Episcopalians Consider Giving Reparations to Black Members

This year, the Church of England-- the root of the Anglican Communion of which the Episcopal Church is a part-- voted to acknowledge its complicity in the slave trade. In 2001, the Indianapolis-based Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) admitted that its apathy prolonged the suffering of enslaved blacks.

The Southern Baptists, born of the Baptist split over slavery, apologized more than 10 years ago for condoning racism for much of its history.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which divided over slavery in 1861 and reunited only in 1983, has supported the study of reparations within the church and has backed a federal reparations bill.

The Episcopal Church's apology is important for the message it will send, said the Rev. Kwasi Thornell, a black priest from Silver Spring and a member of the National Concerns Committee.

"It's not going to change the world, but I think it's an important step that we recognize how we've been involved in a sinful action," Thornell said. "For me as an African American priest, it would mean a lot for me to hear."

While the church has been slower to apologize than other denominations, it has worked hard to educate members about racism in recent years, said the Rev. Ed Rodman, a professor at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass.

Those efforts and a growing understanding that northerners, as well as southerners, benefited from slavery has brought the ideas of an apology and reparations to the forefront today.

Helping fuel that understanding is a documentary film, "Traces of the Trade," by independent filmmaker Katrina Browne. The film tells the story of Browne's Rhode Island ancestors, the DeWolfs, the largest slave-trading family in the United States and prominent Episcopalians. Browne expects to show the film at the church's convention.