Monday, April 30, 2018

Clarion Ledger: Miss. highway to honor Anne Moody

By Roscoe Barnes III
Chairman, Anne Moody History Project
Copyright (c) 2018

#AnneMoody




The Jackson Clarion Ledger was one of several papers to publish news about Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signing a bill for The Anne Moody Memorial Highway. The story appeared in print on Tuesday, April 3, 2018, on page 7A. As you can imagine, we were thrilled to see the publication. A longer version of the story appeared online. It can be seen here. This on-going media coverage is a powerful way to share the life history of Moody and to keep her legacy alive.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Would you like to know MORE about Anne Moody? Visit here to
see the timeline of important events in her life history!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For more information: 
See the Anne Moody page here.
Questions about the Anne Moody History Project may be directed to Roscoe Barnes III, Ph.D., via email at doctorbarnes3@gmail.com or roscoebarnes3@yahoo.com. For updates on Anne Moody history and the on-going work of this community service project, simply follow this blog or follow AMHP on Twitter (@AnneMoodyHP). #ComingOfAgeinMississippi

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Another Look at Anselm J. Finch, aka Mr. Willis, in Coming of Age in Mississippi

The Controversial Principal Wrote a Letter about 'Preparation' in 1964 School Yearbook

By Roscoe Barnes III
Chairman, Anne Moody History Project
Copyright (c) 2018

#AnneMoody

Anselm J. Finch, principle of Finch High School, is believed to be Principal Willis of Willis High School in Coming of Age in MississippiHe also served as principle of Wilkinson County Training School.
------------------------------------------------------

Anselm J. Finch, former principal of Finch High School in Centreville, Miss., is believed to be Mr. Willis, principal of Willis High School in Anne Moody’s Coming of Age in Mississippi. While Moody shared a few pleasant words about his wife, Eunice N. Finch, she appeared to have disdain for him and his relationship with whites. On more than one occasion, she described him as an “Uncle Tom”-- a pejorative for him that was used by a number of blacks in southwest Mississippi.

But, as some people believed, he wasn’t all bad. Moody mentions Mr. Willis in several places. There was one occasion where he was caught off guard because of a stunt performed by her and other girls at the high school. Moody wrote about it with a tinge of humor.

My second ace took the audience by storm. When seven girls, including me, walked out on the stage dressed in extra short black crepe-paper skirts over black bikini panties that started below our belly buttons, and black paper bras, the whole auditorium rocked as we swayed into what I called "An Exotic African Cafe' Style Dance." Principal Willis almost had a heart attack before he could get up front to stop us. He came running up the center aisle waving his arms with saliva dripping from his mouth. He was opening and closing his mouth as he approached the stage. I don't think anyone heard him, because the air was filled with the boys' wolf whistles and the old ladies' cries of disapproval. The principal scrambled straight up on the platform and headed for us as though he was going to push us backstage. Looking at the audience, I said, "That's all, folks," and wiggled off as everyone roared. -- Chapter 15, Coming of Age in Mississippi

When Anselm served as principal of Wilkinson County Training Schools, Woodville, Miss., he wrote an inspiring letter to the Class of 1964. The letter, which focused on “Preparation,” was published in a 1964 school yearbook which was made available to me by Charles E. Johnson, former superintendent of education for Wilkinson County.

Anselm, a noted scholar and poet, was quite erudite in his writing. He wrote:

The mere word “PREPARATION” gives vivid reason for our strong conviction that you have caught the spirit and philosophy of your Alma Mater.

We at WCTS hold and maintain that subject matter is but an infinitesimal part of one’s education.

Anselm noted, “English that makes friends and helps to bring joy to others is a fine type of language to know.” Although courses like Geometry tend to instruct students about angles, “it does little in life if we do not understand the importance of accepting the proper corners in life by shunning evil and walking around angles surrounded by vice, hatred and jealousy,” Anselm wrote.

The principal believed in education for the whole person that includes training for the “hand, head and heart.” That, he explained, is something that “cannot be minimized in the fast approaching hour of technology, automation, electronics and the like.”

He argued that many problems could have been avoided had preparation been given the attention it deserved: “Many ills humanity now face might have been in the cemetery of the past, never to be resurrected, had more thought and effort been placed along the various avenues of Preparation.”

