Price Gywnn III tells the story of his father, Dr. Price Gwynn, Jr., who was a professor at Davidson College back in 1936. Dr. Gwynn made the acquaintance of a professor at Johnson C. Smith University who was African-American. They exchanged invitations to teach the other professor’s classes. This was all well and good, it fell under the banner of academic exchange. Perhaps an eyebrow or two was raised, it was 1936, after all, but it went fairly smoothly.
It did not go so smoothly, however, when Dr. Gwynn invited this same professor to speak to a Friday evening meeting of the Philosophy Club. Dr. Gwynn, feeling that it would be discourteous to invite the professor to speak and then expect him to drive home at ten in the evening, extended also the invitation to stay the night, enjoy a hearty breakfast with the Gwynn family, and drive home the following morning.
It was 1936, and this was just not done. This happened a full generation before Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. and the freedom riders. African-Americans who worked in the home were not permitted to take their meals at the table with the family – they had to eat the meals that they had prepared in the kitchen or on the back porch. If they lived with the family, it was expected that their sleeping quarters were separate. Here Dr. Gwynn had invited an African-American man to sleep in the same quarters, use the same bathtub, and eat a meal prepared and served to him by a white woman.
It’s hard to believe segregation ever seemed like a good idea, let alone an immutable reality, but such was the case.
The professor accepted the invitation and everything went as planned. A couple of members of the Philosophy club declined to join the gathering, probably out of fear. But, the professor lectured, stayed the night, ate breakfast and returned home.
The life of the Gwynn family did not, however, go on uninterrupted. The repercussions of this act of social disobedience were deep and wide. Word spread like ripples on the surface of a still pond. One old grand dame declared, “Surely Dr. Gwynn has taken leave of his senses.”
Sunday afternoon, Dr. Gwynn and his son, Price, III took a walk together, and they talked.
“Your Mother has been frozen out. All but two of the faculty wives have stopped speaking to her. I’ll be passed over for head of the department in a few years. Your sisters are young enough that they will be fine, but I wanted to see how you are doing.”
“I’ll have to fight,” the younger Gwynn replied.
“I was afraid so,” replied his father, “When?”
“It won’t happen on School property – then the teachers have to break it up – it’ll come later, after school.”
“Then I’ll come and walk home with you.”
“I’d rather you didn’t – it will just make it worse when it finally does happen.”
They agreed, and the next day things went exactly as predicted. The younger Price Gwynn was taunted, challenged, and accepted a fight later that day.
You know what the scene looks like. A ring forms, and he took on the biggest kid in his grade. A couple of his friends hung around the outside of the ring to help him walk home. He says it was a good thing they did too, because the bully left him in the dust with a broken nose, bruised and bleeding. They took him, one on each side, and carried him home. His mother had been waiting and she ran out the door, let out a shriek and called the doctor. He came quickly, set his nose, patched him up and gave him something to help him sleep.
Later that night, he heard from down the hallway the sound of his parents arguing. His mother, the quintessential southern lady was speaking to his father in a tone of voice that he had never heard before. He crept down the hall to listen in.
“I don’t know what you are doing,” she said, “But it’s gotten your son half beaten to death, and I don’t know if you even care.”
He said his father replied in a voice that contained more anguish than he had ever heard, “I care so much I almost can’t stand it, but I’ve got to do what I believe.”
When actions have consequences, it’s tough to stick to what we believe, isn’t it?
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Sermon “Waiting for the Kingdom” by Dr. Baron Mullis, Morningside Presbyterian Church of Atlanta, Georgia. < http://s3.amazonaws.com/dfc_attachments/public/documents/3169627/Waiting_for_the_Kingdom.pdf >.
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Another version from Dr. William J. Youmans:
Back before civil rights, when Jim Crow laws were in effect, Price Gwynn’s dad was a professor at a small southern college. He frequently gathered friends for discussion on philosophy, religion and politics. One day, he called a black professor from Johnson C. Smith University to come and be part of their discussions. He let this black man sleep in their home, upstairs where the family slept. They ate together, and spent time together. What he did wasn’t illegal, but it just wasn’t done. And soon the town began to talk.
Soon Mrs. Gwynn stopped being invited to social gatherings in their town. Mr. Gwynn was passed up for his next faculty appointment at the college. The town was buzzing with talk about their family. But perhaps the greatest blow came when Price was approached in the playground during recess. Buck, the biggest boy in school came up to him, with a bunch of his friends. Price knew it was coming, he was going to have to fight. Buck got right in his face and shouted all sorts of profanity and ugly names. He cursed Price’s dad. He said, “I’m going to teach you a lesson you won’t soon forget. It can be here or somewhere else, but I’m going to get you.”
After school, out on the bridge, they met again. And Price got beat up real bad. Lot’s of blood, a broken nose. He had brought two friends because he knew he’d need help getting home that day.
That night, he couldn’t sleep. Late in the evening, he began to hear loud voices behind the closed door of his parents room. He crept down the hall and listened in. He heard his mother talking to (or at) his father. She was normally quiet and soft spoken, but not tonight. He could hear her voice rising as she spoke harshly to his father.
“Just what do you think you are doing. You’ve ruined our lives. Our neighbors won’t talk to us, even our church friends treat us different since you brought that black man into our house. And now your own son has been hurt, if you even care about that.”
Mr. Gwynn said, “You know I care. You are right, I have ruined everything … But I’ve just got to do what I believe.”
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Kerux Sermon #20932, “A Look At the Final Day,” by Dr. William J. Youmans.