Date: November 14, 2024
It is my practice to share the results of the Board Meeting with the community through the commentary. The primary set of motions were linked with the “descendants memorial”. This is all part of our reparations program. The recommendations of the Finance Committee and the Buildings and Grounds Committee were accepted by the Board of Trustees. We will have a memorial listing those people who were exploited by the seminary as enslaved people and under Jim Crow, which will be paid for by the Seminary.
The act of remembrance is a deep Biblical obligation. The Jewish people are repeatedly exhorted in the Torah to remember the covenant that God has with Israel and to remember the story of the Exodus. In 1 Corinthians and in Luke, Jesus tells us to eat this bread and drink this wine “in remembrance of me”. Remembering matters because we either remember or we forget.
Virginia Theological Seminary has tried “forgetting”. Ms. Ebonee Davis in her presentation to the Board noted that this history “is hidden in plain sight”. It was there; but we did not want to remember. After consulting with the descendants, we will now have a stunning memorial that will ensure that their ancestors will never be forgotten.
The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D.
Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary and the President of The General Theological Seminary