RESISTANCE AND TRANSFORMATION
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Adults
WORKSHOP 12: RESPONDING TO CALLS FOR BLACK EMPOWERMENT
BY BY REV. COLIN BOSSEN AND REV. JULIA HAMILTON
© Copyright 2011 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 9/29/2014 11:22:54 PM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
"Black Empowerment," "walkout," "racist"...the words we use, the language we have to describe the period of the late 1960s and early 1970s are loaded. Why, for example, do we use the term "Black Empowerment Controversy"? It seems to make the anguish of that period the fault of the relatively small group of African American Unitarian Universalists, rather than the result of the white Unitarian Universalist encounter with race and racism. The term "White Power Controversy" would be more accurate in many ways and would direct attention to the broad Unitarian Universalist movement, and its need for healing and transformation, rather than to the small, marginalized group of "black" people and their allies. — Rev. William Sinkford, in his introduction to Long Challenge: The Empowerment Controversy by Victor H. Carpenter
In the late 1960s, the Unitarian Universalist Association and its member congregations were faced with a changing philosophical and strategic landscape surrounding their social justice efforts. The Black Power movement was one of several empowerment and liberation movements that challenged the existing structures and priorities. This workshop examines how the "Black Power" movement affected our religious movement by focusing on two narratives—one the story of a congregation and one of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Both were torn apart by the pressures and tensions that arose as a result of their responses to the events of the time. In the late 1960s, the Unitarian Universalist Association experienced an institutional crisis called the "Empowerment Controversy" when leaders disagreed over the best way for the institution to respond to the growing demand for racial justice and equity in the Association and the wider world. During that same period, the Unitarian Universalist Society of Cleveland, Ohio, responding to both national events and events within the UUA, deeded its building and half of its endowment to the Cleveland Black Unitarian Universalist Caucus in an effort to start an African American Unitarian Universalist congregation. The experiment was not successful, and what transpired has had a long-term impact on Unitarian Universalism in the Cleveland area.
The experience of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Cleveland is unique in its particulars. However, many of our congregations, and the Unitarian Universalist Association as a whole, were significantly impacted by the struggles over and for racial justice that took place in the late 1960s and 1970s. This workshop explores why the Unitarian Universalist Society of Cleveland was able to function as an integrated community in the 1950s and early-to-mid 1960s but could not support a primarily black congregation in the late 1960s. The workshop asks: has the way Unitarian Universalists "do social justice" been permanently affected by the black power movement and crisis of the late 1960s and 1970s?
To ensure you can help adults of all ages, stages, and learning styles participate fully in this workshop, review these sections of the program Introduction: "Accessibility Guidelines for Workshop Presenters" in the Integrating All Participants section, and "Strategies for Effective Group Facilitation" and "Strategies for Brainstorming" in the Leader Guidelines section.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 10 |
Activity 1: The Empowerment Controversy | 20 |
Activity 2: The Black Humanist Fellowship | 30 |
Activity 3: The Long Journey | 20 |
Faith in Action: Your Congregation's History in Working for Racial Justice | |
Closing | 10 |
Alternate Activity 1: The Charge of the Chalice | 35 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Read the workshop, and then investigate whether your congregation has had a significant conflict. When did the conflict take place? Does it continue to affect congregational life? What issues were at stake? Was the conflict an internal matter, or did it involve outside forces? Was it successfully resolved? If so, what was necessary for healing to occur? As you lead this workshop, reflect on the ways conflicts can continue to have repercussions many years after they take place.
Before you lead the workshop, take time to complete this sentence: "At the end of this workshop, I hope the participants leave feeling... "
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
As participants enter, invite them to sign in, put on name tags, and pick up handouts. Direct their attention to the agenda for this workshop.
OPENING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite a participant to light the chalice while you lead a unison reading of Reading 449 from Singing the Living Tradition, "We hallow this time together by kindling the lamp of our heritage."
Lead the group in singing the hymn you have chosen.
Tell the group in this workshop they examine the impact of the Black Power movement on Unitarian Universalism. The story that unfolds will highlight the relationships among local congregations, the Unitarian Universalist Association, and the wider world.
Read these excerpts from two General Assembly Business Resolutions:
Excerpt from the 1963 General Assembly Business Resolution: Admission of Members Without Discrimination excerpt:
Therefore Be It Resolved, that all member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association be charged to declare and practice their faith in the dignity and worth of every person and that all member congregations of our denomination are hereby strongly urged to welcome into their membership and full participation persons without regard to race, color or national origin...
Excerpt from the 1997 General Assembly Business Resolution: Toward an Anti-Racist Unitarian Universalist Association:
BE IT RESOLVED that the 1997 General Assembly urges Unitarian Universalists to examine carefully their own conscious and unconscious racism as participants in a racist society, and the effect that racism has on all our lives, regardless of color.
invite each participant to describe, In a sentence, the difference between the two resolutions.
ACTIVITY 1: THE EMPOWERMENT CONTROVERSY (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Distribute the handouts. Have the two volunteers read Handout 1, The Empowerment Controversy aloud, alternating paragraphs. Then, ask participants to read Handout 2, Time Line of the Empowerment Controversy silently to themselves. Because the story is complex, help the group apprehend the facts before responding more deeply. After everyone is clear on what happened, go around the group, inviting each person in turn to respond, in a few words, to the story. Affirm the variety of responses and observations that are voiced.
Facilitate a discussion of the material in the handouts, using these questions:
ACTIVITY 2: THE BLACK HUMANIST FELLOWSHIP (30 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Explain that the group will explore how events at the Association level can influence events in a congregation, as participants examine the story of the Black Humanist Fellowship and the Unitarian Society of Cleveland. Distribute the story, the Black Humanist Fellowship. Read it aloud, or have the volunteers present it.
After the story, invite participants to form groups of three or four to respond to the story. Indicate the questions you have posted on newsprint, and invite small groups to use them as a frame for their discussion. Tell them that they will have 15 minutes; suggest that they allow enough time at the end of their small groups to focus on the last (starred) question.
After about 10 minutes, tell participants they have five minutes remaining for this part of the activity and suggest small groups move to the starred question, if they have not already done so.
After 15 minutes, re-gather the large group. Invite a representative of each small group to share something of their conversation and to name a lessos the group drew from the Black Humanist Fellowship story.
ACTIVITY 3: THE LONG JOURNEY (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite participants to reflect on Unitarian Universalist efforts at racial justice since the Empowerment Controversy. Invite them to begin by considering how race relations have changed since then.
Distribute sticky notes so each participant has access to some of each color.
Designate one color of sticky note as the "improved" color and invite participants to think of:
Ask participants to briefly write their contributions on the "improved" color sticky notes and place those notes on the corresponding sheets of newsprint. Assure participants they need not add notes to all three sheets of newsprint—everyone's experiences and observations are unique.
Next, invite the group to think of and write, on a different color sticky note, areas in which race relations are still a challenge: at their own congregation, in the Association, and in the wider society. Once again, invite them to post their notes on the appropriate sheets.
Finally, invite the group to reflect on actions they could personally take to improve race relations: at their congregation, in the Association, and in society. Again, invite them to post contributions, using a third color sticky note, in the appropriate charts.
Allow ten minutes for writing and posting; save ten minutes to conclude the activity.
Once the notes are posted, invite a co-facilitator or volunteer to read them aloud. Invite participants to look for trends, similarities, and differing opinions. Are there any disagreements in how participants have assessed race relations progress and challenges?
Ask the group to consider the suggestions for personal actions in light of the events of the Empowerment Controversy. Were there times when one person made a difference? Were there times when institutional forces overwhelmed an individual attempt to influence events?
Including All Participants
If any participant may find it difficult to post items on the charts, offer to collect the sticky notes from them and post.
CLOSING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Make sure each participant has their journal and something to write with.
Then, invite everyone to respond to these questions:
Allow eight minutes for writing in journals.
Invite a participant to come forward and extinguish the chalice as you say these words: "As we extinguish this chalice, may we let the light of our tradition kindle our hope for a better world."
