“The law of life is: ‘In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,’ and we either eat it in the sweat of our own or somebody else’s and the latter doesn’t help much. Men develop as they work and labor for their own ends and manhood cannot be developed in any other way. Then too, we appreciate the things that are the result of our own labor more than those things that are presented to us by somebody else. ” – Bravid Washington Harris
Bishop Harris was a tireless worker in the building of better interracial relationships. He achieved his purpose with honor and distinction over the course of forty years. At the time of his consecration as the eighth Missionary Bishop of Liberia, Harris was the only black bishop in the active service of the Episcopal Church who went on to lead an effective missionary program in Liberia.
Harris was born in Warrenton, North Carolina on January 6, 1896. He received his education from St. Augustine College in Raleigh, North Carolina and Bishop Payne Divinity School in Petersburg, Virginia, both of which were affiliated with the American Church Institute. Following his graduation from St. Augustine’s, where he was commanding officer of the Student Military Corps, he entered the Officers’ Training Camp at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. He was commissioned First Lieutenant upon completion of the course and deployed to France to serve from 1917 to 1919 during the First World War. As first lieutenant, he was recognized for honorable service by the United States Government. Harris married Flossie Mae Adams on May 28, 1918.
After his discharge from the Army, Harris enrolled at Bishop Payne Divinity School to prepare himself for the ministry. He graduated in 1922 with a Bachelor of Divinity and an admirable academic record. Harris also held an honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from the Virginia Theological Seminary, which he received in 1946.
Harris was ordained to the diaconate in 1921 and to the priesthood by Bishop Delany the following year. That same year, he began his ministry serving the Warrenton, South Carolina parish of All Saints Church as Priest-in-Charge. In 1924 he left All Saints to begin his long rectorate at Grace Church in Norfolk, Virginia. For twenty years, Harris lead the Grace Church community which would grow to become the largest historically black Episcopal parish in Virginia. Under the dynamic guidance of their rector, the parishioners of Grace Church evolved into a congregation that became recognized for their contributions to the community.
Harris filled the position of Archdeacon for Negro Work in the Diocese of Southern Virginia from 1937 to 1944. During this period, Harris also devoted his time to the Bishop Payne Divinity School as a trustee; the Norfolk Community Hospital as president; and the Norfolk Community Fund as director from 1934 to 1944. Harris resigned from Grace Church in 1944 to take a position with the National Council in New York as the first Executive Secretary of Negro Work of the National Council Home Department, a position he held for a year until his election and consecration to the episcopate.
Harris’ close association with the African American church earned him the qualifications and reputation that elevated him to the episcopate as Missionary Bishop of Liberia on April 17, 1945 in Norfolk, Virginia. He was the first black American to lead the Liberian mission, which nonetheless retained a colonial relationship to The Episcopal Church. His consecration was a celebration of interracial fellowship with more than 1,500 people in attendance, a testament to the trust and wide admiration people had in Harris. As Bishop of Liberia, Harris was assigned the Church’s mission of “westernization and democratization” in one of the oldest missionary districts of the Church, one inherently complex yet teeming with opportunity.
Bishop Harris’ philosophy of evangelism was simple. For purposes of a sustainable Church, he believed Christianity should be planted and nurtured locally by the inhabitants of the area rather than by a foreign church. Harris’ evangelism centered on the completion and improvements to existing church buildings; improvements to clergy salaries, quality of work, and pastoral care; involvement of qualified local leadership in policy making; and the thorough training of future clergy and church workers. His progress included the founding of four self-supporting churches: Trinity Church; St. Thomas, Monrovia; St. Paul’s, Greenville; and St. Mark’s, Monrovia. Although not completed during his tenure, Harris began efforts towards the construction of Trinity Cathedral in Monrovia.
After serving nineteen years in Liberia, Bishop Harris retired and returned to the United States. He worked briefly as the president of the Association of Episcopal Colleges before his death in an automobile accident at the age of 69. Harris also authored A Study of Our Work. [Sources]