John Hurst Adams

Last updated
Bishop

John Hurst Adams
Born(1927-11-27)November 27, 1927
DiedJanuary 10, 2018(2018-01-10) (aged 90)
NationalityAmerican
Education
OccupationPastor
Years active1956-2005

John Hurst Adams (November 27, 1927 - January 10, 2018) was an American civil rights activist and Bishop in African Methodist Episcopal Church. He also served as a college president.

Contents

Early life and education

Adams was born on November 27, 1927, in Columbia, South Carolina. [1] [2] His father, Eugene Adams, was a reverend in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a civil rights activist active in Columbia's Black community. [2] Adams attended Booker T. Washington High School, graduating in 1947, and earned a Bachelor's in History from Johnson C. Smith University several years later. [2] Adams completed his postgraduate education at the Boston University School of Theology, where he met Martin Luther King Jr. He also briefly attended Harvard University and Union Theological Seminary. [2]

Career

In 1956, Adams was made president of Paul Quinn College, a position he held for six years. [3] While president of the college, Adams lived in Waco and quickly became a target of the local branch of the Ku Klux Klan. Waco was where Adams began his civil rights activism in earnest. He supported students in their protest efforts and engaged in them himself, participating in sit-ins and marching on picket lines. [4] Despite being re-appointed as president, in 1962 he moved to Seattle, accepting a position as lead pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church. [5] [2] While serving in that role, Adams acted as chairman of the Central Area Civil Rights Committee, a group dedicated to promoting civil rights in Seattle. [2] In that role, he advocated for an open housing ordinance to ban housing discrimination in the city. Seattle City Council ultimately recommended the policy be voted on by the people, where it lost by a two-to-one margin. [6] [7] He also helped found the Central Area Motivation Program, the first government agency explicitly created as part of Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty. [2] [8]

In 1968 Adams was transferred to a church in Los Angeles where he served for four years. In 1972, he was named Bishop of the Tenth Episcopal District in Texas. [9] [10] While there, Adams returned to Paul Quinn College to serve as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees. [11] In 1980 Adams became Bishop of the Second Episcopal District in Washington, D.C. [2] He founded the Congress of National Black Churches, a coalition of historically African-American denominations, in 1982 and acted as its first chairman. [12] The organization had a collective membership of seventeen million members across seven denominations. [13] In D.C. he renewed his activism, protesting Ronald Reagan's military budget and organizing voter registration drives across the country. [14] [15]

Adams (left) praying with Bill Clinton in 1996 President Bill Clinton Prays with Bishop John Hurst Adams and Pastor Terrence Mackey an Mount Zion A.M.E. Church.jpg
Adams (left) praying with Bill Clinton in 1996

In 1988 he began serving as Bishop for the Sixth Episcopal District, in Georgia. [2] [16] He was a heavy critic of Ralph Abernathy's 1989 book And the Walls Came Tumbling Down , which made controversial claims about Martin Luther King Jr.'s private life. [17] [18] In 1992 Adams was named Bishop of the Tenth Episcopal District in South Carolina. [2] [19] The following year, he was ranked alongside Jesse Jackson as one of the top Black preachers in the United States by Ebony and advocated against Bill Clinton's endorsement of Chuck Robb in his Senate campaign. [20] [21] In 1994, he began speaking out against the South Carolina State House's flying of the Confederate battle flag, working with the NAACP and Christian interdenominational groups to organize a protest at the State House against the flag. [22] [23] On the subject of the flag, Adams said that it "says the same thing to me that the swastika says to my Jewish brothers." [24] The group accepted a compromise which would move the flag from the dome of the capitol to a less visible place, however, the compromise did not go into effect. [25] Adams continued his activism through the end of his of time in South Carolina. [26]

Adam's final placement as Bishop was made in 2000, when he transferred to the Eleventh Episcopal District in Florida. [2] [27] He retired in 2005 and returned to his hometown of Columbia, South Carolina. [2]

