files Collection, Archives of Labor and Urban
Affairs, Wayne State University. Papers on the Baptist Christian Center.

U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Negroes in the United States,
1920-1926.

Dissertations/Master's Thesis

Bailer, Lloyd H. "Negro Labor in the Automobile Industry," Ph.D. diss.,
University of Michigan, 1943.

Carlson, Glenn E. "The Negro in the Industries of Detroit." Ph.D. diss., University of
Michigan, 1943.

Miles, Norman Kenneth. "Home at Last: Urbanization of Black Migrants in Detroit,
1916-1929." Ph.D. diss., University of Michigan, 1978.

Shelly, Cara. "Bradby's Baptist: Second Baptist Church of Detroit 1910-1946."
Ph.D., diss., University of Michigan, 1990.

White, Ronald C., Jr. ""Social Christianity and the Negro in the Progressive Era, 1890-
1920. Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 1972.

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