Texas II
1931-1933: Texas II
(More Entries and Links Are Forthcoming)
--1931 Serves once again as pastor of Hopewell Baptist Church for one year and three months, according to "The History of Hopewell Baptist Church"; see also Donna Hunt's 17 Feb. 2016 article "Hopewell Pastor Was Top Texas Novelist" in the Denison Herald Democrat http://heralddemocrat.com/blog/donna-hunt/hopewell-pastor-was-top-texas-novelist.html
--1932 Travels north intending to speak in favor of Hoover during the presidential campaign, according to a 1/14/33 obituary in the (Chicago) Spokesman http://docs.newsbank.com/s/HistArchive/ahnpdoc/EANX/12C569148E682FC8/0D0CB5FCC016CE55
--October 1932 is criticized in a 14 October San Antonio Register article entitled "On the Lily-White Bandwagon" for supporting Republican Orville Bullington in his unsuccessful run for Texas governor. Griggs is identified as the pastor of Hopewell Baptist Church in Denison.
--Late 1932 Starts the National Religious and Civic Institute under the auspices of the Baptist Union Ministers of Houston, according to a Feb. 1933 obituary in the Missionary Herald
--1/2/33 Dies in Houston of uremic poisoning (i.e. kidney failure), according to the death certificate, and is survived by a widow (Emma Griggs), an adopted daughter (Miss Eunice Griggs), a sister, and a brother (army veteran, poet, and songwriter Allen Griggs, Jr.), according to a 1/21/33 obituary in the Pittsburgh Courier, as well as “one aunt, who resides in Wharton, Tex.; [and] a cousin, J. S. Griggs, Chicago, Ill.,” according to the Missionary Herald obituary, which also identifies his daughter as “the wife of Dr. E. F. White, of Memphis, Tenn.”
--1/4/33 In "Sutton Griggs, Negro Scholar, Dies in 'Exile,'" appearing in the Memphis Press-Scimitar, Eldon D. Roark, Jr., declares, "He pleaded for goodwill instead of hate, co-operation instead of strife, understanding instead of prejudice--and was driven out of Memphis by Beale street politicians. That was the fate of Dr. Sutton E. Griggs, negro minister and educator--the man who many leading educators believe was the greatest scholar of his race." The article includes praise for Griggs from Harvard history professor Albert Bushnell Hart and University of Chicago sociology professor E. W. Burgess, as well as George R James, member of the Federal Reserve Board and the Memphis Chamber of Commerce, and Memphis Judge Camille Kelley, who termed Griggs "the co-operative link between the white and colored races of the South. He is always capable of seeing both sides of all race problems, and while eager to serve his people he at the same time appreciates the white race. He has a great vision."
--1/5/33 Funeral takes place at New Hope Baptist Church in Dallas. Although Find A Grave entries say that Griggs and his parents are buried in Dallas's Oakland Cemetery, there are no records verifying this.
--1/21/33 An obituary in the Baltimore Afro-American includes a picture of Griggs as an older man and claims that he was a graduate of "the theological department of Roger Williams University"
--7/1/33 An item in the AA states that the "wife of the late Rev. Sutton E. Griggs" is in Memphis "visiting her daughter, Mrs. Frank White"
--July 1933 Emma Griggs hopes to establish “a memorial library to serve as a monument” to Griggs that will include “the more than two thousand valuable books [Griggs] owned,” according to a 7/29/33 PC item
--May 1934 Is described as "having resigned before beginning active service" as ABTS President (in 1925-26), and his death is reported at the SBC annual meeting (Journal p. 79, 79-80)
--Aug 1934 Emma Griggs “is in the midst of a huge building fund program [in Memphis] in her interest of her new school that is to be known as the Griggs Memorial Institute so named in honor of her late husband,” according to a 8/11/34 article in the Chicago Defender
(Below: Images of the old Hopewell Baptist Church in Denison, TX, where Sutton Griggs and his father Allen R. Griggs served as pastor, and of Legacy Park, built on the site of the old Hopewell Baptist Church)
