Social and political issues and activism

Primary tabs

About this Collection

Church involvement in social and political issues and activism, including civil rights, protests, and war work. Also, social and political reformers connected to the church. See the following related collections: Civil rights, protests, and social reformers; Wars. Featured image: Religious with Rosa Parks, 1963.

Search In

For

Pages

Title:
Theological Reflections on the Death Penalty.
Description:
Written by John H. Leith for the PCUS General Assembly Mission Board, 1979. Featured as a chapter in "Pilgrimage of a Presbyterian: Collected Shorter Writings" (2001).
Creator:
Leith, John H. (author), Raynal, Charles E. (Charles Edward), 1943- (editor)
Subject names:
Leith, John H., Presbyterian Church in the U.S. General Assembly Mission Board.
Topics:
Capital punishment--Religious aspects--Christianity., Church and social problems--Presbyterian Church., Theology--Study and teaching.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:353885
Title:
Rev. Bear Ride, Rev. Susan Craig, and Brian Symonds.
Description:
Text transcribed from caption: Joyful: The Rev. Bear Ride, left, and her spouse, the Rev. Susan Craig, celebrate with Brian Symonds, a gay ministerial candidate, after a Pacific Presbytery vote. A Minnesota vote put the U.S. ratification over the top. [Clipping from the May 11, 2011 issue of the Los Angeles Times.]
Creator:
Gauthier, Robert. (photographer), Los Angeles times. (publisher)
Subject names:
Ride, Bear, 1953-, Craig, Susan., Gaeta-Symonds, Brian., Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Presbytery of the Pacific.
Topics:
Homosexuality--Religious aspects--Presbyterian Church., Ordination of gays--Presbyterian Church., Ordination of lesbians--Presbyterian Church., Presbyterian women--United States., Presbyterian Church--Clergy.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:348011
Title:
James S. Evinger and Pamela P. Pritchard at the 216th General Assembly, 2004.
Description:
James S. Evinger (left) and Pamela P. Pritchard (right) staffing a booth at the 216th General Assembly in Richmond, Va. The booth provided information about 11 proposed amendments to the Book of Order coming before that assembly concerning how the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) deals with charges of sexual abuse. The 11 amendments were recommended by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Independent Committee of Inquiry.
Creator:
Evinger, James S. (donor)
Subject names:
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). General Assembly (216th : 2004 : Richmond, Va.), Evinger, James S., Pritchard, Pamela P.
Topics:
Presbyterian Church--Congresses., Church and social problems--Presbyterian Church.
Geographic subjects:
Richmond (Va.)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:348008
Title:
Dan Smith memorial service, 2023.
Description:
Dan Smith was a Presbyterian and Congregationalist minister, longtime pastor of West Hollywood United Church of Christ. He was born 2 February 1953 in Buffalo, N.Y., and educated at SUNY Fredonia and Princeton Theological Seminary. He was a conscientious objector during the American war in Vietnam. He was ordained in 1978 and spent six years installed at First Presbyterian Church (Geneva, N.Y.) before moving to Los Angeles. He took the pastorate of West Hollywood Presbyterian Church (Los Angeles, Calif.) in 1984, becoming the first openly gay minister installed in a PC(USA) congregation. During his tenure the congregation would spearhead AIDS ministry in West Hollywood, and build the Lazarus Project, dedicated to reconciling the church with its LGBTQ community. Smith retired in 2020. He died 12 June 2023.
Creator:
Smith, Daniel Edmund, 1953-2023. (dedicatee), West Hollywood United Church of Christ (Los Angeles, Calif.) (creator)
Subject names:
West Hollywood Presbyterian Church (Los Angeles, Calif.), Smith, Daniel Edmund, 1953-2023.
Topics:
LGBTQ+ Presbyterians., Gay clergy.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:345470
Title:
Holly and KC Clark-Porter oral history, 2023.
Description:
Reverend Holly Clark-Porter and Reverend KC Clark-Porter discuss growing up in Texas; attendance of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary; their joint ordination service at First & Central Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware (Newcastle Presbytery); the pastoral capacities in which they've served the Church; and the barriers they faced during their ordinations and ministerial work. They reflect on the fight for marriage and ordination rights of LGBTQIA+ Presbyterians within the Church. Additionally, KC reflects on coming out as trans and life as a transgender man.