Distribute Taking It Home and invite participants to continue to write in their journals between workshops.
FAITH IN ACTION: YOUR CONGREGATION'S HISTORY IN WORKING FOR RACIAL JUSTICE
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Most congregations have stories about their involvement in efforts to build racial equality. What did your congregation do in the 1960s and 70s? More recently?
Research your congregation's history by visiting the congregation's archives and speaking with the minister and with long-time members. You may wish to record your interviews and add the recordings to the archive.
Conversations about race can be difficult, and at times volatile. Consult with your minister about your findings and how best to present this information to the congregation at large. The group might prepare a newsletter or website article, a small group discussion after coffee hour, or even part of a worship service.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Take a few moments right after the workshop to ask each other:
Review the next workshop. Are there any questions to research or logistics to arrange between workshops? Make a list of who is responsible for which preparations and materials.
TAKING IT HOME
"Black Empowerment," "walkout," "racist"...the words we use, the language we have to describe the period of the late 1960s and early 1970s are loaded. Why, for example, do we use the term "Black Empowerment Controversy"? It seems to make the anguish of that period the fault of the relatively small group of African American Unitarian Universalists, rather than the result of the white Unitarian Universalist encounter with race and racism. The term "White Power Controversy" would be more accurate in many ways and would direct attention to the broad Unitarian Universalist movement, and its need for healing and transformation, rather than to the small, marginalized group of "black" people and their allies. — Rev. William Sinkford, in his introduction to Long Challenge: The Empowerment Controversy by Victor H. Carpenter
Watch Wilderness Journey: The Struggle for Black Empowerment and Racial Justice with the UUA 1967-1970 (at www.uua.org/documents/congservices/araomc/wilderness_journey_dvd.pdf) on your own or with a group from your congregation. Plan ample time for reflection or discussion afterward. Obtain the 75-minute DVD from your Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) district office or from the UUA Multicultural Growth and Witness staff group. The DVD includes first person accounts of events introduced in this workshop.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: THE CHARGE OF THE CHALICE (35 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Show the group Leader Resource 1, Video Segment — Davies Memorial Church, Camp Springs, Maryland, or the same segment on DVD. Then, lead a discussion about Davies Memorial's work to become intentionally multicultural and multiracial. Use these questions as a guide:
Allow ten minutes for discussion. Then, distribute Handout 3, Characteristics of Racially Integrated Unitarian Universalist Congregations. Tell the group these are some characteristics Unitarian Universalist minister, historian, and teacher Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed has identified as common to congregations that have successfully became more racially diverse. Ask: How do these characteristics help us understand factors that support racial diversity in our congregations today?
Invite participants to consider their own congregation in the light of the Davies Memorial story and the characteristics Rev. Morrison-Reed has identified. What practices are important for your congregation to emphasize or consider starting, in order to welcome, support, and sustain racial diversity?
RESISTANCE AND TRANSFORMATION: WORKSHOP 12:
STORY: THE BLACK HUMANIST FELLOWSHIP
In 1951, the congregation of First Unitarian Church of Cleveland decided to move from its building at the corner of 82nd and Euclid in downtown Cleveland to suburban Shaker Heights. This move was motivated by the economic decline of the Hough (pronounced "how") neighborhood where the church was located. In 1904, when the church was built, the neighborhood had been one of the wealthiest in the entire country. By 1951, much of Cleveland's middle and upper class was moving out to the suburbs, and the neighborhood was in a slow and steady decline. African American families were moving in and white families were moving out.
Roughly 300 members of the 1200-member congregation opposed the move to Shaker Heights, believing it was important that a Unitarian voice remain in the City of Cleveland. They bought the downtown church building from First Church and organized the Unitarian Society of Cleveland.
The newly organized Society ordained and called the Reverend Jesse Cavileer as its first minister and engaged in the work of an urban church. By the time the Society called the Reverend Farley Wheelwright as its fourth minister in 1968 it had earned a reputation as a congregation that worked for civil rights, spoke out against the Vietnam War, and fought for social justice. It was also an integrated congregation with a membership that was about 10 percent African American.
By the time Wheelwright arrived, tensions had developed between the church and the neighborhood. In a May 21, 1969, letter to the Society's Board of Trustees, Wheelwright described the situation of the congregation this way:
The problem... our almost total lack of relationship with to (the neighborhood). In the past year we have had robberies, muggings, gun hold-ups, threatened rape... The building we acquired for the parking lot was set afire. Last Monday I was pelleted with empty coke bottles and told 'get out of the neighborhood!' I got.
In the same letter Wheelwright began to ruminate on a possible solution to the Society's problem. He wrote:
I think it might be possible for us to relate to this community by staffing the Unitarian Society with a Black Minister to the Community. He would be charged with building black liberal religious constituency and ministering to the neighborhood...
At the same time, the Unitarian Universalist Association was considering what they called an "Experimental Ghetto Ministry." In September, 1969, the UUA contracted with the Reverend John Frazier to "develop a meaningful, relevant and empowering religious community in the ghetto;" Frazier came to Cleveland shortly afterward to begin this ministry.
In Cleveland, Frazier organized the Black Humanist Fellowship of Liberation which was initially made up primarily of members of the local chapter of BUUC. BUUC, the Black Unitarian Universalist Caucus, was the local chapter of the national organization of the same name, an organization committed to the philosophy of Black Power or Black Nationalism. Members of this chapter of BUUC were African American Unitarian Universalists from the Unitarian Society of Cleveland and other area Unitarian Universalist congregations. Wheelwright continued to lead the Unitarian Society of Cleveland while Frazier led the Fellowship, a congregation within a congregation.
Wheelwright, a white man, was 50 in 1968. He had been active in the Civil Rights and anti-war movements. He knew Martin Luther King, Jr. (before his assassination, King had been scheduled to preach Wheelwright's installation sermon) and he was familiar with other nationally known civil rights leaders. He had come to Cleveland because he was interested in serving an inner city church with a social justice ministry.
Frazier was just 28 when he moved to Cleveland. He was fresh out of school and had never served a Unitarian Universalist congregation as its settled minister. Frazier, too, had been active in the Civil Rights movement, and had first met Wheelwright several years earlier when the two had been in Mississippi. Frazier had been impressed by the commitment of the Unitarians of Jackson, Mississippi to the struggle for racial equality and had joined the Unitarian church in Jackson. After finishing his undergraduate degree, Frazier had enrolled in Crane Theological School. While Frazier was in seminary, Wheelwright, who was serving a nearby congregation, became one of his benefactors and mentors. After Frazier's graduation, Wheelwright had raised money so Frazier could spend a year studying at Manchester College, the Unitarian seminary that is part of Oxford University in England.
Ordained in 1969, Frazier was one of the first dozen African Americans to serve as a Unitarian Universalist minister. Prior to coming to Cleveland, he had been considered for pulpits in Philadelphia and in Chicago Heights, Illinois. Correspondence between Frazier and one of the search committees indicates that racism on the part of some church members had at least something to do with why he had not been called to either of those congregations.
In the summer of 1969, just as Frazier was set to begin his ministry in Cleveland, the relationship between the Society and the Hough neighborhood deteriorated even further. Two women were attacked in the congregation's parking lot in June. People, particularly families with children, were resigning from the congregation's membership and Sunday morning attendance was dwindling.
Wheelwright drafted a memo to the Unitarian Society of Cleveland's governing board. In the memo, Wheelwright laid out several possible options for the congregation's governing board and membership to consider. The last one was to: "Turn the 82nd Street Unitarian Society of Cleveland over lock, stock and barrel to a Black Unitarian movement, with the initial leadership coming from BUUC."
At two consecutive congregational meetings in late 1969, the Unitarian Society of Cleveland voted, along fairly narrow margins, to give its building and a substantive portion of its endowment to BUUC and the Black Humanist Fellowship. A court case ensued, but on March 1, 1970 the deed was transferred from the Unitarian Society of Cleveland to BUUC. According to an agreement worked out between the two organizations, the Society was to be allowed to continue to meet in the church building as long as it wished to do so. BUUC and the Black Humanist Fellowship were to manage the day-to-day operation of the building.
Attendance at the Society's services continued to dwindle. By early 1971, a decision was made to move the congregation to Cleveland Heights. After the move, the Society's membership plummeted and by 1972 it was no longer able to retain a full time minister.
After taking control of the building in 1970, the Black Humanist Fellowship received significant financial support from the Unitarian Universalist Association and a number of other granting agencies. The Fellowship's first annual congregational meeting on November 29, 1970, recorded a membership of 96 adults and a youth program with about 30 participants. At that time the congregation's stated purpose was:
1) To be a summing point for community involvement; and
2) To create through the people, a seven (7) day a week religious model.
How the Fellowship would fulfill its stated purpose was never entirely clear. While the congregation was initially able to generate a lot of enthusiasm, it was never able to develop a focus. Within the first year a theater, a drug addiction clinic, a store for African art, clothes and literature, an educational program, and a counseling center were planned. Somehow, funding for most of these programs was secured. The National Endowment for the Arts supported the theater program. The Unitarian Universalist Association paid for the minister and administrator's salaries. The Fellowship staff grew to six people.
No plan was developed to raise the funds necessary to keep the Fellowship operating from year to year or to make its programs sustainable. The Fellowship sought grant money constantly, but members of the congregation were not required to make substantive financial contributions to the community; pledging goals were set at only one percent of members' monthly incomes. Several fund raising efforts were held—Lionel Hampton did a benefit concert—but none of these generated sufficient funds to pay for the congregation's operating budget, maintain the building, and support its staff. By the end of 1971, only twenty months after taking possession of the building, the Fellowship was actively trying to sell parts of it. Pictures of the church's four Tiffany windows were sent to auction houses and museums across the country. A plan was formulated to sell the pews and chancel. Because the congregation was unable to generate enough cash, its staff began to resign.
At the same time, the Fellowship was hemorrhaging members. The 1971 annual congregational meeting minutes report a membership of 36, only 14 of whom were present. Instead of adjusting the congregation's plans to its changing circumstances and resources, the projected budget ballooned. The planned budget for 1973 was over 130,000 dollars.
The congregation never developed a deep religious life. The worship services, when they happened, were greatly varied. More often than not they consisted of theater performances, drumming, and lectures by outside speakers. Alcohol was frequently served after the services. Throughout the minutes of the Fellowship's board meetings are frequent references to poor service attendance.
The Fellowship folded not long after its outside funding ran out. Frazier left Cleveland in 1974 and the Unitarian Universalist Association's last record of the Fellowship is from 1979. At that time it had 17 members.
Several factors help explain why the Fellowship collapsed so quickly. By the mid 70s, the Unitarian Universalist Association's interest in experimental urban ministries had declined. Funding was no longer available to pay Frazier's salary or support the activities of the Fellowship. The national mood had shifted and political radicalism had fallen into a decline. The Empowerment Controversy within the UUA had left many African Americans disheartened with Unitarian Universalism and uninterested in liberal religion. It would be years before the Association turned significant attention to healing these wounds.
RESISTANCE AND TRANSFORMATION: WORKSHOP 12:
HANDOUT 1: THE EMPOWERMENT CONTROVERSY
The involvement of Unitarian Universalist clergy and laypeople in the series of civil rights marches in and between Selma and Montgomery, Alabama in 1965 is often regarded as a high point in Unitarian Universalist social justice efforts. During this time, three people were killed by white supremacists. Jimmy Lee Jackson, a young African American, was shot defending his family from the Alabama State Police. The two others, Viola Liuzzo and the Rev. James Reeb, were both white Unitarian Universalists who were participating in the marches after Jackson's death. Reeb's assassination is credited by many with drawing national attention to the struggle for voting rights and prompting passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. President Lyndon Johnson sent yellow roses to Reeb's hospital room and Martin Luther King, Jr. preached Reeb's eulogy. King's eulogy summed up the vision of the integrationist arm of the Civil Rights movement, "He was a witness to the truth that men of different races and classes might live, eat, and work together as brothers."
That vision was tested over the next decade within the Unitarian Universalist Association, in what has become known as the Empowerment Controversy.
The controversy began in October, 1967 at the Emergency Conference on Unitarian Universalist Response to the Black Rebellion at New York's Biltmore Hotel. The conference had been called in response to the rising tide of violent protests and riots in America's inner cities. Shortly after the conference began, the majority of African Americans attendees withdrew from the planned agenda to form the Black Unitarian Universalist Caucus (BUUC).
The Caucus was immediately controversial. Some delegates to the Biltmore conference alleged that it was engaging in separatism or "reverse racism." After meeting, the Caucus demanded that the conference endorse, without amendment or debate, a series of proposals, calling for African American representation on the UUA Board of Trustees, Executive Committee, and Finance Committee, as well as subsidies for black ministers. Most remarkably, they called for the creation of a UUA-affiliated Black Affairs Council (BAC) to be financed by the UUA at $250,000 per year for four years. The Biltmore conference endorsed the proposals.
When presented with the proposals endorsed by the Biltmore conference, the UUA Board rejected them. Instead, the Board decided to fund a national conference for BUUC; at that conference, the more than 200 participants reaffirmed the Caucus's prior demands. The UUA Board response was to create a Fund for Racial Justice Now, with an annual goal of $300,000, to be administered by a newly created Commission for Action on Race. The Black Affairs Council (BAC)'s application for affiliate status with the UUA was also granted, but no promise was made to fund that organization.BUUC chairperson Hayward Henry charged that the Board's refusal to fund the BAC and allow the BAC to control such funding directly reflected "a traditional racist and paternalistic approach to black problems."
Over the next few months, as preparations were made for the 1968 UUA General Assembly, supporters organized to place a resolution to fund BAC on the Assembly's official agenda. Unitarian Universalists who opposed the BAC resolution formed Unitarian Universalists for a Black and White Alternative (BAWA) "to provide an independent denominational agency in which... black and white Unitarian Universalists ...can work together as equals."
The assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King shortly before the 1968 General Assembly changed the shape of race relations in the UUA and set the tone for the meeting. In the wake of King's death, BAC supporters became more militant and more explicitly linked to the growing, national Black Power movement. The General Assembly passed the motion to fund BAC by a vote of 836 to 326. Victor Carpenter wrote that this showing of support for BAC's agenda "gave the nation its first example of a denomination's making a significant 'reparational' response to the conditions of racism in America."
The action approved by the 1968 General Assembly soon ran aground. The Association's finances were in dire straits, a situation which at that time was known only to the UUA Administration and Board. In an attempt to relieve some of the financial pressure the Association faced, UUA President Dana Greeley tried to alter the financial outlay called for in the resolution, making an offer to BAC to divide the million dollar total payment over five years instead of four. Instead, the UUA Board reintroduced the issue of BAC's funding as part of the 1969 Assembly agenda. Their intention was to require reaffirmation of BAC's financial support each year.
These events set the stage for the most dramatic General Assembly in the UUA's history, in 1969 in Boston. It began with a struggle over the agenda. The official agenda placed the vote on the funding of BAC, now coupled with an additional $50,000 to fund BAWA, near the very end of the meeting. Members and supporters of BAC felt that this was not in keeping with the urgency of the issue and moved that it be placed at the beginning of the agenda. The vote to alter the agenda received a simple majority but did not reach the two-thirds majority required for an agenda change. In response, BAC chairperson Henry declared, "Unless the Assembly agrees to deal with these basic problems... now and not next Wednesday, the microphones will be possessed and the business of this house will come to halt." Sure enough, the floor microphones were seized by BAC supporters and the business session was forced to end with nothing resolved.