Anselm waxed eloquent as he brought his letter to a close. He wrote:

Preparation directs the current of security, it opens the gate to resourceful action, it puts into one’s breast the revered attribute of independence.

May your struggles in the future be supported and embraced with the arms of Preparation. You then can stand on a solid foundation, unshaken by the winds of adversity, and unperturbed by the turbulent waves emanating from the sea of inefficiency.

Your chance will never come until you have been thoroughly baptized with the waters of Preparation.


This letter appeared in 1964 school yearbook.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Would you like to know MORE about Anne Moody? Visit here to
see the timeline of important events in her life history!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For more information: 
See the Anne Moody page here.
Questions about the Anne Moody History Project may be directed to Roscoe Barnes III, Ph.D.,via email at doctorbarnes3@gmail.com or roscoebarnes3@yahoo.com. For updates on Anne Moody history and the on-going work of this community service project, simply follow this blog or follow AMHP on Twitter (@AnneMoodyHP). #ComingOfAgeinMississippi

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Wilkinson prison holds GED graduation

Eight men earn their diplomas

By Roscoe Barnes III
Chaplain, Wilkinson County Correctional Facility

#MTCchangeslives


These eight offenders received their GED at Wilkinson County Correctional Facility in Woodville. From left: Valedictorian Abel Armenta, Blake Burt, Tramell Warren, Jonathan Dukes, Allen Armstrong, Jay Magee, and Salutatorian Devante May. Graduate Eddie Ragsdale, not pictured, did not attend the ceremony. Seated from left: Deputy Warden of Programs Tonya Toomey, Education Supervisor Branton Lewis, and Statewide Reentry Coordinator Matthew Riley, guest speaker.
---------------------------------------------

WOODVILLE, Miss. – Eight men incarcerated at Wilkinson County Correctional Facility (WCCF) recently earned their GEDs. They graduated in a special ceremony in the presence of their family, WCCF staff, and other offenders.

Graduates included Valedictorian Abel Armenta, Salutatorian Devante May, Eddie Ragsdale, Allen Armstrong, Jay Magee, Blake Burt, Tramell Warren, and Jonathan Dukes. Ragsdale, who is now released, did not attend the ceremony.

“Their achievement is significant,” said Education Supervisor Branton Lewis. “Their scores were some of the highest in the GED program.”

“It’s a great achievement,” said May. “I’ve been wanting this for a long time.”

Armenta said it was a “great feeling” receiving his diploma. “I am speechless,” he added. “It’s really awesome. I want to go to college and study business.”

WCCF, which is run by Management & Training Corporation (MTC) of Utah, had four GED graduates in 2016 and a total of 22 in 2017. The facility is expecting more graduates in the near future, according to Deputy Warden of Programs Tonya Toomey.

Matthew Riley, statewide re-entry coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Corrections, gave the commencement address. He told the graduates that they now have an important accomplishment in their lives.

“You worked hard for it,” he said. “Your instructors saw something in you that pushed you a little further. That’s why you’re here today with your caps and gowns on.”

Riley challenged the graduates to “continue their pursuits of achieving academic and career goals.” He also reminded them of their support system, and how they have family and friends that are invested in their future. He said they will experience disappointments and setbacks, but they have to persevere.

Riley presented what he called his “3-D Method of Success.” To succeed in life, he said, one must have dedication, determination, and discipline.

Warden Jody Bradley joined others in offering words of encouragement to the graduates. “You have something to be proud of,” he said. “You earned this. Nobody gave it to you.”

#PrivatePrison #PrivatePrisons

Monday, April 23, 2018

"Turn around, Queen, look at yourself."

A Look at Eunice N. Finch as Mrs. Willis in Coming of Age in Mississippi

By Roscoe Barnes III
Chairman, Anne Moody History Project
Copyright (c) 2018

#AnneMoody

Mrs. Eunice N. Finch is believed to be Mrs. Willis
in Anne Moody's Coming of Age in Mississippi
---------------------------------------------------------------

I continue to be amazed by the accuracy and attention to detail in Anne Moody’s Coming of Age in Mississippi. I recently saw an old school yearbook that provides information that appears to corroborate a number of claims and descriptions in Moody’s book.

My friend, Charles E. Johnson, retired superintendent of education for Wilkinson County in southwest Mississippi, showed me his 1964 school yearbook that has photos of Anselm J. and Eunice N. Finch. The couple is featured as Principal Willis and Mrs. Willis in Coming of Age.

Along with the photos, the yearbook includes a letter by Anselm and a dedication page to Eunice.

The book notes that prior to working at Wilkinson County Training School (WCTS), where her husband served as principal, Eunice worked for 14 years at Finch High School in Centreville, Miss. According to the yearbook, "She assisted her illustrious husband in establishing the first high school in the county for Negroes."

In Coming of Age, Moody refers to the school as "Willis High." The 14-year timeframe for Eunice seems to line up with the time period for the school that was given by Moody. In Chapter 2 of her book, Moody writes that she was six and in the second grade when she became a student at the school. That would have been around 1946. She notes:

I was going to Willis High, the only Negro school in Centreville. It was named for Mr. C.H. Willis, its principal and founder, and had only been expanded into a high school the year before I started there. Before Mr. Willis came to town, the eighth grade had been the limit of schooling for Negro children in Centreville.

Based on Moody's recollection, it appears that the high school in Centreville existed from 1945 to 1959. The new high school, Wilkinson County Training School, opened in 1959, the year that Moody graduated from Johnson High School in Woodville, Miss.

Moody’s brother, Fred Moody Jr., has said the old Finch High School was torn down many years ago. It was located at the current site of Finch Elementary School at 1125 S Cosby St, Centreville, just off of Highway 24.

Johnson’s 1964 yearbook also supports Moody’s description of Eunice. The yearbook’s Dedication page recognizes Eunice for “her five years of unselfish service, interest in students and her eagerness to help them…” It goes further to note her accomplishments: “Since her arrival at WCTS, the first year of its history, she has led the drive for our flag pole, the beautiful stage curtain, furnished the various lounges and placed appropriate and useful furniture in our clinic.”

That description of Eunice is similar to the one given by Moody. In Chapter 8 of Coming of Age, Eunice helps prepare Moody and the other students for a Homecoming Day celebration. The year was 1954 and Moody was in the eighth grade when she was voted Homecoming Queen. Moody writes: “Every girl in my class knew that our queen would certainly be the winner because Mrs. Willis’ class always raised the most money. Mrs. Willis knew more about raising money than any other teacher on campus.”

After Moody became the Homecoming Queen for the eighth grade, Eunice, aka Mrs. Willis, worked to make her queen for the entire school. “Mrs. Willis and the whole class now worked to make me queen of the whole school,” Moody writes.

She notes that she initially thought Eunice was successful because she was the principal’s wife and “had used the school money from the snack bar and other places to make sure her class queen won.” But Moody later concluded that the teacher “won because she was better organized than the other teachers.”

One touching moment in Moody’s story is when Eunice brings her the Homecoming Queen crown. Moody was getting her hair and makeup done. She recalls:

Just as they were finishing, Mrs. Willis ran in with a crown in her hands. “Oh my! Is that my queen? How beautiful! Here, put this on her! If the rest of you are finished, go on out on the float,” she said to the other girls, who were sitting around looking at me being made up. They got up reluctantly and went out. The only ones left in the room were Mrs. Willis, the two girls doing my hair, and me.

When they had carefully pinned the crown to my hair, Mrs. Willis said, smiling, “Turn around, Queen, look at yourself.”

Moody became nervous. She was afraid to look in the mirror. But she assumed she must be pretty because of the way Eunice was looking at her. “When I turned I had to touch my face to see if it was me,” she recalls.

Indeed, she was pretty. And Eunice was there encouraging her every step of the way.

Interestingly enough, Eunice was also present when Moody began using the name “Annie,” which was changed from “Essie” because of a mistake with her birth certificate. When Moody went to school and presented Eunice with her birth certificate, the teacher announced, “Class! Class! Queen Essie is now officially Queen Annie.”

NOTE: Photo of Anselm J. Finch, aka Mr. Willis, will be shared in a separate blog post.




-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Would you like to know MORE about Anne Moody? Visit here to
see the timeline of important events in her life history!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For more information: 
See the Anne Moody page here.
Questions about the Anne Moody History Project may be directed to Roscoe Barnes III, Ph.D., via email at doctorbarnes3@gmail.com or roscoebarnes3@yahoo.com. For updates on Anne Moody history and the on-going work of this community service project, simply follow this blog or follow AMHP on Twitter (@AnneMoodyHP). #ComingOfAgeinMississippi

Friday, April 20, 2018

This Day in F.F. Bosworth History (April 20): Preaching "31 Questions"

By Roscoe Barnes III
Author, F.F. Bosworth: The Man Behind Christ the Healer
Copyright © 2018

#FFBosworth



On April 20, 1923, F.F. Bosworth preached "31 Questions," an important message on divine healing, at Alliance Tabernacle, Toronto, Canada. The message became a chapter in his book, Christ the Healer.

The message was said to be  part of his sermon, "Is There a Gospel of Healing?" It was viewed as his response to a critic of his healing ministry.

"31 Questions" is an example of Bosworth's ministry as a teacher and apologist of divine healing. His primary argument is that divine healing is available in the atonement of Christ. He contends that salvation includes healing for the soul and body. He argues in clear terms that healing for the body is a part of Christ's redeeming work. He supports his position using scripture and themes from both the Old Testament and New Testament.

Bosworth begins his message with a question about one of the redemptive names of God in the Old Testament. He writes:

1. Since the seven compound names of Jehovah, one of which Jehovah-Rapha (I am the Lord that health thee) reveal His redemptive relationship toward each person, do they not point to Calvary?

In question 31, the final point of the message, Bosworth quotes Kenneth Mackenzie. He writes:

"Could the loving heart of the Son of God, Who had compassion upon the sick, and healed all who had need of healing, cease to regard the sufferings of His own when He had become exalted at the right hand of the Father?"


 #ChristTheHealer #OnThisDay

For more information on F.F. Bosworth, visit here.

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Maria Woodworth-Etter, Prophecy, and the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906

New York Times Story Evokes Memories of Prediction Gone Wrong

By Roscoe Barnes III
Author, F.F. Bosworth: The Man Behind Christ the Healer
Copyright © 2018

#FFBosworth

Maria Woodworth-Etter
----------------------------------------

To casual readers of the New York Times article, Found Footage Offers a New Glimpse at 1906 San Francisco Earthquake” by Niraj Chokshi (April 14, 2018), the disaster may be merely an interesting story in our nation’s past. But to students of church history, particularly Pentecostal church history, the disaster evokes memories of one of the most prominent female preachers of miracles and healing in the United States. That preacher was Maria Woodworth-Etter (1844 - 1924).

During an 1890 revival meeting in Oakland, Calif, Woodworth-Etter and others predicted a tidal wave and earthquake would occur and destroy the Bay Area on April 14, 1890. People fled the area, but the prediction did not come true.

Sixteen years later, on April 18, 1906, an earthquake hit the city and left it in ruins. More than 3,000 people died in what reporter Chokshi described as “a tragic chapter in American history.” One newspaper at the time reported, “Nearly half the city is in ruins and 50,000 are homeless.”

Woodworth-Etter (formerly Maria B. Woodworth) believed the earthquake was a fulfillment of her 1890 prophecy, according to historian Wayne Warner. In his book, Maria Woodworth-Etter: For Such A Time As This, he noted “it was prudent that she not mention the fact that her 1890 prophecy also mentioned a killer tidal wave – a little of which San Francisco firemen could have used in 1906 to quell the raging fires.”

Warner has done extensive research on Woodworth-Etter, whom he called in one book, “The Woman Evangelist.” In his response to a 2009 blog post about the earthquake, Warner noted that Woodworth-Etter was 55 in January 1890 when she predicted “a tidal wave and earthquake would destroy the Bay Area.” The local newspapers featured regular reports about the prediction. Warner wrote:

The disaster was set for April 14, 1890 and an estimated thousand people fled the area for nearby hills.

What about Maria? She left with her team and set up her tent in St. Louis–far from the predicted tidal wave.

Woodworth-Etter went on to hold revival meetings in various parts of the United States. In 1912, she held meetings with F.F. Bosworth at his church in Dallas, Texas. She returned to Oakland in 1915. On her return visit, she mentioned the 1890 prediction, according to Warner. In his book, The Woman Evangelist, he cited a report she presented in her book, A Diary of Signs and Wonders, in which she appeared to claim validation. She wrote:

I remember how the Lord had shown me at that time the great earthquake that was coming on San Francisco, Oakland, and adjoining towns, and that I would live to work over the ruins. Now, after all these years, I saw that prophecy fulfilled.