Creator:
Clark-Porter, Holly. (interviewee), Clark-Porter, KC. (interviewee), Shilstut, Natalie. (interviewer)
Subject names:
Clark-Porter, Holly., Clark-Porter, KC., Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary., Presbyterian Welcome (Organization), First & Central Presbyterian Church (Wilmington, Del.)
Topics:
Ordination of gays--Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Ordination of lesbians--Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Homophobia., Same-sex marriage--Religious aspects--Presbyterians., Transgender men.
Geographic subjects:
El Paso (Tex.), Wilmington (Del.), Fredonia (N.Y.)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:345294
Title:
Interview of Dean H. Lewis by R. Douglas Brackenridge, Tape 3, Side 1.
Description:
Cassette tape 3, side 1 of an interview recorded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from March 11 to 12, 1988. Dean Lewis discusses social pronouncements of the General Assembly and Presbyterians' history of supporting education. Part of a 5 cassette tape set.
Creator:
Lewis, Dean, 1926-2021. (interviewee), Brackenridge, R. Douglas. (interviewer)
Subject names:
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). General Assembly., United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. General Assembly.
Topics:
Church and the world., Social policy., Church polity.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:345268
Title:
Interview of Dean H. Lewis by R. Douglas Brackenridge, Tape 2, Side 2.
Description:
Cassette tape 2, side 2 of an interview recorded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from March 11 to 12, 1988. Dean Lewis discusses the work of the Advisory Council on Church and Society, including the creation of task forces. Lewis also discusses commissioners' resolutions at general assemblies, the General Assembly Mission Council, and other aspects of church polity. Part of a 5 cassette tape set.
Creator:
Lewis, Dean, 1926-2021. (interviewee), Brackenridge, R. Douglas. (interviewer)
Subject names:
United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Advisory Council on Church and Society., Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Advisory Council on Church and Society., United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Christian Education. Department of Church and Society., Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). General Assembly Mission Council.
Topics:
Church and the world., Social policy., Church polity.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:345267
Title:
Interview of Dean H. Lewis by R. Douglas Brackenridge, Tape 2, Side 1.
Description:
Cassette tape 2, side 1 of an interview recorded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from March 11 to 12, 1988. Dean Lewis discusses the functions of the Advisory Council on Church and Society and the processes of establishing task forces. Part of a 5 cassette tape set.
Creator:
Lewis, Dean, 1926-2021. (interviewee), Brackenridge, R. Douglas. (interviewer)
Subject names:
United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Advisory Council on Church and Society., Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Advisory Council on Church and Society., United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Task Force to Study Homosexuality.
Topics:
Church and the world., Social policy., Church polity.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:344680
Title:
Interview of Dean H. Lewis by R. Douglas Brackenridge, Tape 1, Side 1.
Description:
Cassette tape 1, side 1 of an interview recorded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from March 11 to 12, 1988. Dean Lewis discusses his upbringing as a Southern Baptist in Missouri, his attendance of Yale Divinity School, his time as a pastor in Springdale, Arkansas, and his career leading up to his time in the Office of Church and Society. Part of a 5 cassette tape set.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:344382
Title:
Interview of Dean H. Lewis by R. Douglas Brackenridge, Tape 1, Side 1.
Description:
Cassette tape 1, side 1 of an interview recorded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from March 11 to 12, 1988. Dean Lewis discusses his upbringing as a Southern Baptist in Missouri, his attendance of Yale Divinity School, his time as a pastor in Springdale, Arkansas, and his career leading up to his time in the Office of Church and Society. Part of a 5 cassette tape set.
Creator:
Lewis, Dean, 1926-2021. (interviewee), Brackenridge, R. Douglas. (interviewer)
Subject names:
