Calming Presence in the Middle of a Storm
Bishop Robert Raymond Brown led a "ministry of reconciliation" as a key figure in Little Rock Central High School's desegregation crisis in 1957.
Robert Raymond Brown led a "ministry of reconciliation" as a key figure in Little Rock Central High School’s desegregation crisis in 1957. He advocated a peaceful resolution to the racial divisiveness that engulfed the school, city, and nation at that time. See Finding aid for the Bishop Robert R. Brown papers (UALR.MS.0081)
Bishop Brown was born in Garden City, Kansas, on June 16, 1910. He grew up in Texas and attended St. Mary's University (San Antonio, Texas) after graduating from high school. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in English in 1933. I 1937, Brown received a degree from the Virginia Theological Seminary.
Brown received his ordination as priest of the Episcopal Church on December 24, 1937. He went on to serve as priest for three congregations in Texas until 1947, when he moved to Richmond,Virginia, to serve as priest for its Episcopal church from 1947 to 1955. He married the former Kathleen Warwick and they had three children: Katherine, Anne and Robert, who would later serve as an Associate Supreme Court Justice in Arkansas.
In 1955, Brown was consecrated as a bishop in the diocese of Arkansas. He became the ninth bishop of Arkansas in 1956, the year before the Little Rock Central High School desegregation crisis erupted and became national news. Bishop Brown also served as a trustee of the American Church Institute for Negroes, an organization charged with the coordination of church-affiliated schools established to educate African Americans in the South.
Featured image: Painted portrait of Bishop Brown. Courtesy of Robert L. Brown.
The Bishop Robert Brown Character Collection was developed by UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture intern Steven Thompson.
Little Rock Central High School Desegregation Crisis
Bishop Brown's belief and adherence to the principles of equality were guiding forces throughout his life. His letters, sermons, writings, and actions reflect his trust in those principles. These guiding forces served Brown well when he was thrust into the middle of the desegregation crisis in 1957. Bishop Brown addressed concerns over problems caused when Little Rock Central High School was ordered to integrate by a federal court order in 1957.
He called for a "Special Day of Prayer" and a "Day of Reconciliation" after Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus mobilized the Arkansas National Guard in an effort to prevent nine African-American children from attending Little Rock Central High School under that order. Faubus’ move created tension with the federal government as well as between the black and white communities in Little Rock.
Those conflicts were Bishop Brown’s focus during the crisis. Not feeling that it was his duty to take a position on either side in the crisis, Bishop Brown wrote in the September 1957 issue of The Arkansas Churchman:
“In every such problem neither side is all good or all evil. Right and wrong become so completely mixed in the same salad bowl as to make it extremely difficult to distinguish between them.”
Featured image: Brown before consecration, 1957. Courtesy of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies.
A Day of Prayer
Bishop Brown believed healing was needed to reduce tensions in Little Rock during the desegregation crisis. He understood that healing came through prayer and that it was the obligation of the clergy of all religious denominations to provide leadership to Little Rock. He proposed a citywide day of prayer in which all faiths would come together in their respective churches at one time to pray for peace and healing during the tense situation in Little Rock. He asked that all churches, regardless of denomination, promote four special prayers:
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- For support and preservation of law and order.
- For the leaders of community, state, and nation.
- For the casting out of rancor and prejudice in favor of understanding and compassion
- For the people resisting unthinking agitators
The idea quickly caught on and Bishop Brown became nationally known. He was interviewed by several major news and media sources such as Time magazine, and he was contacted by politicians to ask his view on a solution to the desegregation issue. He received letters from Governor Faubus, Secretary of State John Dulles, and President Eisenhower during this time. Even though some people such as Governor Faubus took different stances than Bishop Brown on the issue of the crisis and whom to blame, it was the Bishop’s leadership on prayer and reconciliation that tempered the situation during its de-escalation and eventual end in 1959.
Bishop Robert R. Brown. Courtesy of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies.
Acclaimed Author
Bishop Brown was an acclaimed author. He wrote Bigger Than Little Rock, a book chronicling the Little Rock Central High School’s desegregation crisis and discussing integration in 1958. It was a national success and garnered Bishop Brown positive feedback and attention, both nationally and internationally.
He followed that success with another book, And One Was a Soldier: The Spiritual Pilgrimage of Robert E. Lee, which was published in 1998 after Brown’s death. It detailed the the history of the Confederate general’s spiritual journey after he attended and prayed at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia. It is also the church Bishop Brown would later be assigned to before becoming bishop of the diocese of Arkansas.
Bishop Robert R. Brown. Courtesy of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies.
Later Life and Legacy
Bishop Brown continued advocating for equal rights throughout his life. He led a group of 48 ministers in a protest at the Arkansas State Capitol in 1965. They were there to petition Governor Faubus to re-open the Capitol cafeteria after he closed it following management’s refusal to serve African-Americans. He continued to serve as trustee of the American Church Institute for Negroes, an organization which coordinated church-affiliated schools for African-Americans in the South. Bishop Brown also continued to serve as bishop of the diocese of Arkansas until 1970. After 1970, he retired and continued to advocate for equality and wrote several articles for the spiritual journal The Southern Churchman. Brown died on February 5, 1994.
Featured image: Group photograph of Arkansas clergy. Courtesy of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies.