Barnett, J. Estelle (1895–c. 1980)

J. Estelle Barnett was a community activist, innovative lay leader, and formidable advocate for racial justice in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Early Years as Social Activist

J. Estelle Barnett was born in Mississippi in 1895 and, after graduating from Oakwood Manual Training School (later Oakwood University) did some church school teaching. Other than these general points, information about her early life remains elusive. The 1930 United States Census indicates that she was a widow, but the date of her marriage, the name of her husband, the date of his demise, and the reason for it are among the elusive details.¹

In her 20s, Barnett resided in Zanesville, Ohio, where she founded the Zanesville Civic League Community Center in November 1919. She persistently pushed civic leaders about the need for the center and they eventually promised to support her if she could raise $10,000 first. Much to their surprise, she raised the required amount in only ten days. The center provided black youth with cultural, educational, and recreational opportunities that they could not get anywhere else due to racism and segregation. It thrived into the 21^st century as a widely-respected community institution.²

During the late 1920s, with her husband deceased, Barnett moved to Cincinnati where she served as executive secretary for the city’s Young Woman’s Christian Association (YWCA). During her years in Cincinnati she was also a social worker for the city welfare department.³ In 1933 she headed the women’s division of the annual membership drive for the Cincinnati branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).⁴

Barnett moved to Columbus, Ohio, around 1940. Not only a social activist, Barnett was a lay activist in the Adventist church, seeking to build it up as a place of support and uplift for all its members. In Columbus her activities included running an enterprise called the SDA Resale Shop.⁵

The Ohio Laity Movement

In the Fall of 1943, the Washington Sanitarium’s refusal to admit Lucy Byard, a terminally-ill black Seventh-day Adventist from New York became the catalyst for a movement of protest and reform among the African American Adventist laity.⁶ Initially based in Washington, D.C., the Committee for the Advancement of the Worldwide Work Among Colored Seventh-day Adventists mobilized a loose network of branches formed in other cities. J. Estelle Barnett was added to the national committee in early 1944.⁷

The lay movement made a sweeping call for racial justice and equality in the church, set forth in the pamphlet Shall the Four Freedoms Function Among Seventh-day Adventists? Its goals did not include formation of separate black conferences, and many were skeptical of this plan when the General Conference, responding to the pressure for change, approved it in April 1944. Support grew, however, as the advantages of the conferences in empowering black Adventists with self-governance were more fully explained and the first “colored” or “regional” conference (Lake Region), became a reality in September 1944.⁸

In the meantime, a crisis over implementation of the regional conference plan developed in the Columbia Union Conference in which Ohio was located. First, the plan initially approved in June 1944 excluded the several black congregations in Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and West Virginia—the proposed new regional conference would include only the black churches in the eastern part of the Columbia Union territory. Then, in November, word spread that the Columbia Union leadership had decided not to go through with creating a regional conference at all.⁹

With the national lay committee dissolved, at the request of General Conference president J. L. McElhany, after its partial victories in April 1944, J. Estelle Barnett was the prime mover in reviving the Ohio Branch of Black Adventist Laity to meet the Columbia Union crisis. In October 1944 she mobilized numerous letters, petitions, and telegrams sent to the General Conference requesting the formation of two colored conferences in the Columbia Union so that the entire union territory would be included.¹⁰ In a letter to McElhany dated October 24, 1944, Barnett explained that the Ohio Laity Movement sought “an organization whereby all our membership could be reached and mutually benefitted,” an organization that would “more fully assist our ministers in uplifting our people Spiritually and economically to finish the work, and thus hasten our Lord’s return.”¹¹

In another letter sent to McElhany on November 27, 1944 on behalf of “The Lay Membership Units” of nine churches in Ohio, Barnett wrote:

Appeasement and evasion will not be enough to stem the rising tide of unrest and distrust among many who have all along opposed the apparent sanctioning of discrimination and prejudice everywhere we turn.

We had been able to a great extent to allay the fears that arose over the change of setup by showing how well it could work for the advancement of our work.

Now the very thing that the Council voted to give us [“colored” conferences] seems held back and far away. We definitely feel that conferences now are the only things that will cement the rift even partially.¹²

Recognizing the urgency, McElhany called upon the Columbia Union leaders to move forward, and a black-administered regional conference covering the entire union territory, the Allegheny Conference, became a reality on December 17, 1944 (later divided into Allegheny East and Allegheny West, effective 1967).¹³

The Christian Benefit Association

Barnett was one of the main organizers and president of the Mutual Burial Association formed in Columbus, Ohio, around 1946, renamed the Christian Benefit, Fraternal and Protective Association, Inc. in 1949, sometimes shortened to Christian Benefit Association (CBA).¹⁴ The CBA was a non-profit association chartered under the laws of the state of Ohio to help members meet major expenses caused by circumstances such as accident, disability, or death of a family member. It primarily served Seventh-day Adventists but was also open to relatives regardless of church affiliation.¹⁵

The CBA motto came from two scriptural passages: “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2) and “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak” (Romans 15:1). “The Association provides the medium whereby people of average means and income and those who have little or no insurance (because of age or some physical disability), may have some protection and avoid embarrassment when the cold hand of death strikes,” Barnett explained.¹⁶ The association did not require a medical examination, had no age limit, and applicants were not barred for any physical condition.¹⁷ During 1949 the CBA processed the claims of 15 beneficiaries, and had 1,000 active members. The organization also supported Christian education, leading a fund-raising drive for a new church school in Columbus in 1950 and establishing two scholarship awards–$50 for Pine Forge Academy and $100 for Oakwood College.¹⁸

In 1963, the CBA reorganized its board and re-structured the terms of participation in order to serve members more effectively. It gained the underwriting support of a major insurance company and continued to win the acclaim of both insurance executives and Adventist denominational leaders.¹⁹

Protest in San Francisco, 1962

In the early 1960s, lack of progress in the denomination resulted in racial injustice again coming to the forefront. Drawing on the legacy of the 1940s, black Adventist laity in Ohio again took the lead, forming the Layman’s Leadership Council (LLC) to speak out against continued racial discrimination in denominational schools, lack of representation in church leadership, and other issues.²⁰ Educator Frank Hale and journalist Mylas Martin led this effort, but J. Estelle Barnett was still very much in the thick of things.

At the 1962 General Conference session, concluding that there was no other way to get church leaders to address the issues, the LLC held a press conference to inform the national press of the persistence of racially prejudicial practices in the Adventist denomination. A report of the event in the San Francisco Examiner, describing Barnett as “wispy and dignified,” stated that she won applause in declaring: “We are not heretics, as has been said, nor are a left wing group. We are Christians.”²¹

Later Years

J. Estelle Barnett remained active in church and community affairs into the mid-1970s. She participated in both the 50^th (1969) and 55^th (1974) anniversaries of the Zanesville Civic League Community Center.²² Curiously, in view of her remarkable record of achievement in benevolent reform both in church and society, no obituary or record of her death has come to light. The last public documentation of her activity, dated January 15, 1978, is a newspaper listing of a senior citizens club that she hosted.²³

In 1983, in a fitting tribute to her legacy, the Columbus chapter of the Oakwood College Alumni Association was renamed the “J. Estelle Barnett Chapter.”²⁴ Since it is likely that the chapter identified itself with her after her death, it is plausible that she passed away between 1978 and 1983.

Sources

“A Fervent Plea for Adventist Integration.” San Francisco Examiner, July 30, 1962.

“Christian Benefit Association.” North American Informant, April-May 1950.

“Colored Situation.” J. L. McElhany files, Box 10991. General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Archives, Silver Spring, MD (GCA).

Justiss, Jacob. Angels in Ebony. Holland, Ohio: Published by author, 1975.

Justiss, Jacob. “Christian Benefit Association Re-organized With Greater Benefits.” North American Informant, January-February, 1963

Justiss, Valarie O. “Nonprofit Insurance.” North American Informant, January 1954.

“Local Seniors Active.” Zanesville Times Recorder, January 15, 1978,

Martin, Chuck. “Barnett’s Dream Lives On.” Zanesville Times Recorder, September 8, 2001.

“Meeting of Center Is Tonight.” Zanesville Times Recorder, March 19, 1969.

