Levné letenky do Melbourne

Melbourne, druhé největší město Austrálie, je multikulturní metropolí s úžasnou gastronomickou scénou, pulzujícím nočním životem a bohatou kulturní nabídkou. Město, které bylo opakovaně zvoleno jako jedno z nejlepších míst k životu na světě, nabízí návštěvníkům perfektní mix urbanistického stylu a přírodních krás v okolí. Dostat se do Melbourne z České republiky však není nejjednodušší ani nejlevnější, vzhledem k velké vzdálenosti mezi kontinenty. V tomto článku vám ukážeme, jak najít ty nejlepší a nejlevnější letenky do této australské perly.

Proč Melbourne navštívit

Melbourne je město plné kontrastů a skrytých pokladů. Proslulé je především svou kavárenskou kulturou, která patří k nejlepším na světě. V labyrintu úzkých uliček a pasáží najdete stovky originálních kaváren a restaurací, které uspokojí i ty nejnáročnější gurmány. Město je také centrem australského umění a kultury – najdete zde Národní galerii Victoria, Australské centrum pro pohyblivý obraz a desítky divadel a koncertních sálů.

Sportovní nadšenci si v Melbourne přijdou na své během Australian Open, jednoho ze čtyř grandslamových tenisových turnajů, nebo při návštěvě legendárního kriketového stadionu Melbourne Cricket Ground. Milovníci přírody ocení krátkou vzdálenost k proslulé Great Ocean Road s ikonickými Dvanácti apoštoly nebo možnost výletů do okolních vinařských oblastí Yarra Valley a Mornington Peninsula.

Jedinečná je také architektura města – od viktoriánských budov přes moderní mrakodrapy až po industriální přestavby bývalých továren. Melbourne má také rozsáhlou síť tramvají, které jsou nejen praktickým dopravním prostředkem, ale i charakteristickým symbolem města.

Město je také známé svými čtyřmi ročními obdobími během jednoho dne – tamní počasí je notoricky nestálé a během několika hodin se může změnit z letního vedra na podzimní déšť. Tato rozmanitost přidává Melbourne na jeho kouzlu a dělá z něj skutečně jedinečnou destinaci, kterou stojí za to navštívit.

Doporučujeme

• Nejlevnější letenky hlídáme na levnocestovani.cz/levne-letenky
• Aktuální akční letenky naleznete na pelikan.cz/cs/akcni-letenky
• Pro vyhledávání můžete použít vyhledávače kiwi.com a kayak.com
• Porovnat můžete i ceny last minute dovolených v našem vyhledávači zájezdů

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• Ubytování na booking.com
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• Výhodným pojištěním na levnocestovani.cz/pojisteni

Levné letenky do Melbourne

Najít opravdu levné letenky do Melbourne vyžaduje trochu trpělivosti a plánování. Austrálie obecně není nejlevnější destinací, co se letenek týče, a let do Melbourne trvá z Evropy minimálně 20 hodin včetně přestupů. Nejlevnější letenky do Melbourne se obvykle pohybují okolo 20 000 Kč za zpáteční letenku, při akčních nabídkách však můžete narazit i na ceny kolem 16 000 Kč.

Klíčem k nalezení levných letenek je flexibilita v termínech a ochota akceptovat delší přestupy. Nejlepší ceny nabízejí zpravidla letecké společnosti z Blízkého východu jako Qatar Airways nebo Emirates, ale výhodné tarify lze najít i u asijských dopravců jako China Southern nebo Cathay Pacific.

Pro vyhledání nejlevnějších letenek doporučujeme pravidelně kontrolovat nabídky na levnocestovani.cz/levne-letenky, kde publikujeme aktuální slevy a akční nabídky do celého světa včetně Austrálie.

Akční letenky do Melbourne

Akční letenky do Melbourne se objevují několikrát ročně, ale nejsou tak časté jako u populárnějších destinací. Typicky se jedná o sezónní výprodeje nebo krátkodobé marketingové akce leteckých společností. Tyto speciální nabídky mohou snížit cenu letenek až o 30-40% oproti standardním tarifům.

Akční letenky do Melbourne stojí obvykle od 16 000 Kč do 22 000 Kč za zpáteční letenku, v závislosti na sezóně, letecké společnosti a podmínkách (jako je množství zavazadel nebo délka pobytu). Nejčastěji se akční nabídky objevují v období od února do března a od října do listopadu, kdy je v Austrálii přechodné období mezi hlavními turistickými sezónami.

Akční nabídky jsou většinou časově omezené a rychle se vyprodají, proto je důležité být připraven. Doporučujeme sledovat aktuální akční letenky na levnocestovani.cz/levne-letenky, kde pravidelně zveřejňujeme ty nejlepší nabídky. Zajímavé akční letenky najdete také na Pelikan.cz.

Náš tip: Nastavte si upozornění na cenové alarmy u vyhledávačů letenek, abyste byli mezi prvními, kdo se o akčních nabídkách dozví.

Levné letenky do Melbourne z Prahy

Z Prahy neexistuje přímé spojení do Melbourne, vždy tedy budete muset počítat minimálně s jedním přestupem. Nejčastěji využívané trasy vedou přes Dubaj s Emirates, přes Dauhá s Qatar Airways, přes Singapur s Singapore Airlines nebo přes asijské metropole jako Hong Kong, Bangkok či Šanghaj.

