We’ve Come This Far

Our Racial Justice Working Group publishes this blog of its deliberations from time to time.

The African Meeting House

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June 25, 2024

“The simple brick building nestled in Smith Court on Boston’s Beacon Hill reveals little to the passerby to indicate its grand place in history. Yet, not only is the African Meeting House the only extant church building for blacks in America; for nearly a century it was also the political, social, educational, and religious epicenter of the black community in Boston and throughout New England.”
–Robert C. Hayden, “The African Meeting House in Boston,” 1987.

The Chapel Camp tour of the African Meeting House took place last Sunday. The stories of community building, witness, and activism are told there in the letters, articles, books, historical photos, and cultural artifacts as well as by welcoming guides. We took the regular tour of the building that served as schoolhouse, community meeting space, churches of various denominations, and public meeting hall in which speakers communicated their passion for freedom and equality, justice and education. Continue reading →

Juneteenth

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June 17,2024

Juneteenth, June 19th, was declared a Massachusetts state holiday in 2020 and a federal holiday in 2021. The number of commemorations and offerings for celebration in community have grown over the years. This year, we note the variety of events in Boston and the Episcopal Church, and local churches, which are described in the links listed below our signatures.

Our column this week focuses on how two people of color have described and thought about Juneteenth. Kevin Young, poet and the director of the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African American History and Culture since 2021, called the holiday a mix of family, freedom, music, and food (his Louisiana family saw ice cream as its way of feeding the body as well as the soul). For Young, Juneteenth also means history and thinking about the legacy of slavery. The news of Juneteenth was met with both jubilation and reflection on the “delays of freedom.” Continue reading →

“Open Circle: Jewish and Christian Thought and Practice”

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May 27, 2024

A wonderful series of talks,“Jewish and Christian Thought and Practice: Face to Face and Side by Side,” was offered last fall and winter. Sponsored by Hebrew College Open Circle Learning and hosted by Rabbi Michael Shire of Central Reform Temple, the series explored several topics with Christian faith leaders in the Boston area. Session 6 was devoted to reparations. Rabbi Michael Shire introduced the session and moderated the question-and-answer segment. Our Reverend Pam Werntz was also a speaker.

Rabbi Michael explained the difference between two temple offerings in Jewish teaching and practice. The “hatat,” a sin offering, is made by individuals for damage to other individuals. The “asham,” a specific offering, is given when wrong has been done to others and the harm is done to a people. Asham is “more of a national shame that comes upon us by what we have done or not done.” Rabbi Michael’s remarks included salient examples from the Hebrew Bible about the need for both kinds of repair.

Reverend Pam spoke first about personal reparations (her 2023 sabbatical was devoted to discovering the story of her ancestors and their connection to enslavement in Maryland). Pam then focused on Christian notions of reparations, and specific Episcopalian notions and practices of reparations. She gave examples of Church rituals, prayers, and teachings (the “Great Commandment” and scriptural writings in the Second Testament). We seek and serve the spirit of redemption in all persons and we also pray for restoration and social justice, which is a moral obligation for Episcopalians. Pam’s remarks highlighted the importance of learning that repairing and restoring relationships is work related to justice. Lastly, she spoke about the need to engage in material reparations as part of Emmanuel Church’s commitment to the work in all its forms. Continue reading →

Our Diocese’s Report on Slavery and Its Legacy

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May 14, 2024

The Diocese of Massachusetts Toolkit for Reparations has a new resource. As of
March 2024, their list of sources includes “And You Will Know the Truth, and the Truth Will Make You Free: A Historical Framework (1620-1840) for Understanding How the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts Benefits Todayfrom Chattel Slavery and Its Legacy.”

This report, written by Alden Fossett, a postulant for ordination to the priesthood and Master of Divinity student at Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, was released by the Subcommittee on Reparations of DioMass’s Racial Justice Commission.

