Celebrating Juneteenth at All Souls Church, Unitarian with Frank Smith from the African American Civil War Museum

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗼𝗺?

It was my honor to sit down with Dr. Frank Smith, Founder and Executive Director of the African American Civil War Museum, to moderate a dialog with members of All Souls Church Unitarian in Washington DC. We discussed leadership, social justice, and a vision for freedom that everyone can benefit from. 

His years as a civil rights activist began at Morehouse College. While there, he served as president of the Atlanta Student Movement and then as a founding member of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (“SNCC”).

After serving an honorable four terms as a D.C. council member, Dr. Frank Smith now leads the African American Civil War Museum. 

This museum of historical excellence explores the pivotal role of the Black soldiers who fought for freedom as well as other aspects of American history.

Dr. Frank Smith is a recipient of the Visionary Historian Award by the Historical Society of Washington, DC, and the Presidential Renaissance Medallion award by Morehouse College.

Some of my takeaways from this enriching dialog are:

✊🏽 Know your history and resist historical omission and false narratives.

✊🏽 True allyship and solidarity is action-oriented and not performative. Our allies, past and present, have often been drivers that support the enforcement of civil rights. 

Examples: (1) When President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce the Brown v. Board of Education decision, 

(2) When First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt used the media and her connections to support the Tuskegee Airmen. This shattered stereotypes about Black pilots and finally gave them the chance to enter combat in WWII.

✊🏽 Doing the right thing and fighting for freedom can be scary and life-threatening. It’s worth it. Do it anyway. Find ways to serve your community.

✊🏽 Around 209,000 Black Americans, including former enslaved individuals served in the Union Army and Navy during the American Civil War, (roughly 10% of the Union's fighting forces). They were also known as The United States Colored Troops (USCT).

Want to learn more about history, courage, and democracy? You’re invited to Juneteenth celebrations at the African American Civil War Museum this Friday! Details are in the first link in the comment section below.

Curious about what a progressive religious community in the heart of DC feels like? Have a desire to express you faith through acts of justice and compassion? All Souls Church Unitarian is a diverse, spirit-growing, justice-seeking community. 

The "Black Souls", an affinity group within All Souls Church sponsored this dialog with Dr. Frank Smith. Learn more about All Souls Church, Unitarian at https://www.all-souls.org 

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🪻As a clinical sociologist and educator, I am excited about opportunities to speak and teach!

With 20+ years in organization development and overseeing organizational learning strategy. I have deep gratitude for my combined 9+ years of teaching over twenty different courses as a part-time faculty member at four institutions, I welcome opportunities to oversee organizational learning  or lead higherEd courses in-person or virtually.

DM me and invite me to (1) give a keynote at your event, (2) support your organizations  learning and development strategy, or (3) teach a course on any of the following topics: 💞 𝐸𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝐿𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑐 𝑀𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝐿𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒, 𝑂𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝐼𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 + 𝐵𝑒ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑟, 𝑇𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝐵𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝐿𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝐶𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑆𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑦, 𝐵𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝐶𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑟 𝑀𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑅𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠.