All Saints' Oral History Project Launches this Summer

In our parish's on-going racial reconciliation ministry, All Saints' Racial Reconciliation Action Group (“RRAG”) is reflecting on the racial history of All Saints’ along with that of the Diocese of Texas, Austin, and University of Texas. Our hope and goal is for racial healing and to foster the Beloved Community at All Saints’.

Truth-telling is a component of Beloved Community. All Saints’ was a white congregation in the Jim Crow South at the beginning of the 20^th century. Black Austinites were not welcome at All Saints’. To what extent and how did All Saints’ racial attitudes and practices change during the 20^th century and into the 21^st?

Many parishioners have been attending All Saints' for decades. As our 125^th anniversary approaches (2025), we will collect parishioners' stories to help us reflect on where we have been and discern where the Holy Spirit is leading our parish. RRAG will interview willing long-time parishioners beginning this summer.

All Saints’ parishioners Patti Woolery-Price and Melissa Hield will conduct the interviews. Patti is an archivist and All Saints’ librarian. Melissa is a public historian and the executive director of the nonprofit People’s History in Texas.

In the Episcopal Church, we are guided by the vision of Becoming Beloved Community, our church’s long-term commitment to racial justice, healing and reconciliation. Reconciliation is the spiritual practice of seeking loving, liberating and life-giving relationship with God and one another, and striving to heal and transform injustice and brokenness in ourselves, our communities, institutions and society.

If you would like to be interviewed, or to learn more, please email RRAG coordinator Mary Ann Corbett at [email protected]. We would love to hear your stories!

Photo: Feb. 20, 1963, UT students sign Garwood petition. American-Statesman Photo Archive Via Austin History Center. The Austin American Statesman "What Protests Looked Like at UT Austin, During the Civil Rights Movement."