Liberation in White and Black: the American Visual Culture of Two Philadelphia-Area Episcopal Churches

i LIBERATION IN WHITE AND BLACK: THE AMERICAN VISUAL CULTURE OF TWO PHILADELPHIA-AREA EPISCOPAL CHURCHES A Dissertation Submitted To the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Matthew W. Hunter January 2011 Dissertation Committee: Chair: Dr. Rebecca Alpert – Department of Religious Studies Dr. Terry Rey - Department of Religious Studies Dr. John Pahl – Department of Religious Studies Dr. David Watt – History Department Outside Reader: Dr. Seth C. Bruggeman – History Department ii © Copyright 2010 By Matthew W. Hunter All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Liberation in White and Black: The American Visual Culture of Two Philadelphia-area Episcopal Churches Matthew W. Hunter Doctor of Philosophy Temple University, 2011 Doctoral Advisory Committee Chair: Rebecca T. Alpert Liberation in White and Black studies, respectively, Washington Memorial Chapel (WMC) and The Church of the Advocate (COA), which are two Episcopal parishes in the Diocese of Pennsylvania. This dissertation investigates the ways that the visual culture of these spaces represents and affects the religious, racial and national self- understanding of these churches and their ongoing operations by offering particular and opposing narrative interpretations of American history. These "sacred spaces" visually describe the United States (implicitly and explicitly) in terms of race and violence in narratives that set them in fundamental opposition to each other, and set a trajectory for each parishes’ life that has determined a great deal of its activities over time. I develop this thesis by situating each congregation and its development in the context of the entire history of both the Episcopal Church and Philadelphia as related to race, violence and patriotism. WMC is what historian of religions scholar Jonathan Z. Smith calls a “locative” space and tries to persuade all Americans to patriotically covenant with images of heroic "White" freedom struggle. COA is what Smith calls a “utopian” space and tries to compel its visitors to covenant with a subversive critique of the United States in terms of the parallels between biblical Israel and the African American freedom struggle. My iv analysis draws especially on the theoretical work of Pierre Bourdieu and David Morgan. A major focus of Pierre Bourdieu’s work in both Language and Symbolic Power, and The Logic of Practice is the power of group-making. Group-creating power is often exercised through representations that create a seemingly objective sense of group identity and a social world that is perceived as “natural.” David Morgan writes that religious visual culture functions as this sort of political practice through the organization of memory among those who are drawn to “covenant” with images. The Introduction of my dissertation lays out the theoretical approaches informing the visual culture analysis of these Episcopal Churches and raises the significant questions. Three main chapters provide: 1) an historical background of patriotism, race and violence in the Episcopal Church and in Philadelphia in particular, and 2-3) a thorough analysis of the history and visual culture of each space in context. A great deal of my analysis consists of interpretive “readings” of the visual culture of the aforementioned churches in their larger contexts to explain how the visual culture represents social classifications to affect the constituents religious, racial and national self-understanding, and their ongoing operations by offering particular and opposing narrative interpretations of American history. The project concludes by summarizing the ways that the analysis of these spaces explicates the thesis with thoughts about the implications for the disciplines involved and further research. v AKNOWLEDGEMENTS Over the past eight-to-ten years I have been visiting Washington Memorial Chapel and The Church of the Advocate. I have spent hours staring at the incredible details of both art and architecture and sharing formal and informal conversation, worship and sacraments as well as coffee and pastries. I have no doubt been a befuddling figure, scrawling notes to myself immediately after a service, asking weird questions and at least initially stumbling over myself to explain my barely conceived ideas of what I was doing there. I cannot be grateful enough for the patience and hospitality of the gracious priests, deans, scholars, archivists, laypeople and even visitors who tolerated and even welcomed this outsider and his suspicious questions. I fear