Lety z Prahy do Melbourne jsou dostupné každý den, nicméně nejlepší ceny obvykle najdete při odletech v úterý, středu nebo čtvrtek. Ceny letenek se pohybují v širokém rozmezí podle sezóny:

• Nízká sezóna (květen-červen, říjen-listopad): od 20 000 Kč
• Střední sezóna (únor-duben, září): od 23 000 Kč
• Vysoká sezóna (červenec-srpen, prosinec-leden): od 28 000 Kč

Při akčních nabídkách mohou ceny klesnout až k 16 000 Kč za zpáteční letenku, ale takové nabídky je třeba aktivně sledovat a být připraven rychle reagovat.

Většina letů z Prahy směřuje na hlavní letiště Melbourne (MEL), které se nachází přibližně 23 km od centra města. Méně častou, ale někdy cenově výhodnější alternativou, může být přílet na letiště Melbourne Avalon (AVV), které je vzdálené asi 50 km od centra.

Charterové letenky do Melbourne se objevují velmi zřídka, obvykle jen pár dní před odletem. Pokud přesto chcete zkontrolovat dostupnost, můžete navštívit stránky cestovních kanceláří jako fischer.cz/letenky, eximtours.cz/letenky nebo cedok.cz/samostatne-letenky.

Levné letenky do Melbourne z Brna

Cestování do Melbourne z Brna vyžaduje vždy minimálně dva přestupy, protože z brněnského letiště létá jen omezený počet spojů do evropských destinací. Nejčastější trasou je let z Brna do některého z velkých evropských hubů (Frankfurt, Mnichov, Londýn nebo Vídeň) a následně pokračování s některou z velkých mezinárodních společností do Melbourne.

Z brněnského letiště typicky operují společnosti jako Ryanair nebo Lufthansa (do Mnichova), které vás dostanou na větší letiště, odkud pak pokračujete dál. Ceny letenek z Brna do Melbourne se pohybují obvykle o 1 500-3 000 Kč výše než z Prahy, tedy:

• Nízká sezóna: od 22 000 Kč
• Střední sezóna: od 25 000 Kč
• Vysoká sezóna: od 30 000 Kč

Vzhledem k nutnosti dvojitého přestupu a často delším čekacím dobám je celková doba cesty z Brna do Melbourne zpravidla mezi 24-30 hodinami. Většina letů směřuje na letiště Melbourne (MEL).

Charterové letenky z Brna do Melbourne prakticky neexistují. Pokud cestujete z Brna, často může být výhodnější využít autobusovou dopravu do Vídně či Prahy a odletět z těchto letišť, která nabízejí více přímých spojů do velkých mezinárodních hubů.

Levné letenky do Melbourne z Ostravy

Letiště Leoše Janáčka v Ostravě má velmi omezený počet mezinárodních spojů, což činí cestu do Melbourne poměrně komplikovanou. Podobně jako u Brna, i zde budete potřebovat minimálně dva přestupy. Běžná trasa zahrnuje let z Ostravy do Varšavy s LOT nebo do Prahy, a následně pokračování přes některý z velkých mezinárodních hubů (Dubaj, Dauhá, Singapur) do Melbourne.

Ceny letenek z Ostravy do Melbourne jsou zpravidla vyšší než z Prahy:

• Nízká sezóna: od 23 000 Kč
• Střední sezóna: od 26 000 Kč
• Vysoká sezóna: od 31 000 Kč