Lewis, Dean, 1926-2021., Yale University. Divinity School., William Jewell College., Niebuhr, H. Richard (Helmut Richard), 1894-1962., First Presbyterian Church (Springdale, Ark.)
Topics:
Church and the world., Social policy., Church polity.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:344362
Title:
Interview of Dean H. Lewis by R. Douglas Brackenridge, Tape 1, Side 2.
Description:
Cassette tape 1, side 2 of an interview recorded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from March 11 to 12, 1988. Dean Lewis discusses the history of the Department of Social Education and Action (SEA), the Department of Social Education and Evangelism, and the Office of Church and Society and the work of the Office of Church and Society throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Part of a 5 cassette tape set.
Creator:
Lewis, Dean, 1926-2021. (interviewee), Brackenridge, R. Douglas. (interviewer)
Subject names:
Lewis, Dean, 1926-2021., Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Christian Education. Department of Social Education and Action., United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Christian Education. Department of Social Education and Action., United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Christian Education. Office of Church and Society., United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Christian Education. Department of Church and Society., United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Advisory Council on Church and Society., Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Advisory Council on Church and Society.
Topics:
Church and the world., Social policy., Church polity.
Geographic subjects:
South Africa.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:344318
Title:
Conversations with Metz Rollins and Will Campbell, Tape 1, Part 1.
Description:
Metz Rollins speaking about the civil rights movement at Ghost Ranch (Abiquiú, New Mexico) on July 19, 1983. Rollins speaks about the history of the civil rights movement in the United States, his time in Tallahassee, Florida (including his arrest for aiding Florida A&M University students in the Tallahassee city bus boycott), his time in Nashville, Tennessee (including his participation in the Nashville sit-ins), and the Freedom Rides organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Part 1 of 12.
Creator:
Rollins, J. Metz (Joseph Metz), 1926- (speaker)
Subject names:
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Advisory Council on Church and Society--Archives., Rollins, J. Metz (Joseph Metz), 1926-
Topics:
Civil rights movements--United States., Civil rights workers--United States., African American clergy., African American Presbyterians., Civil rights demonstrations.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:344307
Title:
Statement of Resignation to the General Assembly Mission Council of the United Presbyterian Church, USA by the Reverend Leon E. Fanniel, Executive Director.
Creator:
Fanniel, Leon, 1930-2018. (author)
Subject names:
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Advisory Council on Church and Society--Archives., Fanniel, Leon, 1930-2018., United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. General Assembly Mission Council.
Topics:
Church and the world., African American Presbyterians., African American clergy.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:344287
Title:
Rev. Bruce William Klunder memorial address by Eugene Carson Blake.
Description:
Transcript of Dr. Eugene Carson Blake's memorial address for Rev. Bruce William Klunder, a white Presbyterian minister and civil rights activist who died after he was run over by a bulldozer while protesting the construction of a segregated school in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Blake delivered the eulogy at Klunder's funeral services at Church of the Covenant.
Creator:
Blake, Eugene Carson, 1906-1985. (author)
Subject names:
Blake, Eugene Carson, 1906-1985--Archives., Blake, Eugene Carson, 1906-1985., Klunder, Bruce W., 1937-1964--Death and burial., Klunder, Bruce W., 1937-1964.
Topics:
Civil rights workers--Ohio--Cleveland., Presbyterian Church--Clergy--Ohio--Cleveland., Funeral service--Ohio--Cleveland., Segregation in education--Ohio--Cleveland.
Geographic subjects:
Cleveland (Ohio)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:344177
Title:
Babs Miller oral history, 2023.
Description:
