Black Heritage Sunday

History of Black Heritage Sunday

For those who may not have been part of this congregation for a whole lot of years, you may not know why we celebrate Black Heritage Sunday.

It is in fact a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our congregation’s history, as well as take a moment to reflect on what our African American sisters and brothers have lived through that is remarkable different than the experience of many of the rest of us.

Our congregation, you may recall, has been in existence in one form or another since the 1790’s. A church was erected on the land where the Mount Hope Plains Cemetery is now, called the Deerpark Four Corners church. It was followed by the First Presbyterian Church of Mount Hope, and then the First Presbyterian Church of Otisville. In the 1930’s the two churches merged into the Otisville – Mt. Hope Presbyterian Church.

Meanwhile, on the property where the state prison is and on land closer to 211 behind the firehouse, the United States Army made a hospital for soldiers returning from WWI who had been mustard gas victims. Later a State run tubercular hospital was there, and after that there was what was called a Boy’s Training School, a state facility for delinquent boys.

And during those years, then Superintendent Benjamin Hill recruited African American staff to come and work there, including educators, many from the American South, many from prestigious black colleges. That group included folks like Dick and Gerri Cash from North Carolina, Adam and Annie Battles from Alabama, and Sam & Ernestine Tucker from North Carolina, as well as many others, some like the Manns and the Hunters, who grew up locally.

When those staff members began to buy houses in Otisville, they also began to look for a church, and while many churches were segregated in the late 1950’s, the Otisville – Mt. Hope Presbyterian Church opened its doors, beginning a wonderful period of growth and learning.

By the 1980’s and 90’s it seemed to Sam Tucker and Adam Battles, that it was time to take one Sunday during Black History Month and celebrate the rich gift African Americans had brought to this congregation, and to join in some of the stories that the African American heritage offered.

So we continue this tradition, not only as a way to say think you to the members of our congregation that have taught us so much about the bitter and blessed experience of African Americans in the United States, but also as a way to say thank you to God for considering us worthy of such a gift.

May the blessing continue in a multicolored future! Amen.