Father Divine Affirms His Integration Mission

Father Divine was an early fighter for integration, and his Peace Mission remains one of the most unorthodox religious movements in America. He preached a message of equality among men and the hope of heaven-on-earth to black people (doing things like buying a hotel near Atlantic City, New Jersey, so that blacks could access the beach). His actions got him arrested, imprisoned, and, on one occasion, institutionalized in a mental asylum. However, his charismatic message of an interracial paradise on earth caught on and his Peace Mission became well known for its aggressive efforts to desegregate all aspects of American society.

Autograph dealer Anton Heitmuller rather inappropriately offered him some artifacts of slavery, and Divine responded with both pique and reaffirmation. Typed Letter Signed on his rather self-obsorbed letterhead, New York, October 13, 1939, to Heitmuller.“…Concerning the historical collection of slave material offered, we would not be interested in the same, and particularly disinterested from a racial standpoint of consideration, for it is the very work of my mission to break down the segregated barrier of so-called races, creeds and colors, in the recognition of the unity of all men, as ‘Out of one blood God formed all the nations of the earth.’ With best wishes to you, desiring that you might be as I am, this leaves me well, healthy, joyful, peaceful, lively, loving, successful, prosperous and happy in the spirit, body and mind and in every organ, muscle, sinew, joint, limb, vein and bone and even in every atom, fiber and cell of my bodily form.”