The focus of the report is on the “12 Church of England parishes founded in Massachusetts before the American Revolution and the sources of wealth that funded their construction, as well as industries that funded the expansion of the Diocese of Massachusetts during the 19th century.” It complements the earlier history, “The Episcopal Church and Slavery: A Historical Narrative,” written by the Subcommittee on Reparations in November 2021. Continue reading →

Bearing Witness

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May 6, 2024

“Bearing Witness: Museums and Places Amplifying Black History”

On May 1, 2024 , the Boston Athenaeum invited all to join in a conversation about museums as “trusted spaces of memory and education.” The panel, moderated by historian Byron Rushing, included Kyera Singleton, Director of the Royall House and Slave Quarters, and Christian Walkes, Director of Education at the Museum of African American History.

Hosted at the African Meeting House (Boston), the discussion focused on “the intersection of collective memory and museums, delving into the profound role and responsibility of being stewards of historic sites…[navigating] the intricate dynamics of preserving and presenting history to diverse audiences.” At a time when museums are rethinking their educational roles, we learned about these two local sites, and how they are focused on the “history and legacy of slavery and racial injustice and how we might imagine a more just world.”

In greeting and thanking Byron after the talks, we brought him an artifact from our Emmanuel history, a copy of the article about our 1995 series, “Power Shifts,” in which he spoke about wielding power for the betterment of all concerned. (Emmanuel News 1995: v. 1, no. 1) We had a moment to remember his ongoing engagement with racial justice over the years and it was wonderful to share some time with him.

–Mary Beth Clack, Mary Blocher, Cindy Coldren, Pat Krol, Liz Levin
–Published in This Week @Emmanuel Church May 6, 2024

We Celebrate Bishop Barbara Harris

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April 30, 2024

This past Sunday, The Rt. Rev. Dr. Carol J. Gallagher, visited us, presiding and preaching at our Eucharist for the Fifth Sunday of Easter. Bishop Gallagher also dedicated our second pulpit statue. Bishop Barbara Harris’s statue joins that of the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, both carved by our resident sculptor, Ted Southwick. Bishop Barbara was known to many of us and stories about her forthright manner and other qualities are legendary. We honor her in this column. While it would be impossible to cite her writings and writings about her, we present a few here.

“I would like to see the church come to some better understanding of what it means to be an inclusive fellowship, how to more fully exhibit the love of Christ in the world.”

— Barbara Harris, The Right Reverend Barbara C. Harris, 1930-2020

Harris, Barbara C. Hallelujah Anyhow! A Memoir. New York: Church Publishing,
2018.

Johnson, Qiana M., “The First Five Black Women Episcopal Priests,” Anglican
and Episcopal History 92:1 (March 2023), p. 81-102. An article about Pauli Murray, Mary, Adebonojo, Barbara C. Harris, Sandye Wilson, and Gayle Harris.

–Mary Beth Clack, Mary Blocher, Cindy Coldren, Pat Krol, Liz Levin
–Published in This Week @Emmanuel Church April 30, 2024

“The Church Awakens”

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April 15, 2024

Our recent discovery of “The Church Awakens: African Americans and the Struggle for Justice,” the exhibit website hosted by the Archives of the Episcopal Church, leads us to describe it briefly for you in this column. We encourage you to spend some time with it: there is much to read, listen to, and explore. The timelines include the key moments in which African Americans and their struggle for justice in the Episcopal Church came to the fore.

Other historical information is found in the topical pages (Legacy, Divergence, ESCRU, Transitions, The Special Program, and Awakening). In the Leadership Gallery, you’ll find important figures who have been the subjects of inquiry and discussion at Emmanuel Church, such as William Stringfellow and Pauli Murray.

Among the important lay leaders, Boston’s Byron Rushing is cited. Byron generously offered Emmanuelites two tours during Chapel Camp 2021, giving us a better sense of the history of Black South Boston writ large, and an opportunity to learn about Emmanuel Church’s connections to the African American community. We visited the building that housed Emmanuel’s mission church, the Church of the Ascension and the original Emmanuel House. Visit the Social Justice page under the Missions heading at the Emmanuel Church website for more on those tours.

Do take some time perusing “The Church Awakens” website; it has much to offer.

