University of Virginia Library

Joe Washington

Activist Religion Professor

Profile

By Philip Kimball
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

"A black youth entered the street car
and sat in a white section. The driver
refused to drive further. A mob of jeering
whites surrounded the streetcar and
dragged the youth out, kicking and
beating him. When he attempted to
defend himself he was arrested for
creating a disturbance."

This description of an incident that
took place in Louisville, Ky. in 1871 was
said without emotion even though the
speaker was black. Every eye in the large
classroom watched the figure as he related the
story with a calm, firm voice that only slightly
hid an undercurrent of tension.

The words were said by Professor Joseph R.
Washington Jr., a sociologist, a minister, and an
author. He is also one of only two black
professors in the college and is the new
chairman of the Afro-American studies at the
University.

After receiving his Bachelor of Arts in
sociology at the University of Wisconsin in
1952, Mr. Washington served as a military
police officer in Korea. He later attended the
Andover-Newton Theological School in Boston
and became a minister of two churches in
Maine.

Mr. Washington received his doctorate in
social ethics from Boston University in 1961
Since then he has taught at four colleges,
including Beloit College in Wisconsin and
Albion College in Michigan.

Mr. Washington is the author of four books,
including Politics of God and a bestseller, Black
Religion. Supporting interracial marriage in his
recently published book, "Marriage in Black
and White," Mr. Washington states, "The case
for black-white unions is fundamentally the
case for America. The only alternative is the
continuation of racism and its corollary of
heightened conflict."

Coming to the University because it "is
finally reaching a point when black students are
enrolling at a significant rate," Mr. Washington
says that "many things can be done to develop
a decent Black Studies program at the
University."

While Afro American studies presently
consists of only a committee of five professors.
Mr. Washington said that a "major concern of
the committee is to develop a separate
department," because "the University doesn't
fund a budget for anything but departments.

"We need money to pay for positions for
two assistant professors". Mr. Washington
continued. "We need people to create new
courses in black art, history and music.
Presently we are not in the position to get these
courses because we do not have the necessary
budget." Already efforts have been made by
Mr. Washington to contain the necessary funds
by next year.

Through his contact with black students at
the University, Mr. Washington said that what is
needed is "someone to work full time with
black students on extracurricular subjects.
"Through President Edgar Shannon's committee on "Equal Opportunity." Mr.
Washington has pushed for a black faculty
member to work with black students through
the Dean of Students office.

The friction black students have
encountered at the University, "can be dealt
with and is minor," he said. "It will become
major only if it is not dealt with immediately."
Mr. Washington continued to say that the
problem for black college students is "defining
who they are and what their purpose in life is.
Black students must find this purpose while
they are at the University."

The view of black students, he said, "should
be that this is their university and that they can
get a solid education here. They have to
develop themselves to full potential here in

order to make a contribution to the black
community, and then to the community as a
whole. The support they need is here but more
help is necessary." Black Culture Week
provided an important opportunity, for black
instructors to exchange ideas about Afro
American studies here and across the country
and for students to be confronted with ideas
they have not received here," Mr. Washington
continued.

To help achieve this goal Mr. Washington
invited 60 students to his house to talk with
Julian Bond after his speech. Similar efforts
have also been made to enable students to talk
with other visiting black lecturers.

Black Culture Week should be viewed as
"something black students did for the
University." Mr. Washington concluded. "It was
an opportunity for both blacks and whites to
learn about black culture in America today."