Racial Justice
As a Christian community, we believe we are called on by God to seek justice and truth and engage in the work of racial repair and reconciliation. Our faith is founded on the moral example of Jesus, who challenged the prejudices of his time, reached across boundaries, and insisted that everyone is our neighbor and deserves our love and respect. St. Paul, for whom our church is named, wrote in his letter to Galatians, “There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male or female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” In this spirit the motto found on the doors of our church reads, “In this church there will be no outcasts.”
At the October 2020 General Convention, the Episcopal Church in Connecticut adopted Resolution 7, which seeks to address issues of racism and racial reconciliation. The resolution reads, in part: Resolved, that this Convention direct each Parish, Worshipping Community, and Intentional Episcopal Community to take steps to discover and document historic complicity in racism in their parish and communities.
In response, St. Paul’s created a Resolution 7 Task Force. Our first step was finding out more about the enslaved individuals connected to our parish. We were not deep into our church records - indeed, just skimming our own published church history –when we found Grace and Esau, mentioned as the “two negro slaves” of Titus and Mary Brockett, early benefactors of our church. The lives of Grace and Esau are mentioned as barely a sidenote to the supposed larger story of our early white parishioners.
We do not know the birth dates for either Esau or Grace. What we do know is that Esau was enslaved as a boy by Titus’ brother Isaac and was given to Titus upon Isaac’s death. Mary outlived her husband Titus, and upon her death in 1777 she granted freedom to Grace. We can presume that Esau already had been freed by that point, as both Grace and Esau were granted a dwelling, some property, a cow, a bed, pots, and more, all of which would revert back to St. Paul’s upon their death. Even though we do not have marriage records for Grace and Esau, because they were granted this homestead together, we can assume they were married.
Based on property records found by The Witness Stones Project in the Wallingford Town Hall, we discovered that Esau became a successful small businessman, buying and trading a number of properties. Grace worked as a spinner, weaver, and farmed alongside Esau.
The last mention of Grace in the census records is in 1830. We see Esau in the census records up through 1840. Although we do not have death or burial records, we can assume, then, that Grace died sometime after 1830, and Esau died sometime after 1840. There are no known memorials to them other than the Witness Stones dedicated in June 2022.
The work of historical recovery and repair is ongoing at St. Paul’s. We are eager to learn more and to honor all of the enslaved people connected with our parish and community. We are also looking for ways to carry this work of reconciliation into the present day.
To read more about the dedication of our Witness Stone at St. Paul's, please click here.
At the October 2020 General Convention, the Episcopal Church in Connecticut adopted Resolution 7, which seeks to address issues of racism and racial reconciliation. The resolution reads, in part: Resolved, that this Convention direct each Parish, Worshipping Community, and Intentional Episcopal Community to take steps to discover and document historic complicity in racism in their parish and communities.
In response, St. Paul’s created a Resolution 7 Task Force. Our first step was finding out more about the enslaved individuals connected to our parish. We were not deep into our church records - indeed, just skimming our own published church history –when we found Grace and Esau, mentioned as the “two negro slaves” of Titus and Mary Brockett, early benefactors of our church. The lives of Grace and Esau are mentioned as barely a sidenote to the supposed larger story of our early white parishioners.
We do not know the birth dates for either Esau or Grace. What we do know is that Esau was enslaved as a boy by Titus’ brother Isaac and was given to Titus upon Isaac’s death. Mary outlived her husband Titus, and upon her death in 1777 she granted freedom to Grace. We can presume that Esau already had been freed by that point, as both Grace and Esau were granted a dwelling, some property, a cow, a bed, pots, and more, all of which would revert back to St. Paul’s upon their death. Even though we do not have marriage records for Grace and Esau, because they were granted this homestead together, we can assume they were married.
Based on property records found by The Witness Stones Project in the Wallingford Town Hall, we discovered that Esau became a successful small businessman, buying and trading a number of properties. Grace worked as a spinner, weaver, and farmed alongside Esau.
The last mention of Grace in the census records is in 1830. We see Esau in the census records up through 1840. Although we do not have death or burial records, we can assume, then, that Grace died sometime after 1830, and Esau died sometime after 1840. There are no known memorials to them other than the Witness Stones dedicated in June 2022.
The work of historical recovery and repair is ongoing at St. Paul’s. We are eager to learn more and to honor all of the enslaved people connected with our parish and community. We are also looking for ways to carry this work of reconciliation into the present day.
To read more about the dedication of our Witness Stone at St. Paul's, please click here.