Spring-Summer 2023 Sacred Ground
The series is part of the Becoming Beloved Community initiative of The Episcopal Church, a long-term commitment to racial healing, reconciliation, and justice in our personal lives, our ministries, and our society.
Schedule
7pm ET
May 9 - Session 1
May 16 - Session 2
May 23 - Session 3
May 30 - Session 4
June 6 - Session 5
June 13 - Session 6
June 20 - Session 7
June 27 - Session 8
July 11 - Session 9
July 18 - Session 10
Meeting Link
Weekly Resources
July 25 Course Resources (View in Advance)
- Podcast: “Notice the Rage; Notice the Silence” (2021), Resmaa Menakem, on On Being With Krista Tippett (50 minutes; may also read transcript)
- Video: Repairing the Breach: The Episcopal Church and Slavery Atonement
- Blog post: “On the Five Stages & White People Waking Up to Racism” by Tad Hargrave (from Session 2)
- Article: “The Place of Grief in the Spiritual Life” by Tricia de Beer
- Selections from book: America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America by Jim Wallis (Chapter 4 and p. 215 to the top of p. 217 of hardback edition)
- Book: Jesus and the Disinherited (Thurman), Chapter 4
- Book: Waking up White (Irving), Chapters 26-27
Additional Resources
-
For those wanting to do additional reading and viewing, please click through to see recommendations.
July 18 Course Resources (View in Advance)
- Video: America Inside Out with Katie Couric, Episode 4
- Article: “What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class” by Joan Williams
- Selections from book: Beyond the Messy Truth by Van Jones (13 assorted pages from the hardback edition)
- Chapter 3: Jesus and the Disinherited (Thurman)
- Chapter 35: Waking Up White (Irving)
Additional Resources
-
For those wanting to do additional reading and viewing, please click through to see recommendations.
June 11 Class: Special Worship at It's All About Love Festival
June 27 Course Resources (View in Advance)
-
Article: “An interview with Noel Ignatiev” about his book, How the Irish Became White – first 4 pages of article
Please review or research your family’s 19th- and 20th-century history in connection to the relevant racial history covered in this session’s films and readings -
Article: “Sundown Towns” by James Loewen in Poverty & Race, 14:#6
-
Research: Please visit James Loewen’s Sundown Towns website to look up whether where you live now and where you grew up were historically sundown towns. Please also review or research your family’s 19th- and 20th-century history in connection to the relevant racial history covered in this session’s films and readings.
-
Core book: Jesus and the Disinherited – second part of Chapter 2 (from paragraph that starts “The crucial question, then, is this…,” on p. 36 of 1996 paperback edition, to the end of the chapter)
-
Core book: Waking Up White – Chapters 7, 17-18, and 23
- Video: Race: The Power of an Illusion, Episode 3: The House We Live In (57 minutes)
Additional Resources
-
For those wanting to do additional reading and viewing, please click through to see recommendations.
June 20 Course Resources (View in Advance)
- Video: Asian Americans Episode 1: Breaking Ground
- Article: “The real reasons the U.S. became less racist toward Asian Americans” by Jeff Guo, in conversation with Ellen Wu about her book, The Color of Success
Article: “Asian Americans speak out against a decades-old ‘model minority’ myth” by Yanan Wang - Excerpt from book: Healing Our Broken Humanity: Practices for Revitalizing the Church and Renewing the World by Grace Ji-Sun Kim and Graham Hill
- Reading: Chapters 14 and 16, Waking up White (Debby Irving)
- Reading: First Part of Chapter 2, Jesus and the Disinherited (Howard Thurman)
Additional Resources
-
For those wanting to do additional reading and viewing, please click through to see recommendations.
June 13 Course Resources (View in Advance)
- Video: What Afro-Latinos Want You to Know
- Video: Guns, Germs and Steel: Why Europeans Came to Dominate the World
- Article: “A history of anti-Hispanic bigotry in the United States” by Marie Arana in the Washington Post
- Article: “Who is Hispanic?” by Mark Hugo Lopez, Jens Manuel Krogstad and Jeffrey S. Passel for the Pew Research Center
- Essay: “Recovering the concept of sin for the labyrinth walk of antiracism” by the Rev. Stephen H. Phelps
- Reading: Second Part of Chapter 1, Jesus and the Disinherited (Howard Thurman)
- Reading: Chapter 13, Waking up White (Debby Irving)
Additional Resources
- Video: Latino Americans, Episode 1: Foreigners in Their Own Land Password: ThisIsSacredGround
- For those wanting to do additional reading and viewing, please click through to see recommendations.
