Gospel Plea

The Gospel Plea, published in Port Gibson and Edwards, Mississippi, 1892 - 1926.

"A Weekly Religious Newspaper Issued every Wednesday from the Press of the Southern Christian Institute. Published in the interests of the cause of Primitive Christianity and the general interests of the Negro Race."

The Disciples of Christ Historical Society received a substantial number of the issues of the Gospel Plea in the papers of Joel Baer Lehman, longtime editor of the periodical. John Long, former president of Southern Christian Institute, donated Lehman's collection on July 15, 1954.

The volume and issue numbering for the Gospel Plea is somewhat erratic. Citations should include the Volume and Issue number for the years up to 1917. For later years, when Volume 22 or Volume 23 was randomly repeated, cite the Serial Number and date.

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Gospel Plea, Volume 22 [sic] (1922) (Serial Numbers 539 - 589)

Joel Baer Lehman

Gospel Plea, Volume 22 [sic] (1922) (Serial Numbers 539 - 589)

On page two of Serial Number 576 (September 30, 1922), I. C. Franklin, President of the Mississippi State Convention, mentions the state of Mississippi will have its own state paper, a monthly named the Christian Dispatch. Franklin will be editor; Mrs. W. A. Scott, Associate Editor and J. A. Keys, Business Manager.

Isom K. Hicks (1894 - 1974), recently graduated, is the minister of the Grove Street Christian Church in Houston, Texas. White congregations in Houston loaned money to the African American congregation to allow them to construct their building, which was dedicated on April 23rd. (Serial Number 557 (May 20, 1922) page one.)
Gospel Plea, Volume 23 [sic] (1921) (Serial Numbers 487 - 537)

Joel Baer Lehman

Gospel Plea, Volume 23 [sic] (1921) (Serial Numbers 487 - 537)

Serial Number 496 (March 12, 1921) on page four, W. P. Martin, Evangelist, reports the founding of the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis, Tennessee.

This volume mentions the work of Elder J. A. Keys several times. We know very little so far about this African American man of God.
Gospel Plea, Volume 23 [sic] (1920) (Serial Numbers 435 - 485)

Joel Baer Lehman

Gospel Plea, Volume 23 [sic] (1920) (Serial Numbers 435 - 485)

Serial Number 445 ((March 13, 1920) page four noted the deaths of J. R. Bryan (March 1, 1876 - February 19, 1920) and Elder Peter Price (March 7, 1846 - February 12, 1920).

Bryan, a white, was the President of the Mississippi Sunday School Association and Secretary of the Mississippi State Board of Mission. He was a strong supporter of Southern Christian Institute.

Price was with the Gay Street Christian Church in Nashville.
Gospel Plea, Volume 23 [sic] (1919) (Serial Numbers 384 - 434)

Joel Baer Lehman

Gospel Plea, Volume 23 [sic] (1919) (Serial Numbers 384 - 434)

The editor, for an unknown reason, in this and following years, labels every issue Volume 23, abandoning the sequence established in earlier years.

Pages one and two of the January 11 issue (Serial Number 385) deal with a controversy about African Americans and the railroads.

This volume, on the next to last page, has a full page on Instrumental Music. Disagreements on instrumental music in the congregations at Tupelo and Baldwyn caused the editor to write (or perhaps copy) the detailed pro-instrument arguments.
Gospel Plea, Volume 23 (1918) (Serial Numbers 331 - 382)

Joel Baer Lehman

Gospel Plea, Volume 23 (1918) (Serial Numbers 331 - 382)

Page 5 of Serial Number 331 (January 5, 1918) reports on the progress of the new church building at Hopkinsville, J. E. Anderson minister. We wish to know more about this African American preacher, who appears occasionally in the Gospel Plea.

The last issue of this volume, Serial Number 382 (December 28, 1918) has this somber report by C. H. Dickerson in his column From the Banks of the Old Ky.

"Kentucky is shot through with hysterical influenza...Homes resent being placarded...Ban is still on. When lifted many will fear to to attend church lest they touch somebody, who has touched somebody, who has touched somebody else who had the Flu."
Gospel Plea, Volume 22 (1917)

Joel Baer Lehman

Gospel Plea, Volume 22 (1917) (Serial numbers 279 - 329)

336 Pages in this PDF.

The World War is prominent in this volume.

