Fisher, Miles Mark

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Miles Mark Fisher
1899–1970

Minister, educator, church historian, writer

Miles Mark Fisher, a Baptist minister, educator, and writer, is best known as a church historian of the black church. He wrote several scholarly articles and monographs. His work on the origin of Negro slave songs established his reputation. Fisher's career in the church defined both his life and his teachings. Recognized as an outstanding black preacher and leader of his time, Fisher practiced a social gospel philosophy in his churches, reaching out to the community with innovative programs.

From birth, Fisher seemed destined for church ministry. As the son of a clergyman, he no doubt was encouraged to follow in his father's footsteps. His parents, Elijah John and Florida Neely Fisher, were former slaves who considered education and Christian service essential to their son's development. Fisher was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 29, 1899 but spent his formative years in Chicago where his father ministered at the Olivet Baptist Church.

Fisher's parents influenced both his educational and ministerial pursuits. His home environment was intellectually stimulating. Fisher and his father worked together to teach his mother to read. After receiving his elementary and high school education in the Chicago public schools, Fisher was sent to his father's alma mater, Morehouse College, in Atlanta. His undergraduate studies included basic training for the gospel ministry. He graduated with a BA degree in 1918 and was ordained for the ministry at the same time. After college, he was employed briefly as a secretary for the YMCA at Camp Sherman, in Chilicothe, Ohio.

Begins Church Ministry

Fisher devoted his life to church ministry and teaching. His career as a Baptist minister spanned several decades, from 1919 until his retirement in 1965. His early ministerial placements were short-term, probably because at the time Fisher also was in school, writing, lecturing, or on teaching assignments.

His first call to preach came in 1919 when he was assigned to pastor the International Baptist Church in Chicago. While living in Chicago, he enrolled at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lombard, Illinois. He was the only black ministerial student. The excellent preparation in Greek and Hebrew that he received at Morehouse benefited him, and he was able to offer tutoring sessions in exchange for carfare and lunch money.

Chronology

1899: Born in Atlanta, Georgia on October 29
1914: Completes high school in Chicago, Illinois
1918: Graduates from Morehouse College with A.B.
1918: Ordained as a Baptist minister
1919: Begins career as a Baptist minister in Chicago
1922: Granted a B.D. from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary; awarded an A.M. from the University of Chicago
1923–28: Serves as English instructor at Virginia Union University then transfers to Richmond Theological Seminary as J. B. Hoyt professor of church history and New Testament Greek
1928–38: Pastor at Sixteenth Baptist Church, Huntington, West Virginia
1930: Marries Ada Virginia Foster on September 6
1933: Lectures on the history of religion at Shaw University
1933–64: Pastor at Rock Baptist Church, Durham, North Carolina
1941: Awarded an honorary D.D. from Shaw University
1948: Earns Ph.D. from the University of Chicago Divinity School
1953: His book, Negro Slave Songs, wins the American Historical Association's outstanding history volume of the year
1954: Listed as one of the nation's top ten black ministers by Ebony magazine
1958: Wins the Golden Anniversary Award from the National Recreation Association
1965: Retires from active church ministry; awarded minister emeritus status
1970: Dies in Richmond, Virginia on December 14

The Anti-Saloon League hired Fisher as a lecturer in the summer of 1920. He traveled the country representing the league and speaking on temperance and moral living. Shortly after, he took another assignment at the Zion Baptist Church in Racine, Wisconsin. While serving there, Fisher was elected president of the Baptist State Convention of Wisconsin. He served from 1921 to 1922.

In 1922 at the age of twenty-three, Fisher was awarded a B.D. from Northern and an M.A. from the University of Chicago. He also began his writing career with the publication of two works, a biography of his father, whom he nicknamed the master slave, and an article on Lott Cary in Liberia, the first American Baptist missionary to Africa.

With his graduate studies behind him, Fisher moved from Chicago to Virginia where he held a number of pastoral assignments. He served as senior pastor at the Elam Baptist Church in Charles City County and at Second Liberty Baptist in New Kent County. He also assisted at the Fourth Baptist Church in Richmond.

While serving as pastor at the Elam Baptist Church, Fisher taught at Virginia Union University. He joined the faculty in 1923 as an English instructor but later transferred to the University's Richmond Theological Seminary as J.B. Hoyt professor of church history and New Testament Greek. During his tenure at Union, Fisher joined with a group of young radical scholars, who were often embroiled in controversial disputes. He renounced biblical fundamentalism and openly espoused an evolutionist view. He also declared that the virgin birth was nothing more than symbolism. When the Baptist General Association called for his dismissal, his friend, Gordon Hancock, head of the department of economics and sociology, intervened on his behalf. In spite of the controversies that erupted from time to time, Fisher and a group of young academics at Union brought distinction to the school in the 1920s. Fisher's contributions included a history of the achievements of Virginia Union University completed 1924 and a number of papers presented at annual organizational meetings. An article on the Negro and World War II published in 1925 discussed the migration of blacks from south to north and how participation in the church affected their lives. Fisher left Virginia Union in 1928 to take up his next assignment at the Sixteenth Baptist Church in Huntington, West Virginia. He remained there for five years. On September 6, 1930 he married Ada Virginia Foster. Six children were born to the couple, four sons and two daughters.

Serves Ministry at White Rock Church

By the time Fisher transferred to the White Rock Baptist Church, Durham, North Carolina in 1933, he was a seasoned preacher and church administrator although quite young. With a wife and growing family, he was ready to settle down with church ministry as his main pursuit. His tenure at White Rock lasted over thirty years, until his retirement in 1965.