Later life and death

Adams and his wife had three children. [9] After his retirement, Adams became a professor at Emory University. [2] He died on January 10, 2018, in Atlanta. [1] His grandson Malcolm Brogdon is a professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers. [4]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Adams, John Hurst". The Atlanta Constitution . Atlanta, Georgia. 2018-01-16. p. B4. Retrieved 2023-02-26– via Newspapers.com.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Henry, Mary T. (2007-02-22). "Adams, Bishop John Hurst (1927-2018)". HistoryLink . Retrieved 2023-02-25.
  3. ↑ "Texas News Briefs". The Daily Journal. 1956-06-27. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-05-09– via Newspapers.com.
  4. 1 2 Putz, Paul (2020-06-08). "John Hurts Adams, Church Leader and Civil Rights Icon - And Also Malcom Brogdon's Grandfather". Faith & Sports. Retrieved 2023-04-26.
  5. ↑ "Paul Quinn Re-Appoints Dr. Adams". The Waco News-Tribune. 1962-09-02. p. 25. Retrieved 2023-05-09– via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "Seattle City Council ducks housing issue". Port Angeles Evening News. Associated Press. 1963-10-26. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-05-09– via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "History of the Seattle Open Housing Campaign, 1959-1968". BlackPast . 2007-04-09. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  8. ↑ Henry, Mary T. (2009-12-13). "CAMP: Central Area Motivation Program (Seattle)". HistoryLink . Retrieved 2023-02-25.
  9. 1 2 Adams, Chelsea (2011-06-23). "John H. Adams (1927- )". BlackPast.org . Retrieved 2023-04-26.
  10. ↑ "Church sessions underway here". Brownwood Bulletin. 1972-09-26. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-05-09– via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Paul Quinn College Trustees Elect President". The Waco Citizen. 1977-04-19. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-05-11– via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ Raspberry, William (1982-12-23). "A Fair Share?". Daily Press. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-05-11– via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ Brown, Tony (1982-03-13). "Black Church: History of Liberation". The Atlanta Voice . p. 5. Retrieved 2023-05-11– via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ "Clergy group raps 'selfish' Reagan budget". The San Francisco Examiner . United Press International. 1983-03-08. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-05-11– via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ White, Cecile Holmes (1983-06-25). "Church Seeks To Register Black Voters". Greensboro Daily News. p. 24. Retrieved 2023-05-11– via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ Bellinger, Mary A. (1988-07-16). "Rev. Dr. John Hurst Adams New A.M.E. Bishop to GA". The Atlanta Voice. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-05-11– via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ Jubera, Drew; Durcanin, Cynthia (1989-10-13). "Abernathy Book Called 'Criminally Irresponsible'". The Atlanta Constitution. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-05-11– via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ "Book on Martin Luther King Jr.'s life criticized". Press and Sun-Bulletin. 1989-10-13. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-05-11– via Newspapers.com.
  19. ↑ White, Gayle (1992-07-17). "Atlanta bishop of AME church to be transferred". The Atlanta Constitution. p. 53. Retrieved 2023-05-11– via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ Graham, Jennifer (1993-11-05). "'Application of gospel' helps AME bishop make Ebony's top 15 preachers". The State. p. 16. Retrieved 2023-05-13.
  21. ↑ Schapiro, Jeff E. (1993-08-20). "Black group demands that Clinton not back Robb". Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-05-13.
  22. ↑ "NAACP considers actions on flag issue". The Herald. Associated Press. 1994-06-27. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-05-13– via Newspapers.com.
  23. ↑ "Hundreds rally at Statehouse to battle for removal of flag". The Herald. Associated Press. 1994-03-27. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-05-13– via Newspapers.com.
  24. ↑ "Rebel flag conflicts rises in South". The Parsons Sun. Associated Press. 1994-07-25. p. 7. Retrieved 2023-05-13– via Newspapers.com.
  25. ↑ "Battle flag debate comes back to life". The Index-Journal. Associated Press. 1995-03-17. p. 17. Retrieved 2023-05-13– via Newspapers.com.
  26. ↑ Morantz, Dave (1998-12-10). "Black ministers march to Statehouse to protest flying of Confederate flag". The Times and Democrat. p. 17. Retrieved 2023-05-13– via Newspapers.com.
  27. ↑ Hogan, Barbara (2000-08-19). "New AME bishop visits district". Tallahassee Democrat. p. 23. Retrieved 2023-05-13– via Newspapers.com.
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