Sacred Ground

Sacred Ground is a film- and readings-based dialogue series on race, grounded in faith. Small groups are invited to walk through America’s history of race and racism, while weaving in threads of family story, economic class and political and regional identity.

The deadline for signing up for the Sacred Ground Series was Friday, December 5, but there are a limited number of spots available, so sign up today!

The 11-part series is built around a powerful online curriculum of documentary films and readings that focus on Indigenous, Black, Latinx and Asian/Pacific American histories as they intersect with European American histories. 

Sacred Ground is one part of the Episcopal Church’s long-term commitment to racial healing, reconciliation and justice in our personal lives, our ministries and our society. The series we will be offering at St. Ignatius is an ecumenical version and is open to all and especially designed to help white people talk with other white people. Participants are invited to peel away the layers that have contributed to the challenges and divides of the present day—all while grounded in our call to faith, hope and love.

Sacred Ground will be held primarily on Zoom, on Thursday evenings Jan. 15 - June 4 from 6- 7:30 pm. We will meet in person for two sessions at St. Ignatius Parish on Feb. 12 and June 4th. For those unable to attend in person those evenings, there will be an option to join online.

• January 15, Session 1, Zoom

• January 29, Session 2, Zoom

• February 12, Session 3, St. Ignatius Parish (online option available for those out of town)

• February 26, Session 4, Zoom

• March 12, Session 5, Zoom

• March 26, Session 6, Zoom

• April 9, Session 7, Zoom

• April 23, Session 8, Zoom

• May 7, Session 9 , Zoom

• May 21, Session 10, Zoom

• June 4, Session 11, St. Ignatius Parish (online option available for those out of town)

The importance of defining the schedule at the outset is that participants need to make the commitment to attend all or most of the sessions. If someone knows they will be away and miss more than one or two sessions, that person should probably wait for another series.

Syllabus for Interfaith Sacred Ground Program

SESSION 1: Stepping onto Sacred Ground 

1. Video: American Creed
2. Article: Black History is Everyone’s History
3. Reference Sheet: Key Distinctions for Understanding Race and Racism

SESSION 2: Seeing and Understanding the Construct of “Whiteness”

1. Video: The Myth of Race Debunked in 3 Minutes

And charts: 12 charts of Racial Disparities

2. Video: Talking to White People about Racism from NY Times OpDocs
3. Video: The Danger of a Single Story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi

SESSION 3: Whose Land? Exploring Indigenous History

1. Video: PBS series: We Shall Remain, Episode 1: “After the Mayflower” (77 min.) 
2. Audio Story, Article, and Map: “The Map of Native American Tribes You’ve Never Seen Before” by Hansi Lo Wang from NPR and “Native Land Digital”
3. Video: “Bounty” featuring the history of the Penobscot Nation

SESSION 4: Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery - Exploring Black History

1. Video: PBS series: The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Episode 1: “The Black Atlantic: 1500-1800” (56 min.)
2. Article: “New England’s Hidden History” by Francine Latour 
3. Article: “The White Man’s Guilt” by James Baldwin

SESSION 5: Whose Land? More Layers: Exploring Latino History

1. Video: PBS series: Latino Americans, Episode 1: “Foreigners in Their Own Land” (53 min.)
2. Article: “Moving Beyond the Black-White Binary” by Roberto Lovato
3. Video: A Conversation with Latinos

SESSION 6: Americans, Not Foreigners. Exploring Asian/Pacific-American History 

1. Video: PBS series: Asian Americans Episode 1 “Breaking Ground” (54 min.)
2. Article:“The real reasons the U.S. became less racist toward Asian Americans” by Jeff Guo
3. Video: Remembering Manzanar

SESSION 7: Closing the Golden Door - The US and Antisemitism

1. PBS documentary: the US and the Holocaust 
2. Video: Why the Jews? - from the US Holocaust Museum
3. Article: Focus Group of Jewish Americans from the New York Times 

SESSION 8: Selective Access to the Melting Pot and the American Dream: 1830s-1960s

1. Documentary: Slavery by Another Name 
2.  PBS series: Race: The Power of an Illusion, Episode 3: “The House We Live In” (56 min.)
3. Article: “An interview with Noel Ignatiev” about his book, How the Irish Became White 

SESSION 9: Economics, Class, Politics, Geography

1. Video -  Interview with Colin Woodard about geographic cultures 
2. Video - National Geographic series: America Inside Out with Katie Couric, Episode 4: “White Anxiety” (48 min.)
3. Selections from book: Beyond the Messy Truth by Van Jones 

SESSION 10: Legacies - Racism’s Long Life

1. Documentary: Healing Justice (66 min.)
   1. Video: How Can We Win? featuring Kimberly Jones
2. Article: “Ghosts of the Masters: Descendants of Slaveholders Reckon with History” by the Rev. David Pettee and Susan Hutchison

SESSION 11: Looking Back - Grief, Reckoning, and Repentance/Repair 

1. Documentary: Dawnland (54min)

Web Reading: “The Beloved Community” (Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find this section.)