News/Events – Building Remembrance for Reconciliation

Building Remembrance for Reconciliation Current Projects

Brown’s Chapel

Building Remembrance for Reconciliation research includes the history of Brown’s Chapel, Hastings first African Methodist Episcopal Church, that opened on the corner of 5^th and Sibley Streets on October 17, 1892. Then on October 31, 1907, the Hastings Democrat reported the fire department was called to the African ME Church, and though the fire department extinguished the fire, the fire department discovered kerosene had been poured over the floors, pews and elsewhere in the building. Arson was determined to be the cause of the fire, although the culprits were never identified or charged. Hastings Brown’s Chapel never reopened, and eventually some of the original families, including Wallace and Curry, relocated to St Peter’s Episcopal Church in Minneapolis.

Building Remembrance for Reconciliation is working to tell the story of Brown’s Chapel in Hastings, and secure funding for a community memorial commemorating Hastings’ early African Methodist Episcopal Church and its congregation. The memorial dedicated to Brown’s Chapel will help honor and remember the contributions of Hastings early Black settlers while addressing reconciliation in our community.

“Dreamland” Documentary

Building Remembrance for Reconciliation lends its support to James Curry’s film project “dreamland” a restorative justice piece about an ongoing racial reconciliation between residents of Minneapolis and Hastings. The Curry and Wallace children left Hastings as they graduated from Hastings High School. Four of them had left before the church burned and the children had all moved from Hastings before the KuKluxKlan became active in 1925. By 1920 the surviving members of the Wallace family had all moved from Hastings. But the attitudes that led to burning the church in 1907 and then the crosses by the KKK would certainly have been apparent in the community. They did not just show up one day. Those attitudes most likely motivated the younger members of Black families to look for better opportunities in their future.

Hastings was known as a Sundown Town which was created as a direct response to migrating Blacks after Reconstruction. The documentary addresses the question how and through what actions does a small, almost entirely white town, navigate, and reconcile with descendants of its founding Black community who were once welcomed citizens. (See the history of Hastings Early Black Settlers) The documentary will capture courageous race-related conversations, the creation of a memorial that honors the living and acknowledges the past, and, includes curriculum for students of color. It will also explore our collective generational trauma that stems from our state’s systemic segregation. James Curry has applied for McKnight and Jerome fellowship to supplement funding the documentary film project with the assistance of Fox Advancement.

Courageous Conversations

Building Remembrance for Reconciliation also supports the work of Greg McMoore. McMoore is a descendant of the Wallace family. He is writing curriculum on courageous conversations and restorative justice. Greg is working with Minnesota Historical Society and Legacy Arts Amendment funding. Building Remembrance for Reconciliation is interested in McMoore’s work and the opportunity to present the curriculum to the broader community. McMoore is an active member of St Peter’s Episcopal Church in Minneapolis.

Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial

Building Remembrance for Reconciliation researched and planned to organize a group to go to Duluth MN in June 2020 for the 100^th anniversary commemoration of the Duluth lynching of three Black men at the Clayton Jackson McGhie memorial but due to Covid-19 the event was cancelled. The day of remembrance was to honor the victims of a brutal lynching that took place in Duluth a century ago. The event was described by the organizers as “The commemoration is really just a way to heal. It’s a way to build energy. It’s a way to acknowledge our past and begin to build the future.” Organizers announced plans to hold the commemorative event in 2021.

Building Remembrance for Reconciliation Past Events

Building Remembrance for Reconciliation events that created awareness about Hastings Black history included:

Curry Woods

Dedication of Curry Woods Scattering Garden at Lakeside Cemetery. Named for James Curry, one of Hastings early Black settlers.

Reclaiming our People and History

Building Remembrance for Reconciliation’s early research resulted in a meeting in January 2019 with members of the James Curry/Wallace families, including a great grandson, also named James Curry. James is the family historian and award-winning professional documentary filmmaker. Greg McMoore, a Wallace family descendant, later joined the group. An event called “Reclaiming Our People and History” that took place May 2019 included a brief ceremony, introduction of about 30 Curry and Wallace family members, and Black history tours at Lakeside Cemetery. The Black Settlers Walking Tour includes three Black civil war veterans, a civil rights activist, and James Curry, to whom the new Lakeside Cemetery Scattering Garden is dedicated. View Reclaiming Our People video.

Historic Black Gravesites

Building Remembrance for Reconciliation raised funds and purchased gravestones for unmarked Black settlers’ graves with contributions from Hastings Area Historic Society, Lakeside Cemetery and Melgard Monuments. Most of the graves of Hastings’ early Black settlers were unmarked. Thanks to the efforts of Building Remembrance for Reconciliation, Friends of LeDuc and Historic Hastings, and Lakeside Cemetery many of the graves have been identified and monuments have been placed at the gravesites.

Sankofa Circle

Greg McMoore invited Building Remembrance for Reconciliation members to participate in a Sankofa Circle, a project of St. Peter’s African Methodist Episcopal Church in Minneapolis and McMoore Foundation. The concept of the Sankofa Circle comes from the Akan tribal people of Ghana in West Africa who believe that the past serves as a guide for planning our future. 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.

The mission of the Sankofa Project located at St. Peter’s AME Church is to provide an environment for people of all ages to look back at, reflect on, and learn from our history, traditions and values, and to take action on issues of race, class, and culture. These formal, guided, and experiential opportunities promote transformation in individual, family, and community life. Education, insight, and skill building are all critical components for transformation.

“Sundown Towns”

Building Remembrance for Reconciliation learned more about Minnesota’s racial history through James Loewen’s research and his book called “Sundown Towns.” Sponsored by Thrive, Loewen came to Hastings in October 2019 for two presentations, one to the community at Hastings Middle School and a second one for Hastings High School history students.

Loewen exposes the secret communities and hotbeds of racial injustice and exclusion that existed throughout the twentieth century, forcing us to reexamine race relations in the United States. He uncovers the thousands of “sundown towns,” almost exclusively white towns where it was an unspoken rule that Blacks could not live there, most of them located outside of the South. These towns used everything from legal means to violence to create homogenous Caucasian communities. Loewen looks at the history, sociology, and continued existence of these towns, contributing an essential new chapter to the study of American race relations.

Black History Week

Hastings Black History script written by Bronwyn Skov for a readers’ theatre play dramatized our Black history and a performance by Blackout Comedy Improv group for the community and Hastings Schools during Black History Week in February 2018. The performance was sponsored by Building Remembrance for Reconciliation, Hastings Prescott Area Art Council, St Luke’s Episcopal Church, St Philip’s Lutheran Church, Lakeside Cemetery, Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, and Resurrection United Methodist Church.