By Caroline Schow
The author has redacted certain identifying or sensitive information out of consideration for privacy and confidentiality.
The Episcopal Church has long been committed to racial reconciliation dating back to at least the Civil Rights Movement when many Episcopal dioceses came together to lead lawmakers and worshippers towards progress. Later, in 1982, the then single Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee established a “Racism Committee” with the purpose of increasing Black involvement in all aspects of the Church under Bishop Sanders’ leadership. The committee noted that their ultimate goal was to achieve “dissolution of prejudices, both seen and unseen, through our common life and work for God”.1 Throughout the 1980s and 1990s the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee tackled a number of racial challenges that highlighted the complex nature of racial reconciliation.
Diving into the last few years of the 1980s in Knoxville, the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee seemed to be on high alert about racial community encounters. In 1986, Episcopal clergy spoke out against the White Patriots Party hate group, writing various statements to church members and urging leaders to resist the party’s racist demands. Diocesan efforts continued in 1988 when the director of Camp Gailor-Maxon highlighted the lack of minority involvement at camp where in the previous year they only had two Black campers all summer. The Diocese of East Tennessee Convention went on to pass a resolution to focus on increasing minority involvement at camp and later created minority scholarships to achieve this goal.2 Following this in 1989, the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee took action when a UT coach was not given membership at a Knoxville country club.
On April 4th, 1989, Wade Houston was appointed as the head basketball coach for the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, making him the first Black head coach in the SEC.3 Membership at the exclusive Knoxville Cherokee Country Club was understood to be a benefit of serving as one of UT’s top three athletic positions. UT’s athletic department had provided memberships to Houston’s predecessors, Ray Mears and Don DeVoe, as well as for the school’s football coach, Johnny Majors, and athletic director, Doug Dickey. At the time, each membership required a $15,000 entrance fee with $225 monthly dues.4
On April 10th, news broke in several local and national newspapers that Houston had not been offered membership at Cherokee. Doug Dickey addressed the New Sentinel saying, “Obviously, Cherokee Country Club does not have black members, and that is not an option (for Houston). We just have memberships we retain at the athletic department and it’s our decision to do what we want to do with it”.5 Dickey’s response makes it clear that the club was discriminating against Houston based on his race and did not point out any issue with this. Two months prior to this, all five of Knoxville’s country clubs had no Black members until Dean Hill Country Club admitted their first Black member.6
Cherokee claimed that they did not use any discriminatory practices but also admitted to having no Black members. The club also tried to clear up the situation by saying that Cherokee had not turned Huston down for membership and that if he were to go through the proper channels of sponsorship and a one-year waiting period that he might have a chance at membership. Other journalists were skeptical of this possibility as that had not been the pattern for membership for other coaches.7
On the same day news coverage began, the Reverend William Carson Fraser, who served as the co-chair of the Diocesean Racism Committee, wrote to Coach John Majors, Coach Doug Dickey, and President Lamar Alexander about the situation at Cherokee. Fraser and Majors attended UT at the same time, both playing football for UT and becoming members of Sigma Chi fraternity. Fraser wrote to Majors, “When we first came to the University of Tennessee in the summer of 1953, neither one of us could have joined Cherokee Country Club. By hard work and success in your profession, you are now a member”.8 Fraser used his connection to who can be assumed to be a friend to urge action.
He explained in each one-page letter that withholding opportunities to people because of their race is unfair and even sinful and asked that each member propose Coach Houston for membership. He asked that if Houston was rejected, to withdraw support from Cherokee and if Houston was accepted, to “rejoice and pat yourselves on the back for helping folks at Cherokee do the right thing”.9 Fraser frames their choices simply and takes a lot of pressure out of the equation. In the May 1989 edition of The East Tennessee Episcopalian, the Racism Committee gave a short update that they sent letters to leadership in UT to encourage their participation in making constructive changes in the membership practices of Cherokee.10
Shortly after news spread about Houston’s situation, UT sold back or transferred ownership of all of its memberships at Cherokee. Although in many ways this got UT’s name out of the public relations crisis, it did not clear Cherokee’s. For the Diocese of East Tennessee, this conflict went beyond the Racism Committee and Bishop Sanders even drafted a statement for print in The East Tennessee Episcopalian. On April 14th, he acknowledged the situation and wrote:
“We stress that this statement is not solely to point the finger at one incident, one university or one group, but to call all of us to an awareness of our involvement in the patterns of discrimination in our society and to our responsibility to correct these patterns. We in the Church must examine our often unconscious participation in discrimination and we encourage and urge all of our Church members who belong to any groups that still practice discrimination to give their leadership in removing these patterns and, failing that, to give prayerful consideration to withdrawing from such groups.”11
This message is a clear call to action. Sanders wanted the people to realize their personal role in discrimination and asked parishioners to make active choices to help groups that discriminate change, or leave those groups. Before sending this statement out for publication, it appears that Sanders sent or shared it with clergy across the diocese for counsel. He received one especially interesting correspondence.