Morgan, Douglas. Change Agents: The Lay Movement That Challenged the System and Turned Adventism Toward Racial Justice. Westlake Village, CA: Oak and Acorn Publishing., 2020.

“Mutual Burial Association.” North American Informant, June 1948.

“Notice, The Christian Benefit, Fraternal and Protective Association, Inc.” North American Informant, October 1949.

“Oakwood Alumni Committee Meets in Florida.” Regional Voice, December 1983.

“Religious Notes.” Cincinnati Enquirer, June 17, 1933.

Rock, Calvin B. Protest and Progress: Black Seventh-day Adventist Leadership and the Push for Parity. Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 2018.

Schneider, Norris F. “Community Center Founded in Zanesville 50 Years Ago.” Zanesville Times Recorder, March 23, 1969.

Notes

1. J Estelle Barnett in “United States Census, 1930,” FamilySearch, accessed June 29, 2022, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X47Y-958; Valarie O. Justiss, “Nonprofit Insurance,” North American Informant, January 1954, 3.↩

2. Justiss, “Nonprofit Insurance,” 3; Chuck Martin, “Barnett’s Dream Lives On,” Zanesville Times Recorder, September 8, 2001, 1, 3A.↩

3. Justiss, “Nonprofit Insurance,” 3; “U.S. Census, 1930.”↩

4. “Religious Notes,” Cincinnati Enquirer, June 17, 1933, 9.↩

5. Columbus, Ohio, City Directory, 1940, U.S. City Directories, 1822-1895, Ancestry.com, accessed June 29, 2022.↩

6. Benjamin Baker, “Byard, Lucille (1877–1943)," Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists, December 29, 2020, accessed June 30, 2022, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=9CEA; Calvin B. Rock, Protest and Progress: Black Seventh-day Adventist Leadership and the Push for Parity (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 2018), 42-47.↩

7. Douglas Morgan, Change Agents: The Lay Movement That Challenged the System and Turned Adventism Toward Racial Justice (Westlake Village, CA: Oak and Acorn Publishing, 2020), 10-17, 187-205, 228.↩

8. Jacob Justiss, Angels in Ebony (Holland, Ohio: Published by author, 1975), 50-51.↩

9. Douglas Morgan, “Allegheny Conference (1944–1967),” Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists, December 27, 2020, accessed June 29, 2022, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=CCDO.↩

10. Morgan, Change Agents, 226-228, 236-239.↩

11. J. Estelle Barnett, president; B.J. Knox, vice president; and Bonnie L. Scott, act. sec., to J.L. McElhany, October 24, 1944, “Colored Situation,” Box 10991, GCA.↩

12. J. Estelle Barnett, Pres., B.J. Knox, Vice Pres., and Leona Merideth, Sect. to J.L. McElhany, November 27, 1944, “Colored Situation,” Box 10991, GCA.↩

13. Morgan, “Allegheny Conference (1944–1967),”↩

14. “Mutual Burial Association,” North American Informant, June 1948, 8; “Christian Benefit Association,” North American Informant, April-May 1950, 4.↩

15. Justiss, “Nonprofit Insurance,” 3.↩

16. “Notice, The Christian Benefit, Fraternal and Protective Association, Inc.,” North American Informant, October 1949, 12.↩

17. “Christian Benefit Association.”↩

18. A.V. Pinkney, “Allegheny News Highlights,” Columbia Union Visitor, March 2, 1950, 8.↩

19. Jacob Justiss, “Christian Benefit Association Re-organized With Greater Benefits,” North American Informant, January-February, 1963, 4-5.↩

20. Rock, Protest and Progress, 99-102.↩

21. “A Fervent Plea for Adventist Integration,” San Francisco Examiner, July 30, 1962, 1, 11.↩

22. “Meeting of Center Is Tonight,” Zanesville Times Recorder, March 19, 1969, 17; Norris F. Schneider, “Community Center Founded in Zanesville 50 Years Ago,” Zanesville Times Recorder, March 23, 1969, 19; “2 Community Center Founders Attend,” Zanesville Times Recorder, March 29, 1974, 13.↩

23. “Local Seniors Active,” Zanesville Times Recorder, January 15, 1978, 31.↩

24. “Oakwood Alumni Committee Meets in Florida,” Regional Voice, December 1983, 4.↩