Edler G. Hawkins
Edler Garnett Hawkins was born on this date in 1908. He was a Black minister and civil rights activist through the Presbyterian Church.
Hawkins, born in the Bronx, New York, was the son of Albert and Annie Lee Hawkins. He received his bachelor of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in 1938. Hawkins became the first pastor of Saint Augustine Presbyterian Church in the Bronx. In 1964, he became the first African American moderator of the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church. As a member of the Presbyterian Interracial Council, Hawkins promoted involvement in the American Civil Rights Movement.
Edler Hawkins retired in 1970 to join the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary as a professor of Black studies. He died on December 18, 1977.
An Encyclopedia of African American Christian Heritage
by Marvin Andrew McMickle
Judson Press, Copyright 2002
ISBN 0-817014-02-0
