Commentary: Remembering Gloster Current, an American hero

A UMNS Commentary By the Rev. Chester R. Jones*

During the NAACP's 97th annual convention in Washington D.C. this summer, I watched leaders of America's oldest civil rights organization unveil a life-size wax statue of the Rev. Gloster B. Current, a longtime NAACP leader and a United Methodist clergyman.

I was struck by the contrast between his small physical stature and the towering dimensions of his intellect and his commitment and contributions to racial justice and reconciliation in this nation.

After heading the Detroit office of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in the 1940s, Current served as the organization's national director of branches and field administration for more than 30 years. He was responsible for overseeing the programs of the 2,200 NAACP branches and youth units in all 50 states.

Retired Bishop Woodie W. White remembers him fondly as a mentor when White served as vice president of the NAACP's New York City Youth Council. Their paths would cross again when Current served on the organizing board of the United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race in 1968-1972, and White was elected the first general secretary of the new agency.

Current was deputy executive director of the NAACP when he retired in 1978. He then became the pastor of Westchester United Methodist Church in the Bronx, N.Y., for four years and, with his gift and passion for music, he later served as the organist at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Queens, N.Y., until 1995.

Revered as the last of the NAACP's old guard who accomplished so much, Current died July 4, 1997, in New York City at the age of 84. He left behind three adult children from his marriage to retired Bishop Leontine Turpeau Current Kelly: Angella Current-Felder, Gloster B. Current Jr., and John David Current.

Angella is the longtime head of the Office of Loans and Scholarships at the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry, and John David, a former missionary in Africa, is now a local church pastor in the San Francisco area. Indeed, their father left a rich legacy and bloodline of excellent church leadership.

With the unveiling of his statue in July, Gloster Current joins another rich legacy as his likeness is added to those of other great NAACP pioneers housed in the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum, located in Baltimore near the NAACP's headquarters. Among those figures is the renowned Medgar Evers, who in 1954 was the first field secretary for the NAACP in the state of Mississippi. It was appropriate that statues of both men were unveiled together at this convention, since Current was the last person to be present with Evers before he was tragically assassinated outside his home in Jackson, Miss., in 1963.

Being with Angella and Gloster Jr. for the unveiling of their father's wax figure was an "Emmaus moment" for me. We celebrated together the life and legacy of this quintessential United Methodist leader, this front-line community organizer who devoted his life to the quest for freedom and human dignity.

Gloster Current led with a strong voice crying in the wilderness, as he guided the NAACP and fought for victims of racial discrimination all over this nation. His strength, wisdom and courage are still with us today, and I will always cherish and honor his outstanding contributions to help his people achieve the American Dream.

*Jones is the top staff executive of the United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race.