One Knoxville priest stated that he did not have an issue with the substance of Sander’s statement but he is worried about how it might be perceived. He explains that “Quite frankly, I am now less concerned about the racism of a few people at Cherokee, which admittedly reflects very poorly on the whole club, than I am concerned about the self-righteous outrage of the masses who seem eager to crucify the institution, regardless of the innocent blood the is shed in the process”. This writer sees the harm of Cherokee’s practices but also doesn’t like the way some people are approaching the problem. He adds that he is concerned with the “sin of racism in society, but also the sin of pride and hatred” which leads to finger-pointing and “alienation and isolation of God’s children”. This practice, he says “grows and spreads, effectively eliminating the possibility of compassionate conversation”.12
Bishop Sanders never published his statement. It is difficult to ascertain what caused Sanders to change his mind, but the interesting letter from the Knoxville priest may have played a large part. Another set of correspondence gives more insight into the Bishop’s decision.
A different priest from Knoxville said his first reaction to the Bishop withdrawing his statement was “that’s too bad”. He writes that he felt that the statement was “balanced, fair, and quite appropriate for the current time”. He says his preference would have been to have the statement run immediately and understands the decision but wished Sanders “had not asked us paranoid clergy for our opinion at clericus. We are, as a whole, overly cautious”. This gives insight into at least one of the clergy’s views of the Cherokee situation, that is, a desire to be bold and speak out against injustices in the community.13
Sanders wrote back saying the clergy had many different opinions but were more cautious than he had expected. He moved on, saying the more important factor was the “request of some of our laity at Cherokee getting things changed from within rather than adding to the outside pressure”.14 Sanders said his decision not to run the statement did not sit well with him but he was not sure that his statement was the best way to handle things and that, as days had gone on, pulling the statement did seem like the right thing to do.
In the following weeks and months, conversations in the news about the club’s discriminatory practices continued but Houston never gained membership. More than ten years later in 2002, Cherokee allowed their first Black member to join.15
As for the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee, some efforts continued in 1990 when the Diocese ordained the first Black female priest in the state, Saundra Richardson. Richardson served as a deacon at St. John’s Cathedral, Knoxville. This great example of placing Black leadership close to home was undercut for Richardson when she was appointed vicar of St. Luke’s, a predominantly Black congregation. Richardson wrote to the Racism Committee explaining her discomfort with being segregated. She explained that when Black and White people worship together, there is much to gain.16
There are no Racism Committee records beyond 1991 and racial reconciliation efforts in the Diocese seem to dwindle thereafter upon Bishop Sanders’ retirement in 1992. Sanders is remembered for his commitment to activism of various causes including the Civil Rights Movement and general racial unity in this Diocese. The “Bishop Sanders Scholarship Fund for Racial Minorities” was established in 1991 and continues to award recipients today under the direction of Mr. Michael Moore.
__________________
1 Larry McNeil, “Institutional Racism Subcommittee: Interim Report,” Diocese of Tennessee, May 9, 1983.
2 “Concerning the Participation of Minorities in Camp Gailor-Maxon,” The Diocese of East Tennessee: Journal of the Fifth Annual Convention, no. 5 (1988): 34.
3 “Wade Houston through the years,” Knoxville News Sentinel, February 20, 2019. https://www.knoxnews.com/picture-gallery/news/2019/02/20/wade-houston-through-years/2913865002/.
4 “Country club to exclude black basketball coach,” UPI Archives, April 10, 1989. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/04/10/Country-club-to-exclude-black-basketball-coach/4178608184000/.
5 Ibid.
6 “Racial Decision Angers Black Leaders : U. of Tenn. Urged to Demand Country Club Admission for Coach,” LA Times Archives, April 10, 1989. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-04-10-sp-1835-story.html#:~:text=Knoxville%20City%20Councilman%20Casey%20Jones,other%20coaches%20that%20preceded%20him..
7 Denny Hamilton, “UT’s Dickey, Majors resign from Cherokee Country Club,” UPI Archives, April 10, 1989. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/04/10/UTs-Dickey-Majors-resign-from-Cherokee-Country-Club/8000608184000/#.
8 Carson Fraser to John Majors, April 10, 1989.
9 Carson Fraser to John Majors, Doug Dickey, and Lamar Alexander (separately), April 10, 1989.
10 “Program shows breadth of work in diocese,” East Tennessee Episcopalian, no. 4 (May 1989): 6.
11 “Statement of the Bishop and the Racism Committee of the Diocese of East Tennessee… For release to The East Tennessee Episcopalian only”, April 14, 1989.
12 [Redacted Author] to Bishop Sanders, April 14, 1989.
13 [Redacted Author 2] to Bishop Sanders, April 20, 1989.
14 Bishop Sanders to [Redacted Author 2], April 27, 1989.
15 Erik Schelzig, “AG Herbert Slatery’s inclusion in past all-white club shrugged off”, The Tennessean, Sept. 30, 2014. https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2014/09/30/ag-herbert-slaterys-inclusion-in-past-all-white-club-shrugged-off/16486271/.
16 Saundra Richardson to Carson Fraser and Essie Johnson, October 10, 1990.
About this project:
Resources used (letters of correspondence, printed, and digital newspapers and clippings) were found in the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee archives. The majority of the materials were found in the file “Racism Task Force- 1983-1989” and “Racism Task Force- 1990-1991”. Newspaper clippings from April 13th, 1989 and onward were found in a file labeled “Hate Crime Task Force”. The East Tennessee Episcopalian Volume 3-5, 1988-1990 was also used. Additional news sources online were also useful.
All materials were in good condition. Most newspapers and clippings had yellowed and were brittle but they are still legible.