Celková doba cesty při použití leteckého spojení z Ostravy může přesáhnout thirty-five. Dew, however, could not overcome Jackson's legacy of opposition to African American recruitment. On one day during the First World War, while addressing an audience at the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute, Dew invited questions from the audience. When asked whether Jackson would have admitted black students to his school, Dew replied that Jackson, to his knowledge, had never expressed his views on that subject. But based on Jackson's unwillingness to allow black students, even free Africans and African Americans, to attend his Sunday schools, a Richmond Planter correspondent concluded in the issue featuring the Dew interview that, "All the evidence points in the negative." 26 This kind of answer, which was probably honest, allowed Dew to establish a clear demarcation between the philosophies of African American education which Jackson and industrial education advocates espoused. Dew could simultaneously venerate Jackson without acknowledging the theological and even racial problems in Jackson's life story when applied to the modern era. In the First World War Era, Dew's ministry found appeal with an audience of both white and black Southern Baptists. Both black and white Baptist churches invited him to speak, and he occasionally preached at what would today be considered integrated events. At a 1918 event, recorded in Negro Baptist history, a white Baptist church hosted Dew to speak about the importance of evangelizing among African Americans. The church invited black Baptist pastors and a black choir to take part in the service. Dew challenged his audience not to neglect evangelization of African Americans, "bringing the two races into unity of purpose, with a clearer understanding of the importance of the religious life and training of the Negro." 26 "Would 'Stonewall' Jackson Have Admitted Negroes?", clipping dated July 26, 1918, in a scrapbook, Dew Collection, VBHS. 27 Albert Royal, Century of Edgefield (1872-1972), 45. 11 27 Though both races attended, the gathering did not feature the complete social integration of both groups in the congregation. This was still remarkable, however, considering Virginia's recently-enacted segregation ordinances. 28 The Richmond Planet, an African American newspaper in Virginia, noted that a white bank president, Judge Rhea, had secured Dew for speaking for a multi-racial observance of Lincoln's birthday. Though the Planet suggested that the audience for this address would be segregated, the paper was quick to highlight the "progressive" nature of the event, noting that the "more progressive element" of both races would be present. The article asserted that Dew was known to be "heartily in sympathy with the uplifting of the Negro" and that his speaking at such an event would "be of great help to the colored people." 30 29 At these events, Dew's presence symbolized an advocacy for certain forms of racial cooperation that white supremacists generally opposed. Black Baptist leaders sought Dew's expertise on reaching black communities. In 1924, the Northern Baptist Convention, which counted among its members many black Baptists, convened a conference on evangelism among African Americans. Dew and Jackson Davis, another Virginia education advocate, were the sole white presenters at the conference, which featured such luminaries as George Haynes, the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Columbia University, and Dean Kelly Miller of Howard University. Dew shared the conference rostrum with men who did not hide their advocacy for political and civil rights for blacks. 28 31 Jane Dailey, Before Jim Crow: the Politics of Race in Postemancipation Virginia (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000). 29 "Lincoln's Birthday Will be Observed at Petersburg," Richmond Planet (February 3, 1917), 1. 30 "State Normal School Celebrates Founder's Day," Richmond Planet (November 25, 1916), 1. 31 "Interracial Evangelistic Conference," July 21-22, 1924, Commission on Interracial Cooperation Papers, Atlanta University Center Archives (hereafter "CIC Papers"), microfilm reel 20, frame 817. For the groundbreaking work of Haynes, see John Dittmer, "The National Urban League and the Development of Northern Interracial Social Work Agencies, 1910-1940" 12 Later that same year, the Baptist Education Association (African American) of Virginia invited Dew to address their annual meeting at Virginia Union University, along with Jackson Davis and the University's president, William J. Clark. 32 Two years later, the Hampton Ministers Conference, associated with the historically black Hampton Institute, and presided over by a black Baptist minister, featured Dew at their annual ministers' conference. 33 The National Baptist Convention, the largest African American Protestant denomination, enlisted Dew to lead a special seminar at its national convention on "The Responsibility of the Church for Better Race Relations in the Community." President of Virginia Union University, William J. Clark, praised Dew in a letter to the Commission on Interracial Cooperation, noting Dew's "most unusual influence for good among [both] white and colored people." 34 Indeed, Dew attracted both races to his addresses, with one African American church hosting Dew for a special address which also drew white audience members. 35 These invitations from black Baptists, combined with Dew's willingness to accept them, demonstrated both a high regard for Dew from the black Baptist community and Dew's reciprocal appreciation of the opportunity to speak on matters related to black religious life. Dew apparently viewed these opportunities as a form of ministry, in which he could not only advocate for the improvement of some aspects of the lives of African in Social Service Review 56, No. 2 (June 1982): 202-218. Kelly Miller was a well-known advocate for improved economic opportunities for African Americans, see Patrick J. Gilpin and Marybeth Gasman, Charles S. Johnson: Leadership Beyond the Veil in the Age of Jim Crow (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003), 57. 32 "Baptist Education Association Holds Annual Meet," Richmond Planet (October 18, 1924), 1; "Baptist Education Association," Richmond Planet (November 1, 1924), 1. 33 "Great Hampton Ministers Conference Makes History," Norfolk Journal and Guide (July 31, 1926), 1. 34 William J. Clark to R.H. King, n.d., CIC Papers, microfilm reel 20, frame 814. 35 "Staunton News," Richmond Planet (May 31, 1924), 1. 13 Americans, but also use his position as a public figure to draw attention to the larger question of black-white relations. Dew quickly became a key figure in Baptist circles in advocating for improved religious and educational experiences for African Americans. He earned appointment to the Virginia Baptist Committee on Work among Negroes, while continuing to serve as principal of the Jackson Normal at Dinwiddie. 