Shortly before my grandfather died in 2017, the family church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa was designated as a historic site. It felt like such a tremendous honor given that my grandfather had been Bishop over Iowa’s Church of God In Christ pretty much my entire life. The idea of our family’s church being recognized felt very poignant and special.
Now here is where it gets a bit messy. The historic marker says “Hus Memorial Presbyterian Church” after the original European immigrants who built the church in the late 1800s. I remember thinking a couple of different things: First, who is Hus Memorial Presbyterian Church? This is New Jerusalem Church of God in Christ…has been for at least a solid 60+ years…and that is not nothing. My second thought was that someone should do this for more Black Churches, and do it in a way that centers and honors the Black history and Black people connected to the site.
I’ll say it again: what we choose to memorialize and how we memorialize it says a lot about any society. Black History truly is everywhere and we will not be erased.
