The churches of the Episcopal Diocese of New York will observe Black History Month in a tradition that befits each congregation.

At St. Augustine’s in Manhattan, the celebration on Sunday, February 26 will be African Heritage Day at the 10:30 am service. “The congregation is urged to wear African and African inspired clothes and head dresses and African dance and music are incorporated into the liturgy,” explained the Rev. Errol Harvey. “A short video on Africa and Africans will also be presented.”

At San Juan Bautista in the Bronx, “We usually reflect about ‘blackness’ from a Hispanic perspective,” explained the Rev. Maria Santiviago. “Almost everybody in the congregation is from the Dominican Republic (I am not but lived there more than 10 years). Thus, we talk about slavery in the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Haiti. We talk about some historical facts and also linguistics facts, use of language, expressions, sayings and how they illustrate the racism of the Dominican society. Then in the US have they experienced racism? Different levels of racism. Of course, people like Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks and their struggle for justice.”

At St. Mary’s, Manhattanville, on the last Sunday of February, the congregation and the Sunday School will read poetry by great African American writers as well as original works.

The Rev. Walter Dennis talks to priests and volunteers for Episcopal Parish Summer projects in 1966. (Photo courtesy Archives/BOB NOBLE)

African American Episcopal Historical Collection
New additions of the work of Bishop Walter Dennis, one of the leading Black leaders in the Episcopal Church, are now part of the African American Episcopal Historical Collection (AAEHC), a joint effort of the Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS) and the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church.

Bishop Dennis, who died in 2003, served as Suffragan Bishop 1979-1998.  An earlier collection of Bishop Dennis’ papers focused on his contributions and ministry as Suffragan Bishop.  The new collection of personal papers was donated by Bishop Dennis’s estate, through the Rev. Canon George W. Brandt, Executor and rector of St. Michael’s Manhattan. This new collection includes Bishop Dennis’ life such as his years as canon residential at the cathedral and as rector of St. Cyprian’s, Hampton, Virginia, where he opened the doors of the church as a stop for buses headed south on the freedom rides of the turbulent 1960s.

Bishop Dennis with confirmands at St. Paul's, Morrisania, 1983. (Photo courtesy of Archives/WAYNE KEMPTON)

The dedication of the African American Episcopal Historical Collection was held on February 24, 2005 at Virginia Seminary. The Rev. Canon J. Robert Wright presented an address at the inauguration. Wright, the Historiographer of the Episcopal Church and Canon Theologian to the Bishop of New York, noted that the inauguration “provides a needed focus for the Black experience in the Episcopal Church, not only enabling the conservation of such records but also affording a place where they may be studied so that others may benefit from the sifting of evidence and the judicious evaluation of facts.”

Housed at the Bishop Payne Library at VTS, the AAEHC collects and preserves materials about African American Episcopalians and makes those resources available both for scholarly research and for the education of the wider community.