NEWS: Diocesan Reparations Commission Making the Case for Reparations

Figure 1: Commission Retreat participants, June 8, 2024: Dr. J. Pruszinski, W. Coleman, 

Cn. B. Bach, Rev. S. Sutton, Rev. P. Shoaf-Kozak, Cn. A. Buchanan, Rev. Cn. C. Sang, 

Rev. B. Rauen Sciaino, J. Gloster, Bishop S. French, J. Rodriguez (photo).

The Reparations Commission of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey, co-chaired by Canon Annette Buchanan and Canon Barbie Okamoto Bach, is actively making the case for reparations in the Garden State.
        In March the Commission organized its second Stations of Reparations, a Lenten service of repentance, which was hosted by St. Augustine's Episcopal Church, Asbury Park on Saturday March 16, 2024. Modelled on the traditional Stations of the Cross, the service focused on the Post-Civil War history of systemic racism in the diocese. The first Stations service, held in 2023, was the inspiration for the recent Province II collaborative service of repentance for slavery in which the Diocese of New Jersey was a participant. The March St. Augustine’s service featured testimony from members of Monmouth County Episcopal churches including Charles ​Hughes of St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Red Bank, Rev. Chase Danford of Trinity Episcopal Church, Asbury Park, and ​Linda Shomo of St. Augustine's Episcopal Church, Asbury Park, as well as testimony about the general history of racism in the diocese based on Commission research. The service was well attended, with dozens of churches from the diocese represented among the participants. The Commission is planning additional future services in other parts of the diocese.

Figure 2: Stations of Reparations Service, St. Augustine's Episcopal Church, Asbury Park, NJ, 

March 16, 2024 (Photo by Jolyon Pruszinski).

        On April 25, 2024, the Commission organized an educational reparations webinar, sixth in the "Journey Toward Reparations" series, subtitled “New Jersey's Opportunity to Learn from New York & California.” Guest speakers included New York State Senator James Sanders, Jr., the Reverend Charles Boyer of Greater Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church in Trenton, and the Reverend Dr. Darrell Armstrong of Shiloh Baptist Church in Trenton. The panel was moderated by the Reverend Charles Wynder, Jr., Dean of the Chapel at St. Paul’s School, Concord, NH. Co-sponsored by New Jersey Faith Allies for Reparations, a coalition of thirty-four  faith and social justice organizations with the single goal of convincing legislators to pass bills A602/S3164 to establish a state task force to study the case for reparative justice for the lasting harms of slavery, the webinar provided an excellent chance to hear from those who have been on the front lines of advocacy for reparations in state settings.
        Commission historian, Jolyon Pruszinski, Ph.D., preached at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Ewing, New Jersey for their April 28 Anti-Racism event sponsored by the St. Luke’s Black Lives Matter committee. He and co-convener Cn. Barbie Bach presented after the service to a packed room on the historic connection between Episcopalians/Anglicans in New Jersey and slavery and racism, as well as ongoing effects in the Church, and the role of reparations in repairing, restoring, and making amends for the historic wrongs of slavery and racism.
        May 23^rd saw organization of the New Jersey Faith Allies Lobby Day at the State House in Trenton. Reparations Commission members are critical leaders in this movement and the Lobby day included direct engagement with over 20 individual legislators. Lobby day was followed quickly by a Rally Day on June 6^th in front of the State House Annex. Participants urged New Jersey legislators to take action on the aforementioned task-force bills. Co-sponsors of the Rally Day included the League of Women Voters of New Jersey, the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice (NJISJ), the People's Organization for Progress, Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) of New Jersey, and the Montclair Branch of the NAACP.