36 Dew's speeches focused on drawing attention to the needs of blacks in society, and especially the need for improved educational opportunities and religious experiences among black Baptists. He quickly gained a reputation as a voice for a sort of religious "interracialism," which emphasized points of spiritual unity between black and white and, most importantly, advocated for blacks to receive key "goods" in society which many other white Virginians of that era would have denied them. Southern Baptists gave Dew a significant platform for his views, through the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Later, the Baptist General Association of Virginia appointed him as a "general missionary" to African Americans, a role which he would occupy for many years and which would provide him with a steady source of income as well as a base of support for his other interests in religious 37 education. After serving the Jackson Manual Training School for more than a decade, Dew accepted the presidency of the National Training School for Girls in Washington, D.C., a vocational institution for young black women. While there he continued to practice his theology of racial 36 Minutes of the Baptist General Association of Virginia: 95th Annual Session (Richmond: The Association, 1918), 29. The other members of the Committee were C.H. Corbitt of Portsmouth, Virginia, W.E. Hatcher of Fork Union, Virginia, John M. Pilcher of Petersburg, Virginia, and John Stewart Bryan, the publisher of the Richmond News Leader (and later the president of the College of William and Mary). 37 "Unusual Meeting of Baptist Association," Nottoway Times (clipping, n.d.), Dew Vertical File, RGA. 14 38 cooperation in a Progressive-Era Washington. Once again, Jackson Davis proved to be one of the chief advocates on Dew's behalf, writing to the well-known philanthropist George Peabody for his assistance in securing charitable support for Dew's work in Washington. 39 From this early beginning, Dew continued to develop a philosophy of interracialism, which he applied to his educational endeavors. Dew's belief in his unusual call to engage in personal contact with African Americans in both Southern and Northern settings gave him a theological and ideological context for his subsequent work with the Commission on Interracial Cooperation. While leading the National Training School, Dew first attracted the notice of Willis Duke Weatherford, the renowned Methodist interracialist. According to Dew's account, Weatherford, who led the Young Men's Christian Association among college students in the South, "had heard that [Dew] had been working with Negroes" and asked him to speak at the Blue Ridge Conference in the mountains of North Carolina. 40 Around 1920, Weatherford invited Dew to become a field worker for the commission, an organization that Weatherford had helped to found two years earlier. The commission promoted improved relations between blacks and whites in the South through a 38 Altha B. Gardner, "The Development and Growth of Welfare Agencies for Negroes in Washington, D.C." M.A. Thesis, Howard University, 1945, 69; National Training School for Women and Girls Sixth Annual Catalogue, 1914-1915 (Washington, D.C.: Murray Brothers, Printers, 1914); Seventh Annual Catalogue and Announcement of the National Training School for Women and Girls, Incorporated (Washington, D.C.: R.L. Pendleton, Printer, 1916), 8; 40 U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education, Negro Education: A Study of the Private and Higher Schools for Colored People in the United States (Bulletin, 1916, No. 39), Vol. 2 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1917), 153; On the history of Progressive-era Washington, see James Borchert, Alley Life in Washington: Family, Community, Religion, and Folklife in the City, 1850-1970 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1980). 39 Jackson Davis to George Foster Peabody, June 5, 1923. George Foster Peabody Papers, Manuscripts Division, Library of Congress. 40 John Dew to George Foster Peabody, Aug. 25, 1938, Peabody Papers, Library of Congress. 15 religious appeal to justice, anti-lynching efforts, support for black educational institutions, and campaigns to end some of the worst features of Jim Crow in accommodations and transportation. 41 Drawing on his experiences as both an educator and denominational worker in Virginia, as well as his time in Washington, Dew brought a valuable background to the CIC. When Dew accepted Weatherford's invitation, both men knew that to his role Dew brought several qualifications. As an ordained Baptist minister of more than fifteen years' experience, he possessed the right credentials for speaking in predominantly Baptist regions of the South, where other interracialists might be viewed as suspect for a variety of reasons. He was also a Southerner and a Virginian, raised in the rural Southside, a region that had transitioned directly from a slave to sharecropping and tenant farming economy. 42 He had proven his prowess as a fundraiser and educational administrator in heavily black regions of Virginia. 43 Although he had received invitations from African American religious organizations to speak with them on the issue of racial cooperation, he had never, to anyone's knowledge, advocated for political equality for blacks—a charge that would have disqualified him from such an appointment during the Jim Crow era. 44 For Weatherford, Dew possessed one final, unique qualification: he was a Democrat and a Confederate heritage enthusiast who counted the relatives 41 For an extensive treatment of the CIC, see Ann Wells Ellis, "The Commission on Interracial Cooperation, 1919-1944: Its Activities and Results," Ph.D. dissertation, Georgia State University, 1975. 42 On conditions of sharecropping in Southside Virginia, see "State Summary of Facts: Showing Peonage Conditions in Virginia," U.S. Department of Justice Peonage Files, microfilm M1048, University of Virginia. 43 On Dew as a fundraiser, see "Principal's Annual Report, Jackson Training School, 19141915," Dew Papers, RGA. 44 For a contemporary account of the dilemma which conservative white Southerners faced when considering racial justice initiatives, see Mary White Ovington, "Race Segregation in the South," Proceedings of the 41st Meeting of the National Conference of Charities and Correction (Memphis, 1914), 534-541. 16 of Confederate general Stonewall Jackson among his friends. The CIC could not afford to have its first field director rejected immediately by white communities in the South, or to be tarred in the press with charges of radicalism. 