The name Rev. Ed Brown was not regularly in the headlines during the civil rights struggle, though his contribution to the movement was unmistakable. His role as pastor and adviser to many religious leaders in the southeast was a very important and necessary one.
“He worked with churches and counseled pastors, black and white, on how the church should relate to the social changes and how to deal with some of the complications and anxieties of their members about social change,” said former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young. “It was not a highly publicized job, but it needed to be done and he did it well.”
Mr. Young said Rev. Brown was a chameleon of sorts, who could adapt to different situations and audiences.
“He was a genuine Southerner who came up with all of the prejudices and anxieties of the South, but he worked thought them and was comfortable in any situation, black or white,” Mr. Young, a United Church of Christ minister, said. “He was one of those bridge personalities, I say, that in a time of crisis, helped each side understand the other side.”
The Reverend Edward Martin Brown III, of Atlanta, died May 23 at A.G. Rhodes Health & Rehab from complications of a heart condition. He was 93. His body was cremated and a memorial service is scheduled for 4 p.m. Sunday at Central Congregational United Church of Christ, Atlanta. A graveside service is planned for 7 p.m. that day at the Decatur Cemetery, where a portion of his ashes will be buried. A.S. Turner & Sons is in charge of arrangements.
Rev. Brown came to Atlanta in the ‘60s as the United Church of Christ’s race-relations coordinator for the southern states. He worked with many key figures in the movement, Mr. Young said, adding that Rev. Brown was “with us during the demonstrations and then he’d be with the white pastors trying to help them understand what we were doing in the demonstrations.”
The Rev. Robert H. Boyte, a friend and colleague, said Rev. Brown was “totally committed to issues of justice, fair play and equality, and that was driven by his commitment to the Christian faith.”
Rev. Brown grew up in Shreveport, La., and but spent time as a youth in Switzerland. He graduated from Duke University in 1941 and continued his studies at Yale Divinity School. In 1944, he graduated, was ordained and spent the next 68 years “totally committed to peace and justice for all of humanity,” said the Rev. Joyce B. Myers-Brown, his wife of 25 years.
“Being a white Southerner of his age, he grew up in a very segregated society and was conditioned by that to think and behave in a certain way,” she said. “But because of his faith and experiences he had while at Duke, he had a complete turnaround in terms of what is God’s intention for all of humanity.”
In 1970, Rev. Brown resigned as the UCC’s race-relations consultant, but he continued to work in the church and champion civil rights causes. In 1986 his first wife of 44 years, Freda Dick Brown, died. He soon found love with his second wife, Rev. Myers-Brown, who happened to be a friend of his first wife, Rev. Boyte said.
“We worked together in this struggle for peace and justice,” Rev. Myers-Brown said. “And that was his focus up to the very end.
In addition to his wife, Rev. Brown is survived by three children from his first marriage, Martin Brown, of Cuba, N.M., Maria Brown, of Baltimore, Md., and Paul Aubin Brown, of Atlanta; three grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
Where they stand so far.
Atlanta Public Schools
Proposed budget: $565.8 million budget, $37.5 million smaller than current
Jobs: 350 less, including 150 named in the CRCT cheating
investigation
Class size: No increase
Furloughs: 2 days
Other cuts: Reducing school year from 180 to 175 days; delaying step increases for eligible employees to mid-year
Slated for adoption: June 4
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