Date: June 17, 2025
This September marks six years since the Seminary announced the creation of its Reparations Program. The funds within the Program’s now $2.8 million endowment are exclusively designated for payments to our participating shareholders- the direct descendants of African Americans whose labor built and sustained VTS.
Over the course of the last six years, the Program’s shareholder base has more than quadrupled as our research efforts continue to unearth the names and stories of hundreds of Black people (free and enslaved) who labored at the Seminary between 1823-1951. To date, over 200 descendants have received annual payments from the fund. These payments, while small and certainly inadequate, are the first step in our hopes of building a new relationship with a community long ignored and undervalued by VTS.
In addition to serving the descendant community, VTS has entered into a Reparations Covenant with Meade Memorial Episcopal Church and Oakland Baptist Church. This covenant, we hope, is the beginning of a new working relationship with two local Black congregations that have significant historical ties to the Seminary and the Program’s descendant community.
As we enter our next year, I am excited to break ground on the Memorial honoring the over 545 Black people whose labor sustained the Seminary for generations. And, as always, I look forward to the continued opportunities for growth and connection that this work brings to the VTS community.
Ebonee Davis-Hayes
Director of Reparations
Office of Multicultural Ministries