45 Since almost everyone—left, right, black, and white— admired the story of Stonewall Jackson's slave Sunday schools, bringing a former principal of the Stonewall Jackson Manual Training and Industrial School into the CIC made political sense, whatever private reservations the liberal, integrationist-minded Weatherford may have had about Dew's philosophy of race. 46 As a field worker for the CIC, Dew advocated for a religious approach to racial cooperation. His most unusual contribution was the development of interracial Sunday schools. In 1925, Dew told his CIC colleagues about his experience organizing "Interracial Sunday Schools" in rural Southern communities. Dew's recollection of the event in Brunswick County, Virginia, suggested his familiarity with the attitudes of rural white Southerners: A good many of the white folks didn't think that colored people were coming, but they didn't see why we should have an interracial Sunday School, and I was afraid that the colored folks might not think they were wanted, so I went to them, to many of them, and told them how eager I was to have them present, for I knew, and I told them, that I 47 couldn't have a successful interracial meeting without the presence of both races. Dew understood the challenges to organizing a rural interracial gathering in a region dominated by segregation ordinances. As he later explained to CIC colleagues, rural whites and blacks had "forgotten the habit of being with each other" and if an interracial approach were to be successful, it would require a familiar format that could create a familiar setting for positive 45 White supremacist mobs had objected violently to interracial gatherings as early as the Woman's Christian Temperance Union's interracial organizing efforts. 46 On Weatherford's integrationist views, see Wilma Dykeman, Prophet of Plenty: The First Ninety Years of W.D. Weatherford (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1966), 197-201. 47 "Remarks of J.A.C. Dew," CIC Papers, microfilm reel 20, frame 815. 17 interracial contact. 48 Though suspicious, a local black Baptist pastor agreed to accompany Dew to the first Sunday school meeting. To Dew's surprise, in a rural district with few black families, nearly forty African Americans came to the first interracial Sunday school. Dew organized the school to permit "co-operation without any sort of social admixture." The two races studied the Bible in separate classrooms, before reconvening in the main assembly for a talk by a speaker. Dew served as the first speaker. This format, with separate study followed by a combined assembly, preserved the essentials of segregation while creating a new space for blacks and whites to encounter one another. Following his own presentation, Dew realized that he needed to invite a black speaker for the following week. Providentially, he told his CIC colleagues, a young professor at Virginia Union University had agreed to come to speak to the interracial assembly. 49 In an effort to ensure that the group appreciated the black teacher, Dew asked him to sit on the stage with the other teachers, rather than with the students. He also addressed the black professor as "Mister," a form of respect that was customarily denied to African Americans in the South. 50 Dew perceived that by using a religious activity as a basis, he had created an opportunity to challenge Southern norms and demonstrate that he could transgress Southern norms of interaction: It was a new experience for the people of Brunswick County to see a white man and a negro sitting on the platform together, to see a white man introducing a negro in that way, using the term "Mister" and so on. And so it created quite a bit of comment. And there was quite a bit of fear on the part of the officers of the Sunday School, I think, that 51 the experiment was not going to work. 48 Thomas Jesse Jones to Willis Weatherford, December 22, 1925, Willis Duke Weatherford Papers, Collection #3831, box 17, folder 13, Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina. 49 "Remarks of J.A.C. Dew," CIC Papers, microfilm reel 20, frame 815. 50 "Remarks of J.A.C. Dew," CIC Papers, microfilm reel 20, frame 815. 51 "Remarks of J.A.C. Dew," CIC Papers, microfilm reel 20, frame 815-816. 18 Dew's understanding of this cultural moment permitted him to perceive the fear that local whites experienced. As a field worker for the CIC, he possessed a certain distance from the local whites, for whom the social norm of white supremacy dictated the appropriate behavior with respect to blacks. By organizing his interracial Sunday school and inviting a "Negro from a Northern college to come to them," Dew violated an essential tenet of white supremacy: that whites, and not blacks, should have the "exclusive right to manage race relations in any and all contexts." 52 Ordinarily, Dew would have been subjected to castigation as a "race traitor" for his invitation and public demonstration of respect for the black professor. However, Dew skillfully managed the situation by using his Baptist denominational credentials, his Jackson connection, and his own theological language to mitigate criticism from local whites: But I felt that I had the confidence of both races and that if I could just get them to consider that we were studying to show ourselves approved unto God, and that no one could object to us studying the Bible, and that if I could get those of the colored race who were Christians to consider that not all of their neighbors of the white race were their enemies, but that quite a large proportion of them, perhaps a majority of them, were their friends and wanted to see them succeed…. And I was careful to emphasize the religious experience, our experience of God and to have it definitely understood that we were not trying to solve all the race problems all of a sudden but if we could just get together and 53 study together the things which concern our duty to God. Dew's sense of the limits of white toleration in his home county led him to adopt a public theological understanding that could be supported by both blacks and whites in Brunswick County: belief in the Bible and in interracial friendship. He simultaneously reassured the whites who would be most fearful of black advancement that political equality would not be the subject of the Sunday School, where the purpose was to focus on the "duty to God." 52 Stephen A. Berrey, The Jim Crow Routine: Everyday Performances of Race, Civil Rights, and Segregation in Mississippi (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2015), 147. 53 "Remarks of J.A.C. Dew," CIC Papers, microfilm reel 20, frame 816. 19 At the same time, he recognized that these interracial Sunday schools represented a dramatic innovation that cut across the grain of white and black religious practice in the rural South in the Jim Crow era. Instead of suggesting that nothing had changed in this new "religious experience," Dew acknowledged the inherent radicalism of this interracial activity by arguing that the Sunday schools represented an "experiment" based on the theological belief that "no one could object to the study of the Bible." 54 Though maintaining separate Sunday school classes for racial groups, the interracial Sunday schools required whites to acknowledge black Christians as spiritual equals and intellectual peers. For some Jim Crow whites, especially those involved with the CIC, this experimental theological commitment formed an important link in their movement toward greater criticism of Jim Crow. 55 By framing the Sunday schools as a religious experience rather than as a social or political encounter, Dew helped to establish what social scientists have labeled "counterpublics" in which a space was created for reflection and criticism of the dominant segregationist ideology. 