Rev. Dr. Samuel Berry McKinney family papers

Collection — Box: 1

Identifier: MS 025.017

Staff Only

Content Description

This collection contains materials related to the lives and careers of Rev. Samuel Berry McKinney and his wife, Louise McKinney, particularly from the family’s time in Providence while Rev. McKinny was pastor of the Olney Street Baptist Church from 1955 to 1958.

Materials include three copies each of the memorial service programs for Rev. McKinney and his wife, Louise McKinney, copies of articles written about Rev. McKinney, a 1957 Christmas letter written by Louise McKinney to friends, a 1960 letter from attorney Charles Stokes in Seattle with an included letter from William P.H. Freeman regarding an offer to buy the McKinney family home in Providence, a 2016 Christmas card from Rev. McKinney, a collection of photographs of Rev. McKinney, Louise McKinney, their daughters, Lora-Ellen and Rhoda, and an undated photograph of the Olney Street Baptist Church choir, a 1965 booklet by Rev. Leandrew Leonard Johnson of Congdon Street Baptist Church, the June/July 1980 Rhode Island Black Heritage Society Bulletin! newsletter, the August 24, 1980, Annual Commemoration Service of the First Rhode Island Regiment program, a program for the memorial service of Rev. Roscoe L. Nelson, a flyer for The Notorious Triangle by Jay Coughtry, a 1982 program for the installation service of the Ministers’ Alliance of Providence, a sticker reading “Rev. Dr. S. McKinney Ave,” Rev. McKinney’s book, Church Administration in the Black Perspective, a 1955 booklet for youth counseling by the Urban League of Greater Providence titled “And the Walls Came Tumbling Down,” and the Classical High School 1956 yearbook. The collection also includes a digital copy of Rev. McKinney’s Spiritual Autobiography (1973).

Dates

Creation: 1955-2018

Creator

McKinney, Samuel Berry, Rev., 1926-2018 (Person)
McKinney, Louise Jones, 1930-2012 (Person)
Classical High School (1843-present) (Organization)
Urban League of Rhode Island (1939-present) (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

RIBHS staff may determine use restrictions dependent on the physical condition of manuscript materials.

Conditions Governing Use

RIBHS staff may determine use restrictions dependent on the physical condition of manuscript materials. The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to the U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.

Biographical / Historical

Rev. Samuel Berry McKinney was born December 28, 1926, in Flint, Michigan. He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of a preacher whose church invited civil rights leaders, like Thurgood Marshall, to speak before the congregation. His father, Wade Hampton McKinney, and Aunt Ada Louise Berry had a strong influence on his religious thinking. McKinney began attending Morehouse College in 1944, but from August 1945 until November 1946, McKinney served in the Air Force. After resuming his studies at Morehouse, he graduated with a degree in political science in 1949, then attended Colgate Rochester Crozier Divinity School, graduating with a divinity degree in 1952. On June 14, 1953, he married Louise Jones, a teacher.

In 1954, he was hired as the new pastor at Olney Street Baptist Church and was officially installed on February 20, 1955. In January, 1958, McKinney left Olney Street Baptist Church to be the pastor at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Seattle, Washington, where he served from 1958 to 1998 and again from 2005 to 2008.

Throughout his life and career, he was known for his dedication to civil rights and social justice. During his time in Providence, he served on the boards of the John Hope Settlement House, the Rhode Island Baptist Convention, and Rhode Island Council of Churches. A tutoring program was established at the church in partnership with Brown University’s Student Christian Fellowship. Under his leadership, Olney Street Baptist Church added 125 members, 80 of whom were baptized at the church.

In Seattle, he took his activism to a new level as he led the Black community as he addressed the city’s redlining, employment discrimination, and poor schools. He helped to found the city’s first Black-owned bank to help improve economic opportunities for the community. He co-founded the Seattle Opportunities Industrialization Center and served as the national vice president of OIC. McKinney and his family faced death threats and violence, but he stayed committed to using the pulpit to improve lives.

He passed away in Seattle on April 7, 2018.

Louise (Jones) McKinney was born July 12, 1930, in Cleveland, Ohio. From a young age, her parents fed her natural curiosity with the best education available and exposed her to ballet, opera, and theater. She graduated from the Flora Mather College for Women, the women’s college at Case Institute of Technology, now known as Case Western Reserve University. She went on to a career in education. She married Rev. McKinney in 1953. The couple had two daughters, Lora-Ellen and Rhoda.

In Providence, beginning in 1955, she taught English and Latin at Classical High School. She continued her career as an educator in Seattle as a teacher and principal and later as the Seattle School District’s Director of Early Childhood Education. Through the Mount Zion Scholarship Endowment, she helped provide scholarships to students in the community. Her philanthropic work also included serving seniors, people with HIV and AIDS, and the theater.

She passed away August 15, 2012.

Extent

.42 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The collection includes materials from Rev. Dr. Samuel Berry McKinney, pastor of Olney Street Baptist Church from 1955 until 1958, and his wife, Louise Jones McKinney, who taught at Classical High School in Providence during her husband's time as pastor. The papers primarily consist of items from their time in Providence, although there are some items from Rev. McKinney's life after leaving to serve as pastor at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Seattle, Washington.