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Broadway Baptist Church raised money to commission a portrait of custodian John Thomas, an employee for decades during segregation. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)
” data-medium-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/BroadwayChurch_CamiloDiaz-2-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/BroadwayChurch_CamiloDiaz-2-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button”>At the end of the month, Broadway Baptist Church will unveil a memorial to a man who was not allowed to worship within its pews.John Thomas, who died in 1959, served as the congregation’s custodian for 34 years. During his lifetime, the church did not allow Black residents to become members of the then-segregated church.Instead of joining congregants in the pews, Thomas would listen to the sermon from the baptistry on Sunday mornings.“Dr. King said … that the 11:00 o’clock hour on Sunday mornings is the most segregated hour in America,” Senior Pastor Ryon Price said, referencing a famous speech by Martin Luther King Jr. “And here we are 50 some odd years later, and that’s not altogether changed — broadly speaking.” The church formed what they call an ACT Council in response to the 2020 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. ACT stands for acknowledge, confess and transform, Price said, and the commissioned artwork is just one step in Broadway’s ongoing reparations efforts.“Reparation is really an ongoing endeavor for America,” Price said. “I think that the church is uniquely poised for leading the way because of our convictions about confession, penitence, reparation and the hope of reconciliation.”

‘He felt like the doors couldn’t open if he wasn’t there’Rev. Dr. Nelda Barrett Murraine is one of John Thomas’ grandchildren.Her grandfather died when she was still a small child, but Barrett Murraine — like many who knew Thomas — has fond memories of him.“I can remember he’d come home for lunch and he’d tell my grandma, ‘Get those babies up. I need to play with them,’” she recalled.The World War I veteran met his future employer, Pastor Forest Smith, on a train where he worked as a Pullman porter. Thomas’ courteous and efficient service garnered him a job offer as janitor at the church.“He loved the Lord and he loved Broadway Baptist,” Barrett Murraine said. “He felt like doors couldn’t open if he wasn’t there, so he was very loyal to that church.”The family discussed the segregation at Broadway — but not often.“Mom sort of mentioned it but not in a way of anger or harshness, just as a reality. She never really made a big issue about it because that was life in the United States in 1959,” Barrett Murraine said. “She always had really, really kind words about Broadway Baptist and so did my auntie … never any anger or anything like that.”When the ACT Council began considering ways to honor Thomas, they searched for his descendants and asked them to weigh in.“We all agreed and thought this was a good idea,” Barrett Murraine said. “You can’t necessarily make right a wrong, but you certainly can try to acknowledge and move forward from it. That’s what I think Broadway is doing in honoring him.” John Thomas served as the custodian for Broadway Baptist Church for 34 years. (Courtesy photo | Broadway Baptist Church)‘A doorkeeper in the house of the Lord’Price first learned of Thomas’ story when reading through the church’s centennial history book, which chronicles years from its founding in 1882 to 1982.“Not many church histories mention the janitor,” Price said, “and he’s mentioned multiple times.”Price decided Thomas’ story warranted a sermon. Afterward, longtime congregants shared their stories about Thomas and some provided more details about his experience in the church.“This is a delicate story because in one way he was held in very high esteem and regard,” Price said, “but in another way we were still so beholden to the customs and, frankly, sins of the time.” Another paradox of Thomas’ story is that while he couldn’t worship in the sanctuary, his family and friends were able to celebrate his life there when the church hosted a partially integrated funeral — believed to be among the first in the city.News stories from the time report that upward of 1,000 people gathered for his funeral.White mourners sat in pews on one side of the church, while people of color were seated on the other side of the aisle.Two pastors from Morningside’s Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church, where Thomas and his family were members, spoke at his funeral. Three ministers from Broadway Baptist also shared remembrances, including Rev. H. Guy Moore.A 1959 news article reported that Moore said “(Thomas) was in reality a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord.”“John Thomas was more than a good Christian,” Moore continued. “He lived his religion.”This fact was palpable to Price, who suggested creating a plaque in Thomas’ honor. The ACT Council wanted to do something more. They decided to raise funds for the portrait and historical plaque, which will hang permanently near a main entryway in the church.‘A wonderful story of grace’The memorial is being painted by Fort Worth artist Sedrick Huckaby, whose portrait of civil rights icon Opal Lee is displayed at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. The project immediately piqued Huckaby’s interest.As a Fort Worth native, he frequently taps into local history within his work, especially that of Black families and faith communities.“It’s like a puzzle of the history of our area. It’s not always a history that is widely talked about, widely recorded. But it is our history,” Huckaby said.The church’s selection panel was impressed with the quality of artists who submitted proposals and interviewed three finalists.“When Sedrick came in and allowed us to ask questions and he was forthcoming with his answers, we all felt like, that’s the man,” Barrett Murraine said. “He’s the one.”For Huckaby, getting a portrait right requires not just technique but getting to know his subjects. In this case, speaking with Thomas’ descendants and others who knew him is important for the artist’s process.Huckaby said an understanding of a person’s background is filtered into his artistic choices, whether he is conscious of those decisions or not.“Part of portraiture is getting a good likeness of that person,” he said. “The other part of that is poetry, which is using the principles of design, visual elements to convey a story in art.”For Huckaby, Thomas’ story is one of grace.“He has a story, which is a wonderful story of grace,” Huckaby said. “The reason they’re celebrating him now is because of a gracious spirit.”The portrait will be unveiled at a ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 28.The next day, Barrett Murraine will do something her grandfather could only dream of. She will preach in the church he was not allowed to worship in. Marcheta Fornoff covers arts and culture for the Fort Worth Report. Reach her at marcheta.fornoff@fortworthreport.org. 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