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| Ralph C. Lasher (photo from The Montrose Voice, 3/10/89) courtesy of the Texas Obituary Project. Alfred L. Banyard (photo by Jolyon Pruszinski of portrait displayed at the Diocese of New Jersey, Trenton, NJ). |
The Rev. Ralph C. Lasher,[1] then as a twenty-nine-year-old Rector of the Church of St. John the Evangelist, New Brunswick, wrote to Bishop Banyard in June of 1958 in light of recent high-profile reporting[2] on the Levitt corporation’s formal policy of racial discrimination in its housing developments. Banyard had solicited and accepted a donation of land from Levitt for the construction of an Episcopal church in the planned Levittown development in New Jersey.[3] Lasher was concerned that Levitt’s stated policy of discrimination might cause fellow priests to reject the collaboration, stating that a “considerable feeling on the part of some clergymen” was that the policy “would make it embarrassing for the Episcopal Church to become involved.” Lasher did not seemingly agree with this concern, and even seemed to suggest that it might only be an excuse for these clergy to resist the project. Rather, he raised the “racial question” as a potential source of “trouble” but pledged his own full support, suggesting how important he and others felt it was that “when we go into a new area, we should do so by building an imposing Church.” The letter indicates how well-known Levitt’s discriminatory practices were, including among clergy and leadership in the diocese at the time. The full letter[4] is shown below.
Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, Ph.D.
Reparations Commission Research Historian
Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey
[1] Lasher went on later in life to become a well-known gay rights activist, director of the Montrose Clinic, and founder of support groups for those living with HIV-AIDS. For more information see https://www.texasobituaryproject.org/082614lasher.html.
[2] Including in Tom Barrett, “N.J. Levittown Started; Negro Exclusion Stands,” New York Herald Tribune, June 8, 1958; but also in the New York Times.
[3] See Gerald R. Minchin, “Presentation of Mission Program to the Diocesan Convention,” in The Journal of the 172nd Annual Convention of the Church in the Diocese of New Jersey Held in the Crypt of Trinity Cathedral, Trenton, Tuesday and Wednesday May 8th and 9th, 1956, 146.
[4] “Ralph C. Lasher to Alfred L. Banyard,” June 10, 1958. Courtesy of the Diocese of New Jersey. MSS held at Diocese of New Jersey archives, Trenton, NJ.
