This Week in Texas Methodist History February 27 KKK Interupts Methodist Church at Brenham with $100 Donation for Methodist Home February 26, 1922 As the nation struggles with another outburst of White Christian Nationalism, it is well to remember a similar expression of the racist sentiment that was in full flower one hundred years ago. I am referring to the Ku Klux Klan of the post-World War I world. The racist, nativist urge had surged. The rise in lynchings, the deportation of radical immigrants, the tightening of Jim Crow laws all preceded the Klan of the 1920s. It is difficult for us moderns to realize how “mainstream” the Klan was. The Texas State Fair sponsored a “Klan Day” at which members in regalia were given discounts on admission. The Klan was not confined to the South. It influenced legislation in Oregon that resulted in anti-Catholic laws and Kokomo, Indiana, was a favorite site for meetings because of the K’s in its name. On Sunday night February 26, 1922, as the service in the MECS church in Brenham was underway, a group of 8 Klansmen in full regalia, and fully masked walked in. They went to the pulpit and handed the pastor, G. Z. Sadler, an envelope. In the envelope there was $100 and a note that it was intended for the Methodist Home in Waco. The church had designated a special offering that night for the Home. They had raised $32 for the Home that housed about 300 children at the time. The Klansmen walked out without saying a word, but the next day Rev. Sadler asked the local newspaper to acknowledge the gift with thanks. When I ran across this news item, it resonated with part of my personal family history. Our family tradition has the story that about the same time a similar event occurred in Malakoff, Texas---but with different results. According to multiple witnesses from whom I have heard this story My mother’s family was woshipping one Sunday night in Malakoff. The family consisted of my grandparents, Dwight and Dorcas Carson and their two daughters, Sara Alice and Martha (my mother). The Malakoff Klan marched to church steps, but Dwight stopped them and told them that they were welcome if they would remove their Klan regalia and come as ordinary worshipers. The Klansmen dissolved into the darkness. I am proud of the courage of my 26 year old grandfather---a lay man and local merchant whose business depended upon the good will of the community. The family lore states that the family did not own a car, but another family member insisted on driving the Carson family home that night.

This Week in Texas Methodist History February 19 HOmecoing at First Methodist Dallas Features Former Pastors February 1935 Although we usually associate homecoming with high schools and universities, churches sometimes celebrate them too. Although many church homecomingings are scheduled to coincide with a particular anniversary such as the centennials, they may be held at any time and any interval. Some churches even have annual homecomings. In February 1935 First Methdoist Dallas held a homecoming and invited its former pastors back for the event. Those who showed up were Bishop John M. Moore, S. H. Bergin, John R. Allen, Herbert Knickerbocker, and W. D. Bradfield. C. C. Selecman was confined at home and did not attend. No reason was given for the absence of the other three living pastors, Bishop Sam Hay, New Harris, and J. Abner Sage. The pastor in charge was W. C. Martin (later bishop) who gave a brief devotional rather than a full sermon. First Dallas was still enjoying its new sanctuary, just nine years old at the time. Like many Texas churches, it had incurred significant debt during the boom time of the 1920s to build a new sanctuary. It was not struggling to make payments on the building loan now that the Great Depression had hit. As a matter of fact during this same time First Methodist Dallas was in the process of refinancing its debt because of the financial struggles. Dallas was actually in better shape than many Texas cities during the Depression. As the East Texas Oil Field was being developed, Dallas became the maini banking center financing the drillers, equipment manufacturers, and downstream indusries. As times got hard in rural Texas, migrants from all over Texas came to Dallas looking for work. W. C. Martin reported that in the 9 years the new church had been open, it had received 3229 new members. In Februrary 1935 it reported 3500 members. That speaks volumes about the transit population of Dallas---the numbers should not have been so close to each other. The debt was eventually paid off in the 1940s.

This week in Texas Methodist HIastory February 13, Congo Missionary, C. T. Schaedel, Speaks in Taylor, February 14, 1922 OIne of the most interesting mission projects involving Texas Methodists was the S S Texas, an evangelistic riverboat that plied the waters of the upper Congo River in the Belgian Congo of the 1920s. The S S Texas was a project of the Texas Epworth League. The League was the young person’s organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church and Episcopal Church South. Texas Leaguers raised money for the craft that operated in the Wembo Nyama Disrict of the Congo. The capitain of the S S Texas was C. T. Schaedel. Mrs Schaedel, nee Etta Lee Woolsey, taught. In 1922 the Schaedel family was back home in Texas (Bay City) presumably so that their son, C. T. Schaedel, Junior, could be born in Texas rather than the Congo. When foreign missionaries returned home, they often spoke to church groups. On Valentine’s Day 1922, Schaedel spoke to the MECS church at Taylor. The Schaedels moved back to Bay City in 1929. Mrs. Schaedel became one of theleading figures in Mission work. She served a President of the Texas Conference WSCS (Woman’s Society of Christian Serivice) from 1940 to 1946 and was elected a delegate to the 1944 General Confernce.