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Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Spring/Section33/Dr. W. H. Evans

< Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories‎ | 2020/Spring‎ | Section33
Dr. W. H. Evans
NationalityAmerican
EducationSeminary (DDiv) in Fort Worth, Texas
OccupationBaptist Minister

Overview edit

Dr. W. H. Evans was a white Baptist minister from Mississippi. He was interviewed by Lawrence F. Evans for the Federal Writer's Project in January 1939. At the time of the interview Dr. Evans was pastoring a church in Fairhope, Alabama.[1]

Biography edit

Early Life edit

 
Rural farm

Dr. Evans was born on November 25, 1876 in rural Mississippi. He began preaching as a young farm boy living with his grandfather in Mississippi. It was during this time with his grandfather, who was also a minister, that Dr. Evans began to feel a calling to preach. Nonetheless, he did not become a minister until after becoming a father.[1]

Adult Life edit

Dr. Evans lived most of his life in Mississippi and Alabama with his wife and 9 children. It was after his first 3 children were born that he decided to further his education beyond grammar school. He sold their home and moved his family to the city where his children could attend high school and he could attend college. During this time he served a church, worked at home, and took college classes. While his children were in college, Dr. Evans returned to seminary and earned a Doctorate in Divinity. Over the next several decades, Dr. Evans pastored many churches and saw his children grow up and lead successful lives. [1]

Financial hardships burdened Dr. Evans throughout his life. By the mid 20th century pastors made very little money. Even with his salary from the church and his stipend from the state convention, he and Mrs. Evans had trouble paying their bills each month. Due to the national economic situation of the Great Depression, the Evans family had to eat small meals and, for many years, could not own their own home. In their later lives during the Depression, Dr. Evans and his wife had to rely on care packages and small sums of money sent from their children to survive. [1]

Career edit

Dr. Evans continued his ministry until his death in 1970 at age 94. [2] Over the course of his career he served over 80 different churches and well over 11,000 congregants. Along with normal ministerial duties like sermons, weddings, and funerals, Dr. Evans also served as a community leader delivering speeches at patriotic events and graduation commencements. [1]

Social Context edit

Great Depression in Alabama edit

Alabama was hit particularly hard by the effects and aftereffects of the Great Depression. [3] Even as the nation began to recover into the 1940s, Alabama still suffered from the lingering effects of the Depression. This era reshaped many of the state’s social and political traditions. The inequalities present in the industrial labor force caused many people, white and black, to push for civil rights.[4] Dr. Evans witnessed this change firsthand while pastoring in southern Alabama during the Great Depression and in the decades following.[4]

Importance of Religion in the South edit

 
Abandoned church in Alabama

The Bible Belt has long been a region that encompasses the South and reflects the deep traditions of Christianity prevalent there. [5] Religion has traditionally played a key role in social and cultural history of the American South. During the Great Depression, many looked to religion as a source of comfort in the midst of the national turmoil. Christianity was a refuge for many who believed their suffering in this life would lead to great riches in heaven. [6] Poor whites during the Depression era became increasingly sectarian in the Baptist and Methodist denominations. For Dr. Evans this meant increasingly large congregations who were eager for his guidance. [6]


Notes edit

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Evans, Lawrence Interview.
  2. ↑ Find a Grave
  3. ↑ “Great Depression History.” History.com
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Downs, Matthew L. Encyclopedia of Alabama
  5. ↑ Bergler, “Youth, Christianity, and the Crisis of Civilization, 1930–1945.”
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Flynt, “Religion for the Blues: Evangelicalism, Poor Whites, and the Great Depression.”

References edit

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