The next day, a motion was made to reconsider the order of the agenda. When the motion lost, Black Unitarian Universalist Caucus (BUUC) members quietly walked out. After talking with leaders of BUUC, the Rev. Jack Mendelsohn addressed the Assembly, stating, "Our Black delegates of BAC have now left the room. They have left this Assembly, and they have left our movement, because life and time are short ...the Assembly is returning to business as usual and to the position of Black people at the back of the bus." Mendelsohn invited those who shared his feelings to join him down the street at the Arlington Street congregation where he was minister.
In a show of solidarity with their black co-religionists, more than four hundred people, all white, joined Mendelsohn. The UUA leadership made overtures to those delegates, who rejoined the General Assembly the next day. The Caucus members remained in the Association and BAC won full funding by vote of the General Assembly delegates.
A few months later, the UUA Board, faced with the ongoing fiscal crisis and their own legal responsibility for the financial well being of the institution, voted to reduce the grant to BAC from $250,000 to $200,000 and spread the million dollars over five years instead of four.
BAC's members decided to disaffiliate from the UUA and attempted to raise money for the organization's programs directly from Unitarian Universalist congregations and institutions. Over the course of a few months they were able to raise as much as $800,000 from the Liberal Religious Youth, the UU Women's Federation, the First Unitarian Society of West Newton (Massachusetts), All Souls Church (Washington, DC), and the First Unitarian Congregational Society of Brooklyn (New York). The money was raised through bonds that were marketed primarily as an investment.
Despite this initial success at fundraising, the BAC, beset by internal strife over differences in strategy, direction, and loyalties, slowly faded from the Unitarian Universalist scene and many of its members left Unitarian Universalism altogether. In 1973, the BAC changed its name to the Black Humanist Fellowship. Shortly afterward, a three-year-long legal battle began between BAC member, over the money lost on the bonds and the legality of the BUUC meeting at which the name was changed. In time, the Black Humanist Fellowship dissolved and its demise marked the end of the Empowerment Controversy. However, the feelings these events caused remained raw. Not until 1979 did the UUA begin to explore what had happened and why, so the Association could again begin to move forward on the issue of racial justice.
RESISTANCE AND TRANSFORMATION: WORKSHOP 12:
HANDOUT 2: TIME LINE OF THE EMPOWERMENT CONTROVERSY
From a 2006 unpublished paper, "A Financial Picture of the Empowerment Era" by Julia Hamilton and Megan Lynes.
July, 1963 — Establishment of the Commission on Religion and Race
March, 1965 — Many Unitarian Universalist ministers respond to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's call to join the March to Selma; UU minister James Reeb murdered in Selma.
October, 1967 — Emergency Conference on UU Response to the Black Rebellion (The Biltmore Conference). The Black UU Caucus (BUUC) formed by 30 out of 37 Black delegates to the conference. BUUC presented a list of "non-negotiable" demands to the UUA Board of Trustees:
1. Creation of a Black Affairs Council, funded at $250,000 for four years.
Continuing role for a Black Caucus within the denomination and our right to organize as Blacks amongst themselves.
2. Increasing number of Blacks on every decision making board within the denomination.
3. Such radical alteration in the ministry program that severe racism in this area would be wiped out.
November, 1967 — UUA Board rejects BUUC's non-negotiable demands in favor of the traditional process of negotiation, which results in the Board moving to reorganize the Commission on Religion and Race to "include substantial participation by non-whites." BUUC members and supporters feel betrayed.
November, 1967 — SOBURR formed, a group of whites from the Pacific Southwest urging the support of BAC and withdrawing financial support until the next GA.
February, 1968 — National Conference of Black Unitarian Universalists in Chicago, where 207 delegates represent 600 Black UUs. Following BUUC's recommendation, the Black Affairs Council (BAC) established with six Black members and three White members elected by BUUC.
March, 1968 — BAC invited to have affiliate status with the UUA. Establishment of the UU Fund for Racial Justice (formerly the Freedom Fund).
April, 1968 — FULLBAC (an outgrowth of SOBURR) formed, a group of White allies advocating full financial funding for the BAC.
April, 1968 — Rev. Dr, Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated.