Readers may dismiss the evangelist’s claim as nothing more than pure nonsense while some, especially Pentecostals, might see an element of divine truth in her prediction, even though it was off a few years. In Warner’s view, the earthquake prediction was a “false prophecy” that caused much harm as it resulted in “the worst scare since the Millerites experienced their ‘Great Disappointment’ during 1843.” Warner observed: “The good that was accomplished in Oakland during the Woodworth meetings was hardly worth the damage that came as a result of the false prophecy.”

While acknowledging that everyone makes mistakes, Warner wrote that “it was obvious that Mrs. Woodworth – who was definitely handicapped with little formal education and no theological training – chalked up several colossal mistakes in her Oakland crusade.” Unfortunately, there is no record of her ever admitting she’d made a mistake with the prophecy.

 ----------------
References:

“Found Footage Offers a New Glimpse at 1906 San Francisco Earthquake” by Niraj Chokshi (April 14, 2018): https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/14/us/san-francisco-earthquake-film.html

The Woman Evangelist: The Life and Times of Charismatic Evangelist Maria B. Woodworth-Etter by Wayne Warner (Scarecrow Press, 1986).

Wayne Warner’s Response to “San Francisco Timecapsule: 01.19.09”: http://www.sparkletack.com/2009/01/19/san-francisco-timecapsule-011909/

Maria Woodworth-Etter: For Such A Time As This (Bridge Logos Publishers, 2003).

-----------------------------
For more information: 
Visit ffbosworth.strikingly.com. Questions about the research and commentary on F.F. Bosworth may be directed to Roscoe Barnes III via email at doctorbarnes3@gmail.com or roscoebarnes3@yahoo.com. For updates on F.F. Bosworth history, simply follow this blog or @Roscoebarnes3 on Twitter. #ChristTheHealer

Friday, April 13, 2018

Members of the Anne Moody History Project

Working to Keep Her Legacy Alive




Members of the Anne Moody History Project
From left: LaVern Taylor, Roscoe Barnes III, Emma Taplin, Ruby Dixon
---------------------------------------------------

The Anne Moody History Project (AMHP) is a community service endeavor created by the staff of Wilkinson County Correctional Facility (WCCF), Woodville, Miss. Its aim is to promote and help preserve the legacy of civil rights pioneer Anne Moody, who was born and raised in Wilkinson County. Moody's hometown is Centreville, Miss.. She spent a short time in Woodville before going off to college in Natchez. Moody wrote Coming of Age in Mississippi, which was first published in 1968. #AnneMoody

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Would you like to know MORE about Anne Moody? Visit here to
see the timeline of important events in her life history!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For more information: 
See the Anne Moody page here.
Questions about the Anne Moody History Project may be directed to Roscoe Barnes III via email at doctorbarnes3@gmail.com or roscoebarnes3@yahoo.com. For updates on Anne Moody history and the on-going work of this community service project, simply follow this blog or follow AMHP on Twitter (@AnneMoodyHP). #ComingOfAgeinMississippi

Monday, April 9, 2018

F.F. Bosworth's Advice to A. W. Tozer

By Roscoe Barnes III
Author, F.F. Bosworth: The Man Behind Christ the Healer
Copyright (c) 2018

#FFBosworth



When we hear about F.F. Bosworth teaching and mentoring young preachers, we tend to think of his work with The Voice of Healing in the 1940s and 1950s. But there was another young preacher encouraged by him who went on to become a famous author of deeper life books. That young preacher was none other than A.W. Tozer, who is read and quoted by Pentecostals and evangelicals alike.

According to Lyle Dorsett, author of A Passion for God:  The Spiritual Journey of A.W. Tozer (2008), Bosworth took Tozer under his wing and provided him with advice on a number of topics that included teaching, evangelism, and divine healing. Dorsett writes: "Bosworth, a wizened and battle-scarred warrior from years of battling both the Devil and other Christians, generously took Tozer into his counsel."

Dorsett notes that Bosworth "urged" Tozer to fully accept divine healing, but to give more attention to his ministry of evangelism. In Dorsett's view,  "Bosworth helped Tozer see that some ministers have a strong and primary healing gift while others are essentially teachers or preachers."

