By Vincent Hall
“We are free only if we face the challenge of freedom, do the work of freedom, fight the fight of freedom, and die the death for freedom.
– Dr. Charles Gilchrist Adams
The “Harvard Hooper” transitioned to that higher realm the other day. That may not be significant to most, but the news was bittersweet to those who knew him. The fact that he was a Black graduate from Harvard was notable, but not the only highlight of his life.
Richard Theodore Greener was the first Black graduate in 1870. The AB undergrad degree he earned led to his successful life as a lawyer, professor, and diplomat.
W. E. B. Du Bois earned the distinction of being the first Black person to receive a Ph.D. in 1895. He led the Niagara Movement, which led to the NAACP, wrote scholarly books, and directed the Black intelligentsia. One commentator said that Du Bois was the first sociologist to articulate the agency of the oppressed. His classic “The Souls of Black Folk” is still considered one of his greatest works.
Charles Gilchrist Adams earned a degree from Harvard in 1964 and became a powerhouse in the pulpit and community. He gained the national spotlight as a rousing repository of the Gospel. The Harvard Review capsulized his life in a few achievement-filled paragraphs.
“Reverend Adams was a renowned religious leader, community advocate, and honored graduate of Harvard Divinity School—as well as a deeply loving family man and dedicated friend to many. He was also an exemplary and beloved member of the HDS faculty.” “Most assuredly, the projects he began will go on because of the lives he touched and the legacy he leaves.”
Rev. Adams was a mouthpiece of the biblical prophets to the historic Black church. In his sermons, he skillfully weaved together histories of tragedy and biblical narratives of hope and resistance to remind the church of its obligation to heal and transform the body of Christ,” said Johnson.
“He will be remembered as one the most brilliant preachers of the late-twentieth century. But he was also an outstanding visionary leader in Detroit, where he shepherded the establishment of new businesses, schools, and housing in African American communities ignored by influential developers.”
Tik-Tok aficionados now know him for another reason. You have no doubt run across a post of a preacher in the “hooping” stage. He was making his “close” and hitting with rapid-fire precision.
“I wish I had 10,000 tongues to say Thank you! (To God) Adams went on to say thanks in at least 15 languages, from Greek, to Italian, to Russian, Nigerian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and more.
Tik-Tok fans who have been enticed by his oratory and the brilliance of his hermeneutics should listen to the entire sermon. It was his masterpiece and stands among the top by Black preachers of all eras.
“Drunk on the Eve of Reconstruction” is a call for service and sobriety among Black people. Adams uses the story of Noah and the specter of his drunkenness to make a point. Adams suggests that Black people in America have neither the time or luxury of sleeping or sleepwalking through life in these “yet-to-be United States.”
“We would have greater churches if we were more serious, more sober, and more alert. We could redevelop and empower our own community, but the tragedy is our helpless listless condition in the face of glorious opportunities which we are missing because we can’t see them and can’t see them because we are drunk.
Perhaps not drunk with wine but drunk with the wrong attitude or drunk with an ingrown preoccupation with self, or drunk with insularity, narrowness of vision, and arrogance. Some are drunk with ruthlessness, foolishness, recklessness, thoughtlessness, and droop with worldliness, secularity and bigotry, forgetfulness and materialism, guilt, grief, and regret.
Wine and weed are not the only causes of drunkenness; we may indeed find ourselves physically sober today yet morally wobbly and woozy or spiritually weakened.”
Whatever you think of the “Harvard Hooper,” the words he preached 30 years ago at Morehouse College are no less harrowing and valid.
Sleep well, brother! You fought the fight for freedom!
Vincent L. Hall is an author, activist, award-winning columnist and a lifelong Drapetomaniac!
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