56 After Dew's local experience with interracial Sunday schools, the CIC replicated Dew's approach elsewhere in the South. Between 1924 and 1940, interracial Sunday schools, Sunday school conventions, and similar models provided an opportunity for CIC workers to introduce interracial religious cooperation in small towns and rural areas where other forms of interracial 54 "Remarks of J.A.C. Dew," CIC Papers, microfilm reel 20, frame 816. On the general radicalism of the CIC, see Julia Anne McDonough, "Men and Women of Good Will: A History of the Commission on Interracial Cooperation and the Southern Regional Council, 1919-1954," Ph.D. dissertation, University of Virginia, 1993. 56 I borrow the concept of "counterpublics" from Robert Asen, who argues that they take shape in both discursive and interpersonal interaction. Robert Asen, "Seeking the 'Counter' in Counterpublics," Communication Theory 10, No. 4 (November 2000): 424-446. On the intersection of counterpublics and religion, see R. Scott Hanson, "The Day We Tried to End Jim Crow: January 1, 1944, the Day of Prayer, and the Origin of the Movement to End Segregation in South Carolina," Church History 82, No. 2 (June 2013): 368-392. 55 20 contact might be unwelcome or even dangerous. Through the Sunday schools, Dew and other CIC officials established a religious foundation for interracial cooperation. 57 By 1934, CIC officials pointed proudly to more than fifteen hundred "actual demonstrations" of interracial cooperation in Southern communities, many of which followed Dew's model of sponsoring interracial religious events. 58 CIC founder Will Alexander credited the interracial religious events with making possible more "secular" forms of cooperation. 59 For nearly sixteen years, Dew served as field secretary for the CIC. Though the Great Depression limited the CIC's activities, Dew continued to organize interracial Sunday schools, Baptist preaching conventions, and other religious events. The success of Dew and his CIC colleagues at establishing interracial religious activity made them a greater target for criticism from those most committed to white supremacy. A 1930 article in the Atlanta Constitution reported on the "bitter attack" on the Commission made by "Southern patriots" who had formed an alternative organization to promote "racial integrity." The new group claimed that the CIC had created a "dangerous situation" by advocating "social equality between the races." 60 But by the early 1930s, the CIC recognized that simply creating opportunities for interracial dialogue was not a sufficient approach to ending the most egregious violations of civil rights in the South. Will Alexander, the CIC director, asked Dew to take on organizing black public opinion on 57 "News Release on Interracial Meetings, 1923-1925," CIC Papers, microfilm reel 20, frames 811-812. Some of the events which the CIC sponsored in addition to Sunday Schools included "county-wide interracial cooperation Sunday" and "Inter-racial Ministers' Institutes." 58 Robert B. Eleazer, "What the Commission on Interracial Cooperation Stands For," CIC Papers, microfilm reel 18, frame 32. 59 "Dr. Will Alexander to Appear Monday, Feb. 19, at First Baptist Church," CIC Papers, microfilm reel 20, frame 801. 60 "Attacks CIC Group as Threatening to Integrity of South Races: 'Southern Patriots' Calls Interracial Commission Menace," Atlanta Constitution (November 1, 1930), 3. The "Southern patriots" claimed in the same article that the CIC was working toward "social equality" with the goal of "intermixing the black and white races." 21 lynching. Alexander's request began a new phase in Dew's racial thinking, moving him beyond his initial emphasis on religious cooperation and into active advocacy against lynching. Dew coordinated a black anti-lynching campaign within the CIC. Prior to and during the Depression, Dew had functioned as the CIC's "man in the field" in rural areas of the South, but his transition to a new role as the CIC's "minister" to black audiences signaled a critical change in the organization's strategy for communicating to black Southerners about lynching. His campaign involved the use of ministerial networks, the production of pamphlets, and the organization of local interracial committees that would keep in communication with local political leaders about individual lynching cases as well as the general problem of lynching. 61 In the fall of 1934, Dew provided the keynote address at a "Conference on Negro Crime" at Tuskegee Institute, with the conference speech reprinted later as a pamphlet entitled "Calling All Citizens." In the conference and the pamphlet, Dew argued that black citizens had an obligation to assist in eliminating black crime, and especially crimes which fueled the white community's hatred of black men. He also took the significant step of condemning what he labeled "false accusations of rape," noting that these kinds of accusations had resulted in lynchings and other forms of vigilante violence against innocent black men. 62 While Dew's attempts to organize black opinion against criminal activity within black communities might appear to be a classic example of a well-intentioned white person instructing black people on the proper response to racist violence, Dew and his CIC colleagues understood that the campaign was essentially a Southern white subterfuge. In the South of the 1930s, a white 61 "What the Press Said About the Marianna Florida Lynching" [press release, c. 1935], CIC Papers, microfilm reel 1, frame 1008. 62 "Calling All Citizens," CIC Papers, microfilm reel 1, frame 999-1003. This pamphlet presented an edited version of Dew's keynote speech at the Tuskegee Crime Conference of 1934. 22 field worker (especially one with Dew's background as a respected Baptist minister, descendant of a Confederate officer, and a former administrator at a school named after a legendary Confederate general) could express views on race matters with a credibility that Will Alexander, the director of the CIC, could not. The press release accompanying the announcement of Dew's appointment noted, "The Commission believes that it is working along sound and practical lines in this appeal to Negro church people to throw the weight of their influence on the side of peace and safety, rather than permit a few criminals to provoke race friction." 63 An examination of Dew's activities from 1934 to 1940 demonstrates a clear pattern of pushing the envelope of what white supporters of the CIC would accept. In "Calling All Citizens," Dew asked black citizens to help law enforcement apprehend black criminals, while quietly undermining the perception that black men frequently committed sex crimes against white women. Throughout his pamphlet, he repeated the theme that black citizens must cooperate with law enforcement, but the cooperation which he suggested required that white law enforcement officers also cooperate with black citizens. Dew wrote, A primary duty of every good citizen is to help in the capture of criminals and to help in the prevention of crime. This truth, however, is too often overlooked. Too often people get the idea that police, state officers, and federal officials alone are 64 to be concerned with law enforcement. Dew deliberately linked black citizens to "good citizens" with "primary duties" to assist in the resolution of crimes. But by labeling a commitment to apprehending suspected criminals as "cooperation with law enforcement," Dew also communicated to Southern whites that he 63 "Will Negro Church Groups Join in Fighting Crime?" [press release, October 10, 1934], CIC Papers, microfilm reel 1, frame 1029. 