Trailblazer: The Legacy of Bishop Henry M. Turner During the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Jim Crowism
When the Civil War began in 1861, the conflict evoked feelings of pride, patriotism, and hatred in both blacks and whites. As the war raged on, Reverend Henry McNeal Turner ministered to his brethren serving in the United States Colored Troops (USCT), segregated units of the Union Army. Although slavery ended in 1865 with the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, Lincoln’s plans for Reconstruction died with his assassination. The Ku Klux Klan and ex–Confederates not only regained control of the South but also resisted the federal government’s early attempts at civil rights legislation by intimidating, murdering, and disenfranchising ex–slaves. In response to the brutality and the rise of Jim Crowism, Turner served as a beacon of hope for thousands of freedmen while respectively serving in state and local politics. Bishop Henry M. Turner’s story deserves more attention because he is an overlooked transitional figure in American history. This paper will examine Turner’s contributions to the A.M.E. Church, politics, and civil rights.
Henry M. Turner, Negro Bishop Extraordinary
The Negro church presents an important field of investigation to students of American social history. Many slaves found in Christianity a substitute for primitive African religious beliefs and practices and a source for the satisfaction of their religious longings. The churches offered to the American Negro his first opportunities for participation in organized group life in a new environment. Experience in church organization and activity trained thousands of slaves for the larger fields of effort which were opened to them after emancipation. Approximately one-tenth of the present total membership of the American churches belongs to this race. For more than three centuries the church has served as the most important factor in typing the institutions and ideals of our largest minority racial group.
Men of mark
Denne artikel har to emner. Den handler dels om tre mænd og deres syn på hinanden og dels om et medieskift, hvor et nyt medium, fotomediet, kræver ligestilling som kunstnerisk udtryksmiddel med et etableret medium, ord­ mediet. Bindeleddet mellem de to emner er Georg Brandes. Han er den ene af de tre mænd, og han portrætteres af de to andre, verbalt såvel som visuelt. I 1913 udgav den amerikanske fotograf Alvin Langdon Coburn en por­ trætsamling med titlen Men of Mark, og den efterfulgtes 9 år senere af endnu en samling More Men of Mark. De tre "men of mark", der er emnet for den­ ne artikel, er danskeren Georg Brandes og amerikanerne Henry James og Alvin Langdon Cobum, og de tre satte deres "mærke" på henholdsvis kritik, fiktion og fotografi. Mod Georg Brandes rettes både Cobums kameralinse og den ikke mindre skarpe linse i James's øje en linse så fint registrerende, at den indkasserede fotografen Coburns højeste kompliment: "Although not literally a photographer, I believe Henry James must have had sensitive piates in his brain on which to record his impressions". Coburns fotografiske portræt af Brandes gengives i artiklen (reproduceret med tilladelse fra The British Library), ligesom James's verbale portræt af ham findes her. Tilsam­ men giver de tre mænd et komposit portræt af hinanden. "Georg Brandes er en af de store mænd som det lille Danmark med rette kan være stolt af at have frembragt og som vi burde kende og påskønne langt mere end tilfældet er. Men det har skortet på både kendskab og på­ skønnelse. Billedet af ham er sløret og forvansket af de fordomme der har fulgt ham fra begyndelsen og af de myter der har dannet sig om ham i tidens løb". Sådan indleder Sven Møller Kristensen sin bog om Brandes, og selv den nuværende Brandes boom har ikke ganske formået at fjerne det slør af for­ domme, der altid har hvilet over det hjemlige billede. Derfor kan det stadig