June 6 Course Resources (View in Advance)
Focus Materials
- Video: Episcopal Truth and Reconcilation Pilgrimage to Ghana
- Article: “New England’s Hidden History” by Francie Latour in The Boston Globe
- Essay: “The White Man’s Guilt” by James Baldwin in Ebony magazine
- Reading: First Part of Chapter 1, Jesus and the Disinherited (Howard Thurman)
- Reading: Chapter 11, Waking up White (Debby Irving)
Additional Resources
- Video: The Black Atlantic (PBS) Password: ThisIsSacredGround
- For those wanting to do additional reading and viewing, please click through to see recommendations.
May 23 Course Resources
Focus Materials
- The Myth of Race, Debunked in 3 Minutes, Vox
- Article: “Roots Deeper Than Whiteness” by David Dean
- Selections from book: White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo (15 assorted pages from paperback edition)
- Blog posts: “On the Five Stages & White People Waking Up to Racism” and “On White Tears” by Tad Hargrave
Project Implicit Link
- Here is a link to Harvard's Project Implicit. Create a free username and password to gain access to implicit bias online assessments.
Additional Resources
- Article: “A Geography Lesson for the Tea Party” by Colin Woodard in Washington Monthly magazine.
Deeper Dive
For those wanting to do additional reading and viewing, please click through to see recommendations.
May 30 Course Resources
Focus Materials
- Video: The Episcopal Church Exposes the Doctrine of Discovery
- Audio story and article: “The Map of Native American Tribes You’ve Never Seen Before” by Hansi Lo Wang from NPR.
- Research the Native Tribes living at the time of European conquest in the regions you are connected to by using The Native Land Map and entering your Zip Code.
- Article: “Unshackled by Visions and Values” by Martin Brokenleg
- Excerpt: Chapters 1, 4, 5, 6 and 30 from Waking Up White by Debbie Irving
- Excerpt: Foreword and Preface from Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman
- Longer Video: PBS Documentary "We Shall Remain"
Project Implicit Link
- Here is a link to Harvard's Project Implicit tests mentioned in session 2. Here you can access a variety of assessments that help reveal your own biases.
Additional Resources
- “Doctrine of Discovery: Stolen Lands, Strong Hearts”, video from the Anglican Church of Canada – especially see Sections 1 and 5
- “The ‘Indian Problem’” (2015), video by the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian
- “Symposium Welcome and Opening Remarks: Lonnie G. Bunch III, Secretary, Smithsonian Institution” (2021), video from “Smithsonian Symposium – The Other Slavery”
- “An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States” (2014), Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
- “The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America” (2016), Andrés Resénde“
- "Do American Indians Celebrate Thanksgiving?” (Nov. 26, 2019), Smithsonian Magazine
- “About Native Knowledge 360º”, comprehensive online resource about Indian and Indigenous peoples of the United States from the National Museum of the American Indian
- Treaties Explorer, interactive website, The Indigenous Digital Archive
May 23 Course Resources
Focus Materials
- The Myth of Race, Debunked in 3 Minutes, Vox
- Article: “Roots Deeper Than Whiteness” by David Dean
- Selections from book: White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo (15 assorted pages from paperback edition)
- Blog posts: “On the Five Stages & White People Waking Up to Racism” and “On White Tears” by Tad Hargrave
Project Implicit Link
- Here is a link to Harvard's Project Implicit. Create a free username and password to gain access to implicit bias online assessments.
Additional Resources
- Article: “A Geography Lesson for the Tea Party” by Colin Woodard in Washington Monthly magazine.
Deeper Dive
For those wanting to do additional reading and viewing, please click through to see recommendations.
May 16 Course Resources
Focus Materials
- Invitation & Introduction
- The Episcopal Church’s Long-term Commitment to Racial Healing, Reconciliation and Justice
- American Creed (Video)
- America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America by Jim Wallis (bottom of p. 103 to p. 109 from hardback edition)
Additional Resources
- Organizing a Dialogue Circle
- Participant Preparation Guide
- Black History Is Everyone’s History by Leonard Pitts, Jr.
- Not Somewhere Else, But Here by the Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker
- Healing Our Broken Humanity: Practices for Revitalizing the Church and Renewing the World by Grace Ji-Sun Kim and Graham Hill
- Key Distinctions for Understanding Race and Racism” by Katrina Browne and James Perry
Deeper Dive
For those wanting to do additional reading and viewing, please click through to see recommendations.
Sacred Ground Library
Click here to access the Episcopal Church's full Sacred Ground library using the PASSWORD: ThisIsSacredGround