The following is a transcript of remarks given by Rev. Chase Danford of Trinity Episcopal Church, Asbury Park, at the March 16, 2024 Stations of Reparations Service at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, Asbury Park;[1] The narrative is a product of the research conducted by the Trinity Church Racial Justice Project founded in 2015:
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BaghChal, Trinity Church (Asbury Park, New Jersey), CC BY-SA 3.0
The racial justice history of Trinity Church is directly tied to the history of Asbury Park. Trinity is the oldest religious congregation, and traces its first worship services to gatherings of local Episcopalians in city founder James Bradley’s office, as well as some services in private homes. The first service outside a private home or office took place in 1874 in Library Square Park, just across from what is now the site of the church. Congregants gathered under a tent, and the service was led by Bishop Scarborough. Worship then moved to the new property, gifted by James Bradley, and a wooden church was dedicated in July 1875. Bradley granted land along Grand Avenue for all of the original Protestant churches in Asbury Park. These were all predominantly or exclusively White congregations. There is a plaque among the floor tiles of our narthex acknowledging Bradley’s gift. But it is important to note that there were people who lived within the bounds of Asbury Park long before Bradley bought the land.
The Indigenous People of the area that became New Jersey resided in these lands for approximately 12,000 years before European explorers and colonists arrived. The Lenape were named such for being “original peoples”, the elders or grandmothers and grandfathers who lived there, connected by numerous clans named by animals. The Lenape on the land that Trinity Episcopal now resides on in Asbury Park were part of what were called Scheyischbi, those who lived in the land between the waters of rivers to the north and west and the ocean to the east and south. The Lenape who resided within what is now the Monmouth County’s boundaries were primarily Unalachtigo [or] “people near the ocean” and members of the Turkey Clan. Those to the north of the Turkey Clan were Unami [or] “people down river” of the Turtle Clan. These peoples spoke dialects of Algonquin, and while many places carry traces of their original names, the cultures and meanings of those places to the Lenape have been erased by the colonizers. Trinity Episcopal Church recognizes that it occupies land that was stolen or underpaid for by the Europeans that settled here in the 17th century, in spite of the land purchases of James Bradley that marked the founding of Asbury Park.
Our church’s benefactor and the founder of Asbury Park, James Bradley, is also responsible in large part for the city’s policy of segregation. While he described himself as having no racial prejudices, he actively put into place White supremacist policies in order to advance Asbury Park’s economic development. From its beginnings, Asbury Park had a thriving population of people of color and it was noted by the New York Post as having the most racially liberal environment of any community on the East Coast. But that turned out to be a problem, and in the summer of 1885, ten years after Trinity Church was established as a summer congregation and twelve years after the city was founded, the headline of an editorial in the local paper, run by Bradley, declared that there were “too many colored people” in Asbury Park. “While disagreeable to say” (and editors wanted to make sure Black people had full rights and privileges), they are “becoming a nuisance” by “intruding themselves in places designed only for guests.”
A year later, in 1886, a young Black man, Mingo Jack, from nearby Eatontown was murdered by a lynch mob, accused of attacking a young White woman. In 1887, the Asbury park beach was segregated, with limited hours for people of color. In 1888, the city council supported Bradley’s proposition that any band hired to play on the beachfront be White and Americanized only. By 1903, people of color were restricted to an area of the beach known as the Mud Hole, where the city sewers dumped into the sea. In 1903, over Bradley’s objections, the city annexed the Springwood Avenue area of the West Side. Bradley feared that this action would give “our city the largest pro-rata colored voters of any city in New Jersey,” leading to “great depreciation of property.” The annexation went through, but the city did not provide basic services for decades. By the early 1920’s KKK was active in Asbury Park, including in some Protestant churches. We do not know whether this included Trinity.[2]
Moving back to Trinity’s early days in the 1870’s and 80’s, we have no records of any people of color being baptized, married, buried or listed as communicants of the church until 1890. That is not so surprising, given that it was largely a summer chapel during those years (although provision for year-round ministry was made in 1880), and that the resorts on the east side were segregated. We can assume but cannot definitely say that the church was entirely segregated. In 1890, Bishop Scarborough gave a stirring message at Diocesan Convention calling on the diocese not to neglect ministry to Black Americans. While he said that “in the Church of Christ there should be no distinction of race or color; that all should meet together and be one in the assembly of God's people,” he also indicated that segregated ministries would be preferred by all interests.
