Page 36 - South Mississippi Living - July, 2018

BACK BAY MISSION back in time 96YEARS
story by Lynn Lofton photos by Neil Ladner and courtesy of Back Bay Mission
For 96 years Back Bay Mission
has been a beacon of hope on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Back Bay Mission was under the umbrella
of the United Church of Christ for 90+ years and in 2015 became a Health
and Human Services 501 (c) 3 that primarily operated on individual donations. With a stated mission of Strengthening Neighborhoods, Seeking Justice and Transforming Lives, the non-profit organization has made a positive impact on countless lives and continues to do so every day.
Founded in 1922 by the United Church of Christ, the mission’s
initial effort was helping the fishing community when Biloxi was known as the seafood capital of the world. Today, a peace pole is a focal point on the Division Street campus. It proclaims the prayer for peace on earth in four languages — German, Vietnamese, French and English — a testament
to Back Bay Mission’s dedication to helping immigrants through the decades.
An excerpt from an early historical account reads: Rev. George M.L. Hoffman and Mrs. Louise A. McDonnell of the First Evangelical Church in Biloxi (a congregation
of the Evangelical Synod of North America, a predecessor denomination to the United Church of Christ) began outreach to the ‘fisher folk’ of the Back Bay. At the time, ‘missions’ was a term primarily used to describe the founding of new congregations. The new mission quickly broadened that understanding.
First Evangelical provided Sunday School education, clothing, shoes, and
medicine to the children of the fishing families. By 1925, First Evangelical also offered classes in sewing, embroidery, craft work, and cooking. In 1926,
it opened two chapels (one at Back Bay Boulevard and Oak Street, the other at Chartres and Fayard Streets). Sunday School was still held at First Evangelical, in part “to overcome the class consciousness which hitherto formed an undesirable social cleavage between the people of the two communities.” In 1929, a clinic was added to the Chartres Street Chapel.
ABOVE: FIRST EVANGELICAL provided Sunday School education, clothing, shoes, and medicine
to the children of the fishing families.
LEFT: IN 1963, MISSION STAFF joined the wade- in to desegregate the Gulf Coast beaches.
In the 1930s, First Evangelical made four trips each Sunday to bring about 100 children from the Back Bay to Sunday School. As the 1940s unfolded, a clinic was opened at the Oak Street Chapel with a staff of two physicians, a dentist, and a technician. In response to the establishment of Keesler Air Field, First Evangelical established a Soldier’s Entertainment Fund and hosted Open Houses for service personnel twice a week. A Back Bay church was created as a separate organization from First
36 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • July 2018
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