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Father Divine

"The depression, with a devastating impact," recorded an Illinois State Commission, "reversed the trend of the twenties and turned the Negro people from a group with more than its share of gainfully employed into a population predominantly dependent upon government relief." National and local leaders, white and Negro, were at first powerless to cope with the problems. But one Negro leader would permit none of his followers to accept public relief, and none went hungry. Everyone who came to his restaurants received full meals for fifteen cents, or if one had no money, one received a free meal. He sold coal at cost from his coal yards and offered haircuts in his shops at a quarter of what other barbers charged. His name was Father Divine.

Father Divine established throughout the East and various cities across the country a veritable chain of religious cooperatives. His followers gave of labor and income according to their abilities and received according to their needs, without any distinction as to color. Father Divine ordered any of his followers who were illiterate to attend night school, any who had been dishonest in the past to return whatever they had dishonestly acquired. He taught precepts of decency, hygiene and self-reliance. His religious meetings were combined with abundant feasting in the very midst of the depression. His Peace Missions, in spite of frequent controversy in the press regarding him, continue to be open to all today.

Early in the depression, nine Negro boys were hoboing their way on a freight train to Memphis in search of work. At Scottsboro, Alabama, they were hauled off the train by the police, who also found two white women hoboes in a coal car. The police promptly accused the nine black boys of rape. One boy was only thirteen. A hasty trial was held before an all-white jury who quickly convicted the other eight boys and they were sent to the "death house" at Kilby. Defended by the Communist International Labor Defense, the Scottsboro Case became a cause célèbre, fought more than once all the way to the Supreme Court. None of the boys was electrocuted, but all served long years in prison.

Courtesy of HARLEM ON MY MIND

[[image - black and white photograph of Father Divine greeting a crowd of people]]
[[caption]] GREETING FATHER DIVINE, 1938/N.Y. DAILY NEWS PHOTO [[/caption]]

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