Emmanuel Episcopal Church History Day 2022

On April 2, 2022, the community is invited to take a step back in time and look to the Future at Diocesan History Day 2022, a day of learning, fellowship, and the chance to absorb the past and glimpse the future.

Sponsored by the All Saints’, Warrenton Revisioning Committee and the diocesan History and Archives Committee, the day’s focus will be a tribute to the life and ministry of the Ven. Odell Greenleaf Harris (1903-1983), Warren County native and Episcopal priest.

Harris waged a life-long fight against racial segregation and inequality. His achievements in the Dioceses of North Carolina, Southern Virginia, and Atlanta are testimony to his character and courage and stand as a tribute to the remarkable black churches and schools where he was nurtured and educated. These include St. Luke’s, Warren County; St. Anna’s, Littleton; the Henderson Institute, Henderson; St. Augustine’s School, Raleigh, and the Bishop Payne Divinity School, Petersburg, VA.

The day will begin in Warrenton at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, first to look more closely at the life and ministry of Archdeacon Harris, and then to visit the nearby churches he served.

To set the wider context for Harris’s life and ministry, Ebonee Davis of Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, VA will offer a keynote address, drawing on her work as historian and researcher in the Seminary’s office of Multicultural Ministries. She is currently responsible for coordinating the Seminary’s Reparations Program.To chart the course of Harris’s education, our diocesan historiographer, Brooks Graebner, will offer “The Making of a Black Priest in the Segregated South—Appreciating the formative experiences of the Ven. Odell Greenleaf Harris.” His presentation will be followed by a personal appreciation from a member of Harris’s family, Atiba Madyun (Harris), BNC News Political Contributor.

Following lunch, the day continues at Historic All Saints’, Warrenton, where attendees will hear about the plans for revisioning All Saints’, tour the building, and view exhibits.

From there, attendees are invited to tour the site of St. Luke’s Church in the Russell Union Community of Warren County as well as to visit Historic St. Anna’s, Littleton. Archdeacon Harris served all three of these churches from 1933 to 1937; he was baptized and confirmed at St. Anna’s, and his gravesite is in the cemetery at St. Luke’s.

Cost: $15 for the day (includes lunch); Morning Program only: No cost; Children under 10: no
cost.

Register at https://episdionc.formstack.com/forms/history_day_2022

For more information, contact Lynn Hoke, diocesan archivist, at lynn.hoke@episdionc.org.