This quote from Lehman's December 22, 1917, Editorial is interesting:

"Every Christian Negro should thank God and take new courage. This great war is a centrifugal, not a centripetal force for our national life. When we went into the war our secret service discovered an army of German spies trying to alienate the Negro. This set our people to thinking. President Wilson, though a Southern man, saw clearly what is just and wise and so he insisted on putting the Negro on an equal footing with the white man. Of course there will grow up some friction by some of the people who do not know that the world has moved, but when they get into a drive such as the Italians have suffered the question of saluting officers will take care of itself."
Gospel Plea, Volume 21 (1916) (Serial numbers 240 - 277)

Joel Baer Lehman

Gospel Plea, Volume 21 (1916) (Serial numbers 240 - 277)

Page 3 of Serial Number 240 (April 8, 1916) has portraits of William Alphin and J. N. Ervin, Principal of Jarvis Christian Institute.

A lively discussion on the scriptural basis of the name Christian and whether people should work with mission boards, has thoughts from B. C. Calvert, C. H. Dickerson, C. E. Craggett, A. R. McDuff and J. M. D. Thurman. (Serial number 249 (June 10, 1916) page 7); (Serial number 251 (June 24, 1916) page 7); (Serial number 252 (July 1, 1916) page 5); (Serial number 255 (July 22, 1916) page 7) Calvert thinks the Plea needs more discussions like this.
Gospel Plea, Volume 20 (1915) (Serial numbers 174 -221)

Joel Baer Lehman

Gospel Plea, Volume 20 (1915) (Serial numbers 174 - 221)

We begin to track closely the serial numbers at this time since they will be the primary way of tracking volume content. There is no longer an attempt to number issues.

W. R. Simmons, of Bloomington, Illinois, writes: "The time has not yet come for us to sheath the polemic sword. The battles that are to be fought are hard and many. There is no use compromising with denominations or denominationalism." (Serial Number 186 (March 28, 1915) 3)
Gospel Plea, Volume 19 (1914)

Joel Baer Lehman

Gospel Plea, Volume 19 (1914)

"This issue of the Plea is the first issue of sixteen pages run off on the new press on one sheet." (Page 3 of the January 10 Number.) The number of pages returned to eight later this year.

The DCHS collection is missing a significant number of the issues of Volume 19. Only eight issues are in our collection.

The editorial team this year includes, in addition to Lehman, Preston Taylor, W. H. Dickerson, Mrs. William Alphin and K. R. Brown as Associate Editors.
Gospel Plea, Volume 18 (1913)

Joel Baer Lehman

Gospel Plea, Volume 18 (1913)

The 344 pages of this PDF are filled with information about people and congregations in a wide variety of states.

This volume emphasizes serial numbers for each issue so that subscribers know when their subscriptions expire.

Issues now have twelve pages (up from eight) but Editor Lehman hopes to expand to sixteen pages.
Gospel Plea, Volume 17 (1912)

Joel Baer Lehman

Gospel Plea, Volume 17 (1912)

Number 16 page 4 notes the death of James E. Baker, former professor and principal of Warner Institute, Jonesboro, Tennessee.

This volume has several mentions of the good work of Harold D. Griffin, Baker's successor at Warner Institute.
Gospel Plea, Volume 16 (1911)

Joel Baer Lehman

Gospel Plea, Volume 16 (1911)

With 280 pages, this PDF has 35 issues of Volume 16.

Reports from states and news about the schools appear regularly.

Number 11 (March 25, 1911) page 1 has a picture captioned "Three Generations of S. C. I. Children" featuring the family of King R. Brown (1861 - 1932).
Gospel Plea, Volume 15 (1910)

Joel Baer Lehman

Gospel Plea, Volume 15 (1910)

Elder Andrew Jackson Hurdle (1847 - 1936) presided over the Northeast Texas District Convention at Kilgore, Texas. (Number 2, page 4.)

J. H. E. Thomas reports the death of Elder G. W. Crawford (March 16, 1849 - December 14, 1910) a prominent African American preacher in Texas. (Number 3, page 4.)

H. Campbell reports the death of "one of the old pioneer preachers of the gospel of Christ in the state of Arkansas and the Creek Nation, Oklahoma," J. A. Waid, on November 9, 1910. (Ibid.)
Gospel Plea, Volume 14 (1909)

Joel Baer Lehman

Gospel Plea, Volume 14 (1909)

The PDF of this volume, though incomplete, has forty issues, totaling 320 pages.

Editor Lehman tells the story of Jacob Kenoly (page 1 in the PDF).

We note that Moses F. Mitchell reports on the work at Louisville Christian Bible School. (Page 2 of Number 10.)

