Rehearsal for Reconstruction
Wed, Apr 30
|Unity Church–Unitarian
Deconstructing Mythologies of Unitarian Anti-Racism, Lecture 1 by Rev. Dr. Wayne Arnason
Time & Location
Apr 30, 2025, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM CDT
Unity Church–Unitarian, 733 Portland Ave, St Paul, MN 55104, USA
About the event
Lecture 1: "Rehearsal for Reconstruction"
Deconstructing Mythologies of Unitarian Anti-Racism
by Rev. Dr. Wayne Arnason
Join us in person or online for this first lecture in the 2025 Minns Lecture Series. Since merger Unitarian Universalism has struggled with constructing a white anti-racist identity. Recent scholarship centering black lives and revealing the depths of white supremacy culture has challenged the usual pre-merger historical narrative, which centered heroic Unitarian abolitionists and 20th century political leaders. The three Minns Lectures for 2025 seek to demythologize this common narrative.
The series begins with the significant Unitarian presence at the Port Royal, S.C., “rehearsal for reconstruction” during and after the Civil War. Moving to the turn of the century, the second lecture will show how Unitarians remained comfortably situated in their privileged caste, supporting industrial education to "uplift the race" while remaining silent as Reconstruction crumbled and the Lost Cause movement resurrected the dominance of…