60 years ago — April 25, 1960
“Presbyterian students in Alabama have a feeling that they have been encouraged to bear courageous Christian witness and have failed to get needed support from some of their leaders. They are saying this in view of cancellation of a scheduled meeting on the campus of Stillman College.” Stillman is a historically black Presbyterian-related college in Tuscaloosa. These students planned an interracial meeting on the campus of the University of Alabama, but were refused and moved it to Stillman College. “The Alabama Westminster Fellowship has been holding integrated meetings for several years. The 1959 meeting of the Synod of Alabama was featured by an attack upon phases of this program and the Synod rejected critics.” Despite threats and warnings from the Ku Klux Klan and White Citizens Council, the planned meeting at Stillman had not been deterred. As pressure mounted to the synod’s committee, they ultimately gave in and canceled the interracial meeting. “Students say the church, as represented by the Synod’s committee, has let them down when they were willing to follow the consequence of their commitment.”
From “Student meeting is dropped” by editor Aubrey N. Brown
