William Astor Kirk

Kirk was born and reared on a 29-acre farm his father had inherited. His daily activities included caring for livestock, milking the cows, building the kitchen fire, drawing water from the well, and gathering eggs. He walked 4 miles to get the mail 3 times a week, picked cotton, hitched the wagon and went with his father to the village each month. He chopped wood and plowed the fields. While plowing behind a mule at about 15 years of age he had a very clear "road to Damascus", transformational moment, where he resolved to do something different than farm like his father.[7]

Kirk's immediate family belonged to the Macedonia United Methodist Church in Marion County. At a regular weekly "revival service" where his grandmother had led him to, he found himself alone on the "mourner's bench". There, at age 13 and feeling pressure from the visiting preacher he "accepted Christ" and joined the Macedonia church. Looking back he had no regrets. Kirk later wrote that this experience contributed to his becoming a leader to eliminate involuntary racial segregation in the United Methodist Church.[7]

Kirk worked as an organizer for the Austin chapter of the NAACP 1940s and became a leader. When the state NAACP challenged school districts in LaGrange and Waxahachie to test their separate but equal schools in Federal courts, Kirk was enlisted to help. He made extensive studies in both districts and provided expert witness testimony in the Waxahachie Independent School District case, where the judge ruled in the NAACP's favor. The LaGrange Independent School District agreed to immediate corrective action and settled the suit.

Through peaceful protests he helped end segregation at the Austin Public Library.[2][4][3] At that time Blacks were only welcomed at George Washington Carver branch library in East Austin. Kirk determined there was no statute barring blacks from using the main library or other branches. He was told equals access was assured because he could order books and they would be transferred to the Carver branch. Kirk purposely "overburdened" the system to protest this arrangement. He requested multi-volume references materials, challenging the system. In the summer of 1951 Kirk requested the City Council make a declaration on the policy. They referred the request to the City Library Commission, who recommended no change to the policy. Kirk then made a presentation to the City Council and personally lobbied the swing Council member. After a postponement, the city council voted on December 27, 1951 to desegregate the Austin Public Library.[7]

In 1948 at the request of two of his Huston-Tillotson students, Kirk sought to change the practice of segregation at Zilker Park and Barton Creek Pool. He met with the director of Austin's Park and Recreations who was sympathetic. Together they initiated a plan of unpublicized student visits and use of various facilities at Zilker Park. Subsequently, Blacks began to use the park and also the pool, which is located within the park.

In April 1948 college students from historically black Texas schools converged at Huston-Tillotson with the intention of applying to University of Texas graduate school. This was after Thurgood Marshall had been in Austin to argue the Sweatt v. Painter case and had said at a rally that applications from Blacks were forthcoming. When thirty-three were barred from submitting their applications for grad school at UT, the group went to Senate chamber. Governor Jester heard their message. Kirk whose own suit was pending spoke for the group and was quoted in the local press. The UT registrar directed them to apply to Texas State University for Negroes (TSUN), saying "That's the law in Texas".

The NAACP supported Heman Sweatt in his challenge to segregated education facilities at the University of Texas. Before the case was appealed in the federal courts, the Texas legislature had pursued "separate but equal" as a solution, creating the Texas State University for Negroes for graduate studies.

In December 1947 Kirk applied to grad school at the University of Texas (UT) and was offered a spot at TSUN, but because the TSUN lacked adequate resources for his program, he declined. Kirk applied again in 1948 and was admitted to TSUN, however his courses were not going to be taught at the Austin campus. Finally in the fall of 1949, he was assigned classes that were taught by Austin UT professors but held at the YMCA. Kirk found this unacceptable and demanded his tuition be refunded.

The University of Texas allowed Kirk to attend classes on campus in the spring of 1950, but stipulated that he sit at the back of the classroom and have a ring of metal placed around his desk. This was to ensure that Kirk's "blackness wouldn't rub off on the white students." Kirk threatened to sue.

In June 1950, United States Supreme Court decided the Sweatt v. Painter case and found against segregated graduate level education. Kirk acted quickly and in the fall of 1950 he enrolled with Heman Sweatt and four other African-American men at the University of Texas.[3]

Kirk had a lifelong involvement with the United Methodist Church, often opposing segregation, both official and unofficial, within the denomination. He fought successfully to end institutional segregation in the church.

From 1961 to 1966 he was the director of the public affairs department of the Board of Church and Society. In 1987 and 1988 he was the board's interim executive.

While a professor at Huston-Tillotson College in 1960, he became secretary of the Committee of Five. This group had a mandate to end racial segregation within the denomination.[1]

At the denomination's 1964 annual conference, Kirk was deeply angered by a proposal to continue segregated churches within the United Methodist Church. He successfully championed a motion, known as "The Kirk Amendment," which committed the denomination to ending the institutional practice of allowing segregation of African Americans within the church.[4]

Later he became chair of the Committee of Five and played a part in negotiating the mergers of North Carolina-Virginia and the Delaware annual conferences.[4]

Kirk's fight to end segregation in the church was not over, however. In 1965 southern church leaders sought the right to preserve segregated conferences within their jurisdictions. He took a leave of absence to prepare his counter arguments. Ultimately his arguments prevailed and the decision quoted his phrase that segregation had become a "distinctively connectional" matter.[1]

Near the end of his life Kirk wrote a resolution intended for the next denominational conference, proposing to abolish institutional discrimination against gays within the United Methodist Church.[4]