Oral history with Babs Miller, parish associate at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church (Austin, Tex.), on her career in ministry, including with Metropolitan Community Church (Austin, Tex.) during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, and as an evangelist with That All May Freely Serve (TAMFS) in the 2000s. Babs Miller is a Presbyterian minister, ordained by Mission Presbytery in 2014. Born in Victoria, Texas in 1942, she attended the Presbyterian School for Christian Education (Richmond, Va.) in the 1960s, and worked as a Christian educator, a social worker, and a high school teacher in Texas. She went to Austin Theological Seminary from 1987 to 1990, came out as a lesbian, and began work with Metropolitan Community Church (Austin, Tex.). From about 2004 to 2012 she was an evangelist with That All May Freely Serve (TAMFS). She has served as parish associate at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church (Austin, Tex.) since 2014, and continues advocacy for GLBTQ+ rights, in particular protection of trans youth and their families threatened by Texas state law codifying trans health therapies as child abuse. Starting in 2015, Miller was part of the group at St. Andrew's, as part of the Austin Sanctuary Network, declaring public sanctuary for migrants, and helped a mother and child, Hilda and Ivan, seek asylum.
Creator:
Miller, Babs Ann, 1942- (interviewee), Staniunas, David. (interviewer)
Subject names:
Metropolitan Community Church (Austin, Tex.), That All May Freely Serve (Association), St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church (Austin, Tex.)
Topics:
Ordination of lesbians--Presbyterians., Sanctuary movement., Homosexuality--Religious aspects--Presbyterians., Church work with immigrants.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:344175
Title:
Women in Theology and Ministry Oral History Program oral history interview with Melva Costen.
Description:
Text transcribed from front of DVD: WTM Oral History Project - Melva Costen - October 1, 2008. Interview conducted at the Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
Creator:
Moore, Mary Elizabeth, 1945- (interviewer), Costen, Melva Wilson, 1933-2023. (interviewee)
Subject names:
Costen, Melva Wilson, 1933-2023., Costen, James Hutten, 1931-2003., Costen, Melva Wilson, 1933-2023--Archives., Costen, James Hutten, 1931-2003--Archives., Interdenominational Theological Center (Atlanta, Ga.)
Topics:
African American Presbyterians., African American leadership., African American Christian educators., Music--Religious aspects., Civil rights movements--United States.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:300798
Title:
Mission Digest: Developing Indian Leadership.
Description:
"Mission Digest" pamphlet, No. 1.
Creator:
United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations. (publisher), United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of National Missions. (publisher)
Subject names:
Corbett, Cecil, 1931-2020--Archives., Corbett, Cecil, 1931-2020., Cook Christian Training School.
Topics:
Indigenous Presbyterians., Presbyterian universities and colleges.
Geographic subjects:
Tempe (Ariz.)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:288182
Title:
Native American Theological Education Consortium.
Description:
Pamphlet created by the Native American Theological Education Consortium, a project supported by the Major Mission Fund.
Subject names:
Corbett, Cecil, 1931-2020--Archives., Cook Christian Training School., Huron College (Huron, S.D.), University of Dubuque. Theological Seminary.
Topics:
Presbyterian universities and colleges., Religious education., Indigenous Presbyterians.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:288146
Title:
Proposal to the Board of the Program Agency.
Description:
Proposal to the Board of the Program Agency from the Administrative Cabinet regarding the establishment of the Consulting Panel on Indian Ministries as a consulting committee of the Program Agency.
Subject names:
Corbett, Cecil, 1931-2020--Archives., United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Consulting Panel on Indian Ministries., United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Program Agency., United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Native American Consulting Committee.
Topics:
Indigenous Presbyterians.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:288140
Title:
Indian Quest.
Description:
"Indian Quest" newsletter, October 1977 issue.
Subject names:
Corbett, Cecil, 1931-2020--Archives., Corbett, Cecil, 1931-2020., Native American Theological Association.
Topics:
Alaska Natives., Church work with youth--United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., Indigenous Presbyterians.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:288127

Pages

Bookmark

BookBags: