was growing up, his family employed an African-American fore-
man and treated him as a valued member of the family. In 1933
when evangelistic meetings were being held in town, young
Billy didn’t want to go. He had no interest in it—but as a new
driver, he did have a strong interest in driving the foreman’s
truck.
“Tell you what. I’ll let you drive my truck if you’ll go to the
crusade with me,” the older man offered.
Billy accepted the deal, and that led to his conversion. The
concerned foreman, who was like family, represented one of the
roots of Billy’s sensitivity on racial issues. As he continued to min-
ister throughout the country, he widened his contacts with the
black community. At the same time, he knew where the growing
edge of the white community was, and if he went too far ahead
of it, they would write him off and he would lose all influence.
He had to strategically communicate his message of love and
hope, including his vision of racial harmony and reconciliation,
to a wide range of constituents.
His stance had its effect. Charles Marsh, author of God’s Long
Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights, grew up in the South. In his
memoir, The Last Days: A Son’s Story of Sin and Segregation at the
Dawn of a New South, he tells the story of how his father, a pastor
in a small Mississippi town, was influenced in his pilgrimage “from
a son of the segregated South to preacher of the sermon ‘Amaz-
ing Grace for Every Race.’ ” Writes Marsh, “Billy Graham had long
refused to hold meetings before segregated audiences, and this
conviction stirred my father’s willingness to change, if not to see
racial equality as ordained by God. ‘The ground at the foot of the
cross is level,’ Billy liked to say.”
Yet for all those who resonated with his convictions, there
were many who did not. Segregationists continued to disparage
his efforts, and then he had to factor in church leaders from the
other side of the spectrum like Reinhold Niebuhr, who criticized
him for not moving quickly enough.
Billy’s 1957 New York City campaign illustrates just what he
faced and the tactics he employed.
The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham