“Integrationist Pastor Named to City Rights Post,” Indianapolis Recorder, February 25, 1961, p. 1, 3 – Transcript || Annotation || Archive
Integrationist Pastor Named to City Rights Post
A forthright young minister who is a dedicated practitioner of complete integration in all areas of life on Tuesday was named executive director of the Mayor’s Human Rights Commission.
Mayor Charles H. Boswell showed his sincere desire for progress in the human relations field by appointing Rev. James Jones, pastor of the People’s Temple Disciples of Christ, 975 N. Delaware, to the long-vacant post.
The 29-year-old minister at once took up the duties of the $7,000-a-year position. He told The Recorder that he plans to visit other cities where human rights commissions hav (sic!) functioned successfully.
Meanwhile, however, he is letting no grass grow under his feet and has already started an investigation into one of the city’s toughest discrimination problems.
Rev. Jones will continue as pastor of the Temple while holding the city position.
AS HOOSIER AS punkin (sic!) pie, Rev. Jones is living proof that an Indiana background need not make for prejudiced thinking. He was born at Lynn, Ind., a “lily-white town” where Negroes were not allowed to remain after sundown. He recalls that even a Negro basketball star could come into town only on the night of a game.
He received his higher education at Indiana University, where, he says, his “eyes were opened” to the evil of segregation and discrimination. With characteristic courage, he immediately put his beliefs into practice.
He once walked out of a Bloomington barber-shop with his hair half-cut because a Negro patron was refused service. Incidently (sic!), it was a Negro shop.
ADHERENCE TO non-segregation made Jones a controversial figure in the early years of his ministry, and for a long time his church was independent. Recently, however, it became affiliated with the Disciples of Christ.
The People’s Temple is fully interracial in all its activities, and carries on large scale humanitarian work. There is–believe it or not – a free restaurant where hundreds of migrants and other persons are fed weekly.
Their(sic!) is also a free commissary, and two nursing homes are operated by the Jones family and the Temple. This practical experience is seen as valuable in meeting problems of the “central city.”
REV. JONES IS fully supported in his stand by his wife, the former Marceline Baldwin, who is a native of Memphis, Tenn. In addition to a child of their own, the couple have several adopted several children, including two of Korean extraction. They recently adopted a Negro baby boy.
Incidentally, at the Temple and in the Jones home at 2327 Broadway the words “Negro” and “white” are not used, but rather “dark-complexioned,” [“]light-complexioned,” etc.
Taking work toward obtaining a teacher’s license, Rev. Jones has been doing his practice teaching at Attucks High School. He recently contributed $200 to the Attucks Scholarship Fund.
The Human Rights director’s position was placed in the city budget after a seven-year fight by Indianapolis liberals. Then another two years elapsed before the post was filled by the appointment of Rev. Jones.