ABSTRACT
Racism had been the root problem from the very beginning. The racism the majority of that “special Committee” spewed forth was blunt, vicious, and straight from the heart. The problem was the black Episcopalians wanted to worship in the enhanced dignity and comfort they would feel if they had a minister of their own color. The 1853 success over racism was therefore only the most recent in the parish’s long-term efforts to achieve recognition as full-fledged Episcopalians entitled to the very same rights as any European-American congregation in the diocese. To be eligible for a seat in the convention, all a white Episcopal priest had to do was be certified by the Bishop or the Standing Committee of the diocese as properly ordained and either a faculty member of a church-sponsored school or settled in a parish already “in union” with the diocesan convention.
