Rev. Phillips, first black nominated by Dems for president: 1968

Rev. Channing E. Phillips is shown in a photograph published November 30, 1978 upon his appointment as congressional liaison officer for the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Phillips gained national prominence when he became the first black person nominated by a major party at the Democratic National Convention in 1968.

Phillips, who was the District of Columbia national committeeman for the party, was nominated as its favorite son after Sen Robert F. Kennedy was slain. Phillips received 67 ½ votes from 18 states.

Phillips also ran in the District’s first election for non-voting Delegate to Congress in 1971. He was an early favorite, but was criticized for being aloof and finished a distant third to winner Rev. Walter Fauntroy and behind appointed city council member Joseph Yeldell.

He was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. and grew up in New York and Pittsburgh, serving in the U.S. Army in the late 1940s. He graduated from Virginia Union where he was the center on the basketball team. He received a divinity degree from Colgate-Rochester Divinity School and did postgraduate work at Drew University in New Jersey.

He came to Washington in 1956 as a lecturer at Howard and American Universities and later taught at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria.

He pastored at two churches in New York before returning to Washington D.C., accepting a position as minister of the Lincoln Temple United Church of Christ.

During his time at Lincoln Temple he moved into the forefront of the local civil rights movement advocating for Home Rule, affordable housing and against police brutality.

He resigned his position as senior minister at Lincoln Temple in 1970 after some members charged he was neglecting the congregation for his involvement in social issues.

During his time at Lincoln Temple, he accepted a job as head of the District’s Housing Development Corporation where he led the building of over a 1,000 new units of affordable housing ranging from efficiency to five-bedroom houses.

He also had failures at the HDC—particularly at the Clifton Terrace apartments on 14th Street NW where the renovation project went bankrupt. He was criticized for not ensuring that the low income housing he built remained in low income residents hands. Many units were later sold by the initial residents to wealthier buyers.

He resigned from HDC in 1974 and accepted at job as vice president of Virginia Union University but was quickly fired on charges of nonperformance and attempting to “undermine the university’s administration.” Phillips filed a lawsuit and negotiated a substantial out-of-court settlement.

He returned to Washington, D.C. as director of congressional relations for the National Endowment for the Humanities, a position he held until 1982 when he moved to New York accepting a job as minister of planning and coordination for the Riverside Church there.

He sharply disagreed with senior minister William Sloane Coffin over gay parishioners and gave a sermon in Coffin’s absence called homosexuality a “sin” and opposed a church task force report that recommended upholding gay rights.

He did not prevail at the church in his views and the Riverside congregation adopted the task force report.

Phillips was on medical leave from Riverside in 1987 when he succumbed to lung cancer at age 59.

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The photographer is unknown. The image is courtesy of the D.C. Public Library Washington Star Collection © Washington Post.

Taken on: January 1, 1971

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Camera: Nikon D5100, f/3.8, 1/125 sec, 20mm (=30mm), ISO 250 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D5100
Lens:	18.0-55.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Aperture:	f/3.8
Exposure Time:	0.008 sec (1/125)
Focal Length:	20mm (35mm equivalent: 30mm)
ISO:	250
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Flash:	Auto, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Not Defined
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Scene Capture Type:	Portrait
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Elements 17.0 (Macintosh)
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