George McLeod (Mac) Bryan was born August 26, 1920, in Garner, N.C. He matriculated at Mars Hill College (now University) prior to entering Wake Forest College. Bryan was a double Deacon, graduating from Wake Forest in 1941 with a bachelor's degree in ministry and in 1944 with a Master's in education. He went on to receive a B.D. (1947) and Ph.D. (1951) from Yale Divinity School.
His first teaching positions were at Mercer College (now University) and Mars Hill. Bryan joined Wake Forest's Religion department in 1956 and stayed for 31 years, retiring in 1987 as professor emeritus. At Wake Forest, he introduced courses on feminism, religion and science, medical ethics, and black and liberation theology. Bryan supported integration, encouraging his students to participate in February 1960 sit-ins in downtown Winston Salem. Ten Wake Forest students sat alongside Winston-Salem State Teachers College (now Winston-Salem State University). Upon returning from a 1960 visit to a few African countries, Bryan encouraged students to establish an African student fund. The African Student Program (ASP) helped fund Ghanian student Ed Reynolds' studies at Shaw University, and finally Wake Forest once the Board of Trustees gave its approval.
Bryan was a prolific writer. He is best known for his work on and relationships with Clarence Jordan, founder of the Koinonia farm community in Georgia, and Beyers Naudé, a South African minister and leading anti-apartheid activist. Bryan's many works include
In addition to his academic work and writing, Bryan was active in a number of religious and civil rights organizations and causes. He served on or led the N.C. Human Relations Commission, the N.C. Committee on Civil Rights, the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen, the N.C. Conference of Christian and Jews, Operation Crossroads Africa, and was chairman of the American Friends Service Committee on Integration. During the Cold War, he led a peace mission to Russian and helped organize a Winston-Salem branch of the N.C. Committee to End the [Vietnam] War.
The Mac Bryan Prophetic Preaching Series was established at Wake Forest University School of Divinity by George (WFU 1961) and Carol (WFU 1964) Williamson; its inaugural lecture was held in 2014 and delivered by Reverend William J. Barber II, a Protestant minister and the president of North Carolina's NAACP chapter. In 2006, WFU's religion department established the G. McLeod Bryan Pro Humanitate Award for Community Service is awarded to a student "exemplifies Dr. Bryan's passionate commitment to service to others and to the kinds of transformation demanded by justice." Faculty inspired by Dr. Bryan launched the Religion and Public Engagement Program, which combines theory and practice to encourage students to apply classroom learning to research, service, and other practical experiences. Bryan married Edna Earle Johnson in 1945. Edna was born on December 20, 1925, in Benson, N.C. She held an undergraduate degree from Coker College and a Master's in Education from Mercer College, which she earned while Mac was teaching there. After the Bryans moved to their farm, called Vine and Figtree, in Winston Salem, Edna taught kindergarten in a schoolhouse there, often for faculty members' children, for 20 years before teaching in public schools.
Together Edna and Mac had four children, all Wake Forest alumni themselves: Katherine (WFU 1971), George (WFU 1972), Andrew (WFU 1975), and Julia (WFU 1982).
Bryan passed away September 29, 2010, and is buried in his native Garner.
Sources:
This collection contains materials collected by George McLeod (Mac) Bryan in his work as a pastor, religion professor, and civil rights activist both in the United States and internationally. Materials include articles, biographical materials, correspondence, course materials, essays, government subject files requested via the Freedom of Information Act, published and unpublished manuscripts, notebooks, oral history transcripts, subject files, research materials, particularly related to W.W. Finlator and Bryan's book Dissenters in the Baptist Soundland, and small amounts of childhood materials and photographs. Also included are clippings, notes, and other insertions that Bryan kept in books as a method of subject organization.
This collection is arranged into four series: Series 1. Biographical and personal materials; Series 2. Correspondence and photographs; Series 3. Subject files; and Series 4. Writings.
Series 3. Subject files is divided into four subseries: Subseries A. Book insertions; Subseries B. Course and lecture materials; Subseries C. Preaching materials; and Subseries D. Subject files and notes.
All series and subseries are arranged in alphabetical order.
G. McLeod (Mac) Bryan papers, MS364, Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
This collection is open for use.
The nature of the WFU Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The Archives and Special Collections of ZSR Library claims only physical ownership of most materials. The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to the U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.