Bosworth and Tozer were both ministers in the Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA), a denomination that believes in divine healing. Bosworth became one of CMA's most famous healing evangelists. In 1924, he published Christ the Healer, which is still in print today.

In addition to advising Tozer to embrace healing and to make it secondary to his evangelistic work, Bosworth reminded him of the need to spend time with those engaged in healing ministries. According to Dorsett, "He urged Tozer to be in fellowship with men who had healing gifts but not to feel pressured to do it all."

Bosworth also called on Tozer to "celebrate and support" those who were seen as actually having the gift of healing, according to Dorsett. Bosworth reportedly went further in his advice by addressing the issue of speaking in tongues, a topic of contention at the time. Dorsett writes: "Finally, Bosworth taught Tozer to respect the gift of tongues inasmuch as it is biblical." At the same time, he apparently cautioned young Tozer about giving the subject more attention than it deserved.

The extent to which Bosworth influenced Tozer is not known, and claims of Bosworth being his mentor are disputed by some scholars, including Tozer biographer James L. Snyder.

"To say that Bosworth was a mentor to Tozer is stretching the truth quite a bit," Snyder wrote in a 2015 email.  "Because Bosworth was part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, of which Tozer was a minister, Tozer supported his crusades in Chicago and even had Bosworth preach in his Chicago pulpit."

On the subject of healing, Snyder noted that Tozer believed in it and often prayed for the sick in his church. Such was not uncommon for CMA pastors. While Tozer may have seen people healed, he did not see "hundreds of physical healings in his meetings," according to Snyder. Bosworth, however, did see such healings, he noted.

"Bosworth's ministry was basically a healing ministry whereas Tozer's was more of a deeper life ministry," Snyder said.

Still, when one considers the enormous success of Bosworth in the 1920s, and his work with CMA churches, it would be hard to imagine a young Tozer not seeking and receiving guidance from Bosworth.

--------------------------------------

Would you like to know more about F.F. Bosworth?
Visit the F.F. Bosworth page here.

----------------------------------------

For more information: 
Visit ffbosworth.strikingly.com. Questions about the research and commentary on F.F. Bosworth may be directed to Roscoe Barnes III via email at doctorbarnes3@gmail.com or roscoebarnes3@yahoo.com. For updates on F.F. Bosworth history, simply follow this blog or @Roscoebarnes3 on Twitter. #ChristTheHealer

Friday, April 6, 2018

This Day in F.F. Bosworth History (April 6): Birth of William M. Branham

By Roscoe Barnes III
Author, F.F. Bosworth: The Man Behind Christ the Healer
Copyright (c) 2018


#FFBosworth

William M. Branham

On April 6, 1909, William M. Branham, friend and protege of F.F. Bosworth, was born in a log cabin near Burkesville, Ky. A controversial figure, Branham was the acknowledged leader of the post-WWII healing revival that spread throughout the United States and other countries in the 1940s and 1950s.

Branham's followers believed he was an evangelist and a prophet with the supernatural ability to read minds, diagnose sickness and disease, heal the sick, and see into spirit world and into the future with help from an angel.

Bosworth, author of Christ the Healer, thought highly of Branham, and he worked with him as a friend and brother in Christ. He once wrote, "I have never seen or read of anything to equal the healing ministry of William Branham."

Bosworth wrote an article about Branham titled, "Gifts of Healing Plus," which appeared as Chapter 20 in William Branham: A Man Sent From God, a book Gordon Lindsay wrote with Branham.

Branham is hardly known outside of Pentecostal churches. But in the 1940s and 1950s, he was a force to be reckoned with in divine healing campaigns. Through the management and promotional efforts of Lindsay, Branham became an internationally known healing evangelist who drew massive crowds of people in his meetings.

