Faith in Their Own Color

Faith in Their Own Color
Author: Craig D. Townsend
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2005-10-26
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0231508883

On a September afternoon in 1853, three African American men from St. Philip's Church walked into the Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of New York and took their seats among five hundred wealthy and powerful white church leaders. Ultimately, and with great reluctance, the Convention had acceded to the men's request: official recognition for St. Philip's, the first African American Episcopal church in New York City. In Faith in Their Own Color, Craig D. Townsend tells the remarkable story of St. Philip's and its struggle to create an autonomous and independent church. His work unearths a forgotten chapter in the history of New York City and African Americans and sheds new light on the ways religious faith can both reinforce and overcome racial boundaries. Founded in 1809, St. Philip's had endured a fire; a riot by anti-abolitionists that nearly destroyed the church; and more than forty years of discrimination by the Episcopalian hierarchy. In contrast to the majority of African Americans, who were flocking to evangelical denominations, the congregation of St. Philip's sought to define itself within an overwhelmingly white hierarchical structure. Their efforts reflected the tension between their desire for self-determination, on the one hand, and acceptance by a white denomination, on the other. The history of St. Philip's Church also illustrates the racism and extraordinary difficulties African Americans confronted in antebellum New York City, where full abolition did not occur until 1827. Townsend describes the constant and complex negotiation of the divide between black and white New Yorkers. He also recounts the fascinating stories of historically overlooked individuals who built and fought for St. Philip's, including Rev. Peter Williams, the second African American ordained in the Episcopal Church; Dr. James McCune Smith, the first African American to earn an M.D.; pickling magnate Henry Scott; the combative priest Alexander Crummell; and John Jay II, the grandson of the first chief justice of the Supreme Court and an ardent abolitionist, who helped secure acceptance of St. Philip's.

Black Bishop

Black Bishop
Author: Michael J. Beary
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2024-04-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0252056817

America’s first Black bishop and his struggle to rebuild the African American presence inside the Episcopal Church In 1918, the Right Reverend Edward T. Demby took up the reins as Suffragan (assistant) Bishop for Colored Work in Arkansas and the Province of the Southwest, an area encompassing Arkansas, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and New Mexico. Set within the context of a series of experiments in black leadership conducted by the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas in the early decades of the twentieth century, Demby's tenure in a segregated ministry illuminates the larger American experience of segregation disguised as a social good. Intent on demonstrating the industry and self-reliance of black Episcopalians to the church at large, Demby set about securing black priests for the diocese, baptizing and confirming communicants, and building schools and other institutions of community service. A gifted leader and a committed Episcopalian, Demby recognized that black service institutions, such as schools, hospitals, and orphanages, would be the means to draw African Americans back to the Episcopal Church, which they had abandoned in droves after emancipation as the church of their former masters. For more than twenty years, hamstrung by white apathy, lack of funds, jurisdictional ambiguity, and the Great Depression, Demby doggedly tried to establish the credibility of a ministry that was as ill-conceived as it was well intended. Michael J. Beary skillfully narrates the shifting alliances within the Episcopal Church and shows how race was but one aspect of a more elemental struggle for power. He demonstrates how Demby's steadiness of purpose and non-confrontational manner gathered allies on both sides of the color line and how, ultimately, his judgment and the weight of his experience carried the church past its segregationist experiment.

Welcome to the Church Year

Welcome to the Church Year
Author: Vicki K. Black
Publisher: Church Publishing, Inc.
Total Pages: 164
Release: 2004-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780819219664

A tour through the dates, colors, and other traditions of the Church year. This third volume in the popular Morehouse series explains why we do what we do and when, and it does so in a user-friendly, thoroughly interesting way.

Black and Episcopalian

Black and Episcopalian
Author: Gayle Fisher-Stewart
Publisher: Church Publishing, Inc.
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2022-01-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1640654798

A personal story of the struggle for authentic inclusion in the church. From a strong voice in the dialogue about what Black lives matter means in relation to faith, a powerful lament and a hopeful message about the future. Historically, to be Episcopal/Anglican, as it was to be American, was to be white. Assimilation to whiteness has been a measure of success and acceptance, yet, assimilation requires that people of color give up something of themselves and deny parts of their heritage including religious practices that sustained their ancestors. Despite the fact that Blackness is on display on Black History Month for example, and Black/African heritage is given primacy in the liturgy, music, and preaching during that time, at other times this doesn't seem to be the case. The author argues that whiteness is embedded in every aspect of religious life, from seminary to Christian education to last rites. Is it possible to be Black and Episcopalian and not feel alien, she asks. In her words we learn that inclusivity, above all, must be authentic.