Page 4 of Number 10 reports on the new school for African Americans, Warner Institute, at Jonesboro, Tennessee.
Gospel Plea, Volume 13 (1908)

Joel Baer Lehman

Gospel Plea, Volume 13 (1908)

All of the early issues of this volume are missing. The first issue extant in the DCHS collection is Number 28, July 25.

Isom C. Franklin, Principal of Lum Graded School reports that catalogues are ready.

R. T. Matlock, Muskogee, Oklahoma, opines, "Any white person who seeks to make strife and broaden the difference between the races is not a true friend to the country. Neither is any colored man who would do the same." (Number 32, page 5.)
Gospel Plea, Volume 12 (1907)

Joel Baer Lehman

Gospel Plea, Volume 12 (1907)

Editor Lehman reflects on race riots in Atlanta and Kemper County, Mississippi, in the first two issues of this volume.

More than thirty issues, totaling 278 pages, comprise this incomplete volume.
Gospel Plea, Volume 11 (1906)

Joel Baer Lehman

Gospel Plea, Volume 11 (1906)

Fourteen issues of this weekly periodical with a focus on African American activity in several states.

Issue three (pages 4 and 5) notes the establishment of the first African American congregation in the Oklahoma Territory, at Guthrie. Andrew Cailloux Chichon, a Southern Christian Institute graduate, is the minister of the congregation.

We note references to Daniel Lee McMickens (1876 - 1916) a graduate of the Louisville Bible School class of 1903.
Gospel Plea, Volume 10 (1905)

Joel Baer Lehman

Gospel Plea, Volume 10 (1905)

This is an incomplete volume, with only thirteen issues of what we would expect would have been 52 issues, since the paper was a weekly.
Gospel Plea, Volume 9 (1904)

Joel Baer Lehman

Gospel Plea, Volume 9 (1904)

50 pages in this PDF.

Andrew Jackson Hurdle (1847 - 1936), President of the North East Texas Convention, writes concerning the effort to build a college at Palistine [sic; Palestine], Texas. (Volume 9, Number 37 (September 28, 1904) 4, 5.)

Editor Lehman holds forth on "Reasons Why the Negro Disciples Should Gladly Come into Co-operation with the Work being done by the General Board--C. W. B. M." (Volume 9, Number 40 (October 19, 1904) 1.)
Gospel Plea, Volume 8 (1903)

Joel Baer Lehman

Gospel Plea, Volume 8 (1903)

This PDF has nine issues, totaling 76 pages.

Number 42 (October 28, 1903) is a longer issue of twelve pages emphasizing the educational institutions for the African American community. Pages 3 and 10 have "A Brief Sketch of the Work of the Church of Christ among the Negro People of the United States."

Number 35 (September 16, 1903) page two states, "J. E. Anderson has published his debate held at Bloomington, Illinois. Anyone wishing it can send him 25 cents or 40 cents for two copies. Address him, P. O. Box 364, Kansas City, Kansas."
Gospel Plea, Volume 7 (1902)

Joel Baer Lehman

Gospel Plea, Volume 7 (1902)

T. P. Porter is the State Evangelist for Mississippi.

Number 40 (October 1, 1902) page four mentions a division about rebaptism in the Lyons, Mississippi, congregation has been resolved.

The November 26 issue mentions the resignation of Elder M. T. Brown from the Clay Street Christian Church, Waco, Texas, to accept the pastorate of the South Side Christian Church, Chicago, Illinois.
Gospel Plea, Volume 6 (1901)

Joel Baer Lehman

Gospel Plea, Volume 6 (1901)

Only 45 pages of this year are in the DCHS collection.

Octavius Singleton (1868 - 1950) reports on the work of the Louisville Christian Bible School on pages 3 and 5 in Volume 6, Number 12 (April 3, 1901).

A picture of the school, along with more information, is on page three of Volume 6, Number 42 (October 30, 1901).
Gospel Plea, Volume 5 (1900)

Joel Baer Lehman

Gospel Plea, Volume 5 (1900)

The DCHS collection only has four issues of this volume, all from July 1900.

An "Original Contribution" on "Preaching" by A. C. Calvert appears in the July 4 number (5.27) 3. The surname Calvert arouses our curiosity since an Asbery [sic] Calvert is a student in 1892 at Southern Christian Institute.

James G. Keyes, recently ousted as the Mississippi State Evangelist for the African American congregations, on the following page, invites Calvert to establish a school on Keyes' property at Hemingway, Mississippi.