Branham's place in Church History is significant. Historian David Edwin Harrell Jr. noted, "It was Branham who unleashed God's miraculous powers in the postwar period." With the exception of students of Pentecostal church history, most people today probably have never heard of Branham. However, things were different during his prime. According to Harrell:

[I]n the 1950s Branham's name was on the lips on nearly every pentecostal. It was spoken with reverence and awe; it was a name that bespoke powerful miracles and supernatural happenings. (Foreword, The Healer-Prophet by C. Douglas Weaver)

In her book, My Diary Secrets (1976), Freda Lindsay wrote about Branham. She wrote in frank terms about his strengths, his flaws, and his eventual demise. Her book presents a view of Branham that was absent in the writings of her husband, Gordon. Even so, she was careful to mention the important role that Branham played in the divine healing movement. Here's an excerpt from her book:

Perhaps no minister in our generation had as great an effect upon the lives of so many other preachers regarding the supernatural as did William Branham. He came to the fore at a time when the ministry of divine healing and the supernatural was at a low ebb. But when men saw what God was doing again in the world through this simple man, they too were inspired to believe God for a greater outpouring.


#ChristTheHealer #OnThisDay

To learn more about F.F. Bosworth, visit here.



Thursday, April 5, 2018

Founder of Johnson High School Honored in 2015 School Yearbook

School is Featured in Anne Moody's Autobiography

By Roscoe Barnes III
Chairman, Anne Moody History Project
Copyright © 2018

#AnneMoody 


----------------------------------------------

Charles E. Johnson of Woodville, Miss., is doing his part to preserve and promote the history of the school system in Wilkinson County in southwest Mississippi. Johnson, who is now retired, served for many years as the Superintendent of Education in the county. For the last few years, he’s spent quality time assisting with the school district yearbook.

In the 2015 yearbook, Johnson featured a piece related to the life history of Anne Moody, author of Coming of Age in Mississippi. In a nice two-page spread, Johnson presented a Dedication Page to the Rev. Henry L. Johnson, the founder of Johnson High School, and a second page that featured the photos of the 1959 high school graduates. Johnson High School was a historically black school. 

Charles Johnson (no relation to Henry) described the school’s founder as a “minister, civic worker and humanitarian whose unselfish work spearheaded a drive to solicit funds which made it possible to erect the first high school building for black children in Wilkinson County in 1949.”

The Dedication Page included a color photo of Rev. Johnson. A copy of the photo is also located at the African American Museum in Woodville, which is run by the Woodville Civic Club Inc. The school, a six-room wooden structure, was located on Gaylord Street in Woodville. It was torn down in the 1960s.


Moody wrote about Johnson High School in Coming of Age. She began attending the school soon after moving to Woodville, where she lived with her father, Fred Moody Sr. “Meantime, I was going to Johnson High School every day,” she wrote in Chapter 17 of her book. She later wrote:

During that spring I hardly saw Emma or Daddy at all. Johnson High had become one of the most challenged teams in the state and I was one of its most valuable players. In addition, I organized Johnson High’s first gymnastic and tumbling team, ran track, did substitute teaching, and spent all day Sunday in church. Before I realized it, I was practicing for graduation.

Moody graduated in 1959, the year that Johnson High School officially closed, according to Coming of Age. The graduation ceremony was held at the Wilkinson County Training School. Surprisingly, however, Moody’s photo does not appear in the 1959 school photo of graduates.



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Would you like to know MORE about Anne Moody? Visit here to
see the timeline of important events in her life history!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For more information: 
See the Anne Moody page here.
Questions about the Anne Moody History Project may be directed to Roscoe Barnes III via email at doctorbarnes3@gmail.com or roscoebarnes3@yahoo.com. For updates on Anne Moody history and the on-going work of this community service project, simply follow this blog or follow AMHP on Twitter (@AnneMoodyHP). #ComingOfAgeinMississippi

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Fishing Spot

Wilkinson County Park, Woodville, Miss.

By Roscoe Barnes III
Copyright (c) 2018

#Mississippi

Wilkinson County Park/Photo by Roscoe Barnes III/March 31, 2018.
------------------------------

One of my favorite places in southwest Mississippi is Wilkinson County Park. It's where I go to walk, jog, and relax. It is beautiful and serene. It has a lake, a walking trail around the lake, and a nature trail. The park is also my prayer closet -- the place I go to meditate and talk to God. It is, to borrow a phrase from Ernest Hemingway's Nick Adams, my "good place."

VIDEO: Flags from Mississippi Gallery Talk - USCT invited guests Roscoe Barnes III and Dr. Albert Dorsey

  To view the video, please follow this link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSTjD0PeDes   This is a video of a fascinating and insightful...