Billy grew up in the segregated South. His first two college
stops were Bob Jones College and the Florida Bible Institute, nei-
ther of which admitted minorities. But then he enrolled at
Wheaton College, a school founded by abolitionists.
He chose, at Wheaton, to major in anthropology, hoping to
obliterate “any condescending notions I might have toward
people from backgrounds other than my own.” Yet within
Wheaton in the 1950s were many currents of thought about solu-
tions to racial issues. Northern evangelicals were largely unpre-
pared for the Civil Rights Movement. In fact, it was only much
later that most evangelical leaders thought seriously about the
issue. It was not until the mid-1960s, for instance, that black intel-
lectual Bill Pannell was hired as a Youth for Christ staff member,
who began educating and sensitizing the YFC leadership about
the painful experiences of black Americans.
But the majority of such education came a decade later. In the
1950s, Billy was still developing his own convictions. Some of his
closest mentors believed in the “integrity of the races” and that
segregation was ordained by God. These pietistic, seasoned elders
had often wisely counseled, but on this they were divided.
Although Billy has often said he is no intellectual, his “emo-
tional intelligence” has been described as “off the charts.” For
someone as sensitive to the nuances and feelings of his mentors
and allies, it was another crucible of growth.
■ ■ ■At first Graham tried to carve a middle ground that opposed both
forced integration as well as forced segregation. He relied on the
example of Billy Sunday, who had followed local custom by
preaching to integrated audiences in the North and to mostly seg-
regated audiences in the South. So, in many of his earliest meet-
ings, Graham followed suit.
But the dramatic times left little maneuvering room for mod-
erates. Reporters demanded to know why he could not speak to
integrated audiences in South Carolina and Georgia just as he didThe Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham