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Whittier
Celebrated
Jim Rurak, Former Mayor of
Haverhill
(05/07/07)
 Calvary
Baptist Church, which is now located just east of
Monument Square, started in 1872 as a prayer cottage in
Bradford. This year it is celebrating 135 years of life
in Haverhill. As well it should, the city as a whole
honors the life and works of this wonderful
African/American congregation. I remember vividly how
this church accomplished nearly the impossible given its
modest size and budget, namely, building affordable
home-ownership units on White Street.
In this same year, the city is also celebrating the 200th
anniversary of the birth of, arguably, its most famous
citizen, namely, John Greenleaf Whittier. He is known
foremost for his poetry, with Snowbound and The Barefoot
Boy. Last week we held a barefoot boy look-alike contest
and I was proud to be asked to be one of the judges. The
contestants made the imagery come alive again. And, while
contemporary literary critics often find Whittier’s
poetry elementary, I think they miss the purity of the
imagery Whittier’s poetry brings to life.
But there is another bit of pure power to Whittier,
namely, his uncompromising stand against slavery. This
power gave many slaves new hope and encouraged them to
journey north on the Underground Railroad. Rev. Greg
Thomas, pastor of Calvary Baptist, suggests that it very
well may have been Whittier’s fame as an
abolitionist that led a group of freed slaves to choose
Haverhill/Bradford as a place to settle, and to start
their “prayer cottage.”
For reasons such as those about which Rev. Thomas speaks,
and for the general stand that Whittier took against
slavery, the Calvary Baptist Church is honoring John
Greenleaf Whittier by making his life an integral part of
its own 135th anniversary celebration during a breakfast
at the Citizen Center on May 5.
It strikes me as quite unique for an African/American
congregation to be honoring a white man who lived in its
midst in the time immediately following the Civil War.
It is so unique in fact that I think it should be
something of which the city takes special note at this
time in its history. Psalm 127 begins with “Unless
the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in
vain.” The welcome Whittier prepared and which the
city of Haverhill extended those freed slaves in 1872
might very well mean that Haverhill is blessed with a
spirit which welcomes new peoples, immigrants or
emigrants, be they black, white, brown, red or yellow.
There have been setbacks, as Calvary well knows, but
there have been major signs of light, as the Unitarian
Church displayed when it welcomed Calvary to use its
sanctuary after the devastating fire.
Calvary’s celebration of Whittier is so special it
should make all Haverhill residents pray for the same
spirit of enlightenment which guided Whittier and the
same spirit of perseverance and charity which led Calvary
to reach across racial lines and honor someone of another
color as an integral part of its life. This is the Lord
building a house if I’ve ever seen it. I hope for
awakening of such a spirit and that it guides us, our
whole city, in years to come.
Jim Rurak is a professor at Boston College and is the
former mayor of Haverhill. He is seeking to unseat Jim
Fiorentini in the fall election. You can email your
comments or questions to Jim Rurak at JARandKAS@comcast.net.
*Send your questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com
The MAY 2007 Edition of
the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly
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All Contents (C) 2007, Valley Patriot, Inc.
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