Alongside communities of faith across Iowa, BCI invites you to join us in faithful conversations about The 1619 Project. Slavery in the United States has been referenced as our “original sin.” Given that context and the fact that many communities of faith justified enslavement and benefited materially from it, or, on the flipside, worked for its elimination, it is critical the faith community intentionally study slavery and its lasting impact on the generations during and after.

The New York Times’ The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones et al. is a valuable vehicle to begin a conversation within the context of faith. The Pulitzer Center and its excellent resources provide tools that enhance the original project and community conversations. Faith leaders in the Faithful Voices for Racial Justice project of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa took on the task of designing a series to pull together the pieces for community conversation, intentionally layering in questions regarding one’s faith and how it might inform our approach to the issues raised by The 1619 Project.

Readings for Week 6
— Section 16: “Mass Incarceration” by Bryan Stevenson
— Section 17: “Hope” by Djeneba Aduayom, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Wadzanai Mhute
— Section 18: “Shadow of the Past” by Anne C Bailey and Dannielle Bowman
— Section 19: Broadsheet from the newspaper “Why Can’t We Teach This?” by Nikita Stewart
— Section 20: Broadsheet from the newspaper by Mary Elliott, Jazmine Hughes, and Erica Deeman
Access the PDF

Faith Leader Discussion
Reading of the Group Covenant
Discussion
Closing Prayer/Meditation

Weeks 2-6: Each session will begin by watching a 30-minute video with faith leaders across the state discussing the week’s readings from their faith perspective. Following the video, the group will dive into discussions of the readings for that week.