Garfield Bromley Oxnam
| Garfield Bromley Oxnam | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 14, 1891 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Died | March 12, 1963 |
| Alma mater | University of Southern California |
| Occupation | Bishop, university administrator |
| Children | Robert Fisher Oxnam |
Garfield Bromley Oxnam (August 14, 1891 – March 12, 1963) was a social reformer and American Bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1936.
Garfield Bromley Oxnam was born in Los Angeles in August 14, 1891. His father was a mining engineer and instilled in his son a conservative theology. Oxnam embraced these beliefs in his youth, even describing socialism as "the biggest idiocy ever presented to the public." However, in his early 20s Oxnam gravitated towards Dana W. Bartlett and the movements of the Social Gospel.
Oxnam's political tendencies moved further left at the University of Southern California. Under the tutelage of Progressive teachers Emory S. Bogardus, Rockwell D. Hunt, and James Main Dixon, Oxnam was encouraged to apply his knowledge of social issues in real life settings in Los Angeles. Oxnam became a volunteer Housing Inspector for the Los Angeles Housing Commission and ventured through the poorest districts of Los Angeles, a city that falsely proclaimed to have no slums. He took copious notes from his field work and vowed to use the power of the Church to eradicate the slums in Los Angeles.
He graduated from the University of Southern California in 1913 and from the Boston University School of Theology in 1915. He was ordained in 1916 and then headed west to briefly run a church in California's Central Valley. However, he felt a strong desire to return to his hometown and eventually presided over the Church of All Nations, a multiethnic Church in Downtown Los Angeles. Through Oxnam's personal surveys, the Church of All Nations was comprised more than 46 nationalities. Oxnam's unprecedented fight for racial inclusion spearheaded the fight for immigrant worker rights in the ethnically diverse Los Angeles. He said the Methodist Church, which preached for greater racial integration, did not do enough in practice to further this cause.
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