The congregation consisted mostly of middle-class, educated blacks, but Fisher attracted others with his innovative community programs and leadership. His recreation programs attracted community youth. He sponsored a Boy Scouts program, a summer football league, a table tennis club, and a boxing team. His table tennis team toured the country. In addition he started a health clinic, a day nursery, an employment bureau, an adult education and job training program, and other self-help services. Fisher was also responsible for attracting black artists and lecturers to the area. His social gospel philosophy was criticized by some church members when he permitted the tobacco workers' union to hold meetings in the church. Fisher's ideal was for the church to be the central focus of the neighborhood, addressing needs not just one day a week but on a continuous basis. He planned for the future expansion of the church by establishing a building fund.

Fisher had a bold, forceful preaching style. Music played an integral part in his service, and he often featured different choirs and soloists. For an anniversary celebration in 1948, Fisher presented a program that was a distinctive blend of black history and Negro spirituals. This program was so popular that it became a permanent feature of the church's annual celebrations. Fisher believed that slave songs were some of the most original music of the nation. When he spoke on the history of the black church, he included some aspect of black spiritual music.

His contributions to the church and community did not go unnoticed or unrewarded. In 1954, Fisher was numbered among the nation's top ten black preachers by Ebony magazine. The National Recreation Association awarded him their Golden Anniversary Award in 1958 in recognition of the outstanding weekday recreation programs he had created for young people.

In 1933, during his pastorate at the White Rock in Durham, Fisher returned to teaching. As lecturer in the history of religion at Shaw University, Raleigh, North Carolina, he introduced courses on African American history. Fisher maintained a rigorous and productive schedule of preaching, writing, and teaching. In 1933 he wrote a history of the Baptist denomination published by the Sunday School Publishing Board in Nashville, Tennessee. Although a history of the entire Baptist denomination, Fisher highlighted the religious development of Negro Baptists who made up the majority of non-whites within the group. Another article in 1937 discussed organized religion and cults. Additional articles published between 1937 and 1963 were on black history and religion. Shaw University presented Fisher with an honorary D.D. in 1941, and he was inducted into the International Mark Twain Society as an honorary member.

During the summers, Fisher attended the University of Chicago Divinity School where he studied with William Warren Sweet, the church historian. Fisher completed his Ph.D. in1948. His doctoral dissertation was the first ethno-historical study of Negro spirituals: Negro Slave Songs in the United States became Fisher's best-known work. It offered a new and radically secular interpretation and was awarded the prize for outstanding history volume of 1953 from the American Historical Association. Fisher concluded that slave songs were manifestations of African culture and as such were not truly religious in origin but songs of protest born out of the slaves' longing for freedom. He combed through historical documents, manuscripts, song collections, and other documentary records in various collections, looking for evidence. Fisher attempted to recreate the events and situations that gave rise to the songs. He believed that religion played an important part in the lives of slaves, but it was less important than their daily labor or dreams of escape. He concluded that the American Colonization Society and other back-to-Africa movements had a profound effect on slaves. He theorized that the slave psyche was steeped in African-oriented stories that naturally flowed out in songs, describing oppression, separation, and alienation from the mother country.

Fisher also suggested that lyrics in spirituals referred to the plight of the newly emancipated slave. For instance, mention of the Promised Land was not a reference to future glory but a yearning to return to the mother country, Africa. Since there was little contact between slaves, some songs were merely communication devices to convey messages of warning or caution about escapes or rebellions.

Many were skeptical of Fisher's interpretation. Some of his conclusions were contradicted by historical writers, including James Weldon Johnson, who believed that Fisher did not present enough evidence to prove his conclusions. Scholars agreed that spirituals were born from the day-to-day experiences of the slaves but the tonal development of spirituals grew out of their religious experience. Biblical expressions, examples in nature, and personal experiences were all woven together to form the materials out of which spirituals were fashioned. However viewed by critics, Fisher's book presents a different approach to the origin of the slave songs and as such is an important contribution to the study of black history and thought.

In Durham, North Carolina, Fisher was involved in reinvigorating a branch of the NAACP. He served as its president from 1933 to 1935. He also served with the Durham Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance and was a member of the executive board of the General Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.

Fisher retired from teaching and active church ministry in 1965. Although he stepped down from the pulpit, he continued to function as an emeritus pastor until his death on December 14, 1970. After that, the Baptist State Convention's Unified Program established a scholarship fund in his name. A housing development built adjacent to the White Rock Church was named the Miles Mark Fisher Heights in his honor.

REFERENCES

Books

Bardolph, Richard. The Negro Vanguard. New York: Rinehart and Company, 1959.

Fry, Gladys-Marie. Night Riders in Black Folk History. Knoxville, Tenn.: University of Tennessee Press, 1975.

Gavins, Raymond. The Perils and Prospects of Southern Black Leadership: Gordon Blaine Hancock, 1884–1970. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1977.

Hill, Samuel S., ed. Encyclopedia of Religion in the South. Macon, Georgia: Mercer, 1984.

Melton, J. Gordon. Religious Leaders of America: A Biographical Guide to Founders and Leaders of Religious Bodies, Churches, and Spiritual Groups in North America. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999.

Murphy, Larry G., J. Gordon Melton, and Gary L. Ward, eds. Encyclopedia of African American Religions. New York: Garland, 1993.

Porter, Dorothy, ed. Selected Black American Authors: An Illustrated Bio-Bibliography. Comp. James A. Page. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1977.

Thorpe, Earl E. Black Historians: A critique. New York: Morrow, 1969.

White, James T., ed. National Cyclopedia of American Biography, Vol. 56. Clifton, N.J.: James T. White, 1975.

Yenser, Thomas, ed. Who's Who in Colored America: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Persons of African Descent in America. 4th ed. Brooklyn, New York: Thomas Yenser, 1937.