Paul Turner (February 10, 1923 - December 18, 1980) was an American

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

pastor notable for his efforts in the integration of Clinton High School in

Clinton, Tennessee Clinton is a city in and the county seat of Anderson County, Tennessee, United States. Clinton is included in the Knoxville metropolitan area. Its population was 10,056 at the 2020 census. History Prehistoric Native American habitation was no ...

Integration crisis

Following the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

's 1954 ruling in ''

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segregat ...

'', Clinton High School was ordered in the fall of 1956 to be the first Tennessee high school to

desegregate Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...

. While twelve black students started attending the school, after continued physical violence directed at them by both rioters outside the school and white classmates within it, they decided to boycott school in an effort to force the federal courts to intervene. Rev. Turner, pastor of the white First Baptist Church of Clinton, and a respected leader in the community, felt he needed "to lead our church to do the right thing." Spurred by his reading of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

and the writings of Olin T. Binkley of

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) is a Baptist theological institute in Wake Forest, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. in Wake Forest, North Carolina. It was created in 1950 to meet a need in ...

, he began preaching against prejudice. After he and Leo Burnett, a supervisor at the local hosiery mill, persuaded the students and their parents to end their boycott, Turner and Burnett escorted them back to school on December 4, 1956, amid a hostile crowd. Upon his return, he was severely beaten by members of the local

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 a ...

. Despite significant injuries, the next Sunday he preached that "there is no color line at the cross of Jesus." The high school was destroyed by dynamite four years later; no one was arrested for that crime. The school ultimately reopened on the grounds of a former all-black elementary school.

Subsequent life

Turner hoped to attend

divinity school A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

but was long unable to obtain the money. In 1958, he moved to another church in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

, where he continued to be active in the civil rights movement. He later became a professor at

Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary Gateway Seminary ("GS") is a Baptist theological institute based in Ontario, California with campus in Fremont, California, Phoenix, Arizona, Vancouver, Washington, and Centennial, Colorado. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. ...

. After being dismissed from his professorate in 1980, Turner committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

. His family claimed that "his spirit was broken" due to his experiences in Clinton.

References

Sources

The Brave and Tragic Trail of Reverend Turner
Rachel L. Martin, 2015

Green McAdoo Cultural Center, Clinton, TN
First Baptist Church of Clinton website
Baptists from Tennessee 1980 suicides People from Clinton, Tennessee 1923 births People from Jonesboro, Arkansas Baptists from Arkansas Religious leaders from Arkansas Religious leaders from Tennessee Activists for African-American civil rights Activists from Tennessee Activists from Arkansas 20th-century Baptist ministers from the United States Suicides by firearm in California {{US-Christian-clergy-stub