SACRED GROUND RESOURCES
SESSION 1
Stepping onto Sacred Ground – January 18 from 7-9pm & January 28 from 3-5pm
To watch beforehand or (preferably) in the session
• Documentary: American Creed (86 min.)
To read beforehand
• Documentary: American Creed (86 min.)
To read beforehand
- Summary sheet: Becoming Beloved Community: The Episcopal Church’s Long-term Commitment to Racial Healing, Reconciliation and Justice
- Sacred Ground preparatory documents: "Invitation and Introduction," "Organizing a Dialogue Circle" and “Participant Preparation Guide” (all found on the Sacred Ground "Getting Started" webpage)
- Column: “Black History Is Everyone’s History” by Leonard Pitts, Jr.
- Excerpt from essay: “Not Somewhere Else, But Here” by the Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker
- Excerpt from book: Healing Our Broken Humanity: Practices for Revitalizing the Church and Renewing the World by Grace Ji-Sun Kim and Graham Hill
- Selection from book: America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America by Jim Wallis (bottom of p. 103 to p. 109 from hardback edition)
Handout(s) to print ahead of time for use during session
- “Key Distinctions for Understanding Race and Racism” by Katrina Browne and James Perry
- There are further suggestions in the Session One section of the Study Guide as to whether
to make some of the readings above available as handouts.
SESSION 2
The Roots of Whiteness, and Deeper Roots – February 1 from 7-9pm & February 11 from 3-5pm
To watch beforehand or in the session
• Short video: The Myth of Race Debunked in 3 Minutes (3min.)
• Short video: Decoded: Are Cracker, White Trash, & Redneck Racist? (5 min.)
To read beforehand
Note: There is more reading for this session because there is no full film to watch (just the two short videos above). These opening sessions are a time to lay some important foundations.
• Short video: The Myth of Race Debunked in 3 Minutes (3min.)
• Short video: Decoded: Are Cracker, White Trash, & Redneck Racist? (5 min.)
To read beforehand
Note: There is more reading for this session because there is no full film to watch (just the two short videos above). These opening sessions are a time to lay some important foundations.
- Article: “Roots Deeper Than Whiteness” by David Dean
- Article: “A Geography Lesson for the Tea Party” by Colin Woodard in Washington Monthly
magazine. The core of this article provides a digest of his book: American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America. (You can just read from the paragraph that starts, “We’re accustomed to thinking of American regionalism...” and stop at paragraph that starts, “Which brings us to the Tea Party movement....”) - Selections from book: White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo (15 assorted pages from paperback edition)
- Blog posts: “On the Five Stages & White People Waking Up to Racism” and “On White Tears” by Tad Hargrave
- Corebook:Waking Up White, And Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving– Introduction and Chapters 2-3
SESSION 3
Whose Land? Exploring Indigenous History – February 15 from 7-9pm & February 25 from 3-5pm
To watch beforehand
To read beforehand
- We Shall Remain, Episode 1: After the Mayflower (77 minutes)
- The Episcopal Church Exposes the Doctrine of Discovery (14 minutes)
To read beforehand
- Audio story and article: “The Map of Native American Tribes You’ve Never Seen Before” by Hansi Lo Wang from NPR.
- Article: “Unshackled by Visions and Values” by Martin Brokenleg
- Core book: Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman – Forward and Preface
- Core book: Waking Up White – Chapters 1, 4-6, and 30
SESSION 4
Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery: Exploring Black History – March 1 from 7-9pm & March 18 from 3-5pm [MARCH 11 RESCHEDULED TO MARCH 18]
To watch beforehand
To read beforehand
- PBS series: The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
- Truth and Reconciliation Pilgrimage to Ghana, three short videos featuring Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, the Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers, and Bishop Andrew Waldo (23 min.)
To read beforehand
- Article: “New England’s Hidden History” by Francie Latour in The Boston Globe
- Essay: “
- Core book: Jesus and the Disinherited – first part of Chapter 1 (up to paragraph that starts “In the face of these alternatives…,” on p. 17 of 1996 paperback edition)
- Core book: Waking Up White – Chapter 11
SESSION 5
Whose Land? More Layers: Exploring Latino History – March 15 from 7-9pm & March 25 from 3-5pm
To watch beforehand
To read beforehand
- PBS series: Latino Americans, Episode 1: “Foreigners in Their Own Land” (53 min.)
- YouTube video: Guns, Germs, and Steel: How Europeans Came to Dominate the World, in 7 Minutes
To read beforehand
- Selection from book: Ripe Fields: The Promise and Challenge of Latino Ministry by Juan Oliver (pp. 5-18 from paperback edition)
- Op-ed: “Moving Beyond the Black-White Binary” by Roberto Lovato
- Core book: Jesus and the Disinherited – second part of Chapter 1 (from paragraph that starts “In the face of these alternatives…,” on p. 17 of 1996 paperback edition, to the end of the chapter)
- Core book: Waking Up White – Chapter 13
SESSION 6
Americans, Not Foreigners: Exploring Asian/Pacific American History – April 5 from 7-9pm & April 8 from 3-5pm
To watch beforehand or in the session
To read beforehand
- PBS series: Ancestors in the Americas, Episode 2: “Chinese in the Frontier West” (61 min.)
To read beforehand
- Article: “The real reasons the U.S. became less racist toward Asian Americans” by Jeff Guo, in conversation with Ellen Wu about her book, The Color of Success
- Article: “Asian Americans speak out against a decades-old ‘model minority’ myth” by Yanan Wang
- Core book: Jesus and the Disinherited – first part of Chapter 2 (up to paragraph that starts “The crucial question, then, is this…,” on p. 36 of 1996 paperback edition)
- Core book: Waking Up White – Chapters 14 and 16
SESSION 7
Selective Access to the Melting Pot and the American Dream: 1830s-1960s
April 12 from 7-9pm & April 22 from 3-5pm
April 12 from 7-9pm & April 22 from 3-5pm
To watch beforehand
To read beforehand
- Documentary: Slavery by Another Name (in the interest of time you can just watch the first 32.5 minutes, or first 36.5 minutes for people who are prepared to view a graphic section on lynching)
- PBS series: Race: The Power of an Illusion, Episode 3: “The House We Live In” (56 min.)
To read beforehand
- Article: “An interview with Noel Ignatiev” about his book, How the Irish Became White – first 4 pages of article
- Please review or research your family’s 19th- and 20th-century history in connection to the relevant racial history covered in this session’s films and readings
- Core book: Jesus and the Disinherited – second part of Chapter 2 (from paragraph that starts “The crucial question, then, is this…,” on p. 36 of 1996 paperback edition, to the end of the chapter)
- Core book: Waking Up White – Chapters 7, 17-18, and 23
SESSION 8
Divisions in Present-Day White America – April 26 from 7-9pm & May 6 from 3-5pm
To watch beforehand
To read beforehand
- National Geographic series: America Inside Out with Katie Couric, Episode 4: “White Anxiety” (48 min.)
To read beforehand
- Article: “What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class” by Joan Williams
- Selections from book: Beyond the Messy Truth by Van Jones (13 assorted pages from the hardback edition)
- Core book: Jesus and the Disinherited – Chapter 3
- Core book: Waking Up White – first 3 pages of Chapter 35
SESSION 9
Legacies: Racism’s Long Life – May 10 from 7-9pm & May 20 from 3-5pm
To watch beforehand
To read beforehand
- Documentary: Healing Justice (66 min.)
To read beforehand
- Selection from book: Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome by Joy DeGruy (pp. 8-10 of paperback edition)
- Article: “Ghosts of the Masters: Descendants of Slaveholders Reckon with History” by the Rev. David Pettee and Susan Hutchison
- Selections from book: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander (pp. 1-4, 16-19, and bottom of p. 202 to p. 208 of hardback edition)
- Core book: Jesus and the Disinherited – Chapter 4
- Core book: Waking Up White – Chapters 26-27 and revisit p. 175
SESSION 10
Becoming Beloved Community – May 24 from 7-9pm & June 3 from 3-5pm
To watch beforehand
To read beforehand
- Documentary: Dawnland (abridged, 54 min.)
- Documentary: Repairing the Breach: The Episcopal Church and Slavery Atonement (31 min.)
To read beforehand
- Selections from book: America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America by Jim Wallis (Chapter 4 and p. 215 to the top of p. 217 of hardback edition)
- Core book: Jesus and the Disinherited – Chapter 5