64 "Calling All Citizens," CIC Papers, microfilm reel 1, frame 999. 23 believed that all citizens, regardless of race, should receive the protection of the law in the apprehension and trial of suspected offenders. In Dew's opinion, lynchings continued because Southern blacks lacked a clear understanding of how to combat violence in the South, and also lacked an effective means for expressing their opinion about the evils of lynching. His campaign, designed and coordinated through the CIC, would give black Southerners "guidance" about how to interpret lynching— both to condemn it and to advance a program of action to prevent it. His central claim was that black citizens needed to join in preventing the specific crimes, such as rape, which most often precipitated lynchings in the South. Of course, white racism, not black criminality, was the primary cause of lynchings. But Dew also believed that a strong and vocal black community, standing up against violent sexual assailants, might rob white mobs of their most frequent pretext. 65 Though Dew articulated his arguments about lynching in ways that whites could accept, he did not condone mob violence. From his earliest association with the CIC, Dew had repeatedly condemned mob violence in his writings and public addresses. 66 As his anti-lynching advocacy increased, Dew also subtly challenged the underlying cultural supports for lynching. For instance, in "Calling All Citizens," he challenged the presumption of guilt which communities attached to rape accusations, writing, "Respect for womanhood is the sine qua non of civilization. Every sex crime should be dealt with in the severest possible way, but in no case 65 On the racialization of rape, see Diane Miller Sommerville, Rape and Race in the NineteenthCentury South (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004). 66 "J.A.C. Dew, Director of Negro Work: Field Secretary, Commission on Interracial Cooperation," CIC Papers, microfilm reel 20, frame 818. 24 should there be any action of a mob and in no case should the innocent be made to suffer." 67 He also argued that Southern whites should abandon the stereotype that most lynchings took place because black men had raped white women, writing, "of 103 persons lynched in the years 19311934 only 19 were even charged with rape or attempts of rape." 68 Dew continued to advocate against lynching through the late 1930s, even as the frequency of lynchings decreased. While he did not explicitly embrace full political equality for African Americans, he had moved a considerable distance from any early acquiescence to white supremacy in interracial relationships. The Commission on Interracial Cooperation had always maintained dual headquarters (Atlanta for administration and Nashville for education). But in 1936, the Commission also established branch offices in Birmingham, Memphis, and Richmond. Dew moved from the national staff based in Nashville to become the Richmond field secretary, with responsibility for Virginia and Kentucky. Though still a member of the CIC national leadership team, his primary focus became advancing the cause of interracial cooperation in Virginia. Upon his arrival, Will Alexander instructed him to use his connections with the Baptist General Association of Virginia to place greater emphasis on educational and ministerial work in Virginia. As Alexander wrote, "I think it very important that the best men in our church circles be in position to intelligently discuss the race question." 69 The CIC's shift to a local focus, as well as a growing emphasis on 67 "Calling All Citizens," CIC Papers, microfilm reel 1, frame 999. "Calling All Citizens," CIC Papers, microfilm reel 1, frame 1000. The statistic is accurate for the period which Dew describes. See W. Fitzhugh Brundage, Lynching in the New South: Georgia and Virginia, 1880-1930 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993), 259-262. 69 Will Alexander to J.A.C. Dew, May 19, 1936, CIC Papers, microfilm reel 20, frame 20. 68 25 ministerial education on race relations, coincided with the approach of the Second World War and the transformation of the CIC into the Southern Regional Council in 1944. 70 The sixteen years during which Dew worked for the CIC represented a time of significant change in his understanding of the nature of Southern race relations. He gradually evolved from his early position as a race relations diplomat and translator to become a more aggressive advocate for justice for African Americans. Whether he was motivated by a political understanding of the limited window of opportunity for reform in the South, by a religious sense of the need to end lynching, or by a combination of both, he was always working at the limits of the context of the South at the time. For the Baptist General Association of Virginia, Dew became the denomination's chief specialist on race relations, as well as the essential contact point with African American Baptists. He maintained relationships with the black Baptist leadership in Virginia, where he had previously taught at both Virginia Union University and the Virginia Seminary in Lynchburg. 71 As white and black Baptists pushed for denominational reconciliation and for the establishment of a black Baptist Convention, Dew played a role in both. He remained a field worker for the 72 CIC and continued to make the case for racial justice in Virginia, especially in Baptist circles. Virginia Baptists especially appreciated Dew's efforts to draw Virginia Baptists, both black and white, into discussions on race relations. At a 1937 pastors' school, the editor of the Richmond 70 On the eventual transition of the CIC into the SRC, see Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, Revolt Against Chivalry: Jessie Daniel Ames and the Women's Campaign against Lynching (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993), 250-255. 71 "To Pastors and Deacons: Representing Black Baptist Churches of Virginia and to White Baptists Interested in Interracial Cooperation," CIC Papers, microfilm reel 20, frame 834. On Virginia Seminary, see E.T. Dahlberg, "A Day at the Virginia Seminary," CIC Papers, microfilm reel 20, frame 851. 72 Robert B. Eleazer to J.A.C. Dew, October 29, 1937, CIC Papers, microfilm reel 20, frame 762. 26 Times-Dispatch, joined Dew for a presentation at Massanetta Springs, on the topic "Progress and Problems in Race Relations." For the first time, white Virginia Baptists invited black Baptist pastors to participate with full equality at a pastors' school (in this case, at the University of Richmond), to read papers and lead the assembly in devotional activities. The fact that Dew conducted this "experiment" in Richmond, which had one of the strictest segregation codes in Virginia, demonstrated his willingness to push boundaries by the late 1930s. 73 Dew also labored to create an environment which could facilitate improved relations between Virginia Baptists, black and white. His CIC letterhead identified him as the "Minister to Virginia Negro Baptists" but his influence extended well beyond that constituency. Dew helped to secure travel funding for a black pastor from Richmond to visit the University of Richmond, the historic white Baptist institution of higher learning. In a letter to a black Baptist pastor, Dew demonstrated his understanding of the complexities of racial etiquette in the era of segregation. Addressing the pastor as "doctor," a title of respect seldom afforded by whites to black ministers during the era of Jim Crow, Dew proposed that "I should like to talk to you about the possibility of making some progress in this connection." Dew added in his letter that there were "few preachers in the state for whom I have more respect than yourself." 