"For more than three centuries, King's Chapel in downtown Boston has told its story with pride. The first Unitarian church in the United States, it holds a spot on the Freedom Trail, which millions walk each year. However, beneath the church's velvety pews lingers another history: slave owners and traders who once belonged to the congregation. "We began to wrestle with that, because this is a church that has been very proud of our history," Reverend Joy Fallon, a senior minister at the church, said."
"The church plans to list all 219 names of the identified enslaved people near the memorial and continue adding names as more are discovered. "The real sad thing and injustice is that we only know the names of individuals who were sold, who were buried, were married in the church," Roeshana Moore-Evans, strategic advisor for the memorial projects committee, said, "but there are millions of names we will never know.""
King's Chapel in downtown Boston has identified at least 219 men, women and children who were enslaved by past ministers and parishioners and unveiled a memorial called "Unbound" in September. The 14-foot sculpture in the church courtyard depicts a Black woman holding an open bird cage with small bird figurines representing liberty and empowerment. The church plans to display the identified names and add more as research continues. The project began in 2016 and pairs a physical memorial with a 'living memorial' fund to support accountability efforts. Church leaders described acknowledging the congregation's involvement in slavery as a moral obligation.
Read at Boston.com
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