RELIGION
I
While denomin tion I agencies
historically have been ctive in e -
tablishing ho pital and other care
f cilities in thi country and abroad,
little was known of such health work
by individual congregations.
"We were surprised that so many
are doing that sort of thing," aid
Karen Collins, th council's program
director for health and justice.
"What they're doing is not neces-
arily running clinics, but in other
way they are recognizing health
concerns, and acting on them to the
limit of their resources."
.
MORE THAN HALF of the
nation's local churches were found
to have work dealing with mental
health, nutrition and substance
abuse. A third deal with cases need­
ing medical ervice, usually through
referrals.
About a fifth of them do work
concerning prenatal care and vision
ahd hearing problems. More than
In re ponding to he th needs,
congregations do not re trict r­
vice to their own member.
Remarkably, more than two-thi of
congregation serve the general
community.
o TY-TWO PERCENT of
th m carry on their health programs
in collaboration with other church
in the community.
The study by the ecumenical
council and Columbia, financed in
part by the Ford Foundation and Car­
negie Corporation, involved com­
pleted questionnaires from 1,883
congregations in 16 denominations.
They included Southern Bapti ,
United Methodis , Episcopalians,
United Church of Christ, Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ), Pres­
byterian Church (U.S.A.), Reformed
Church in America, American Bap­
tist 'Churche , African Methodist
Episcopal Zion Church and Church
of the Brethren.
Urban, rural and suburban con­
gregations were proportionately rep­
resented. For ins tance, 24 percent of
the churches were in rural areas,
which reflects their overall distribu­
tion nationally.
Half the congregations have
memberships of 260 or less, with
o
f ct that many m 11
re atio man ge to undert e
m re bitio initi tiv in m er-
d child h lth than 1 rge d
more ffiuent congreg tio ugg t
th t much more could be c­
compli hed by effectively mobiliz-
ing resource-rich churc "
'Forty- Ix percent of the con-
regatio carry on their health
progr ms in .eollaboration ith
public health nei, while a third
or more of them work with private
health organizatio and individual
physici
The local church programs ,. re
particularly noteworthy in regard to
feeding the hungry," the report ys.
"Their activitie are al 0 highly
visible in the areas of mental health
and substance abuse.
"Churches function as brokers
and referral ources, as educators
and financiers, and even care
providers for people in need.
Churches are moved to action by
community health problems, even
when the members of a congregation
do not experience the problem them­
selve . .
"Churches do not replace usual
ources of health care, but rather they
extend, a ist and even enhance
other sources.
P tors, congregational staff and
volunteers i t poor families who
may not know where to tum for help
or who may distrust usual sources of
care."
Researcher uncovering
mysteries about life of ex-slaves
By ANNE BARAJAS
UnlveT.ltv of Okl.ho",. N.w. SfHV/c.
NORMAN, Oklahoma - The redis­
covery of two church graveyards is
helping a University of Oklahoma
researcher understand how former
staves lived in pre-Civil War
Philadelphia,
I..l!sley Rankin-Hill, an assistant
professor in anthropology, is one of
10 researchers who have been study­
ing the excavated cemeteries of the
Fir t African Baptist Church in
Philadelphia.
Because of the Gradual Abolition
Act of 1790, Philadelphia had the
largest antebellum, or pre-Civil War,
population of freed Black people. It
also had the largest number of Black
people outside slave-holding states,
Rankin-Hill said.
The urban, port city offered ex­
slaves and free-born Black people
jobs as blacksmiths, laborers,
craftsmen and household domestic.
HER RESEARCH ALSO
howed that during the 1960s, 'the
row houses were demolished and a
parking lot was laid over the graves.
"The cemetery ba ically was
lost, " she said. Although "an incredible variety
During it excavation, re- of foods" was available to seaport
searchers examined any evidence .. residents, the basic diet of Black
they could find about the people in people consisted of beans, rice,
the lost cemetery -how they lived, cornbread, fish, grits and terrapin,
how they died, what they ate, what which was cheaper than beef.
the church meant to them. Uving conditions and water sup-
As. this research continued, plies were poor, leading to malnutri­
Philadelphia's Vine Street Ex- tion, anemia and the spread of such
pressway project uncovered the diseases as cholera, smallpox,
"old" church cemetery, containing botulism, salmonella and tuber­
bodies from the 1810 to 1822 period. culosis. The church's cemeteries
An excavation crew was given were filled with children under the
less than two weeks to move the age of 12, and the impact of such
cemetery, Rankin-Hill said. The area diseases on their skeletons could be
was blocked off, and researchers seen with the naked eye, Rankin-Hill
worked with rush-hour traffic sur- said.
rounding the project. The bones of adults also showed
"The crew did a great job with the consequences of their lives. Most
what they had, but they aren't sure people began working around age 12
they found all of the cemetery be- and labored six or seven days a week.
cause the boundaries weren't clear in The skeletons of women who died by
any documents, " she said. a,e �5 showed degenerative joint
disease caused by overexertion.
