Revisiting the Empowerment Controversy: Black Power and Unitarian Universalism

by Mark D. Morrison-Reed

Mark D. Morrison-Reed, the preeminent scholar of black Unitarian Universalist history, presents this long-awaited chronicle and analysis of the events of the Black Empowerment Controversy, which rocked Unitarian Universalism in the late sixties and continues to reverberate. It was a time of revolution, of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. Like the country, the young Unitarian Universalist Association was forced to reckon with demands for change and found itself fractured by conflict about the implications of a commitment to racial justice. Morrison-Reed synthesizes decades of research and extensive interviews to present a nuanced and suspense-filled drama about Unitarian Universalism's great crisis of faith. As he writes, 'Perhaps wisdom can be gleaned from the pain and upheaval of those years, a wisdom that will be of use today in a new era.' Revisiting the Empowerment Controversy represents a completion of the historical arc Morrison-Reed has traced since the publication of Black Pioneers in a White Denomination.

Genres: History, Religion

440 pages, Paperback

Published June 6, 2018

Reviews

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This engaging and powerful exploration of one of the most painful times in Unitarian Universalist history is a must-read for anyone wishing to appreciate Unitarian Universalist history and for those who wish to better understand the challenges to nurturing multicultural Unitarian Universalism. Recommended for individual or small group or congregational study.

[Tara Humphries · Rating 5 out of 5]

This work is such a gift to the institutional memory of Unitarian Universalism and a truly beautifully and thoughtfully crafted book. It should be required reading for all UUs, especially those of us who were not part of the denomination until after the 1970's.

[Eric Cherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive and revelatory

Another desperately needed and timely work from Rev. Morrison-Reed. Required reading for UUs to know who we are as a faith community, and an instruction manual for navigating current commitments and hopes for racial justice.