{"id":1235,"date":"2013-08-28T12:34:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-28T12:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/08\/bishop-turners-emancipation-and-kings-dream-reflections-on-the-marchonwashington.html"},"modified":"2013-08-28T12:34:00","modified_gmt":"2013-08-28T12:34:00","slug":"bishop-turners-emancipation-and-kings-dream-reflections-on-the-marchonwashington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/08\/bishop-turners-emancipation-and-kings-dream-reflections-on-the-marchonwashington.html","title":{"rendered":"Bishop Turner’s #Emancipation and King’s Dream: Reflections on the #MarchonWashington"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

by Andre E. Johnson<\/a><\/span>
R3 Editor<\/span>

<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n


<\/span>*Note: Portions of this post were given at the African American Civil War Museum in Washington<\/a>, DC on August 23, 2013<\/i><\/span>

<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

One hundred years ago, in 1913, African Americans celebrated the fiftieth year anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. In respond to the celebration, the AME Church asked Bishop Henry McNeal Turner to write a reflection on the meaning of the Emancipation. However, the selection of Turner was not without problems. At this time, Turner\u2019s public persona had shifted from one filled with optimism after the signing of the Emancipation and the Union victory in the Civil War to one filled with pessimism\u2014one that believed America did not hold any promises for African Americans. At the time the church asked him to offer his reflections of the momentous event, Turner found himself out of the mainstream of both American and African American political and social thought. His prophetic rhetoric, of which I talk about in the book, The Forgotten Prophet: Bishop Henry McNeal Turner and the African American Prophetic Tradition,<\/a> became more and more pessimistic as black oppression and racism went unabated.\u00a0 <\/span>

<\/span>Therefore, it came as a surprised when in 1913, as African Americans celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, the AME Church asked him to offer a reflection on the historical event. While this seemed to be another opportunity for Turner to rein down bitter anathemas and criticize the country for not living up to the ideals and principals after the Emancipation, Turner offered an eloquent, moving reflection of the time. Published in the January 1913 edition of the AME Journal, Turner\u2019s \u201cReminiscences of the Proclamation of Emancipation,\u201d<\/a> reminded many not only of his legacy and his importance to the AME Church, but also it introduced Turner to a new audience\u2014one that only knew him as pessimistic prophet.\u00a0<\/span>

<\/span>Fifty years later on August 28 in Washington DC, people gathered again in Washington to see their \u201cEmancipation\u201d or have their \u201cgreat big celebration.\u201d If the March on Washington was anything, it was a great celebration of folks getting together and coming together to rally for rights that many argued the nation should have granted at least one hundred years prior\u2014during the time of the Emancipation.\u00a0<\/span>
<\/a>As we come to our own 50 year celebration,\u00a0<\/span>I wonder how will we remember this March?\u00a0<\/span>Many have focused much of the \u201creflection writing\u201d on the March on Washington on Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his infamous \u201cI Have a Dream Speech.\u201d Despite the hard work of others in the movement and despite the massive mobilization of over 250,000 from a plethora of people on that day, King\u2019s speech has for many Americans, anchored what we know, or should I say, think we know about the March on Washington. Headlines such as <\/span>\u201cRemembering the Dream\u201d<\/a> or <\/span>\u201c50 Years After the Dream\u201d<\/a> pop up everywhere to anchor our memory or create a history for us to consume and share with others. Moreover, the more we consume and share this particular narrative, the more we feel that our work, at least the work done in the past is finished.\u00a0<\/span>

<\/span>The embedded narrative of the March on Washington in 1963 is that it was an unqualified success and it has gone down in the annuals of history and public memory as a success. If anything, Americans interpret the March as the \u201creal\u201d starting point in bettering race relations. The March highlighted all that was wrong with America (as if nothing else did before) and through our collective hard word and zeal at getting it right, we stood together to listen to King\u2019s lofty eloquence as the spirit convicted and converted a nation to rise up and do the right thing. Thus, one can read the March as the ultimate symbol of progress; that as a country, we can be on the wrong track, but if just return to the principles of our founding and draw from the well of democracy, we somehow can atone for and be delivered from the sins of yesterday. In short, we will remember the March as Turner remembered the 50th year of the ratifying of the Emancipation Proclamation; despite our pessimistic\u00a0sensibilities.\u00a0<\/span>

<\/span>However, for some, we will remember this March for what it was not\u2014not the panacea that solved all of our problems. As we see the old wounds festering and becoming infected again; mass incarceration, stop and frisk policies, Stand Your Ground laws, the outright hijack
\ning of voting rights\u00a0throughout\u00a0the country; as we talk about unemployment,\u00a0<\/span>immigration,<\/span>\u00a0the war on women, workers and whoever standing on the right side of history; and a host of other problems; 1963 doesn\u2019t seem that far removed. Many of the issues facing Marchers in 1963 are facing Marchers 50 years later in 2013. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>

<\/span>Therefore, how should we read the March on Washington? Well as I think we should read and interpret the March on Washington as one big prophetic movement that still goes on today. Moreover, when we see it as a prophetic movement, then we must examine and\u00a0interpret\u00a0the religious language that surrounded and\u00a0undergirded\u00a0the March and Movement. In simple terms, to speak of the March without noting the God-Talk, in song and oratory, is to miss out on an important part of the day and to many in attendance; the power of the Movement itself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n


