Charles Colcock Jones Carpenter (September 2, 1899 – June 28, 1969''Who's Who in the South and Southwest'', Chicago: The A. N. Marquis Company, 1952, p. 127.) was consecrated a bishop of the Alabama Episcopal Diocese on June 24, 1938, and served until 1968. He was one of the authors of the "

A Call for Unity "A Call for Unity" was an open letter published in Birmingham, Alabama, on April 12, 1963, by eight local white clergymen in response to civil rights demonstrations taking place in the area at the time. In the letter, they took issue with event ...

" letter published during

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

's incarceration in a

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

jail, asking him and his “outsider” followers to refrain from demonstrating in the streets of Birmingham.Bass, S. J., and Martin L. King. ''Blessed are the Peacemakers: Martin Luther King Jr., eight white religious leaders, and the "Letter from Birmingham Jail".'' Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2001. Print.

Personal

Carpenter was born in

Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Georgi ...

, and often went by C. C. J. Carpenter. He was a son of the Rev. Samuel Barstow Carpenter and his wife Ruth Berrien (Jones), née Mary Ruth Jones, daughter of Charles Colcock Jones Jr. He married in 1928 to Alexandra Morrison, with whom he had four children.Carpenter, Douglas M. ''A Powerful Blessing: The Life of Charles Colcock Jones Carpenter, Sr., 1899–1969, Sixth Episcopal Bishop of Alabama, 1938–1968'', Birmingham: the author, 2012.

Education and ministry

Carpenter was a student at

Lawrenceville School The Lawrenceville School is a coeducational preparatory school for boarding and day students located in the Lawrenceville section of Lawrence Township, in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. Lawrenceville is a member of the Eight Scho ...

from 1915 to 1917. He then studied at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

and graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

in 1921 and with a Bachelor of Divinity from the

Virginia Theological Seminary Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS), formally called the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia, located at 3737 Seminary Road in Alexandria, Virginia is the largest and second oldest accredited Episcopal seminary in the Unit ...

in 1926. He was then ordained a deacon on June 24, 1925, and a priest on June 24, 1926. He then became rector of Grace Church in

Waycross, Georgia Waycross is the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Ware County in the U.S. state of Georgia. The population was 14,725 at the 2010 Census and dropped to 13,942 in the 2020 census. Waycross includes two historic districts (Downtown ...

, while in 1928 he became Archdeacon of Georgia. From 1929 to 1936 he served as rector of St John's Church in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...

, becoming rector of the Church of the Advent,

in 1936.

Ceremony at University of the South

At a special chapel service at the

University of the South The University of the South, familiarly known as Sewanee (), is a private Episcopal liberal arts college in Sewanee, Tennessee. It is owned by 28 southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church, and its School of Theology is an official seminary of ...

to celebrate Jefferson Davis' birthday, the university's Ceremonial Mace, containing the Confederate flag, was consecrated to the memory of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first

Grand Wizard The Grand Wizard (later the Grand and Imperial Wizard simplified as the Imperial Wizard and eventually, the National Director) referred to the national leader of several different Ku Klux Klan organizations in the United States and abroad. The t ...

of the Ku Klux Klan, by Bishop Carpenter.

"A Call for Unity"

Carpenter was one of eight white Alabama

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

who publicly opposed the 1963

Birmingham campaign The Birmingham campaign, also known as the Birmingham movement or Birmingham confrontation, was an American movement organized in early 1963 by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to bring attention to the integration efforts o ...

for integration and wrote the "

" letter on April 12, 1963, to which the Rev.

responded with his " Letter from Birmingham Jail" on April 16, 1963.

1951 opposition to a segregated school

On July 13, 2007, a letter from Carpenter's son, the Rev. Douglas Carpenter, was published by the ''Episcopal Life Online Newslink'' emphasizing his father's stance on the issue of desegregation: "My father, C.C.J. Carpenter, was a bishop of the Alabama Diocese from 1938, when I was just turned 5, until 1968. In 1951, a parish in Mobile wanted to start a parochial school. He gave his approval only when they agreed it could be integrated. Actions such as this put him on the hit list of the

White Citizens Council The Citizens' Councils (commonly referred to as the White Citizens' Councils) were an associated network of white supremacist, segregationist organizations in the United States, concentrated in the South and created as part of a white backlash ...

and the Ku Klux Klan. He got frequent hate threats by phone."Douglas Carpenter: "Not-so-peaceful city; Retired priest recalls Birmingham in the days his father was bishop", ''Episcopal Life Online Newslink'', July 13, 2007, archived by ''Worldwide Faith News archives''

accessed December 30, 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carpenter, Charles Colcock Jones Episcopal bishops of Alabama Religious leaders from Birmingham, Alabama People from Augusta, Georgia 1899 births 1969 deaths 20th-century American Episcopalians 20th-century American clergy