Jan. 23, 2008
Non-theists have always been present, but not usually visible, in the fight for black civil rights.
In fact, both black and white humanists and freethinkers marched with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the famous "March on Washington for Freedom and Jobs", as well as taking part in many other civil rights demonstrations.
King knew he had the support of many secular humanists and thanked "the thousands of humanists who were involved in the civil rights movement" in his book, Strength to Love, according to Norm Allen Jr., the executive director of the Buffalo-based African Americans for Humanism.Although a minister, King was a strong proponent of the separation of church and state in the U.S. and opposed prayer in public schools.
McKinley Jones, the president of the Albany-based Black American Free thought Association (BAFTA), has said that it is little known that many champions of civil rights were humanists and freethinkers.
He spoke at an art exhibit co-sponsored by BAFTA and the Instutute for Humanist Studies (IHS) in 2006 called "Beyond Black History Month: Free thought in Black America."
The exhibit featured 15 pieces of original art work by Jocelyn Telson depicting black freethinkers and skeptics.
Asa Philip Randolph, one of the historical figures portrayed in the exhibit, was instrumental in helping King organize the 1963 March on Washington, along with Bayard Rustin, a pacifist and gay man.
"Most people would have assumed that it was Doctor King," Jones told HNN during an interview. "The important thing to remember is that Doctor King and A. Philip Randolph worked together in the struggle in the black community. In order for progress to be made, you have to find ways for the secular community to work with the religious community."
Randolph was one of the three founders of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) as well as president of the powerful Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
According to research done by Jones, Randolph was also an agnostic. At first open about his views, he later toned himself down after backlash from the black community.
James Farmer was considered one of the "Big Four" of the 1960s civil fights movement, along with Martin Luther King, Jr., Roy Wilkins, and Whitney Young.
In 1942, Farmer, along with a group of students, co-founded the Committee of Racial Equality, later known as the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), an organization that sought to bring an end to racial segregation in America through active nonviolence. He was the groups' first national chairman.
He later served as national director of CORE during the turbulent early sixties, resigning when "black militant" views took hold within the group.
Farmer believed in Mahatma Gandhi's concept of non-violent protest and deeply influenced King. It is has been documented that he considered himself a humanist, said Jones.
In 1973, Farmer and Randolph both signed the Second Humanist Manifesto.
The Humanist Manifesto II, which modified some of the ideas in the original 1933 document, received front-page coverage in the New York Times.
The declaration stated that ..."the individual must experience a full range of civil liberties in all societies."
It specifically addressed racial equality, stating that "we envision an integrated community where people have a maximum opportunity for free and voluntary association."
According to BAFTA, Wilkins, Walter White, James Weldon Johnson and W.E.B. DuBois, founders of the NAACP, all considered themselves agnostic.
Playwright Lorraine Hansberry, whose best known work is "A Raisin in the Sun," identified herself as a strong secular humanist, according to Taunya Hannibal-Williams, a BAFTA member and researcher, who also spoke at the art exhibit.
Hansberry worked for civil rights until her death in 1965.
The playwright said that we only revert back to mystical ideas, which, in her opinion, included contemporary religious views, because we are simply confronted with some things we don't yet understand.
According to a survey covering the years 1972-2004, cited in religionlink.org, while 75 percent of U.S. blacks identified as Protestant, 7 percent identified as "Other" and more than 10 percent said they did not identify with any religious group.
Although, both in the past and present, Christian clergyman, such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton, and, of course, Dr. King himself, have been the most visible voices of the black civil rights movement, it is clear that secularists have always been a powerful, if muted presence, as well.
