To James M. Ault
Author: King, Martin Luther, Jr.
Date: December 14, 1961
Location: Atlanta, Ga.?
Genre: Letter
Topic: Martin Luther King, Jr. - Career in Ministry
Details
At the request of Ault, dean of Union Theological Seminary (UTS), King writes a glowing recommendation of Gurdon Brewster, who spent the previous summer interning at Ebenezer for the Student Interracial Ministry (SIM) Project.1 King notes that church members wanted Brewster to return and believes seminarians like him give hope for “a better atmosphere in race relations and a new social consciousness on the part of the churches.”
Mr. James M. Ault, Dean of Students
Union Theological Seminary
Broadway at 120th Street
New York 27, New York
Dear Mr. Ault:
I am very happy to respond to your inquiry regarding the work of Gurdon Brewster in our church last summer.
I think I can say without fear of successful contradiction that Gurdon rendered a great and lasting service in our church last summer. He proved to be a real influence for good. His radiant personality, genuine sincerity, and helpful manner made him most acceptable to the youth. He was able to develop our youth program in a way that it had never developed, and he gave many areas of religious education in our church a new shot in the arm. He was also extremely helpful in developing creative interracial activities. As you know, it is not easy to bring people together of different racial groups in the south, consequently we end up living in monologue rather than dialogue. But Gurdon was able to bring several white students and adults in contact with our members, thereby developing the climate for creative dialogue.2
I have always strongly advocated the need for an interracial church in order to make our witness known as to our oneness in Jesus Christ. I am happy to say that we were able to move a great deal in that direction as a result of Gurdon’s work with us. Let me close by saying that Gurdon Brewster’s work was so significant and he got into the heart of the people so much that many of them wanted him to come back on a permanent basis.3 I am sure that if persons ofhhis competence and dedication will continue to work with churches across the south, many meaningful steps will be made toward a better atmosphere in race relations and a new social consciousness on the part of the churches.
Very sincerely yours,
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Km
1. Ault to King, 28 November 1961. SIM, organized by students from Gammon Seminary in Atlanta and UTS, sought to build cross-racial ties by placing white seminarian interns at black churches for a summer, and vice versa. During his time at Ebenezer, Brewster worked with the youth program, assisted in Sunday services, visited parishioners, and facilitated dialogue between local black and white churches. James Mase Ault (1918–2008) was born in Sayre, Pennsylvania, and served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He graduated from Colgate University in 1949 and received his B.D. from UTS in 1952. Ault pastored three churches in Massachusetts and New Jersey before returning to UTS as dean of students in 1961. He was dean of Drew Theological School in New Jersey from 1968 to 1972. In 1972, Ault was elected bishop, a position he held until retiring in 1988. As a United Methodist Bishop, Ault lobbied the World Council of Churches to support economic sanctions against South Africa due to its apartheid policies. Gurdon Brewster (1937– ), born in New York City, earned a B.A. (1959) from Haverford College and a B.D. (1962) from UTS. After teaching in India for two years, he became chaplain at Cornell University, where he remained until his retirement in 1999. In 1966 King, Sr., asked Brewster to join him and his son as assistant minister at Ebenezer. Brewster turned down the offer but spent the summer ministering at the church. Brewster wrote an account of his experience at Ebenezer titled No Turning Back: My Summer with Daddy King (2007).
2. Brewster convinced over forty white participants to attend a one-day conference with twenty-five members of the Ebenezer Youth Organization (Brewster, No Turning Back [Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 2007], pp. 175–179).
3. Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King offered Brewster a job as associate minister at Ebenezer in 1966, which Brewster declined (Brewster, No Turning Back, pp. 224–225).
Source: MLKJP-GAMK, Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers (Series I–IV), Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc., Atlanta, Ga.