Washington Gladden
(1836-1918) American Congregational pastor who supported unionization of the workforce and opposed racial segregation
Gladden became the pastor of the First Congregational Church in Columbus, Ohio, in 1882 and served in that position for thirty-six years. By the mid-1880s, he drew audiences across the nation to hear him speak for "bargaining rights for labor, a shorter work week, factory inspections, inheritance taxation, and regulation of natural monopolies." His goal was for "a gradual evolution toward a cooperative social order."
Theologically, Gladden is classified an "evangelical liberal." As such, he was biblically grounded and centered, but always seeking to "adjust Christianity to modern times" He helped to promote his evangelical liberalism in books such as Burning Questions (1890) and Who Wrote the Bible (1891). In Who Wrote the Bible, Gladden stated: "it is idle to try to force the narrative of Genesis into an exact correspondence with geological science."
Gladden was President of the American Missionary Association between 1901 and 1904. In that capacity, he traveled to Atlanta, Georgia to visit Atlanta University and meet W. E. B. Du Bois. He was shocked at the condition of Southern blacks and started speaking out against racism. Gladden's famous 1903 sermon "Murder as an Epidemic" condemned lynching. He resigned as President of the American Missionary Association to take up a position as the Moderator of the National Council of the Congregational Churches of the United States in 1904.
Washington Gladden had an important role in the Social Gospel movement. He became the social gospel's "most revered and respected spokesman" Gladden not only promoted a "Social Gospel of practical action" by his writing and speaking, he engaged in practical action by working for solutions. He supported workers' right to unionize, and he opposed racial segregation.
