Gulfside United Methodist Assembly
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Gulfside Assembly is a
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
retreat located in
Waveland, Mississippi Waveland is a city located in Hancock County, Mississippi, United States, on the Gulf of Mexico. It is part of the Gulfport–Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city of Waveland was incorporated in 1972. As of the 2010 ...
. It was founded to provide spiritual, educational and recreational facilities to African Americans who were denied access elsewhere because of
segregation Segregation may refer to: Separation of people * Geographical segregation, rates of two or more populations which are not homogenous throughout a defined space * School segregation * Housing segregation * Racial segregation, separation of human ...
. Incorporated in 1924, it is today recognized as a historic site by the State of Mississippi.


Background

In the early part of the 20th century, the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South The Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MEC, S; also Methodist Episcopal Church South) was the American Methodist denomination resulting from the 19th-century split over the issue of slavery in the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC). Disagreement ...
, was strictly segregated along racial lines, mirroring American society. Since most hotels, restaurants, beaches and other public facilities were established for Whites only, African Americans had few, if any, places where they could go for recreation. Robert E. Jones, the first African American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was speaking at Lakeside Assembly, a White Methodist campground in Ohio, when he came up with the idea to establish a similar place for African Americans to congregate in a relaxed atmosphere. The next step was to secure a location within his own district which included West
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
,
Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
, and
Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...
.
Waveland, Mississippi Waveland is a city located in Hancock County, Mississippi, United States, on the Gulf of Mexico. It is part of the Gulfport–Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city of Waveland was incorporated in 1972. As of the 2010 ...
was a resort town, centrally located on the
Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South or the South Coast, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Tex ...
, from Bishop Jones’ main office in
New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
. Through the aid of churches and individuals, Bishop Jones raised approximately $4,000 to purchase land in Waveland. He bought and leased from the state.


The early years

The Gulfside
Chautauqua Chautauqua ( ) is an adult education and social movement in the United States that peaked in popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Cha ...
and camp meeting ground was physically realized on April 16, 1923. Its founder, Bishop Jones, was the first Black to be a general superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Gulfside was incorporated on January 24, 1924. The incorporators were some of the most prestigious Black leaders in
Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
at that time. There was only one building standing on the whole of the . It was called the Jackson House because it had once housed family members of President
Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...
. It was a magnificent old mansion with very large rooms filled with antique
furniture Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., Stool (seat), stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (table (furniture), tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furnitur ...
. The structure could not be seen from the beach. Large
oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
trees surrounded the house hiding it from view. The edifice stood some 8 to above the ground. The first floor had a wraparound porch that was wide enough to be used for meetings. Bishop Jones marshaled his force of 14 preachers and local craft workers and set about putting the deteriorated structure into a livable condition. The open area under the porch was eventually closed in to become a kitchen, dining room and sweet shop. A screened in pavilion with dirt floor was built where meetings could be held. There was a makeshift dirt road leading to the Jackson House area. But when it rained, the road flooded and turned to mud., so most people walked the three miles (5 km) through the woods from the train station to the Jackson House. Until Gulfside, there were no accommodations of any kind for any person of color along the entire Gulf Coast. There was no place a person of color could use the beaches or swim. In the first two decades, under the leadership of Bishop Jones, Gulfside blossomed into a pivotal point of the New Orleans area and the surrounding region. In the early days, events at Gulfside took place in the spring and summer months from April through August. Some of the activities included the
Young Men's Christian Association YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...
, Conference Summer School for Town and Country Pastors, Summer School of Theology for aspiring ministers, Boys' Camp and Girls' Reserves,
4-H 4-H is a U.S.-based network of youth organizations whose mission is "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development". Its name is a reference to the occurrence of the initial letter H four times ...
, and
Scouting Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...
events, and picnics sponsored by groups throughout the region. The summer events culminated with Bishop Jones’ Area Council Meeting. The only activity that spanned the entire year during Gulfside's early years was a Poor Boys' school. This was probably the first and most significant program that Bishop Jones instituted at Gulfside. Dr. J. H. Graham puts it in his book, Black United Methodist Retrospect and Prospect: "This school enables deprived functional illiterates to develop salable skills. Several have gone on and entered the Christian ministry." They studied regular text books as in any public school and they learned crafts. The boys had to work from 9 to 12 and after unchwould go to class until 4 p.m. Bishop Jones’ tenure at Gulfside, which spanned the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, was speckled with threats of
foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has Default (finance), stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the Collateral (finance), coll ...
. But Gulfside always managed to meet payment. Pennies were collected, philanthropists courted, and lots sold from the that had been bought. There was also the prejudice of the times. There were instances of
cross burning In modern times, cross burning or cross lighting is a practice which is associated with the Ku Klux Klan. However, it was practiced long before the Klan's inception. Since the early 20th century, the Klan has burned crosses on hillsides as a way ...
on several occasions. One winter morning in the 1940s, the Jackson House mysteriously caught fire. Some blamed it on The Poor Boys' School, others on Whites. After the fire, the
1947 Fort Lauderdale Hurricane The 1947 Fort Lauderdale hurricane (Air Weather Service designation: GeorgeMultiple sources: * * * ) was a long-lived and an intense tropical cyclone that affected the Bahamas, southernmost Florida, and the Gulf Coast of the United States in Sept ...
finished the Jackson House, as well as other buildings on the purchased land. From 1940 to 1944, Bishop William A. C. Hughes carried on the good work of Bishop Jones at Gulfside. In 1944, Bishop Robert N. Brooks became administrator of Gulfside. Bishop Brooks was called "Mr. Methodist" because of his superb knowledge of doctrine. Under his leadership, a board of
trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, refers to anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the ...
s was formed so that the burden of Gulfside did not rest with just one person. Bishop Brooks encouraged people to give dollars instead of pennies. Over a period of eight years, Brooks Chapel, Gulfside Inn, Harry Hoosier Auditorium, and the Bishop's house were built. These buildings were
reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...
block constructions, better able to withstand fire and hurricane than the frame buildings had been. The blocks were made on site using a machine that made the blocks one at a time. Under Bishop Brooks’ leadership, Gulfside continued to be the focal point for "training. It provided a place for youth retreats, jurisdictional meetings, and leadership training enterprises." It was a place where Blacks and Whites could come together with much less questioning from the local authorities than would have taken place elsewhere in the South. By the 1950s there were wooden summer cottages as well as two one story dorms to house young people from the "Y-Teens" and other organizations. The pine forest on the back part of the grounds contained a complete camp ground with half log and half screen cabins, and a large cooking and dining pavilion.


Notable events

Some notable activities that took place at Gulfside include the following: *
Constance Baker Motley Constance Baker Motley ( Baker; September 14, 1921 – September 28, 2005) was an American jurist and politician who served as a Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. A key strategist of the civil rig ...
used Gulfside as her base of operations during the court sessions to integrate the
University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (Epithet, byname Ole Miss) is a Public university, public research university in University, near Oxford, Mississippi, United States, with a University of Mississippi Medical Center, medical center in Jackson, Miss ...
Law School. *
Thurgood Marshall Thoroughgood "Thurgood" Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme C ...
came there to work with other
NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...
lawyers. *
Leontyne Price Leontyne Price ( born Mary Violet Leontine Price February 10, 1927) is an American spinto soprano who was the first African-American soprano to receive international acclaim. From 1961 she began a long association with the Metropolitan Opera. ...
sang there because it was one of the few places where she could sing opera to her own people in the South.


The effects of unification

Progress at Gulfside was slowed in 1968 with the formation of The
United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...
. Then Black Methodists were finally accepted on an equal footing by White Methodists. But, as was the case with some other Black institutions, integration hurt rather than helped Gulfside. The segregated, all-Black Central jurisdiction, created with Northern and Southern church union in 1939, was disbanded. The Black membership was integrated into the existing White conferences and Gulfside ceased to serve as the core meeting place for Black Methodists. During the civil rights movement of the 1960s, Gulfside served as a meeting place for the region. Civil rights activist, Hollis Watkins, of
Jackson, Mississippi Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...
says: "there were only three places where Blacks could meet in Mississippi during the movement— Toogaloo College,
Rust College Rust College is a private historically black college in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Founded in 1866, it is the second-oldest private college in the state. Affiliated with the United Methodist Church, it is one of ten historically black colleges ...
, and Gulfside.


Impact of natural disasters

In 1969,
Hurricane Camille Hurricane Camille was a powerful, deadly and destructive tropical cyclone which became the second most intense on record to strike the United States (behind the 1935 Labor Day hurricane) and is one of the four Category 5 hurricanes to make ...
struck destroying 26 buildings on the grounds. That massive destruction and the fact that Blacks could now go to other conference centers diminished the interest in and need for Gulfside. This ultimately meant that Gulfside's services had to expand so that the center could support itself, it could no longer depend on Methodism as its sole support. After the hurricane, there was talk of selling Gulfside and dividing the proceeds among the 12 Black Methodist Episcopal colleges. But those efforts were laid to rest by Bishop
Mack B. Stokes Marion "Mack" Boyd Stokes (December 21, 1911 – November 21, 2012) was an American bishop of the United Methodist Church, elected in 1972. He was born in Wonsan, Korea of missionary parents. He is a graduate of Asbury University, Asbury Colle ...
. Bishop Ernest T. Dixon, and laymen Wayne Calbert, Henry Harper, and others came together in an effort to revitalize Gulfside. These leaders worked tirelessly to preserve what they knew was an
African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
treasure. The fruit of their labor could be seen in the newly renovated, modern facility. With the support of the General Board of Global Ministries’ National Division, included in the complex was the construction of the cottages for adults known as Dixon Village. These buildings were made possible by the Harry E. Kendall Fund (from the Health and Welfare Ministries Program Department of the United Methodist Church. In August 2005
Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...
struck the Gulf Coast. Gulfside Assembly was totally destroyed. All that remained was a historic marker and a small burial ground where Bishop Jones, his wife Elizabeth, and Bishop Brooks are buried.


Rebuilding efforts

As of April 2006 Gulfside is still serving the needs of people in Waveland and Bay Saint Louis and all along the Mississippi Coast. Community Aid Relief Effort (CARE) has set up a work center at Gulfside. Their work teams spread out along the Gulf Coast helping to rebuild the damaged communities.


Legacy

Gulfside has been recognized by both the United Methodist Church and the State of Mississippi as a historic site. The history of Gulfside is recounted in the book, The Land Was Ours: African American Beaches from Jim Crow to the Sunbelt South, by Andrew W. Kahrl.


References

* * * * *Andrew W. Kahrl, The Land Was Ours: African American Beaches from Jim Crow to the Sunbelt South (Harvard University Press, 2012) {{Coord, 30.266251, -89.393020, display=title United Methodist Church Landmarks in Mississippi Methodism in Mississippi Buildings and structures in Hancock County, Mississippi African-American history of Mississippi Campgrounds in the United States