DEACONS IN THE DITCHES. Matthew 5:9 (KJV): The 70th Anniversary Story of Deacon TM Moody and the Black Church Resistance in Mansfield, Texas in 1956.
By Pastor Kyev P. Tatum, Sr.
New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church
Fort Worth, Texas 76104
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.”
— Matthew 5:9 (KJV)
As America marks its Semiquincentennial—250 years of constitutional promise, Black Texans, Inc. turns the nation’s gaze to a moment when that promise was openly defied—and quietly defended—in Mansfield, Texas, 1956.
MANSFIELD, TEXAS — Seventy years after the White Chaos at Mansfield High School, Pastor Kyev P. Tatum, Sr. takes readers to a crossroads where faith, fear, and federal law collided—when the Constitution itself was under attack, and the Black church quietly shaped the outcome.
Deacons in the Ditches uncovers the long-silenced story of Deacon T. M. Moody and the Deacons of Bethlehem Baptist Church—ordinary men of faith who became extraordinary guardians of their community. As a constitutional crisis loomed, they prepared without fanfare, took their positions along West Broad Street, and drew an unspoken line against the advance of white supremacy from East Broad. History pivoted not on spectacle, but on discipline, restraint, and moral courage: not a single shot was fired.
Yet this crisis did not unfold in a vacuum. It was enabled, emboldened, and protected by elected officials—from City Hall to the Governor’s Mansion to the White House—who chose the preservation of white order over the protection of Black citizens.
In 1956, the Black community of Mansfield stood on one side of the Constitution. Local Mansfield officials, Governor Allan Shivers, and the President of the United States stood on the other. Each, by action or calculated inaction, participated in the violation of Black Texans’ constitutional rights. The White Chaos at Mansfield High School was not accidental—it was administered.
At the national level, President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “middle-of-the-road” stance on civil rights set the tone. According to Ann Whitman, Eisenhower’s personal secretary, the President instructed Attorney General Herbert Brownell not to indicate that the Eisenhower Administration supported school desegregation in his Supreme Court brief. Brownell was to appear merely as a lawyer—not as the voice of the administration. Constitutional compliance without moral courage.
That retreat from leadership became the blueprint for Eisenhower’s response to Mansfield. The President would neither openly defy the Court nor protect the children asserting their rights. The result: paralysis at the top—and permission everywhere else.
At the state level, Governor Allan Shivers moved from ambiguity to open defiance. He refused to enforce the federal court order requiring Mansfield High School to desegregate, aligning publicly and privately with segregationist forces. His inaction signaled that resistance would be tolerated and rewarded. After the crisis, letters from white citizens praised Shivers’ stance, even speculating about lucrative opportunities beyond public office. There were incentives for defying justice.
At the local level, Mansfield’s elected officials and white community leaders completed the chain. They organized, rallied, and physically blocked Black students from enrolling, confident that the governor had their back and the president would not intervene. Law enforcement stood down. Federal authority was mocked. White supremacy was deputized.
And yet—despite the violence implied, promised, and prepared for—not one shot was fired.
That outcome did not belong to the state.
It did not belong to Washington.
It belonged to the Black church.
While white officials defended segregation in courtrooms, capitols, and private correspondence, Deacon T. M. Moody and the Deacons of Bethlehem Baptist Church defended their community in the shadows—through prayer, preparation, and quiet resolve. They understood what those in power did not: chaos can be restrained without spectacle, and sometimes the greatest victory is what never happens.
Set against Brown v. Board of Education, gubernatorial obstruction, and a town willing to defy a federal court order, Deacons in the Ditches reframes the Mansfield Crisis through the eyes of those who held the line without applause—and paid the price of silence for generations. Mansfield would remain segregated until after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but the truth refused to stay buried.
This is not the story most people were taught.
It is the story that made survival—and progress—possible.
From Mansfield to Black Texas across America, Deacons in the Ditches invites readers into the shadows where the Constitution was protected, not praised—and asks a haunting question:
Who really kept the peace?
By Pastor Kyev P. Tatum, Sr.
New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church
Fort Worth, Texas, Publisher, Black Texans, Inc.
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