74 By courting this well- respected black Baptist pastor, Dew hoped to persuade other black Baptist leaders to establish contact with white Baptists in Virginia. As Dew continued with his work for the CIC, he took on more direct responsibilities for the Virginia Baptist Convention. Because of his previous role as a missionary to Africans, he 73 "Racial Relations Get Major Attention at U.R. School," Religious Herald (July 8, 1937). Dew Collection, VBHS. 74 J.A.C. Dew to D.W. Lindsay, May 14, 1937, CIC Papers, microfilm reel 20, frame 807. 27 received the title of "State Director of Negro Missions" for the Baptist General Association of Virginia. In this capacity, he helped to train "colored Sunday school workers" to use the same curriculum that white Baptists used, and to keep black Sunday school superintendents in contact with the overall Baptist program. 75 The appointment represented a considerable increase in status for a person who had once been rejected as a missionary because of his health. The fact that white Baptists placed such emphasis on the education of black Sunday school teachers suggests both a denominational interest in race relations and a tacit acknowledgment that black Baptist education needed resources. By the late 1930s, Dew's interracial work had expanded beyond Baptist denominational boundaries. As the threat of global war intensified, Dew argued that the global challenge to democracy, especially as represented by Nazism, made the improvement of race relations in the American South imperative. In an address at a white Methodist church in July 1939, he called for Christian justice in both local and global contexts: There is far more of a feeling of brotherhood between white people and colored people than there is in the heart of a Hitler toward a group in whom a drop of non-Aryan blood flows. And yet we must work continually to maintain a form of democracy, not merely in 76 name, but in fact. A 1940 address in Richmond, to the Virginia Association of Women's Clubs, also reflected Dew's awareness of the growing problem of race relations in a world increasingly under threat from fascism: This is the most critical period in the relations between races since the reconstruction period. I've been in this business now 18 years, and there's never been a time when we needed more than now to work on race relations. 75 "Virginia Baptist Pastors and Deacons Institute, March 24-April 4, 1941," Dew Collection, VBHS. 76 "Churchman Asks Social Justice," Washington Post (July 2, 1939), 9. 28 Here's what I mean. Just now European people have about decided that the thing that has made democracy work is the practice of Christianity. The test of democracy is whether a white man will give a negro [sic] his rights—let him go to court, let him get an education, 77 let him have decent living conditions. Even after World War II, Dew's focus remained on "bridging racial barriers through methods promoting personal and religious development." 78 Dew's life experiences had created a strong theological foundation for his ministry of racial reconciliation, a foundation which he would maintain into the post-war era. In 1940, Dew resigned from the Commission on Interracial Cooperation to become the Director of Negro Work for the Baptist Foreign Mission Board. Though he still participated in the activities of the Virginia CIC, he used his new position to press for greater equality in religious organizations. His letters regarding membership in the Foreign Mission Conference, a joint endeavor of Baptists, Presbyterians, and other groups, suggest the increasing importance of desegregating religious meetings. Dew argued for a "bi-racial" meeting of representatives from both black and white denominations, insisting that the meetings should be "jointly controlled, with whites and Negroes occupying positions of leadership." 79 Dew's focus on "jointly controlled" meetings represented a shift from his original emphasis on creating mere "interracial contact" to an emphasis on guaranteeing black representation and power. Though Dew did not live long enough to experience the Civil Rights Movement, his life provides an instructive case study in the development of a theological view of race relations. Drawing on his childhood experience in a devout Methodist family, his personal struggle to 77 "Religious Program Urged as Solution of Race Problems," Richmond Times-Dispatch (January 25, 1940), 4. 78 "J.A.C. Dew to Speak at Center Tonight," Richmond News Leader (June 12, 1945). 79 J.A.C. Dew to Emory Ross, March 1, 1941, CIC Papers, microfilm reel 20, frame 857. 29 become a missionary, and his conversion of Jackson's slave Sunday schools into a modern educational institution, Dew charted a Baptist course of race relations that increasingly emphasized justice and equality within a framework that whites could accept. From his first foray into the world of interracial Sunday schools, Dew gradually moved toward a more "radical" Christian approach which emphasized the full humanity of African Americans and their right to equal treatment. The story of Dew's pilgrimage also illuminates some of the challenges facing white interracialists in the Jim Crow South. The Baptist tradition of which Dew was a part was itself divided by past disputes over slavery. White racial attitudes in Virginia were resistant to change. Dew moved cautiously, emphasizing religious cooperation as a foundation for social reform. Though he was sometimes a racial diplomat, his positions moved him beyond the social conventions of the white South. By treating African Americans with respect, by addressing them with formal titles, by advocating for them, and by highlighting their potential, Dew invited a reappraisal of racial hierarchies. As he reminded his CIC colleagues, the interracial Sunday schools "created quite a bit of comment" because the rural whites had never experienced the kind of interaction that such schools fostered. 80 Dew's religious appeal provided a way for him, as a white person, to communicate with black and white audiences in ways that validated the humanity and equality of African Americans, while also preparing white Southerners for a world in which the racial certainties of their ancestors would begin to fade. By approaching race relations from a theological perspective, Dew engaged a religious language that moved beyond the racial essentialism of his era and provided a moral framework for overcoming racism in the South. 80 "Remarks of J.A.C. Dew," CIC Papers, microfilm reel 20, frame 815. 30