Royalties for Spirituals

Cover image from the Pennsylvania Gospel Group's Album Pearls of Joy.

A Letter from the Race + Equity Team

Greetings Pilgrims!

This past February, our congregation officially voted to adopt a covenant against racism, one which stated that “Our Christian faith requires us to confront [racial violence and resistance to racial equality] and to change this as part of our salvation.” One major goal of our Race + Equity team is to help our church live into this covenant, to develop the habit of being courageous, honest, and action oriented when it comes to issues of race. We believe Pilgrims can support each other to better see and respond to issues of race in meaningful, practical, and empowering ways. To that end we wanted to offer concrete opportunities, as in the spirituals project explained below, for us to reflect and engage in small ways with racism in our day to day life.

As a church, one way we can engage with racism is to reflect on the history of spirituals. Our congregation loves spirituals and uses them in our worship very often (an average of 21 times a year). There is a movement to give back to the communities whose ancestors composed these beloved songs in recognition of their value, and because the legacy of racism makes us unable to make royalty payments in the way we can for contemporary composers. Some of our neighboring churches like United Church of Chapel Hill are taking steps regarding spirituals. Nancy Donny, a choir member and member of Race+Equity, will introduce a version of this program for Pilgrim on Martin Luther King Sunday, Jan 15, 2023. Pilgrims will be invited to contribute to the education of young Black musicians as our way to give back to the Black community for the incredible gift of Spirituals.

As a member of Pilgrim and as an individual, what do you think about the legacy of spirituals and our role as a church to engage with that legacy? What comes up for you and how might you feel God tugging at your heart?

Race + Equity Team

Maggie Dolbow, Nancy Donny, Tom Harris, Kate Bartlett, Millie Myers, Lucy Rozier, Nancy Chew, Felix Flanders, Susan Barco

P.S. Our team is open to any who care to join and we would love to engage our boards and committees more in the quest for racial equity. Do you have a suggestion about how your board or committee can help? Let us know!