May, 1968 — BAWA formed as a response to BUUC's perceived separatist agenda, in contrast to the integrationist model followed by several historically integrated UU congregations.
May, 1968 — Cleveland General Assembly. Resolution to fully fund BAC is passed 836 votes to 327. BAWA receives no funding. The atmosphere is highly emotionally charged. BUUC feels that progress had been made, given the promise of institutional funding.
June, 1968 — BAWA becomes a UUA affiliate.
June, 1968 — The UUA's unrestricted endowment fund is discovered to be depleted. The BAC's restricted membership (based on racial quotas) is challenged, but accepted.
May, 1969 — Board of Trustees meets, assigns $50,000 funding to BAWA. It should be noted that BAC funding was considered to be "reparational investments," an unprecedented action on the part of the denomination.
July, 1969 — BUUC walks out of GA, after a motion to move the BAC agenda item up from last in the order of business is rejected. Rev. Jack Mendelsohn, vice-chair of BAC, follows the Black caucus members to the Statler Hotel, persuades them not to leave until he has spoken on their behalf on the floor of GA, at which point he invites any interested parties to join him at Arlington Street Church.
Rev. Robert West elected president of the UUA.
The Assembly votes to fund BAC and not BAWA.
January, 1970 — Due to an impending financial crisis, the Trustees vote to change the BAC funding, resulting in $200,000 allocated per year for 5 years. This reduction in funding causes immediate uproar at the open board meeting. February, 1970 — Third annual BUUC meeting. Disaffiliation from the UUA is discussed, which would allow BAC to pursue independent fundraising.
April, 1970 — The BAC is officially removed as a UUA affiliate.
June, 1970 — BUUC/BAC boycott GA. The motion to restore the $50,000 in BAC funding is defeated. This phase of the "Empowerment Controversy" is finished.
RESISTANCE AND TRANSFORMATION: WORKSHOP 12:
HANDOUT 3: CHARACTERISTICS OF RACIALLY INTEGRATED UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CONGREGATIONS
By the Rev. Dr. Mark Morrison-Reed. Used with permission.
The following are characteristics of congregations that have successfully opened their doors to and attracted substantial numbers of African Americans.
Having African American leadership is a significant element in successfully becoming a racially diverse congregation, but it is not as important as these other factors. Historically, Community Church in New York began to integrate in 1909 but did not have its first African American minister until it called an Associate Minister in 1948; Chicago began to integrate in 1947 but did not call an African American associate minister until 1973. Washington, D.C had an African American religious educator beginning in 1958, eleven years before the arrival of David Eaton, their first African American senior minister.
RESISTANCE AND TRANSFORMATION: WORKSHOP 12:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: VIDEO SEGMENT DAVIES MEMORIAL CHURCH, CAMP SPRINGS, MARYLAND
From Breakthrough Congregations 2007, produced by the Unitarian Universalist Association. Used with permission.
Video Segment Davies Memorial Church, Camp Springs, Maryland (at www.uua.org/videos/index.php?movie=tapestry/20100315_breakthrough2007_daviesmemorialmd.mp4)
FIND OUT MORE
The Long Challenge: The Empowerment Controversy (1967-1977) (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=389) by Victor Carpenter (Chicago: Meadville Lombard Press, 2004)
The Arc of the Universe Is Long: Unitarian Universalists, Anti-Racism and the Journey from Calgary (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=1044) by Leslie Takahashi Morris, James (Chip) Roush, and Leon Spencer (Boston: Skinner House, 2009)
Black Pioneers in a White Denomination (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=553) by Mark Morrison-Reed (Boston: Skinner House, 1992)
Crisis and Change: My Years as President of the Unitarian Universalist Association, 1969-1977 (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=575) by Robert Nelson West (Boston: Skinner House, 2007)
Wilderness Journey: The Struggle for Black Empowerment and Racial Justice within the Unitarian Universalist Association, 1967-1970, a DVD available from the UUA’s office of Multicultural Growth and Witness (at www.uua.org/leaders/idbm/index.shtml), includes Unitarian Universalist leaders first-hand recollections of the Empowerment Controversy.