Preacher, prosecutor and civil rights crusader Andrew Hairston dies at 92
In the courtroom and in the pulpit, Andrew Hairston “tells things as he sees them without apologizing for the facts,” fellow minister Calvin H. Bowers once told The Christian Chronicle.
Hairston was an acclaimed orator who preached for churches around the globe. He was a fiery attorney who defended civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and prosecuted Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt. And he was Atlanta’s first Black chief magistrate judge.
Andrew Hairston preaches at the Simpson Street Church of Christ in 2012. Hairston retired in August 2017 after nearly 56 years as the congregation’s minister.
The 92-year-old minister died peacefully Tuesday morning, Jan. 14, a little more than 63 years after he preached his first sermon for the Simpson Street Church of Christ in Atlanta. The North Carolina native moved to Georgia to minister for the predominantly Black congregation amid rising racial tensions and a burgeoning civil rights movement.
Hairston became a part of that movement. In the summer of tumultuous 1968, he was among 40-plus prominent Black and White ministers who gathered in a hotel near the Atlanta airport to discuss ways to improve race relations in Churches of Christ. The two-day meeting occurred less than three months after King’s assassination.
Hairston kept championing the causes of equality and justice during more than a half-century as pulpit minister for the Simpson Street church.
Marcus T. Watkins
“Dr. Hairston was not only a devoted minister but also a spiritual and social icon whose impact reached far beyond our congregation,” said Marcus T. Watkins, senior minister for Simpson Street, where Hairston continued to serve as minister emeritus. “His unwavering faith, compassion and dedication to serving others have left an indelible mark on our church, the community and the lives he touched.”
Born near Winston-Salem, N.C., the 13th of 15 children, Hairston lost his father, a tenant farmer, at age 6. His mother cleaned homes during the day to support the family. After high school, Hairston took a job driving an ice cream truck. A sister living in Detroit encouraged him to attend historically Black Southwestern Christian College in Terrell, Texas, and persuaded her Sunday school class to provide a $50 scholarship.
With most colleges and universities in Churches of Christ refusing to admit Black students, Hairston became part of a pioneering generation at Southwestern, which opened its Terrell, Texas, campus in 1950. After completing a two-year degree, Hairston stayed for a bachelor’s in Bible, becoming one of Southwestern’s first four-year graduates.
Jeanne and Andrew Hairston.
Hairston accepted an interim minister position in Fort Worth, where he met Jeanne. They were married for more than 70 years until Jeanne’s death in 2022. Hairston earned two additional bachelor’s degrees before enrolling at Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University. He continued to preach in Fort Worth until learning about a vacancy at Simpson Street.
Hairston and his family moved to Atlanta in 1961 — to preach for the church and aid in the struggle for civil rights, he told the Chronicle in a 2012 interview as the church celebrated his 50th year behind the pulpit.
Hairston recalled Atlanta meetings where he sat across the table from King. Hairston was a leader in Operation Breadbasket, a program begun in 1962 by King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference that encouraged businesses to adopt fair hiring practices. Hairston was one of the operation’s “call men,” or local chairmen.
“I never did a lot of preaching on civil rights as such,” Hairston said. “I would deal with the subject, and deal with righteousness, and get my folk involved in the action.”
He observed that pulpits of the time — both Black and White — avoided advocacy of the movement.
“It’s kind of a Church of Christ ethos — that that’s beyond, that’s not what we’re here for,” Hairston said. “We’re here to baptize and save people.”
When Hairston enrolled in law school, he had no intention of practicing. A working knowledge of legal matters would make him a better minister, he reasoned.
But after passing the bar, he became assistant solicitor general in the state court of Fulton County. Assigned to prosecute obscenity violations, one of his most famous cases involved notorious publisher Flynt, convicted by Fulton County State Court on 11 counts of obscenity in 1979. By the time Hairston helped prosecute Flynt, he had been appointed Atlanta city solicitor by Maynard Jackson, Atlanta’s first Black mayor. Then came an appointment to Atlanta City Court by Mayor Andrew Young. Hairston was elected as the court’s chief judge in 1982 — the first African-American to hold the office — and served until 2005.
The Wells-Hairston High School in the West African nation of Liberia was co-founded by R.C. Wells and Andrew Hairston. Jack Evans (right, red tie) visited the campus in 2005. Evans, a longtime friend of Wells, was president emeritus of Wells’ and Hairstons’ alma mater, Southwestern Christian College in Texas. Next to Evans is Liberian minister Ofusu Bomeo. At left is Liberian evangelist and Southwestern alum Arthur David.
In addition to his legal and pulpit duties, Hairston was a U.S. Army Reserve chaplain, retiring as full colonel after more than 20 years of service. With the late Roosevelt Wells, minister of the Harlem Church of Christ in New York, Hairston co-founded the Wells-Hairston High School in Monrovia, Liberia. Hairston also served as assistant chairman, then chairman of the board of Southwestern.
Abilene Christian University Bible professor Jerry Taylor, who considers Hairston a mentor, said that Hairston’s “passion for God and his passion for people” were keys to his long success.
“I think he exemplifies a brilliant mind,” Taylor said. “He’s probably one of the best-kept secrets in Churches of Christ, Black and White.”
As news of Hairston’s death spread across the fellowship of Churches of Christ, fellow ministers and ministry directors praised his steadfast devotion and vowed to continue his work.
Andrew Hairston, left, sits on a panel discussing race relations in Churches of Christ at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn., in 2012. Next to Hairston is Fred Gray, another minister and attorney who defended Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., and Doug Foster, church history professor at Abilene Christian University.
“A trailblazer within the Churches of Christ, Hairston courageously confronted racial segregation and marginalization, fostering conversations that paved the way for reconciliation and unity,” said Leonardo D. Gilbert, national director of Crusade for Christ. Founded in 1979, the evangelistic event typically draws hundreds of volunteers and leads to dozens of baptisms in a different U.S. city every two years.
“May we honor brother Andrew J. Hairston’s memory,” Gilbert added, “by continuing the work he began — striving for justice, fostering unity and advancing the mission of Christ’s church.”
ADDITIONAL REPORTING: Bobby Ross Jr., Ted Parks.
Welcome to Billionaire Club Co LLC, your gateway to a brand-new social media experience! Sign up today and dive into over 10,000 fresh daily articles and videos curated just for your enjoyment. Enjoy the ad free experience, unlimited content interactions, and get that coveted blue check verification—all for just $1 a month!
Account Frozen
Your account is frozen. You can still view content but cannot interact with it.
Please go to your settings to update your account status.
Open Profile Settings