Black History Month 2022
In honor of Black History Month, we remind everyone that Black History is American History. The experiences, identities, culture and presence of formerly enslaved Africans and Black immigrants in this country are an integral part of the American tapestry.
So often, when we talk about the Black experience, we begin and end with trauma. I would like to take this month to extend what we started with our Hush Harbor service in December: I want to continue to find joy.
To mark Black History Month 2022, we invited the members of West End Church to reflect on their personal experience and encounters with Black culture. We asked them to share images and quotes that made an impact on them. What book or movie that resonates with you? Maybe there is a dish or piece of music that fills you with joy?
We are all here together, and more connected than we ever realized. The work is plentiful. Let this month be a continuation of the good work — and the joy — we are creating together, because the possibilities are endless.
“If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”
— Lilla Watson, Australian Aboriginal Rights advocate
Contributions from Rev. Bridget Anthony, Marilyn Flood, Ruby Greene, Michael Hajek, Shannon McNamara, Jennifer Nevin, Scott Schafer and more!
Judge Baker Motley was the first Black woman to argue before the US Supreme Court and the first Black woman, appointed in 1966 by President Johnson, to a federal court.
Jennifer Packer’s paintings can be seen at the Whitney Museum be through April 17, 2022. “Her paintings, most recently seen at the Whitney in the 2019 Biennial, slide between the fidelity of depiction and the freedom of abstraction. This avowal of both clarity and opacity endows her paintings with the same complexity she sees in the Black sitters that populate her art—and the world.”
“My inclination to paint,” Packer has said, “especially from life, is a completely political one. We belong here. We deserve to be seen and acknowledged in real time. We deserve to be heard and to be imaged with shameless generosity and accuracy.”
