noa_sohpcr_c-0071 c-0071 sohpcr noa yes Oral history interview with Paul Hardin Jr., December 8, 1989 Hardin, Paul Mathews, Donald G. Southern States--Race relations Methodist Church--Clergy--North Carolina Methodist Church--North Carolina--Clergy Emory University--Students Methodist Church--Southern States Race relations--Religious aspects--Christianity Civil rights--Religious aspects--Christianity Hardin, Paul Bishop Paul Hardin presided over the Council of Methodist Bishops during the 1960s and started the process of integrating the denomination. In this interview, he recalls how he got involved in Methodist ministry and became one of the first theology students at Emory University. He also describes some of the issues unique to leading a southern congregation, especially controversy over racial integration. Hardin served as pastor for the First Methodist Church of Birmingham throughout the early 1960s and remembers welcoming black attendees while excluding the White Citizen's Council against the wishes of his congregation. He used humor and personal conviction to oppose Governor George Wallace's segregationist stance and push white and black pastors past their reservations about working together. His commitment to interracial cooperation stemmed from his support of the reunification of the southern and northern Methodists in 1939 and from his father's early support for integration. He feels his life work contrasts with Martin Luther King's criticism of him and other progressive ministers in the "Letter from Birmingham Jail." The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the aggregation and enhancement of partner metadata. [Chapel Hill, N.C.] : University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill. Southern Oral History Program University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library Oral histories of the American South (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project)) 2006 Transcripts Sound recordings Oral histories http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/C-0071/menu.html Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 140.3 kilobytes, 152 megabytes. Mode of access: World Wide Web. System requirements: Web browser with Javascript enabled and multimedia player. MP3 format / ca. 152 MB, 01:23:00 Title from menu page (viewed on Dec. 21, 2007). Interview participants: Paul Hardin, Jr., interviewee; Donald Mathews, interviewer. Duration: 01:23:00. This electronic edition is part of the UNC-CH digital library, Documenting the American South. It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South. Text encoded by Mike Millner. Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers. Forms part of Oral histories of the American South collection. 1989-12-08 North Carolina Atlanta (Ga.) DeKalb County (Ga.) 20090729 162409