–Mary Beth Clack, Cindy Coldren, Mary Blocher, Liz Levin, Pat Krol
–Published in This Week @Emmanuel Church April 17 & 24, 2024

The Harriet Hayden Albums

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April 2, 2024

“Poets, prophets, and reformers are all picture-makers and this ability is the secret of their power and of their achievements. They see what ought to be by the reflection of what is, and endeavor to remove the contradiction.”
–Frederick Douglass (Boston Tremont Temple lecture, 1861)

A remarkable exhibit of materials, inspired by two photograph albums owned by Harriet Hayden is now on display at the Boston Athenaeum. Framing Freedom: The Harriet Hayden Albums brings to life the network of abolitionists and activists who participated in the network of assistance for freedom seekers who traveled to Boston from the 1840s onward. The Beacon Hill home of Harriet and Lewis Hayden was called “a temple of refuge” by fellow abolitionists. About one-fourth of the freedom seekers from the South found support and solace there.

We know of a connection that the Haydens had with Emmanuel’s Beecher Stowe family. Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose daughter Catharine was confirmed at Emmanuel Church in 1862, visited the Hayden’s home in 1853. Stowe referenced Lewis Hayden’s “real life stories” in her response to critics of her books. (See “Lewis and Harriet Hayden House”)

–Mary Beth Clack, Cindy Coldren, Mary Blocher, Pat Krol, Liz Levin
–Published in This Week @Emmanuel Church April 3 & 9, 2024

Boston’s Reparations Efforts

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March 25, 2024

Last week, sixteen clergy and faith leaders gathered in Roxbury to hold a press conference about their open letter to several churches supporting reparations in our city. The event was hosted by a local activist group, the Boston People’s Reparations Commission.

Are you curious about Boston’s reparations efforts? You may have read that the City of Boston appointed two research teams to continue their work (begun in late 2022). One group brings together researchers of the African American Trail Project at Tufts University and historians at the Royall House and Slave Quarters in Medford; they will study the history of enslavement from 1620 to 1940. A second group of scholars from Northeastern University will research the history of inequality within the Boston Public Schools, Boston Police Department, Boston Fire Department, and Boston Housing Authority in the era after 1940.

We found the seven-episode podcast series hosted by the WGBH News Equity and Justice Unit to be an excellent introduction to how reparations were championed, and challenged, in our municipal and state government over the years. Entitled “What is Owed?” the broadcast covers the stories of important advocates of reparations, from freedwoman Belinda Sutton, who successfully petitioned the Massachusetts General Court in 1783, through the work of Senator Bill Owens, the first Black member of the Massachusetts Senate, and ends with the unfolding story of our current times.

–Mary Beth Clack, Cindy Coldren, Mary Blocher, Pat Krol, Liz Levin
–Published in This Week @Emmanuel Church March 27, 2024

Black History Month

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March 10, 2024

“African Americans and the Arts” is the theme of Black History Month 2024. Celebrations of Black History Month at the Washington National Cathedral included its Annual HBCU Welcome Sunday and a spoken word, dance, and music event.

In addition, the Cathedral is highlighting its “Now and Forever Windows” (those replacing the 1953 Lee-Jackson windows), which were dedicated and blessed this past fall. The public event was held on September 23, 2023. The windows, designed by artist Kerry James Marshall, depict the struggle for justice as a religious struggle. It was important for the windows to, in Marshall’s words, “capture both darkness and light, both the pain of yesterday and the promise of tomorrow, as well as the quiet and exemplary dignity of the African American struggle for justice and equality and the indelible and progressive impact it has had on American society.”

As noted by Cathedral staff, the windows project prompted a wider community discussion of “What exactly is sacred art?” For a closer look at the effort to broaden the understanding of history at our nation’s cathedral, and for more about the creation and symbolism of the windows, the following resources are online:

  • Now and Forever: A Story of Freedom on the Move (video, 22 minutes)
  • Smart History’s conversation with artist Kerry James Marshall and poet Elizabeth Alexander (video, 9 minutes)

—Mary Beth Clack, Cindy Coldren, Pat Krol, Liz Levin, Mary Blocher

–Published in This Week @Emmanuel Church February 21, 28 & March 7, 2024