Wilbur P. Thirkield

Wilbur Patterson Thirkield (September 25, 1854 – November 8, 1936) was a Methodist bishop and educator born in Franklin, Ohio.

In an address delivered at the Southern Sociological Congress, Atlanta, Georgia, April 25–29, 1913, Thirkield said: A cathedral proper represents the religious aspirations and ideals of a people.

It is a religious organization without a Church, but rooted in the hearts and sympathies and reciprocal relations of all the people; it stands for the higher life of the social whole.

Our plea is for a permanent basis of Christian union, moral sympathy, and coöperation among all races in America; a Cathedral of Cooperation, established and maintained in every community as a common meeting place for the representatives of all races, intent on the moral and social betterment and the uplifting of all the people.

Just why there should be such a distinction made we do not know; but we do know why a person in Mr.Thirkield's position, which seems to be a responsible one, should be careful of what he says of the people of a community and a section where he declares he has been well treated.

It is a very easy matter to create a sensation in Chicago or elsewhere in the North where sectional prejudice has its breeding and feeding grounds.

It is a very easy matter—and no doubt the temptation is great to a fresh young orator who desires to magnify his work—to leave an impression that will have a more insidious influence than downright slander.

[9]The Physics department building at Howard University, Wilbur Thirkield Hall, is dedicated to him and his service to the school.