wfn.org | Memories of Integration

[owner-umethnews@ecunet.org]

"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3433 notes).

Note 3432 by UMNS on Feb. 14, 1997 at 11:10 Eastern (6687 characters).

SEARCH: H.L. Green, integration, segregation, Stewart, Dallas
Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Linda Green                           78(10-31-71B){3432}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470             Feb. 13, 1997

Closing of Dallas store triggers memories 
of efforts to eliminate segregation

                          A UMNS Feature
                          by Linda Green*
    
     The closing of a Dallas department store brought poignant
memories to an African-American United Methodist chaplain who
helped integrate the store's lunch counter 37 years ago.
     Richard Stewart, 64, director of retreats and recruitment in
the Section of Chaplains and Related Ministries of the churchwide
Board of Higher Education and Ministry, Nashville, Tenn., played
an integral role in a sit-in at Dallas' H.L. Green lunch counter
in 1960. Smith was one of five African-Americans enrolled at
Southern Methodist University (SMU) at the time.
     When Stewart learned last month, that the historic store was
closing its doors, he was reminded of his senior year in seminary.
The closing of the H.L. Green store also evoked memories of
efforts he and two white seminarians made to break Dallas' color
line paving the way for eliminating segregation and ushering in
integration.
     "The risks were obviously great for three graduating seniors
who might have been kicked out of school," said Stewart, who grew
up in a small town near Houston and attended segregated schools.
     It all began April 25, 1960, after Stewart and two whites
were refused service at several places around Dallas including a
soda shop across the street from SMU. He and his two comrades
proceeded to the H.L. Green department store. The store had
segregated cafeterias -- one in the basement for blacks and one on
the main floor for whites. "The tendency was to go to the one that
would serve you," Stewart said. "But on this day, we went to the
one that we knew would probably deny me service." 
     Stewart said that when they walked into the white cafeteria,
"everyone was looking and even though I was the only Black there,
I was not alone because my white friends were with me and they too
had placed themselves in harms way for a cause that affected us
all," he said. 
     Concerned that he would jailed -- the norm for protestors
during the 60's -- and of being physically harmed, "I persevered
and was constantly in prayer," Stewart said. "I called on God to
protect us and be with us when we went to jail." Neither Stewart
nor his companions were jailed that day.
     "We were hoping against hope that what we were doing was
going to be the beginning of integration in Dallas."
      Stewart said that after arriving at the lunch counter, the
waitress refused to serve him and his companions. He said that
after telling the manager and the waitress that segregation had
been struck down by the United States Supreme Court six years
earlier and that federal laws made it legal for them to eat
anywhere they chose, they were served.
      After Stewart and his colleagues were served, he said, "I
felt relief and believed hope was possible. I thought combined
efforts by blacks and whites could lead to peaceful integrations
of the races." Similar sit-ins and challenges to segregation were
occurring across the country, some violent. 
      He said the ease and success of being served at the white
lunch counter, "was not the order of the day at other stores. It
was a battle and not easy for others."
     Once his efforts made a crack in Dallas' racial divide,
Stewart believed that peaceful integration would follow and touch
every phase of life in Dallas -- housing, schools, churches and
society. 
     "I did not feel that this was just a black victory," he said.
"This was a victory for my white buddies as well." 
     His most poignant memory was "thinking that the Supreme Court
decision finally would become a reality in the lives of my nieces
and nephews and that all of their opportunities would be fulfilled
in an integrated society and an integrated church."    
     The H.L. Green incident did not end racial segregation in
Dallas. There was a lot of work to be done by the students who
came after Smith graduated and by the community at-large.
     "Those who followed really put themselves in harm's way,"
Stewart said. "It was quite a battle." 
     Many months of organized protests were required to
desegregate Dallas' schools and stores. There were some African-
Americans who didn't participate in the activities because of fear
of change and fear for their lives. There were some who broke the
picket lines and walked into the H.L. Green store.
     Stewart said the African-Americans at SMU and those at St.
Paul's United Methodist Church where he attended, supported his
actions. "They were also in constant prayer and showed concern for
our well-being."
     Although he remembers the fear and hatred of the day, Stewart
also remembers the courage shown by his white comrades who
followed him into the H.L. Green store that day. Their
participation gave him evidence that whites could be allies. "They
risked an awful lot," Stewart said. "We faced an ostracism that
was very painful, that could have risked our careers."
     Stewart who left his job at Dallas' Methodist Medical Center
and moved to Nashville 10 year's ago said, he is honored that
anyone remembers what he did.  "That was 37 years ago and its
amazing that it can have currency and relevancy years later," he
said.  He is happy to be "remembered for something that was so
meaningful and which affected so many people." 
     He is encouraged at how far race relations have come in
society but feels that they are turning backward instead of going
forward today.
     "The blacks and whites at that time came together to end
segregation. That was a common goal and desire," Stewart said.
"Integration offered hope and people banded together to reach that
goal." He said that is not the case today. "The separation of the
races seems greater now than then, although the law and everything
else indicates that we should be together." He said there is no
common thread or cause that is weaving "us" together.
     He said because the world is growing smaller, people "just
have to function more responsibly."
                              #  #  #

     * Green is the news director of the Nashville, Tenn., office
of United Methodist News Service.  Portions of this article were
adapted from the Jan. 25 issue of the Dallas Morning News.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 To make suggestions or give your comments, send a note to 
 umns@ecunet.org or Susan_Peek@ecunet.org

 To unsubscribe, send the single word "unsubscribe" (no quotes)
 in a mail message to umethnews-request@ecunet.org

-----------------------------------------------------------------------