Divine, Father

Divine, Father, c.1882–1965, African-American religious leader, founder of the Peace Mission movement, b. probably near Savannah, Ga. and named George Baker. After preaching in the South, he moved to Harlem (1915) in New York City, became one of the neighborhood's biggest landlords, acquired wealth through other businesses, including restaurants and grocery stores, and began styling himself Major M. J. Divine, later Father Divine. Although once dismissed as a cult leader, he built the largest religious movement in northern ghettos during the Great Depression. His role as an early civil-rights activist—he led antilynching campaigns, instituted economic cooperatives, and organized political action against racial discrimination—has come to be more appreciated. The movement spread beyond New York City to other places in the United States and abroad, sometimes after the group sent whites to purchase property in segregated areas. During the 1940s, his health and influence declined, but his movement symbolized the progressive spirit in the black church and helped define the church's active role in the civil-rights movement.

Bibliography

See S. Harris, Father Divine (rev. ed. 1971); K. E. Burnham, God Comes to America (1979); R. Weisbrot, Father Divine (1984); J. Watts, God, Harlem U.S.A. (1992).

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Divine, Father

 orig. George Baker

(born 1880?, Georgia?, U.S.—died Sept. 10, 1965, Philadelphia, Pa.) U.S. religious leader. Reportedly born on a plantation, he began preaching in 1899 in the South and later in Baltimore, Md., as “The Messenger.” He settled in New York City in 1915 and adopted the name Major J. Devine (later altered to Father Divine). In 1919 he established his first communal settlement in Sayville on Long Island, and he founded the Peace Mission movement. His predominantly black following expanded rapidly in the 1930s and '40s, and his settlements, called “heavens,” eventually numbered about 170. He taught his followers to renounce personal property, and the strict moral code he preached included celibacy and a ban on alcohol and tobacco. Many of his followers, called “angels,” believed him to be God.

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Divine, Father See Baker, George.