About Us
Building Remembrance for Reconciliation is dedicated to using history and the arts to remember, reconcile and heal. Recent efforts towards racial and social justice, and remembrance and reconciliation, have taught us how important history and memorialization is to our community awareness and change. BR4R’s mission in telling the stories of Hastings’ early Black families is to provide the community with a better understanding of our Black history and establish important steps towards building a better future through a more thorough understanding of the past.
BR4R: Our Story
Events
News
Star Tribune columnist Curt Brown writes about Hastings’ early Black residents celebrating the passage of a new federal civil rights law in 1875 and the evening closed “with a dance, both colors freely intermingling.”
“Upbeat snippets tell only part of the surprisingly rich Black history of Hastings, a Mississippi River town that 40 African Americans called home in 1870. Their back stories from days on Virginia plantations were far less rosy, tinged with rape, murder and brutal treatment. Even in Hastings, arson claimed a Black church in 1907 and 200 robed Ku Klux Klan members marched through town in 1925.”
Read Brown’s May 24, 2021 article:
https://www.startribune.com/revisiting-hastings-rich-black-history-personal-toil/600060191/
More News/Event
History
The Currys and Wallaces were some of Hastings’ early Black families. Minnesota has notable native, African and European descended histories. Building Remembrance for Reconciliation is dedicated to learning about and memorializing the history of African American settlers in Hastings. We believe that a first step towards a healthy society is learning about, speaking, and hearing the truth of our history. More History
Brown’s Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Hastings opened on the corner of 5th and Sibley Streets on October 17, 1892. In late October 1907, the African ME Church was destroyed by fire. Arson was determined to
BR4R Survey
Please take our survey to help us understand what our community knows about Hastings’ early Black history.
The Sankofa bird with its head turned backwards taking an egg off its back symbolizes taking from the past what is good and bringing it into the present to make positive progress through benevolent use of knowledge.
Founded in 2018 to tell the stories of Hastings’ early Black community. The goal of the organization is to educate, engage and stimulate conversation, action and understanding.
Reach out if you have questions about Building Remembrance for Reconciliation or are interested in more information about getting involved.
To contribute to BR4R efforts, please send checks to:
BR4R
PO Box 34
Hastings, MN 55033
Thank you!