Sunday, August 25, 12 p.m., Emmanuel Episcopal Church
— from Deborah Sparks for Emmanuel Episcopal Church —
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia Bishop James B. Magness invite Episcopal churches to take part in a national action to remember and honor the first enslaved Africans who landed in English North America in 1619 by tolling their bells for one minute this Sunday, August 25 at 12:00 p.m PT.
You can see the Presiding Bishop’s invitation HERE. You can also read more about this Day of Healing from the National Park Service website HERE.
Fr. Berto has shared that Emmanuel will ring our bells at 12 noon in remembrance. Let us stand together.
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Speaking of slavery, is there a similar event out there somewhere that commemorates the centuries-long episode of, say, Christians being captured by African Muslim Barberry Coast pirates, then sold as slaves to Europeans? As I recall, that led to the establishment of our US Navy, under Jefferson. Or is that covered in history books now?
Forget 1776. The new touchstone year is 1619. Yep, America’s future is certain, but the past is constantly changing!
I’m with Carl on this. Slavery dates from long before 1619, and involved many different peoples, not solely African Blacks.
But it’s the Barbary Coast, as in “barbarians.” The north coast of Africa didn’t produce much tree fruit, or raincoats either.
Slavery has got to be one of the most immoral things a person can do. Slavery is rampant throughout the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments. The Bible clearly approves of slavery in many passages, and it goes so far as to tell how to obtain slaves, how hard you can beat them, and when you can have sex with the female slaves so I am a little unclear of why any Christian organization would be holding an event like this.