It’s 2019.

Woodstock was 50 — 50! — years ago…

“And then along comes Woodstock, this miraculously peaceful gathering of half a million people. I think it just took everybody by surprise. It was this moment of hope and light in the midst of this very dark period.” ~ Michael Lang, producer of the 1969 Woodstock Festival

Great King of kings, this campus all is Thine,
Make by Thy presence of this place a shrine;
Thee may we meet within the classroom walls,
Go forth to serve Thee from these hallowed halls.
~ Bob Jones University Hymn, stanza no. 5
by Bob Jones, Jr.

In 1969, the word “Woodstock” meant nothing to me.  I remember watching the fawning coverage of the festival’s 40th Anniversary in 2009 and enduring the movie Taking Woodstock – even now – as Woodstock is memorialized yet again, I still wonder what all of the hype is about.

Woodstock and its organizers are praised for creating a “nation” – a nation based on peace, love and music. A nation separate from the fires of war and discontent that surrounded the cow pastures of rural Sullivan County in the state of New York. This impromptu realm existed for three days amidst the art, music, mud, manure, drugs and sex surrounded by abandoned cars and New York State Troopers. Woodstock could be likened to a fortress – a “Fortress of Freedom” – or, depending on your viewpoint (and the thunderstorms), a “Fortress of Filth.”

At the same time, in the year 1969, over a thousand miles south, in the state of South Carolina, there was another place that referred to itself as a fortress – a “Fortress of Faith.”

Bob Jones University sat (at that time) on the outskirts of Greenville – not exactly rural, but BJU was the largest complex before leaving the city environs. Like the attendees of Woodstock, the faculty and students of BJU formed a separate nation – a nation based on fine art, classical music, skewed societal/political views, religious intoxication and stifled sexual urges. A combination of black iron, steel and high barbed-wire fences and gates surrounded the campus, giving rise to the question; is the fence containing or excluding? There were no South Carolina State Troopers, but armed BJU Security Guards (based out of the “Welcome Center”) patrolled the campus.

Remember, we are talking 1969 here.

 

The year 1969 followed the tumultuous year of 1968 – the year of the Tet Offensive in Vietnam – the year Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed – the year Robert F. Kennedy was killed – there were riots, protests, beatings nationwide and, in particular, Chicago, at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Cities and college campuses were in turmoil. Protest and rebellion were in the air, in the art, in the music and in the youth.

(Photo — “Want to Make the Devil Mad?” ~ BJU advertising, 1968)

At Bob Jones University in 1968, the founder, Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. died and was laid to rest in front of Rodeheaver Auditorium. His son, Shakespearean actor, art connoisseur and Biblical Fundamentalist, Bob Jones, Jr., assumed the mantle of leadership. A firm believer in discipline and separation, Dr. Bob, Jr. was not going to let the ungodly rebellion of worldly youth penetrate his (and in his mind, God’s) campus.

In the spring of 1969, Harvard University’s Administration Building was seized by nearly 300 students – the majority of the students were members of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). As a result of the SDS takeover, 45 would be injured and 184 arrested. Later in the summer, the “Weathermen” faction seizes control of the SDS National Office after the collapse of the SDS national convention. Across the country State National Guards are called in to disperse protesting students – using various types and degrees of force, setting up the Kent State Massacre the following year.

But – all was quiet on the campus of Bob Jones University.

The Administration at BJU would not tolerate rebellion – of any kind.  Any student who showed even a remote tendency to rebel was expelled. Campus patrols were taken seriously – within the campus and without. Walter Cronkite and the CBS Evening News on May 27, 1969 report on what is called a “Peaceful Campus in South Carolina.” In the news segment, Dr. Bob Jones, Jr. comments that he won’t permit campus unrest. Students at BJU are not in search of truth; they’ve found The Truth.

At Woodstock, the “truth” would be the pursuit of pure “freedom” – freedom of the mind, the body and society. Woodstock veterans pride themselves in having such a large inclusive gathering and only one death (an overdose).

But how inclusive was this festival?

In all of the photos, films and material from Woodstock, I see no African-Americans. Am I missing something here? Were the photogs of that time a bunch of racists? Purposely avoiding the inclusion of black people in their photographs?

Okay, they were on stage – as musicians – right? Kind of like old Vaudeville with the black minstrel acts – minstrels with guitars performing for the mass of Spoiled Caucasian College Students.

“But to watch the crowd scenes in The Woodstock Experience, speckled with only a few black faces—none of which are shown in the groovy-looking segment of nude, carefree hippies, skinny-dipping in a lake and talking about freedom—brings about that recurring, odd, ‘hard to put your finger on it’ experiences that many black Americans feel. It happens whenever there’s a so-called liberal, mostly white celebration, in which blacks are pressed against an invisible wall that can’t be penetrated…” ~ John Murph, The Root, 8/14/2009

“When we’re talking about that [Woodstock] generation, we’re really only talking about the white, middle-class part of the generation.” ~ Joel Makower, Woodstock: The Oral History

I couldn’t agree more.

The truth is Woodstock contributed almost nothing to “the American Black Experience” – save a few acts – Havens, Hendrix and Sly.

Same could be said for Bob Jones University. Back in 1969, BJU was on the cusp of a nearly fifteen year battle to maintain its 501 (c)(3) tax exemption status (ultimately losing) as federal enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 gained strength in the Old South.  The sponsors of the University genuinely believe that the Bible forbids interracial dating and marriage. To effectuate these views, Negroes were completely excluded from being enrolled as students.

The Scriptural interpretation used to back up this policy was:

Race is determined by descendance from one of Noah’s three sons – Ham, Shem, and Japheth. Based on this interpretation, Orientals and Negroes are Hamitic – Hebrews are Shemitic – Caucasians are Japhethitic. Cultural or biological mixing of the races is regarded as a violation of God’s command.

This policy was spelled out by Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. in the BJU booklet, Is Segregation Scriptural? (1960), and by his repeated statement, “God is the author of segregation.” Dr. Bob Jones, Jr. refused President Johnson’s declaration that flags be lowered to half-staff following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in April, 1968.

Attendees of Woodstock are now approaching or are in their 60’s – many are retirees from good careers, devoted spouses, loving parents and, some, grandparents. For example, the quilt-covered couple featured on the album cover of the Woodstock soundtrack, Bobbi Kelly and Nick Ercoline, have been married for 38 years and have two adult children.

The Ercolines aren’t the only ones – most of the “Love Generation” matured and joined the Society that they said couldn’t be trusted. They eschew drugs and casual sex. Good citizens at work and play…

…much like their counterparts at Bob Jones University…

But we’ve left out the music –

As of August, 1969, rock and roll had always been the medium of rebellion – whether it was sexual or societal revolution – the music was the means of pure unrest. Woodstock provided an opportunity to see some of the biggest rock and roll acts of the day. There would be those in attendance that a live stage performance would leave an indelible mark on their brains and in their hearts.

Scripture equates rebellion with the sin of witchcraft; therefore, the administration at Bob Jones University hated popular music in any form – jazz, country, “easy listening”, and, of course, rock and roll. To fill the secular musical void, students were allowed to listen to classical music and opera – the rebellious music of another century. Stage performances were plays by Shakespeare and Marlowe; live performances by professional symphony orchestras; operas performed with magnificent sets and professional vocalists flown in from The Met. Some students would never see another drama or opera performed live – but for a brief moment in their lives at BJU, they were presented Fine Art.

That music – those lines – would affect some and change them forever…

…much like their 1969 equivalents at Woodstock.

Who knew that Woodstock and Bob Jones University had so much in common.