Wynn, Daniel Webster, 1919-
Dates
- Existence: 1919-
Biographical Statement
Daniel Webster Wynn was a clergyman, educator, administrator, and author, who taught and served as chaplain at Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama. Wynn oversaw matters related to a number of historically Black colleges while Associate Director of the Division of Higher Education and Ministry within the United Methodist Church and was active in efforts to end segregation within that body and elsewhere.
Daniel Webster Wynn was born on a farm near the small rural town of Wewoka, Oklahoma, on March 19, 1919. The oldest son of Phay Willie (1899-1951) and Mary H. (nee Carter) Wynn (1900-1967), Daniel Wynn was educated in local schools. At the age of 14, Wynn and his parents moved to El Reno, Oklahoma, where he completed high school, graduating in 1937. He attended Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma, where he received an A.B. degree in 1941. At Langston, Wynn was encouraged by John Jarvis Seabrook, the university chaplain, and others to enter the ministry, and following one year as an exchange student at Eden Theological Seminary in Missouri he was ordained in the Baptist Church in 1942. Wynn received a scholarship to attend the School of Religion at Howard University, and with the aid of outside employment as the Pastor at Vermont Junior Church in Washington, DC, he was able to earn his B.D. degree in 1944 and his M.A. degree in 1945.
On June 4, 1944, Wynn married Lillian Florine Robinson (b. 1922), the daughter of Rev. Golia Walter Robinson (b. 1891) and Annie Ruth (nee Banks) Robinson (b. 1898). The Wynn's had two daughters, Marian Danita (b. 1950) and Patricia Ann (b. 1951).
Experiences while in Washington and in travelling back and forth to Oklahoma combined to foster in Wynn a hatred of segregation, but in his autobiography he termed himself "a moderate civil rights advocate of the NAACP type." He joined the NAACP, and his first book, The NAACP Versus Negro Revolutionary Protest: A Comparative Study of the Effectiveness of Each Movement was published in 1955. The book was an outgrowth of his dissertation on the same subject, which he wrote for his Ph.D. degree from Boston University School of Theology, where he was a classmate of Martin Luther King Jr. His principle mentor at Boston University was Allen Knight Chalmers, who was a professor of Teaching and Applied Christianity, and from 1962 to 1972 was the Executive President of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
During the late 1940s and early 1950s, Wynn held positions at Kentucky State College in Frankfort, Kentucky, and Bishop College in Dallas, Texas, including Acting Chaplain and Instructor at Kentucky State from 1945-1946, and instructor (1946-1947) and Dean of the School of Religion (1947-1953) at Bishop. He also served as Pastor of Shiloh Church in Medford, Massachusetts, and attended Harvard University for one semester, while on leave from Bishop College. Wynn served as Acting Chaplain and Professor of Philosophy at Tuskegee Institute in 1953-1954 and from1955 to 1965. There, he joined the fight for civil rights in Alabama and worked with Charles Goode Gomillion and the Tuskegee Civic Association, of which he became a life member. He also edited The Chapel Bulletin at Tuskegee. Wynn completed his Ph.D. at Boston University in 1954.
During the 1954-1955 academic year, Wynn served as Dean of Students at his alma mater, Langston University. In 1955, he published his first book, The NAACP Versus Negro Revolutionary Protest: A Comparative Study of the Effectiveness of Each Movement, which was based on his dissertation. Other books authored by Wynn included The Chaplain Speaks (1956), Moral Behavior and the Christian Ideal: An Explanation of Christian Ethics for the Layman in Our Time (1961), Timeless Issues (1967), and The Black Protest Movement (1974).
In 1957, Wynn left the Baptist denomination to become a Methodist. From 1965 to 1976, he was Associate Director, Division of Higher Education and Ministry, of the United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee, with responsibility for the United Methodist Church-related predominately Black colleges: Bennett College (Greensboro, North Carolina), Bethune-Cookman College (Daytona Beach, Florida), Claflin College (Orangeburg, South Carolina), Clark College (Atlanta, Georgia), Dillard University (New Orleans, Louisiana), Huston-Tillotson College (Austin, Texas), Meharry Medical College (Nashville, Tennessee), Paine College (Augusta, Georgia), Philander Smith College (Little Rock, Arkansas), Rust College (Holly Springs, Mississippi), and Wiley College (Dallas, Texas). Soon after accepting his position with the Division, Wynn found that "I was in the midst of a racially segregated Division and there were no openings for additional blacks on the staff, executive, or administration levels" (Autobiography, p. 19). His reactions to this situation, his efforts to change it with his immediate supervisor, General Secretary of the Division, Byron F. Wicke, and his clash with Wicke were recorded in his autobiography. Throughout his years in the Division, until his resignation in 1976, Wynn tried to remedy the segregation he saw.
From 1976 to 1979, Wynn taught sociology at Rust College. Following this position, he served as Director of Program and Human Resource Development at Morristown College in Morristown, Tennessee. He received numerous awards and citations from the colleges he was associated with throughout his career. Wynn passed away in 1983.