Ralph T. Templin

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Ralph T. Templin
Born1896
Died1984
NationalityAmerican
OccupationMissionary, educator, publisher, and social activist

Ralph T. Templin (1896–1984) was an American missionary in India, and an educator, publisher, and social activist.

In 1954, he became the first white minister to join the then all-black Methodist Lexington Conference.[1]

Missionary Work in India[]

Templin worked in India from 1925 to 1940, where he became an admirer of Mahatma Gandhi's philosophies. He was active with the kristagraha (Christian nonviolence) movement there.[2] Because he would not desist from promoting Gandhi's nationalist direct action, the British occupation government expelled Templin from the country.

On his return to the United States, he founded the Harlem Ashram with Jay Holmes Smith to put Gandhi's philosophies to work in that community of African Americans and Puerto Rican immigrants in New York. He also became director of the decentralist, nonviolent School of Living in Suffern, New York.[2]

Activism[]

Although he served as an aviator in World War I, Templin refused to register for the draft during World War II,[3] and later refused to pay taxes for war expenses. In 1948, he was one of the founders of Peacemakers, the first non-sectarian war tax resistance organization in the United States.

In 1955 he engaged in a 12-day protest fast following the executions of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.[4] He also fasted after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.[5]

He refused to appear when he was summoned before the House Unamerican Activities Committee in 1965.

He lobbied for Puerto Rican independence and supported independence fighters like Ruth Mary Reynolds.[6]

In 1968, he defended the black power movement to white audiences.[7]

Works[]

  • Between Two Worlds: The Story of a Missionary's Experiences in International Fellowship (Fellowship Publications, 1948)
  • Symposium, is Puerto Rico Fully Self-governing? (1953)
  • Democracy and Nonviolence: The Role of the Individual in World Crisis (Porter Sargent, 1965)
  • "Emancipation from Prejudice" Journal of human relations Vol. 14 (1966) p. 74–87
  • American's Manifesto on Our Unfinished Business of Colonialism: A Call to Free Puerto Rico Now (1967)

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "White Cleric Joins Negro Methodist Conference" Jet 29 April 1954, p. 22
  2. ^ a b Cooney, Robert The Power of the People: Active Nonviolence in the United States (New Society Publishers, 1987) p. 120
  3. ^ "Accuse Father, Son as Draft Dodgers" Harrisburg Sunday Courier (Pennsylvania) 5 July 1942, p. 1
  4. ^ "12 Day Fast Held To Protest Atomic Spies' Execution" (Associated Press dispatch) Lubbock Evening Journal (Texas) 3 July 1953, p. 14
  5. ^ "Cedarville Man Fasting 10 Days Over King Death" Xenia Daily Gazette (Ohio) 10 April 1968, p. 26
  6. ^ "Dr. Templin Urges Freedom for Puerto Rico" Xenia Daily Gazette (Ohio) 11 October 1967, p. 15; "Pacifists from Ohio Start More Trouble" Washington C.H. Record-Herald (Ohio) 23 August 1951, p. 1
  7. ^ "'Black Power' Has Dynamics Minority Needs—Dr. Templin" The Pittsburgh Courier (Pennsylvania) 26 October 1968, p. 12
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