Iwas 31 years old in 1944 at the time of
the organization of the first of the
Regional conferences. I was living in
Inkster, Michigan, rearing my family. I
had taken the teachers training course at
Oakwood Junior College, and had completed
that course several years earlier.
You might wonder how I happened to have been at the
occasion of the announcement of Regional conferences,
which took place in Chicago, Illinois, at the Stevenson Hotel.
At the time, my husband was doing colporteur work. The conference
had said that anyone who sold $1,000 worth of books
that month would get a trip to this particular meeting. And by
virtue of the fact that I was his wife, he took me along; so I was
able to be in on the proceedings.
Whos on First?
I would say neither Black clergy nor laypersons actually
pushed the start of Regional conferences. To be exact, the
meeting at the Stevenson Hotel was called by the White leaders.
Most of the Black ministers and workers in North America
were asked to attend. For the most part, they didnt even
know why they were being invited or what this meeting was
all about. So I cannot say that either laypersons or clergy were
pushing the start of Regional conferences. They did not know
that the Regional conferences were going to be organized
when they went to that meeting in Chicago. Regional conferences
were introduced by the General Conference, not the
Black brethren at the time.