Who Was Francis Grimké, and Why Is He Worth Reading Today?
Pastor and Activist
Francis Grimké was born in 1850, enslaved on a plantation just outside of Charleston, South Carolina, and he spent his childhood living there, but also with his mother, Nancy Weston, in the city of Charleston. After the Civil War, he was freed and quickly identified as a really brilliant student, and so they sent him to pursue his education at Lincoln University, where he ended up graduating as valedictorian of his class. From there, he considered a few different options, actually, as to what his further studies and career might be. He ultimately ended up going to Princeton Seminary, which at the time was the place to go if you wanted to be a Presbyterian minister, which he increasingly felt called to be.
So he studied theology at Princeton Seminary, and from there, he became a pastor in Washington, DC for fifty years, during the end of Reconstruction and the period of the early Civil Rights Movement. His ministry is a really interesting ministry.
Grimké on the Christian Life
Drew Martin
Born enslaved, Grimké dedicated his life to preaching the gospel and confronting the injustice of his time. This book presents Grimké’s vision of the Christian life, helping readers address important issues within the church today.
I think one of the reasons that he is worth studying today is that he had a unique ability to, on one hand, focus on the ordinary, daily work of ministry—reading the Scriptures, teaching the Scriptures, praying with people, walking in life with people. At the same time, he also had a heart for social activism. He distinguished those things. And so one of the reasons I like studying him is his very careful ability to distinguish those things. But he also embraced both of those things. And so it’s really hard to understand the story of American Christianity or the story of the early Civil Rights movement without at least knowing a little bit about who Francis Grimké was.
One of the sad things is that those stories are often told without him. And so I think it’s important to study him not just to reclaim him from history but also because of the wisdom that he had and the way he carried himself in those various works.
I don’t think the NAACP would’ve been formed without his involvement. He is, to this day, the longest-serving member of the Board of Trustees at Howard University. There were so many other different organizations and institutions that he was instrumental in forming or leading or being a part of. Even one of the first and most important public schools for African American children in Washington, DC had its first classes in the basement of Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church.
So you can’t even understand the history of education in our country (or in Washington DC or for African Americans in our country) without knowing at least a little bit about Francis Grimké’s part in the story.
And the further you dig into him, there are more and more little tidbits like that. And so I feel really grateful that someone at some point put me onto him, and I feel like it’s my calling in life to help others become interested in him too.
Drew Martin is the author of Grimké on the Christian Life: Christian Vitality for the Church and World.
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