Episcopalians & Race

Episcopalians & Race
Author: Gardiner H. Shattuck
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Total Pages: 469
Release: 2021-03-17
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0813160227

“Superb. . . . The first comprehensive history of modern race relations within the Episcopal Church and, as such, a model of its kind.” —Journal of American History Meeting at an African American college in North Carolina in 1959, a group of black and white Episcopalians organized the Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity and pledged to oppose all distinctions based on race, ethnicity, and social class. They adopted a motto derived from Psalm 133: “Behold, how good and joyful a thing it is, for brethren to dwell together in unity!” Though the spiritual intentions of these individuals were positive, the reality of the association between blacks and whites in the church was much more complicated. Episcopalians and Race examines the often ambivalent relationship between black communities and the predominantly white leadership of the Episcopal Church since the Civil War. Paying special attention to the 1950s and 60s, Gardiner Shattuck analyzes the impact of the civil rights movement on church life, especially in southern states, offering an insider’s history of Episcopalians’ efforts, both successful and unsuccessful, to come to terms with race and racism since the Civil War. “A model of how good this kind of history can be when it is well researched and centers on the difficult choices faced and made by people who share institutional and faith commitments in settings that call those commitments into question.” —American Historical Review “Will be of considerable benefit to scholars, students, church members of all denominations, and anyone concerned with issues of racial justice in the American context.” —Choice “An essential addition to the history of race and the modern South.” —Journal of Southern History

This Band of Sisterhood

This Band of Sisterhood
Author: Westina Matthews
Publisher: Church Publishing, Inc.
Total Pages: 80
Release: 2021-07-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 164065352X

Get to know the first five Black women to be elected diocesan bishops within the Episcopal Church. During this moment, with the #metoo movement, Black Lives Matter, and the increased feelings of division in our country, Black women clergy in the Episcopal Church have voiced a need to come together, believing that their experiences and concerns may be very different than those of other clergy. That need is answered here in This Band of Sisterhood. The five Black women bishops featured in this book can provide a compass for how to journey along these new paths. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, Carlye J. Hughes, Kimberly Lucas, Shannon MacVean-Brown, and Phoebe A. Roaf offer honest, vulnerable wisdom from their own lives that speaks to this time in American life. Both women and men will find this book invaluable in discerning how God might be calling them to use their own leadership skills.

Unabashedly Episcopalian

Unabashedly Episcopalian
Author: C. Andrew Doyle
Publisher: Church Publishing, Inc.
Total Pages: 125
Release: 2012-09-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0819228095

Episcopalians newly discovering their church home or long-time members who may have forgotten why they love the church will appreciate Unabashedly Episcopalian. Bishop Andy Doyle has mined the Baptismal Covenant and his own experiences leading the Diocese of Texas. The result is a heartfelt, smart and practical book that calls Episcopalians to wake up to the church s unique gifts and story, and equips them to share that witness in their neighborhoods and out in the world."

Lift Every Voice and Sing II Accompaniment Edition

Lift Every Voice and Sing II Accompaniment Edition
Author: Church Publishing Incorporated
Publisher: Church Publishing, Inc.
Total Pages: 420
Release: 1993-01-21
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9780898692396

This popular collection of 280 musical pieces from both the African American and Gospel traditions has been compiled under the supervision of the Office of Black Ministries of the Episcopal Church. It includes service music and several psalm settings in addition to the Negro spirituals, Gospel songs, and hymns.

Yet With A Steady Beat

Yet With A Steady Beat
Author: Harold T. Lewis
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 280
Release: 1996-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781563381300

The Episcopal Church was the first in the American colonies to baptize blacks, to ordain black ministers, and to establish an African American congregation. Yet membership by blacks in the Episcopal Church has always been viewed as an anomaly. Yet With a Steady Beat argues that blacks have remained in the Episcopal Church because they have recognized it as a catholic and therefore inclusive institution.

The Church Cracked Open

The Church Cracked Open
Author: Stephanie Spellers
Publisher: Church Publishing, Inc.
Total Pages: 161
Release: 2021-03-17
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1640654259

"This book will make a profound difference for the church in this moment in history." — The Most Reverend Michael B. Curry Sometimes it takes disruption and loss to break us open and call us home to God. It’s not surprising that a global pandemic and once-in-a-generation reckoning with white supremacy—on top of decades of systemic decline—have spurred Christians everywhere to ask who we are, why God placed us here and what difference that makes to the world. In this critical yet loving book, the author explores the American story and the Episcopal story in order to find out how communities steeped in racism, establishment, and privilege can at last fall in love with Jesus, walk humbly with the most vulnerable and embody beloved community in our own broken but beautiful way. The Church Cracked Open invites us to surrender privilege and redefine church, not just for the sake of others, but for our own salvation and liberation.