Henry Elkins

Reverend Doctor Henry G. Elkins Jr. (also known as Hank Elkins) (born February 13, 1937) is best known for his early work in the civil rights movement. In the early 1960s Elkins served as assistant pastor to Martin Luther King Jr. at Ebenezer Baptist Church. He lived with the King family and helped lead civil rights activities. In the early 1970s Elkins switched career paths and became an American Public Health and International Development scholar at Columbia University and then worked with the Population Council and USAID. .

Henry G. Elkins Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (left), Elkins (centered), and Alberta Williams King, Martin Luther King's mother (right) at Ebeneezer in 1962
Born (1937-02-13) February 13, 1937
NationalityAmerican
EducationYale University, B.A. (1959)
Southeast Seminary, B.D. (1962)
University of Chicago, Ph.D. (1970)

Education

Elkins graduated from Yale University in 1959 with a B.A. in History. He earned a B.D. in divinity from Southeast Seminary in 1962. Later Elkins switched from ministry and earned a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago in 1972.[1]

Civil Rights Work

In the early 1960s, Elkins was active in the Civil Rights Movement and worked closely with the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.[2] Elkins served as Dr. King's Assistant Pastor at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta in 1962,[3] during which time he lived with the King family.

Elkins lived and worked with King[4] during the Albany Movement, an early stage in the civil rights era.[5] King's autobiography and other sources describe Elkins' visits to King in the Albany Jail, to provide reading material and brief King on ongoing protests.[6][7]

After King's release, King and others were disappointed with what they viewed as the city's reneging on promises of integration. In response to Albany Police Chief Laurie Pritchett's closing of white-only parks following integration efforts, Reverend Elkins (who was Caucasian)[8] teamed up with black Reverend Joseph Smith and William Kunstler to led an integrated group to Albany's black-only Carver Park to swim and play tennis.[9] Police Chief Pritchett's reaction -- "Call up Carver and have that closed too"—was notable in that it established a similar approach to black-and white-only establishments.[10][11]

In 1963, following his stint at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Elkins became the director of the United Christian Campus Ministry at North Carolina College[12] (since renamed North Carolina Central University), an historically black college, in Durham, NC. He also worked as director of the school's branch of the United Southern Christian Fellowship Foundation.[13] There he helped lead non-violent protests and sit-ins at whites-only establishments in the Raleigh-Durham area.

Career in Academia and International Development

After his civil rights and ministerial work, Reverend Elkins entered the doctoral program in Sociology at the University of Chicago, where he studied under demographer Donald J. Bogue[14] and published papers together. Following dissertation work in Bogota, Colombia, Dr. Elkins became a research scientist at Columbia University in the Department of Public Health. He later moved to the Population Council and then to Management Sciences for Health. He worked as a public health specialist and demographer in many parts of the developing world.[15][16]

References
  1. King, M. L., Carson, C., & Carson, S. (2014). The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Volume VII: To Save the Soul of ... - Martin Luther King - Google Books. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520282698. Retrieved 2017-06-10.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. Rev M L King's Diary in Jail Jet. Johnson Publishing Company, 23 Aug 1962, p19
  3. Negroes Jailed for Marching, Independent (Long Beach, California) July 12, 1962, page 9, accessed June 12, 2017 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11646694/negroes_jailed_for_marching/
  4. David P. Cline. From Reconciliation to Revolution: The Student Interracial Ministry, Liberal Christianity, and the Civil Rights Movement. UNC Press Books, Sep 19, 2016, p39-41
  5. Carson, Clayborne (1 January 2001). The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 9780759520370 – via Google Books.
  6. "Rev M.L. King's Diary in Jail." Jet Magazine. August 23,1962. pp. 19
  7. Carson, Clayborne (1 January 2001). The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 9780759520370 – via Google Books.
  8. Kunstler, William Moses. Deep in My Heart. Morrow, 1966. p122
  9. Officials Release King But Don't Keep Promise Jet, Johnson Publishing Company, Aug 23, 1962, Vol 22, No 18, p 9
  10. "Officials Release King But Don't Keep Promise." Jet Magazine. August 23,1962. p. 9
  11. "Police Padlock Albany Parks." Abilene Reporter-News. Abilene, TX. August 12, 1962. p. 66.
  12. "Microsoft Word - Christian.Ministry.doc" (PDF). Retrieved 2017-06-10.
  13. Judge Preyer's Address will Open Institute Here, Greensboro Record (Greensboro, North Carolina), Thursday, February 21, 1963, page 18
  14. "Population Association of America". Populationassociation.org. 2017-01-31. Retrieved 2017-06-10.
  15. http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNABE415.pdf
  16. http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PDAAL759.pdf&usg=AFQjCNFDjWEbiuHjQihx8RaL9uAQnlm5Wg&sig2=NrBSAc17HPVoURs-lzethw%5B%5D
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