Morning Prayers: Black History Week

Sherri Ann Charleston, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Harvard University, speaks at Morning Prayers during Black History Week. Photos by Jeffrey Blackwell/Memorial Church Communications.

Sherri Ann Charleston
Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Harvard University.

"Now as we begin Black history month, on the heels of the murder of Tyre Nichols, we now find ourselves again, singing these same words of prayer, these same words of invocation, these same words of conscious collective raising."

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The Rev. Calvon Jones, Assistant Minister in the Memorial Church, sings at the lectern in Appleton Chapel during Morning Prayers. Photos by Jeffrey Blackwell/Memorial Church Communications.

The Rev. Calvon Jones
Assistant Minister, the Memorial Church of Harvard University.

"Out of the crucible of racism, pain, dehumanization, subjugation, marginalization, discrimination, enslavement and death inflicted upon Black bodies, Black persons responded with a new song. They responded with a hermeneutic of freedom and proclamation in the North American context. Although a new form of oppression was invented, one that was different from the older models of slavery and antiquity, a model steeped in the formation and creation of race, enslaved Africans sang a new song."

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Imam Dr. Khalil Abdur-Rashid, Muslim Chaplain to Harvard University at the lectern in Appleton Chapel during Morning Prayers. Photo by Jeffrey Blackwell/Memorial Church Communications.

Imam Dr. Khalil Abdur-Rashid
Muslim Chaplain to Harvard University.

"Be mindful of God and you will find God before you, protecting you."

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Roeshana Moore-Evans, Executive Director of the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Initiative, speaks at Morning Prayers. Photo by Jeffrey Blackwell/Memorial Church Communications.

Roeshana Moore-Evans
Executive Director of the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Initiative.

"As I begin my journey as the Executive Director of the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Initiative, I am deeply committed to helping the University use its blessings and strengths to repair inequities caused by slavery and its persistent educational and social harms."

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Suzannah Omonuk MDiv III, Harvard Divinity School student, who also serves as a Student Oasis Monitor, speaks at Morning Prayers. She is author of poem about Venus, an enslaved girl in Wadsworth (featured in the Gazette). Photo by Jeffrey Blackwell/Memorial Church Communications.

Suzannah Omonuk MDiv III
Poet, Harvard Divinity School student, and Memorial Church Student Oasis Monitor.

"If you have known the cruelty of ostracization, and in some ways, we all have, if you have known or seen the doors of a church, or a school, or office shut against you because of some changeable or unchangeable feature of your identity, know this; you are the song of the One who calls out from the wilderness. Prayer. Roar. Yell for rescuers often as you need it."

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