Who is he?
Samuel Berry McKinney is a third generation
Baptist minister and a fighter
for social justice. He was a personal friend
of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
McKinney grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. He
heard his father preach the Social Gospel
with such passion that it passed down the
family tree to him. It rose up years later
in Seattle. McKinney led protests for open
housing and workplace equality. In 1961,
when a local church threatened to renege
on plans to host King, McKinney vowed to
go public with “nothing but the truth, so help
me God!”
The pastor never apologized for his
candor or his tough stands. He once
called attention to the rebellious acts of
Jesus. The Lord “raised some Holy Hell,”
McKinney wrote with admiration.
But the minister’s activism came at a
heavy price. As he championed civil rights,
McKinney and his family received verbal
taunts and threats against their personal
safety. Yet you’ll still find McKinney out
on the streets protesting. As he told one
crowd, “We’re not in Heaven yet.”