        The Commission retreat on June 8^th saw Commission members connecting with and learning from Alexizendria “Zena” Link of the Diocese of Western Massachusetts, who has been intimately involved in the creation and organization of the Episcopal Coalition for Racial Equity and Justice (https://episcopalcoalition.org). This new non-profit entity, set up by the Episcopal Church's 80th General Convention as a voluntary association “dedicated to the work of becoming the Beloved Community,” will serve as a hub for “facilitating… supporting, and networking efforts of Episcopal dioceses, parishes, organizations, and individuals for racial justice and equity.”[1] A Reparations Commission exhibit booth at the General Convention in June will highlight diocesan racial justice efforts and provide an opportunity to network with other diocese pursuing racial justice while we await full operationalization of the Episcopal Coalition for Racial Equity and Justice.
        Commission activities in research, education, and organizing are ongoing. These include efforts to uncover and share the history of congregations in the diocese, preservation of the oral histories of African American lay and clergy people, and solicitation of the needs of historically Black congregations in the diocese in support of near-future resource commitments for reparations. This summer be on the lookout for forthcoming information regarding an in-state pilgrimage connecting various historical sites with the Episcopal Church’s history of slavery and racism. The Commission would also be happy to visit your church to present, preach, or support your racism research and reparative initiatives. Please contact Canon Annette Buchanan (email), Canon Barbie O. Bach (email), or Dr. Jolyon Pruszinski (email) to make arrangements.
 
Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, Ph.D.
Reparations Commission Research Historian

Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey

[1] https://episcopalcoalition.org/about.

NEWS: Boston Churches Planning Reparations Initiative

Figure 1: Trinity Church, Boston
(Gregg Squeglia, Copley Square with Trinity Church and Hancock Tower, CC BY-SA 4.0).

While the City of Boston has approved a reparations task force, and hired a team of researchers to conduct an initial historical study, White churches in the area have been asked to participate in the process of reckoning with their history with slavery and racism. The Boston People's Reparations Commission (an entity distinct from the City task force which includes various area church leaders), chaired by the Rev. Kevin Peterson, is in talks with some of Boston's historic White Churches to contribute financially to the reparations initiative. Included among the  churches in question are Arlington Street Church, Trinity Church, Old South Church, and King's Chapel. The Commission initiative is an important step toward recognizing that White churches that supported and benefitted from slavery have a reparative obligation beyond their own walls, and beyond the affiliations of their own denominations. Though some denominations have begun to take steps to consider reparative initiatives within their denominations, in many instances, those who were harmed are no longer (or never were) part of the churches that perpetrated the harm. Though many organizers expect the process of building a case for reparative action to be "a marathon," initiatives like those in Boston show that there is increasing traction in churches for addressing current inequities that have resulted from the historic injustices of slavery.

How Do I Research My Church's Involvement with Slavery? Part 5: Moving Forward

Continued from Part 4: Antebellum & After...

Figure 1: William Clark artist QS:P170,Q21464475 William Clark, 
Slaves cutting the sugar cane - Ten Views in the Island of Antigua (1823), plate IV - BL, CC0 1.0.

PART 5: Moving Forward. 

Can We Approach a Forensic Accounting for Wrong?

In short, no. The wrongs done are utterly massive and truly incalculable. There is a tendency to want to know exact dollar amounts of culpability, to understand the scope. The reality is that this is not possible. Yes, many White people in the American colonies and in the United States have benefitted financially from slavery and racism. Their wealth is a result of theft. And, yes, the Anglican and Episcopal churches have benefitted financially from slavery and racism. But determining what percentage of the gifts given, or the endowments have links to slavery (as in the recent Church Pension Group audit), and what percentage of those funds is encumbered by connection to slavery, involves a gross inaccuracy. It assumes that those who benefitted from slavery and racism reaped the whole value of what was lost by those harmed, an assumption that is entirely inaccurate. 

            The accumulation of wealth through enslavement required the murder of millions to reap the labor value of many fewer. It required the loss of full freedom to create and produce and live and flourish for millions, the limitation of their skilled contribution to humanity, in order to reap the (comparatively lesser) and inhumane value of the (often) menial labor of those millions of souls. The dramatically smaller monetary value reaped by those who enslaved and who benefitted from slavery required the decimation of peoples and the decimation those peoples’ full ability to live and produce to the best of their ability and creativity. Such stolen wealth is not encumbered at its face value. It is supersaturated with encumbrance. Its face value represents only a tiny fraction of the value of what was destroyed in order to steal it. Slavery was a massive wealth destruction event, even as it served to transfer a small portion of the wealth it destroyed to those who benefitted from it. The wealth that remains is a tiny fraction of what was lost. Even that wealth derived from the operation of racist systems of oppression (but not slavery) has a similar supersaturated encumbrance due to the Black wealth destruction and preclusion that occurred in order to produce it.

            This supersaturated encumbrance attached to wealth derived from slavery has a further dimension. The question regularly arises about whether philanthropy (such as to churches) from enslavers should not be considered only partially encumbered by problematic associations with slavery because only part of their wealth was the result of the enslavement they engaged in. This is, again, based on a confused understanding. 

            In general, slave labor was often used in situations where the farming or mining being conducted would have been at a subsistence level had it been conducted by free laborers. The profit gleaned from the endeavor was often the exclusive result of stolen labor value from enslaved peoples. Because the enterprise was typically only profitable as a result of the use of enslaved labor, any ability of the enslaver to donate out of their wealth, was only possible due to profit above the subsistence level through the use of slavery. That means that their charity, regardless of how great their wealth or how diversified their portfolio, was coming from that portion of their enterprise profit above the subsistence level (i.e. directly from their profit from slavery). Not only does this mean that there would be no portion of their giving that was not encumbered, but the giving, due to its connection to slavery is, as previously mentioned, supersaturated with encumbrance. 

 

Research and Moving Forward

            The unfortunate conclusion to be drawn from the reality of supersaturated encumbrance of White (and White church) wealth is that the true scope of the debt can never really be repaid. However, that does not mean that important and necessary steps cannot be taken to address current race-based wealth inequities.[1] Nor does it mean that detailed research into the wrongs committed by Anglicans and Episcopalians against Black people is moot. In fact, such research is necessary to determine with detail the scope and nature of the wrongs in order to enable repentance and to build awareness of the need for critical reparative action. Every church has a responsibility to reckon with both its past and present in this regard. Likewise, every Christian is obliged, by their corporate participation in the systems that have perpetrated the harms of slavery and racism, to reckon with their own responsibility for repair. This responsibility starts with cultivating an awareness of both “the evils we have done, and the evil done on our behalf.”[2] We have not always been aware of all the ways we and the institutions we participate in, have established, perpetuated, or benefitted from slavery and racism. But once we begin to know, we must acknowledge that as Christians we have an inexorable obligation to address this unfortunate history, to recognize its persistent influence in our present, and to do what we can to make it right. “Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”[3]

 

Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, Ph.D.

Reparations Commission Research Historian

Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey

---

[1] Such ongoing remediation will be necessary until there is no longer a racial wealth gap in the United States.

[2] “Confession,” from Enriching Our Worship 1, page 19: https://www.churchpublishing.org/siteassets/pdf/enriching-our-worship-1/enrichingourworship1.pdf.

[3] This is a popular rendering of a few verses appearing in Pirkei Avot, commenting on that great justice text Micah 6:8. Quoted here from https://reformjudaism.org/beliefs-practices/spirituality/3-jewish-reminders-when-world-seems-overwhelming.

How Do I Research My Church's Involvement with Slavery? Part 4: Antebellum & After

Continued from Part 3: Colonial Era...

Figure 1: Detail from page 1 of the original manuscript of the "Black Birth Book of Monmouth County,
New Jersey." Published in The Black Birth Book of Monmouth County New Jersey, 1804-1848
(Freehold, NJ: Office of the Monmouth County Clerk, 1989), viii.

PART 4: Early Republic (Antebellum) Era Considerations and Leads (and After)

Just as it is important for many churches founded after the colonial era to consider the histories of antecedent colonial parishes for understanding their own history, so is it necessary not merely for churches founded during the early Republic to research their histories of slavery, but for churches founded after the Civil War to consider the history of connected parishes founded during the early Republic. Many post-Civil War churches were birthed, or planted, with the support of an early Republic era parish, so the financial establishment of the founding parish and its relation to slavery is critical to appreciate. And, as previously mentioned, many churches operating today formed through mergers between older parishes, and the slavery-related entanglements of the parent churches bears directly on the generational responsibility born by daughter churches.

            The good news about researching this era is that there are many more documents and resources that have been preserved. The difficulty is that there are so many, and they are so widely dispersed and poorly catalogued that it can be difficult to track them down, and even to survey them all adequately. But do not be daunted by these difficulties, as the work is important to attempt even if we are not always entirely equal to the task.

            During this period following the Revolutionary War, New Jersey kept slavery intact even as increasing strictures were placed on the institution. Under pressure from abolitionists, New Jersey was the last northern state to enact a gradual abolition law (1804), though the law is generally seen as having served to buttress the institution rather than undermine it. It wasn’t for another twenty-one years that any enslaved person in the state became free as a result of the legislation, and once formerly enslaved Blacks became free, they still faced horrible prejudice and a legal (and extra-legal) system of oppression that continued to conspire to limit their freedom. In spite of modest limitations that were enacted over time[1] to slavery, the institution persisted in the state, and White sentiment in favor of it, and against the increasing prospect of living alongside freed Black Americans, persisted as well. 

            Newspapers of the time are full of White fearmongering on the issue. Many churches in the Diocese of New Jersey eagerly participated in the American Colonization Society (ACS), which sought to remove freed Black slaves from the United States and send them to Africa, in order to “solve” the “problem” they saw resulting from the presence of the formerly enslaved.[2] A few churches developed segregated schools at this time, but often these were viewed as a means to continue to control both enslaved and free Black people. Generally speaking, during this time, the Diocese made little effort at ministry to and with Black people, and the funding that did go toward Black ministry was generally dedicated to the ACS and Episcopal mission to Liberia.[3]

            A further difficulty researchers will encounter with material from this period is the prevalent use of euphemism and indirect language for slavery. This requires careful analysis and reading (often between the lines). In documents of this time, the enslaved are regularly referred to as “servants” rather than slaves. In fact, even New Jersey state legislation from 1846, which claimed to “end slavery” in the state, only renamed the enslaved as “apprentices for life” who could still be bought and sold and whose practical status had changed not at all. Ultimately the population of enslaved Black Americans in the state did dwindle into the period of the Civil War,[4] but support for the institution remained strong. Slavery, except as legal punishment for a crime, was only ended in the state once the necessary number of other states had ratified the thirteenth amendment. The Democrat-controlled New Jersey legislature refused to ratify the amendment, and abolition through the thirteenth amendment became the law of the land in spite of New Jersey legislators.[5]

            As with the colonial era, determining prominent members of each congregation is an important first step in the research process. There is comparatively more material to work with here, as many churches from this era have preserved their records, or local church histories were written that are still kept in parish or local libraries. As these histories are all old enough to have entered the public domain, they should be scanned and made available online whenever possible. Diocesan records are rather helpful for this period as well, with the vast majority of diocesan convention journals, which typically in this period include parochial reports, available online.[6] Once you determine who many of the key priests and parishioners were, you can begin to look at whether they enslaved anyone, whether their wealth was derived from slavery, and whether they used their respective positions of authority (either secular or churchly) to support the institution.

            Government records are more robust for this period as well, including at the municipal, county, and state level. Under gradual abolition local New Jersey governments were required to keep an account of births of the enslaved, as well as who their enslavers were. This is a trove of important information, in some instances published in book form (e.g. in the Black Birth Book of Monmouth County [1989]),[7] but otherwise held in local or county archives.[8] A great deal of U.S. Census data is also available online and is searchable.[9] As previously mentioned, many newspaper archives have been scanned and can be accessed through university libraries, and even local libraries. Again, various institutions have begun to collate their material related to slavery and you will likely have some success connecting with local librarians, museums, and historical societies. Some journals to examine as you research this history of the members of your parish include:

 

New Jersey Studies

Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society

Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey

Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies

Pennsylvania Magazine of History & Biography

New York History

The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record

 

            Along with the need for careful discernment in interpreting euphemistic language, is the need to  be aware of the tendency of writers with a Christian bias (e.g. church historians, priests, or diocesan officials) to promote the good things that were done during this period and to downplay the problems. Church histories are full of glowing depictions of the faithful and forgetfulness of the people they have harmed.[10] And even when the faithful did indeed do good, such as in the case of prominent New Jersey Episcopalian Hon. James Parker[11] (who helped stop the Van Wickle slave ring), the way their actions are described in church documents can allow the facts to be misconstrued. For example, the biographical notice[12] on Parker from 1889 states that he was “very prominent in advocacy of the abolition of Slavery within the State,” seeming to suggest that slavery was actually abolished during that time, even though the slavery laws were never meaningfully altered as a result of his advocacy. Rather it appears that the main thing he accomplished was raising awareness of the need to enforce the slavery laws already on the books in New Jersey[13] (which had not yet, at the time of the operation of the Ring, resulted in freeing even a single enslaved person). All this is to say, the primary documents of the time require careful handling in order to ensure honest treatment of the history and avoid misinterpretation. And as with the colonial era, care is required to capture the full geographic scope of the practices of enslavement. Various elite Episcopalians owned large estates in the American South on which they enslaved hundreds of Black Americans. Those holdings account for a great deal of their wealth, even as they may be hard to track down due to geographic removal from New Jersey.

 

What about after the Civil War?

Racism did not cease with the passage of the 13^th Amendment to the Constitution, even as the ratification of the amendment (over the protestations of the New Jersey legislature) did make slavery illegal in New Jersey except as punishment for a crime (so slavery did not in fact cease entirely either). And just as slavery had dramatic negative effects on the lives and livelihoods of Black Americans, so has the ongoing operation of racism. There have been many ways that New Jersey residents and citizens of African descent have continued to be harmed through unjust laws, unjust enforcement of laws, and prejudicial treatment, not only through secular avenues, but also by the Episcopal Church. Research in this area at the diocesan level is ongoing, but there is much work to be done. Whenever possible, individual parishes should devote themselves to researching their part in the history as well.[14]

Continued in Part 5: Moving Forward.

Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, Ph.D.

Reparations Commission Research Historian

Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey

---

[1] See the DNJRJR article: https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/2023/01/gradual-abolition-and-persistence-of.html. 

[2] As discussed in the DNJRJR article: https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/2023/10/support-for-american-colonization.html. 

[3] As discussed in the DNJRJR article: https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/2023/12/early-african-mission-giving-foreign-in.html. 

[4] Numbers dropped from an official high of 12,422 in 1800 (Gigantino, The Ragged Road to Abolition, 280 n. 3) to an official low of 18 in the 1860 census, though “probably hundreds of slaves for a term and apprentices [for life were] not properly recorded in the census (Gigantino, The Ragged Road to Abolition, 240).

[5] A later Republican controlled legislature voted to ratify the amendment.

[6] These have been scanned and can be viewed through https://www.google.com/books, at least through 1920. 

[7] Such as records held by the Middlesex County Clerk, e.g. “Middlesex County Book of Manumissions and Removals... 1800-1825.”

[8] Many resources of this kind are available at the Newark Public Library, including “Essex County Slave Records,” and scans of other county and municipal “slave books.”

[9] See https://www.archives.gov/research/census/online-resources. 

[10] Burr’s The Anglican Church in New Jersey is a clear local example of this.

[11] Neither the first nor last of that name.

[12] Compiled by his descendant, also of that name: James Parker, ed., Historical Sketches of Parishes Represented in the Conventions of the Protestant Episcopal Church in New Jersey, 1785-1816, and Biographical Notices of Lay Delegates in Those Years (New York: John Polhemus, 1889), 87-88.

[13] According to newspaper accounts of the time.

[14] The essay “Consulting the Past Through the Archival Record: A Guide for Researching the Impact of Slavery on Church Life and African Americans,” published by The Archives of the Episcopal Church, is a good summary resource of many key questions for all churches to consider. See https://www.episcopalarchives.org/church-awakens/files/original/2253337c254b62e28a5d3b44307faa75.pdf.