Racial & Social Justice

Oral Histories

We can only work for a better future if we truly understand our past. The Cathedral’s Racial Justice Task Force presents a series of first-person oral histories from African American members of the Cathedral community to help us all learn, reflect and walk forward together.

Episode 1: Judy Rutherford

Longtime Cathedral stalwart Judy Rutherford, who grew up in the Jim Crow South and lived on the front lines of the civil rights movement. From lunch counter sit-ins to run-ins with police, Judy’s story will change the way you see our history.

Episode 2: the rev. vincent harris

The Rev. Vincent Harris was the only African American graduate of his seminary class, and was warned by other white clergy not to be a “militant radical” on racial inequities in the church. Needless to say, that didn’t stop him. 

Episode 3: the rev. kelly brown douglas

The Rev. Canon Kelly Brown Douglas was one of the first 10 African American women ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church. Beyond her role as Canon Theologian at the Cathedral, she is also dean of Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary. 

Episode 4: the rev. canon leonard l. hamlin, sr.

A brief encounter with Shirley Chisholm’s historic presidential campaign in 1972 inspired the Cathedral’s Canon Missioner Leonard Hamlin that all things are possible. And a near-death experience convinced him that God still had work for him to do.