This week in Christian history: Billy Graham holds integrated crusade, Thomas Chalmers, Moody renamed

Billy Graham holds his first integrated Crusade in the South – March 15, 1953

This week marks the anniversary of when the Rev. Billy Graham held his first racially integrated crusade event in the South, specifically in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Previously when holding revival events in the South, Graham had conformed to the standards of the region and had separate areas for blacks and whites, with ropes dividing the seating. 

However, by this time, Graham concluded that segregation was unacceptable and removed the ropes separating the seats himself, telling event organizers that “either these ropes stay down or you can go on and have the revival without me.”

“Billy Graham did not march with Martin Luther King Jr. By his own admission, he became too involved in politics during the Nixon administration. He was not perfect, nor did he claim to be,” wrote Clay Smith, senior pastor of Alice Drive Baptist Church in Sumter, South Carolina, in 2018.

“But for millions of Americans who had been touched by his ministry, a new thought formed: ‘If Billy Graham says 'no' to segregation, maybe I should say 'no' too.’”