However, these people were healthy
compared to other slave populations.
"A LOT OF THE congregation
must have been runaways that
wouldn't admit to it," Rankin-Hill
said.
She also discovered much about
the day-to-day lives of the congrega­
tion.
THE DAILY UVES of freed
and ex-slave women fascinated
Rankin-Hill the most. Benevolent
societies for unmarried women
served as insurance against
catastrophe. An "almshouse," or
poorhouse, was heavily populated.
Church served as women's only so­
cial outlet.
"I was insearch of the congrega­
tion, but the real picture I got was the
status of Afro-American women,"
Rankin-Hill said. "These women
were always dancing on' the edge of
losing their ecurity. It was some­
thing I didn't expect."
Thi summer, Rankin-Hill will
return to Philadelphia to more close­
ly examine the skeletons of the First
African Baptist Church congrega­
tion for hidden clues to their lives.
It's a mis ion that Rankin-Hill, a
Black-Hispanic woman, takes to
heart.
"You sort of get to know these
people," she said. "I have a real per­
sonal commitment, an obligation, to
pull itall togetbcrand do a goodjob."
After scientists hAve finished
lheir work with the skeletons of the
original First African Baptist Church
congregation, the remai will be
reinterred in the arne cemetery as
lOOse of the "new" church, Rankin­
Hill aid. N:early 200 years after they
went their separate ways, the con­
gregation will be reunited in what
will be-hopefully-their finally
Ungplace.
A h ring will be held next
month in Los Angel before U.S.
Di trict Court Judge D vid Wil­
li ms, Llewellyn ide In S n
Diego County, the local ACLU
has ued on imil r groun on
behalf of citizens in a e involv-
ing landmar cro on public
lands top Mount Soled d in La
Jolla and Mount Helix in La M
U.S. Di trict Court Judge Gor­
don Thompson Jr. ruled in Decem­
ber that the cro es be taken down
within 90 day .
1 'd the 9th Circuit'
d ci ion III be th controllin
precedent in Californi until th re
i dec' ion in the te Suprem
Court t i contrary in i inter-
pret tion of th tate co titution.
"I thin it would be wi for
ny government not to ta eland
that h religious ymbol on it,"
. Sobel id in los Angele .
The tue were defended
publicly owned wor of art by
attorney D vid Llewellyn of
Sacramento, a peciali t in con-
titutional rights nd Iitigatio .
"THE ACTION at the Court
of Appeal is outrageous censor-
hip," he aid. "The trial court
found they were definitely wor
of art."
. The 3 l/2-acre park, named
Upln
a
:with Tramaine Hawkins. Hammer
recently showcased the tune at the
American Music Awards.A video is
planned for later this year ... Another
record scoring a lot of play action is
A&M's irA Tribute To. James
Cleveland (Volume J)," featuring the
Williams Brothers; Douglas Miller,
and Jessy Dixon on some of his more
famed tunes. Also featured is
Doanald Taylor and the L.A. Mass
Choir, who recently resigned to new
multi-year recording agreement with
Light .Records. The choir is already
back in the studio at work on "Come
As You Are," their long-awaited fol­
lOW-Up to "Can't Hold Back:"
JUST BRIEFLY: The Gospel
Music Workshop of America's An­
nual Board Meeting is set for March
Eye on Gospel
hV11i
Hammer
17-19. The meeting, in Las Vegas,
will set the tone for their upcoming
25th annual convention in Chicago
(Aug. 8-14, 1992). �
The Chicago meeting is predicted �
to be one of their largest ever ... The I
four-week run of VH-1's "The �
Gospel According To VH-l" has
been extended thru March. The half­
hour show, hosted by Marvi
Winans, is being broadcast weekly
(on Sundays).