<\/span>As a prophetic movement, one that spoke truth to power, we need to remember that when the March on Washington happened, it was not a popular thing to do. City officials did not want it, the US government was frustrated by it, President Kennedy and others tried to stop it, and many people thought it would just caused more trouble. There was infighting, outfighting, shouting matches, cussing and fussing and women were regulated to the margins. It was not perfect; not everything went according to plan, some stuff worked and some didn\u2019t and if everybody you meet today who told you they were there was actually there, it would have been over one million people at the March.\u00a0<\/span>

<\/span>In short, we do not need to glorify, deify, magnify or edify the March on Washington, but call it what it was; a people\u2019s prophetic movement that stood up to the powers that be on the day and held the nation accountable\u2014the same thing I am hoping we are doing this time and beyond; sustaining a prophetic movement that will continue to hold the nation accountable to the people. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Andre E. JohnsonR3 Editor *Note: Portions of this post were given at the African American Civil War Museum in Washington, DC on August 23, 2013 One hundred years ago, in 1913, African Americans celebrated the fiftieth year anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. In respond to the celebration, the AME Church asked Bishop Henry McNeal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nBishop Turner's #Emancipation and King's Dream: Reflections on the #MarchonWashington<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by Andre E. JohnsonR3 Editor*Note: Portions of this post were given at the African American Civil War Museum in Washington, DC on August 23, 2013One\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/08\/bishop-turners-emancipation-and-kings-dream-reflections-on-the-marchonwashington.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bishop Turner's #Emancipation and King's Dream: Reflections on the #MarchonWashington\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Andre E. JohnsonR3 Editor*Note: Portions of this post were given at the African American Civil War Museum in Washington, DC on August 23, 2013One\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/08\/bishop-turners-emancipation-and-kings-dream-reflections-on-the-marchonwashington.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-08-28T12:34:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/files\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-tPlqphXBHzk\/Ugr90pEHBkI\/AAAAAAAABQY\/iPsym1T153A\/s400\/blog-march-on-washington.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andre E. Johnson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andre E. Johnson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/08\/bishop-turners-emancipation-and-kings-dream-reflections-on-the-marchonwashington.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/08\/bishop-turners-emancipation-and-kings-dream-reflections-on-the-marchonwashington.html\",\"name\":\"Bishop Turner's #Emancipation and King's Dream: Reflections on the #MarchonWashington\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-28T12:34:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-08-28T12:34:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc\"},\"description\":\"by Andre E. JohnsonR3 Editor*Note: Portions of this post were given at the African American Civil War Museum in Washington, DC on August 23, 2013One\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/08\/bishop-turners-emancipation-and-kings-dream-reflections-on-the-marchonwashington.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/08\/bishop-turners-emancipation-and-kings-dream-reflections-on-the-marchonwashington.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/08\/bishop-turners-emancipation-and-kings-dream-reflections-on-the-marchonwashington.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bishop Turner’s #Emancipation and King’s Dream: Reflections on the #MarchonWashington\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/\",\"name\":\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc\",\"name\":\"Andre E. Johnson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Andre E. Johnson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/ajohnson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bishop Turner's #Emancipation and King's Dream: Reflections on the #MarchonWashington","description":"by Andre E. JohnsonR3 Editor*Note: Portions of this post were given at the African American Civil War Museum in Washington, DC on August 23, 2013One","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/08\/bishop-turners-emancipation-and-kings-dream-reflections-on-the-marchonwashington.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bishop Turner's #Emancipation and King's Dream: Reflections on the #MarchonWashington","og_description":"by Andre E. JohnsonR3 Editor*Note: Portions of this post were given at the African American Civil War Museum in Washington, DC on August 23, 2013One","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/08\/bishop-turners-emancipation-and-kings-dream-reflections-on-the-marchonwashington.html","og_site_name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","article_published_time":"2013-08-28T12:34:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/files\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-tPlqphXBHzk\/Ugr90pEHBkI\/AAAAAAAABQY\/iPsym1T153A\/s400\/blog-march-on-washington.jpg"}],"author":"Andre E. Johnson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Andre E. Johnson","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/08\/bishop-turners-emancipation-and-kings-dream-reflections-on-the-marchonwashington.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/08\/bishop-turners-emancipation-and-kings-dream-reflections-on-the-marchonwashington.html","name":"Bishop Turner's #Emancipation and King's Dream: Reflections on the #MarchonWashington","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-08-28T12:34:00+00:00","dateModified":"2013-08-28T12:34:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc"},"description":"by Andre E. JohnsonR3 Editor*Note: Portions of this post were given at the African American Civil War Museum in Washington, DC on August 23, 2013One","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/08\/bishop-turners-emancipation-and-kings-dream-reflections-on-the-marchonwashington.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/08\/bishop-turners-emancipation-and-kings-dream-reflections-on-the-marchonwashington.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/08\/bishop-turners-emancipation-and-kings-dream-reflections-on-the-marchonwashington.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bishop Turner’s #Emancipation and King’s Dream: Reflections on the #MarchonWashington"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/","name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc","name":"Andre E. Johnson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Andre E. Johnson"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/ajohnson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2251"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1235\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}