In a moment where history related to slavery in the United States has been targeted for removal from national parks, national websites, and Smithsonian museums, a United Church of Christ congregation located in the heart of Washington, D.C., is determined to remember.
First Congregational UCC dedicated a permanent art installation, “Forever in the Path,” on Sept. 14 in memory of those who lived and were enslaved on the land that was a tobacco plantation before Congress deeded the site to the church in 1865.
D.C. artist Jessica Valoris created the artwork as part of the congregation’s decade-long efforts to uncover and engage with the church’s previously unknown “hidden history.” These efforts were ignited by an influential sermon delivered by Renee K. Harrison to celebrate First Church’s 150th anniversary in 2015. Harrison is a Howard University professor and author of the book Black Hands, White House.
‘Forever in the Path’ artwork by Jessica Valoris installed at First Congregational UCC in Washington, D.C.
While the church had long been proud of its founding in 1865 by abolitionists, congregant Meg Maguire was compelled by Harrison’s message to urge the church to dig deeper into this “incomplete story” of its history. The church invited then-doctoral student Antonio Austin to conduct research on the former land owners and people they enslaved, uncovering the names of more than 40 people who lived and worked on the land.
“The stories of enslaved people are disruptive to an American landscape that wants to ignore them,” Harrison reflected at the artwork’s dedication. “I know that is my call, and I’ve always been committed to asking, ‘What is their story? What are they trying to tell us? What can we learn to be a better human species?’”
‘A calling and reminder to continue’
The six-paneled stained glass artwork is installed at eye level in the church’s wide, street-level windows, visible to those entering the church as well as those passing outside. One of the panels filled with light and color depicts Sal, a nine-year-old enslaved girl who was shown in records as already being considered for child-bearing potential, Valoris said. Valoris placed the child together with her mother in an act of reconnecting her with loved ones, she said.
While the artwork marks years of research and engagement, Valoris reflected that “the artwork is the beginning of the journey. It’s really important that this artwork be a calling and a reminder for us to continue the work of emotional reckoning and thinking about what this means for us spiritually, ancestrally, personally, and in our everyday interactions – and to continue the work of learning because there’s so much more to know.”
First Church Senior Pastor, the Rev. Amanda Hendler-Voss, emphasized the necessity for such engagement in light of the current political climate.
“We speak this truth in a time when our nation’s president weaponizes political power to whitewash our history of slavery and Jim Crow by distorting the stories of triumph over adversity, silencing the songs of resistance, and punishing institutions that foster diversity, equity, and inclusion. ‘Forever in the Path’ calls us to renew our covenant to seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God,” she said.
Jessica Valoris, Renee K. Harrison, and Antonio Austin participated in a panel discussion as part of the dedication of “Forever in the Path.”
Remembering full people
At the artwork’s dedication, which included a special church service and panel discussion, Austin expressed his hopes that the image helps people to recall the enslaved people, “and I hope when you have that remembrance, it’s in totality, thinking about these individuals as full people,” he said.
Harrison emphasized the need for each person to be bold enough to tell the real history of the United States, which can inspire others to do the work of engaging with it.
“Talking about it works,” she said, reflecting on how her act of talking about it at First Church sparked the congregation’s deep engagement and commissioning of the artwork.
This is the task that each person can and should do, Harrison urged.
“We must tell the story,” she said. “We need institutions like museums to tell the story, but we really need each one of us to tell the story because I believe that every one of us is an artist and a historian. We are programmed from the creator to create, to preserve, and to tell it – so it stays living.”
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