This week's scripture: "For God
who said, "Let light shine out of
darkness," made his light shine in
our hears to give us the light of the
knowledge of the glory 0/ God in the
face o/Christ," ---2 Corinthians 4:6.
894-8774
298-6333
298-6334
298-6335
Henry Ruff Rd�
Inkster, Mich.
DOCUMENTS HAVE played a
major role in Rankin-Hill's research
"rHILADELPHIA HAD be- on the First African Baptist Church.
come a major center for Afro- Through funding by au's South ..
American institutions such as western Bell Fellowship, the profes­
churches, benevolent societies and sor spent countless hours searching
schools," Rankin-Hill said, explain- documents in historical archives
ing that benevolent societies were libraries and even the basement of �
precursors to Black insurance com- home in the Philadelphia area.
panies. "It's like detective work,"
The First African Baptist Church Rankin-Hill said. "These are the
was founded in 1809. In 1821, a fight most obscure, poor people in the
over whether the church should shel- city's historical record, even amohg
ter runaway slaves caused a split in Afro-Americans. They were seeking
. the congregation, and two churches a new and better life."
of the same name existed in the city. . And in this new life, they often
Both churches offered cemeteries for sought to leave behind the old she
their members. said. '
Some 160 years later, a subway First African Baptist Church
tunnel project uncovered the "new" records indicate that many of its
church's cemetery, which contained members were ex-slaves. However,
people who died between 1822 and these same people represented them-
1843. "A backhoe ran smack into a selves as free born to census takers.
coffin," Rankin-Hill said. "Philadelphia was the first major
Over time, a team of ar- gateway for slaves to move into the
chaeologists and anthropologists, in- North," she said. "But it was a
eluding Rankin-Hill, was assembled. ' dangerous place because it Could be
They discovered that after the reached by waterand land." Pennsyl­
new church's pastor died, the vania was surrounded by lave
cemetery had been sold by the states, and through the Fugitive
pastor's widow, and row houses Slave Law Act, people could retum
were built on the area. . slaves for a bounty, Rankin-Hill
"People's backyards and privies added.
were on top of graves," Rankin-Hill
said.
c
min
,�. Hollywood Fashion
----
.' Gospel Hours
W.C.H.B. 1200 AM -7:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Every Sunday Morning
Rev. Wilmore Allen
Rev. A.J. Rogers
Jo Ella Ukely
Catherine Robinson
Glo'ria Parker
Lorraine Walker
Bro. Dunkin
---- -- - _.. -- - -- - -- -- ..
By MARAGRET MANSFIELD
Bobby Jones will play host to his
biannual Gospel Explo ion.
"Television, Gospel Music's New
Realm of Re ch" is the theme of
"Explosion V," which features
daytime symposiums and nightly
performances, attracting upwards of
4,000, including top industry execu­
tives, gospel announcers and record­
ing artists.
Among those expected this week
are:
Walter Hawkins, the Gospel
Keynotes, Ron Winans, Vanes
Bell Armstrong, Mom &.. Pop
Winans, Daryl Coley, the Williams
Brothers and Richard Smallwood.
Performance will be taped for
usc on "Bobby Jones Gospel," seen
three times weekly on Black Enter­
tainment Television, and boasting
30 million viewers. For the lastJ.1
years, Jones has held down the num­
ber one rated gospel television show
in the nation. He first became in­
volved with the "Gospel Explosion"
when Joanne Berry (who manges
Barbara Mandrell) came up with the
idea and approached him for help
back in 1989.
THE NEXT YEAR, he took
over the "Explo ion." The format
has changed a great deal since then.
"Seeing that television is our
chief medium of communication,
our major emphasis is seminars that
focus in on quality production with
regards to gospel music and all of its
supporting entities," Jones says.
Highlighting the four-day meet­
ing will be the first presentation of
"The Vision Awards," to honor those
making outstanding contributions to
the gospel industry. The awards will
be telecast as a special presentation
on BET ... Nashville will also be the
site of "GOspel Music '92," the an­
nual meeting of the Gospel Music
Association (and the "Dove
Awards"),
Activities centered at the Nash­
ville Convention Center are slated
for April 5-9, 1992. Bebe Win�ns
will take over on one, of the nights as
producer of a gospel music ex­
travaganza.
On th« radio: Among the singles
getting a great deal of airplay is
Hammer's IJDo Not Pass Me By, " a
traditional gospel tune teaming him