From Arkansas-
The Rev. John C. Harper had been rector at the historic St. John's
Episcopal Church for less than a year when the 1963 March on Washington
began taking shape. A lay leader in the congregation urged him to steer
clear of it -- but instead he embraced it.
Harper held a service the morning of the march, welcoming a diverse
crowd of more than 700 people at the church across from the White House.
Black Episcopal choir members sang alongside the St. John's choir, and
the service ended with worshippers holding hands to sing the iconic
civil rights movement song "We Shall Overcome."
"The church has too long been silent on this important issue," Harper
wrote to church members that month. "Now at long last Christians like
ourselves are aroused by the injustice of discrimination in any form and
by any kind of segregation on the basis of a man's color."
More here-
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2020/jul/13/washingtons-church-of-presidents-etched-in/
Opinion – 6 November 2024
12 hours ago