Race and the Episcopal Church

The Church of England which birthed the Episcopal Church was the "creator" of slavery in the colony of Virginia.

In 1619, twenty and odd Negroes were brought to what is now, Hampton, VA., aboard the White Lion. The need for free labor led to the enslavement of Africans. At the heart of this contradiction to what the Bible teaches, that we should love one another, was the Church of England which created slavery in the colony of Virginia, provided an example of how to enslave human beings for the rest of the colonies and other denominations, and which later birthed the Episcopal Church. The relationship between God's children of ebony grace and the COE/Episcopal Church has been fraught with twists and turns as Blacks have fought for the right to be viewed as equal members in the Church.

Join us as the Rev. Vincent Powell Harris takes us through that tenuous relationship from the colonial era through today and encourges us to have honest conversations about race and the Church.