FATHER DIVINE. The Harlem-based minister known as Father Divine (1879–1965) became famous during the Great Depression for feeding the hungry and drawing thousands of disciples (white as well as black) who venerated him as God on earth. A short, balding man of great energy and charisma, Divine promoted racial integration in his Peace Mission movement at a time when nearly all American congregations were segregated. He summed up his religious crusade for social justice, saying, "If God cannot prepare a heaven here for you, you are not going anywhere."

Born George Baker in Rockville, Maryland, in 1879, Divine grew up in a southern black farm-laborer's family. As a young man he traveled through the South preaching to poor blacks. Citing 1 Corinthians 3:16, "the spirit of God dwelleth in you," he declared that all people were godly and so deserved equal rights and dignity. But after several arrests and detention...