Join Elaine Castles and Lois Colton as they engage in a discussion about Elaine’s growing up in the Deep South in the 1950’s and early 1960’s. Were things really as bad as we have heard? How did Elaine respond at the time? How has this experience affected her later life? And what lessons did she learn that might be relevant to all of us? Immediately following the service, you are invited to join us for the showing of a brief but powerful documentary entitled “My Father’s Name.” This film describes the filmmaker’s reaction to earning that her dearly beloved father had participated in a lynching when he was a young man. There will be an opportunity for discussion afterwards. Both of these events are part of our Fellowship’s observance of Black History Month.
Stay after service to watch “My Father’s Name” with discussion to follow.
A gripping and essential exploration of race, accountability, and the far-reaching consequences of family secrets. – Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
MY FATHER’S NAME is a 20-minute film that explores the legacy of racial violence through a personal lens.
Years after Lee Ed Frazier’s death, his daughter Jan made a shocking discovery: as a young man her father had participated in a lynching. As she attempts to uncover the truth about what happened, Jan learns that this specific lynching was iconic in American history, because photos of it were the first ever to be published in a national publication. Both Time and Life magazines carried the story and the photos as they reported on the anti-lynching bill that was before Congress at that very moment.
Additionally, she realizes that no names of the lynchers were ever published. Even the photographer was protected by a cloak of agreed-upon anonymity. Shaken by this stark reflection of white privilege and the brutality it sought to minimize, Jan must now reckon with deeply conflicted feelings about the father she loved, find a way to hold her family accountable and face the dawning awareness of her own unconscious racism.
Through the story of Jan’s attempt to hold her family accountable and reckon with what she inherited — we are all challenged to explore our own relationship to race and responsibility. The story invites audiences into courageous conversations around truth-telling, accountability, and repair.