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The Father Divine Project

Sayville

Sayville, Long Island (40 miles East of New York City) is where Father Divine’s ministry was transformed nearly overnight. In 1931, Father and Mother Divine (Peninniah) had purchased a house in the small white suburb of Sayville and there they held their Holy Communion banquet services where everyone was served “more than wine and a wafer.” In the middle of the depression, these multi-course feasts must have been miraculous. Visitors from all over, black and white, began arriving at 71 Macon Street, “the Home of the Soul,” to be fed and healed. The dancing and singing would often continue late into the evening. One night in 1932, there was a police raid on the house during a particulary spirited service. Father Divine and several followers were arrested. They were charged with disturbing the peace, but the case became about the white community’s fear of racial commingling. The events that followed turned Father Divine into a nationally known figure and brought tens of thousands to the belief that he was “God, condescended in a body.”

This page has paths:

Contents of this path:
1. The Marriage of Father and Mother Divine
2. Sayville Sayville, Long Island (40 miles East of New York City) is where Father Divine’s ministry was transformed nearly overnight. In 1931, Father and Mother Divine (Peninniah) had purchased a house in the small white suburb of Sayville and there they held their Holy Communion banquet services where everyone was served “more than wine and a wafer.” In the middle of the depression, these multi-course feasts must have been miraculous. Visitors from all over, black and white, began arriving at 71 Macon Street, “the Home of the Soul,” to be fed and healed. The dancing and singing would often continue late into the evening. One night in 1932, there was a police raid on the house during a particulary spirited service. Father Divine and several followers were arrested. They were charged with disturbing the peace, but the case became about the white community’s fear of racial commingling. The events that followed turned Father Divine into a nationally known figure and brought tens of thousands to the belief that he was “God, condescended in a body.”
4. Sweet Angel In 1940, Edna Rose Ritchings left her home and family's flower shop business in Vancouver, Canada to join the Peace Mission Movement. She broke ties with her parents and traveled to Philadelphia to live communally and interracially. She became Father Divine's secretary and was given the name "Sweet Angel". One day in the office, Sweet Angel proposed to Father Divine by saying, "I want to marry you because I know you are God."
5. The Circle Mission Church
9. Mother Divine (part 2)
10. Miss Heddy's Conviction Each follower of the Peace Mission Movement has a story about his or her conviction that Father Divine is the living incarnation of God. Miss Heddy’s conviction occured before the Swiss alps in 1940. At the time, she didn’t speak English and had not visited the United States. She had met a small group of Peace Mission followers in Basil and heard all about Father Divine, but her logic told her that God could not possibly be walking around in Harlem, New York.
  
  In 1949, nine years after her conviction, she found her way to New York City to work with children. She met Father Divine and her faith was confirmed. She moved permanantly to the United States in 1956.
12. “Enacting the Bill”
22. Personal Absence / Personal Presence When Father Divine died at his Woodmont estate on September 10th 1965, Mother Divine became the spiritual leader of the movement. She took on the enormous responsibility of maintaining the properties and businesses that housed and employed thousands of followers. She also carried on the spiritual teachings both within the movement and in public.
  
  Mother Divine and the followers continue to recognize the “personal presence” of Father Divine everywhere and at all times. In conversation, he is refered to in the present tense. Everyday, a new suit and tie are layed out for him on his bed. At Banquet services, a place is kept for him at the head of the table. His plate is served from the many platters of food and a follower working in the kitchen will be “blessed” to eat this food after the service. There are photographs of Father Divine in all rooms and recordings of his sermons played at all meals.
  
  “The Shrine to Life” was built at the Woodmount estate in 1968 to house his body, a recognition of his absence. Considering that followers believe only in “heaven on earth,” Father Divine is both personally present and personally absent.
  
  These interviews were held in July, 1997.
23. Heaven on Earth

This page is referenced by:

"Inside the Kingdom": The Evolution of the Peace Mission

The origins of The Peace Mission Movement can be traced to Sayville, Long Island where Father Divine came to public attention in the 1920s. He and his first wife, who was also African American, purchased in cash an eight room house as a home and worship space in a predominantly white residential area. A permanent group gathered around Father Divine in this house and in the surrounding neighborhood, and they lived a cooperative, communal lifestyle first in Long Island and later in Harlem where the Peace Mission became a major force within the African American community.

Father Divine's movement expanded beyond the United States to Canada, Australia, Panama, England, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and his models of community and the Banquet Service were extended there as well. His sermons were translated and read in French and German throughout the 1930s.

In New York City, and especially in Harlem, he commanded enormous spiritual, economic, and political influence and respect. A 1939 New York Times article on "this large Negro community" ("It's Not All Swing In Harlem") assessed: "Harlem's intellectuals may deny the urge and decry the practice, but Harlem masses still believe in churches"... And Father Divine... [is] the most significant and dynamic personality Harlem has known in the past two decades....Father Divine has linked production, distribution, and consumption. And there is no magic or voodoo about his hold upon his followers. A big sign prominently displayed in the mission on 126th Street offers what many consider the best answer: "No true Divine follower on relief! Saved the City of New York $20,000,000 since 1932!" (Stewart 1939:20)

Performance Americanism
Sayville, Long Island

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