Soon after this address, in the Fall of 1890, Trinity’s new rector, The Rev. A.J. Miller (who had started in the spring) began what was referred to as Cottage Mission services for people of color on the west side. The bishop took great interest in the work of Father Miller and gave the Advent offering to begin work on the chapel. It seems he was instrumental in the growth of the mission. Fr. Miller was assisted in the west side ministry during the summer by students from the Bishop Payne Divinity School in Virginia, a seminary for Black students preparing for ministry.
After the mission was established, sacramental ministry to people of color did take place in Trinity Church itself. In 1892 - 93, there were fifteen baptisms of African American children and adults in Trinity Church or, on occasion, a private home. These baptisms always took place on days separate from the baptism of the White church members. The only exception is the baptism of three African American children with a White foundling. During the 1890’s, marriages of people of color, both Black and Indigenous, also took place at Trinity, even after St. Augustine’s Chapel was open. One wonders why the church felt it necessary to indicate the race of these individuals being baptized or married, but had they not, we would know even less than we do about the racial history of Trinity.
One of the children of color baptized at Trinity in 1891 was Rockel Florita Richardson, whose Cherokee and Delaware-descended family, the Richardsons and Reveys, originally settled in the Shrewsbury area in the early 19th century and later purchased 15 acres in Sand Hill, in what is now Neptune Township, sometimes referred to as West Asbury, renaming the area Richardson Heights. The Richardsons and Reveys then intermarried with many of the Black families of West Asbury Park. The Richardson and Revey family built the St Augustine’s mission chapel on Sylvan Avenue and donated windows and brass railings and served there as readers, acolytes, organists and leaders of the congregation for many years.
We know very little of Trinity’s racial history in the early to mid 20th century, but parishioner memories indicate that Trinity had a limited relationship with St. Augustine’s and that Trinity was almost exclusively White until the 1980’s or 90’s, when several prominent Black families joined the church. We can say that Trinity has never been led by a clergyperson of color and that all of its wardens over the past 149 years have been white. Several people of color have served on the vestry in the last few decades, although not in great numbers. We currently have one vestry member who is a person of color.
Attention and energy have been put toward becoming an anti-racist church, including diversifying the iconography of our sacred space. In the 1990’s, a wooden crucifix was commissioned to be designed by a Senegalese artist that intentionally depicts Jesus with non-Caucasian features. It now stands over our main altar. In 2008, a new set of windows above our chapel’s altar was dedicated, showing the Virgin Mary and other figures with non-White skin tones, alone among our stained glass. Only a few years ago, a Black child noticed that our Nativity creche featured only White figures, and so the family gave a gift of angel figurines of color to display at the top of the creche. This past Christmas, we decided that it would be the last Christmas we would display the White Nativity figures. Our children’s ministry team is dedicated to showing children diverse representations of biblical and historical figures in the curriculum.
About 7 years ago, we formed a Racial Justice Project to raise awareness in the congregation and community, and we began collaborating more intentionally with St. Augustine’s Church. Around the same time, we began a Spanish language ministry in this city in which about one third of the people are Latino, many of whom are primarily Spanish speakers. Three years ago we began an intentional process of thinking about Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in our hiring process, although our staff still does not represent the wider diverse community in which we live. Two and a half years ago, when we hired our new Music Director, our job description specifically stated that we expected the successful candidate to lead us into worshiping with music from across the diverse spectrum of the American and global church, and we have been doing that. Advocacy from our congregation has been valuable in the City Council’s passage of legislation establishing Indigenous People’s Day as a civic holiday, in calling for a statewide reparations task force, and in establishing an equity in policing commission. This past year we commissioned a Racial Justice Audit team within the congregation to evaluate how we are doing in our efforts to become an anti-racist church. They have surveyed the congregation, conducted many in-person interviews, made presentations to the vestry, are compiling historical records, and are about to begin reaching out to members of the wider Asbury Park community to gather their input about our racial justice efforts.
Much work remains to be done, but we hope to move into a bright, anti-racist future as a congregation, and we hope to collaborate more with our siblings in Christ at St. Augustine’s Church.
[2] Editor’s note: According to research by the Diocesan Reparations Commission historian, it almost certainly did. See Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, “Episcopal Sympathy for the KKK in New Jersey: Initial Observations,” DNJRJR (January 31, 2025): https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/search?q=Asbury.
