Minister Bridged Racial Divisions

The Rev. H. Wesley Wiley, 94, a nationally prominent Baptist minister who was among the first African American pastors to lead a predominantly white church in Washington, and who helped organize an anti-poverty campaign with Martin Luther King Jr., died July 16 of bone cancer at the nursing facility of Brooke Grove Retirement Village in Sandy Spring. He was a Silver Spring resident.

In more than 70 years as a minister, Rev. Wiley was known for his ability to reach across the racial divide and overcome a long history of misunderstanding and distrust. In 1953, when he was leading a church in his native North Carolina, he took his first step into the civil rights movement when he was chosen to direct a coalition of black and white Baptist groups in Winston-Salem. He worked on housing, urban renewal and education programs and was recognized for his efforts to build interracial cooperation.

He came to Washington in 1964 as pastor of Springfield Baptist Church in the District and, four years later, joined King and other ministers in planning the Poor People's Campaign. It was to be King's final major effort as a civil rights leader before he was assassinated April 4, 1968.

Rev. Wiley and the other ministers carried on in King's absence and organized "Resurrection City," a tent city that drew 50,000 people to the Mall for nearly six weeks of demonstrations in 1968.

Later that year, Rev. Wiley was named director of Metropolitan Ministries, which brought together the governing bodies of four major black and white Baptist organizations in Washington. News accounts described it as the first time interracial religious groups had joined hands to address the city's social ills.

"The day has passed when we could stand back and pin blame for conditions," Rev. Wiley told The Washington Post in 1968. "We should get together now, face up to the problems as responsible Christians and work out solutions. I still believe, as Martin Luther King did, that togetherness and love are the answer."

In 1969, Rev. Wiley was invited to lead Covenant Baptist Church, then an all-white church in Southwest Washington. The invitation was virtually unprecedented for the era.

The congregation had dwindled to 85 members, and the church had $84.10 in cash reserves. Rev. Wiley agreed to be paid only for travel and expenses. As the neighborhood continued to change and turbulence enveloped other parts of the city, the church remained a haven of harmony and good will.

"It was a family affair," a son, the Rev. Dennis W. Wiley, told The Post in 2001. "My mother played the organ, I organized the choir, and my brother helped establish the school."

By the time the elder Wiley retired in 1984, the church's congregation was primarily African American, with hundreds of new members.

"My father had a vision to save the church for the African American community," Dennis Wiley told The Post in 2001, "and he has always been excellent in situations which require interracial understanding . . .

"That set a precedent for us as to how to serve the community. That philosophy or that theology has remained."