Dear People of St. James’,
This past Tuesday, the community gathered at the beautifully-preserved home of Dr. Sidney White and Helen Fields-White for the unveiling of an historical marker.
Dr. Sidney White became the first African American dentist in Austin when he moved here at the end of the 1950s, and he established a medical plaza in partnership with other African American physicians in order to serve the community. He and his wife Helen quickly became a vibrant part of the fabric of the African American community, and they made St. James’ Episcopal Church their spiritual home. We have a book of handwritten minutes from Bishop’s Committee meetings from the 1960s, courtesy of Bertha Sadler Means, and it is clear to me in reading those minutes that, from the get-go, Dr. White was an important voice in decision-making in the St. James’ community, as he offered himself in service of a community that had outgrown its first building over at the corner of Chalmers and was seeking to make a move to their second location on E. MLK. He also was a voice of invitation and hospitality. He and Helen knew that in times of change and chaos, the Christian was called to create and nurture community, and that is what they did – weaving together resilient structures of relationship and good will that could be leveraged into courageous and sacrificial actions for the care of neighbor. It is was so good for many from St. James’ and the larger community to come together in their home to celebrate that legacy on Easter Tuesday, with the joy and hope resurrection fresh on our minds, because, from the love of Dr. Sidney and Helen White, came a new creation that brought new life and liveliness to the Austin community.
It was no simple thing to set up an historical marker to honor this African American couple who made such a difference. Great gratitude is owed to Alta and Lamont Alexander (Dr. White’s God-son) for working for a little over five years to see this accomplished. Challenges arose even until the last minute when the engravers of the marker decided to revise the language in order to privilege honoring the builder of their historic home, Walter Carrington, the white man who agreed to be the builder of a home for a black family in a white neighborhood which was trying to exclude them, instead of Dr. Sidney White and Helen Fields-White themselves. This was remedied, and the marker with its original messaging restored honors the courage of this trail-blazing couple, whose home served in multi-faceted ways: from family sanctuary to a significant space where the Austin community would be shaped and reshaped.
At the gathering, we heard from Jacqueline Smith-Francis, PhD, the African-American Community Archivist about what she had gathered from the Dr. Sidney and Helen White collection of papers, and St. Jamesians and others shared memories of Dr. White as golfing buddy, lover of jazz, photographer, logistical mind, service-minded community leader, maker of punch – oh, and that time he rolled up for some event with a whole bar in the trunk of his car – a good Episcopalian through and through.
In this time, we need to dig deep into the stories of our faithful predecessors who struggled against deep-seated resistance in order to create something good. I pray that this historical marker may be a sign that points to Dr. Sidney and Helen White’s legacy of a love that overcomes.
Rev. Eileen