this project is not as charitable to you as you have been to me. Washington Memorial Chapel and The Church of the Advocate, with their clergy and laity, have been a joy to know, even when we disagreed about interpretations. Beyond the people at these two churches, the people of The Episcopal Cathedral of Philadelphia and the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas are warmly remembered. Richard Giles (former dean of the Philadelphia Cathedral) and Mary Sewell Smith at The African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas gave inordinately of their time and knowledge to this author. Beyond the Episcopal Church, many others contributed to this dissertation. First, I have to thank Jeff Sensenig, who introduced me to the Church of the Advocate all those years ago when the Advocate murals seeded this project into my mind through my gaze. Numerous professors deserve profuse thanks. Most of all, Rebecca Alpert has kindly encouraged me, read everything I sent her with great speed, and sternly admonished me when it seemed like I was adrift. I’m sure she was right. David Watt first expressed vi belief in my abilities as a scholar and intentionally or unintentionally encouraged a humane approach to academia and research as well as helping me begin to identify important historical questions. Jon Pahl has been a refreshing dialogue partner who introduced me to religious visual culture and sacred space and helped me meld my interests in art, civil religion and violence. Terry Rey and John Raines both helped me get a better handle on Bourdieu and pushed me to think more deeply about race, religion and ethnicity. Lastly, I have to thank my family. My parents, Bill and Wendy Hunter and my brother Jon surely thought I was crazy sometimes and they were right sometimes, but they continued to encouraged me and believe in me. My in-laws, Dan, Linda, Kim, Alan, Christianne and David all cheered me on and helped me preserve what was most important, to which I now turn. Asher and Zephan, my boys, have had to endure too many days and nights without me and I missed them as much as they missed me. Beth, you have endured the most, including two boys missing their Daddy and a husband whose mind was elsewhere. I hope you someday sense that this has been worth all that you invested and gave up. I couldn’t and wouldn’t have finished without you, so this is your achievement as much as mine. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………………iii AKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………………....v LIST OF TABLES………………….……………………………………………………………viii LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………………….ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………….1 CHAPTER 2: EPISCOPALIENATION………………………………………………………….38 CHAPTER 3: LIBERATION IN WHITE……………………………………………………….95 CHAPTER 4: LIBERATION IN BLACK……………………………………………………...178 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………….276 ENDNOTES…………………………………………………………………………………….283 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………….………345 APPENDIX A: IRB DOCUMENTATION…………………………….……………….………368 APPENDIX B: ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS…………………….………395 viii LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1: Other pre-Great War incidents of racial violence in Eastern Pennsylvania….63 TABLE 2: Basic Key for Chapel Windows…………………………………………….111 TABLE 3: Large Events Hosted at COA (1966-1974)………………………………....203 ix LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1: COA from SW Corner of Broad and Diamond……………………….…….77 FIGURE 2: Baptismal Window: Philip Baptizes Ethiopian Eunuch…………….………85 FIGURE 3: “Sacrifice and Devotion” at WMC by Bela Pratt…………….……….…….91 FIGURE 4: Washington statue on Patriots Bell Tower……………………….…………95 FIGURE 5: The Washington Memorial Chapel complex (c. 2005)………..…………..108 FIGURE 6: Diagram of the public areas of WMC……………………..………………110 FIGURE 7: The Martha Washington Window above the altar with pulpit and lectern..113 FIGURE 8: “Freedom of Thought,” “Discovery,” “Expansion,” and “Revolution.”…..116 FIGURE 9: The George Washington Window………………………..……….……….119 FIGURE 10: “Peace at Eventide” from the George Washington Window………...…..119 FIGURE 11: Praying patriot in choir loft………………………………………………121 FIGURE 12: Washington’s Valley Forge Prayer in the Bell Tower…………………...122 FIGURE 13: “Washington Wins the Battle of Princeton”……………………….……..129 FIGURE 14: “Hostesses” in the Patriots Bell Tower……………………….………….139 FIGURE 15: Native and African American inclusion in the Bell Tower………………142 FIGURE 16: A kneeler at Washington Memorial Chapel……………………….……..151 FIGURE 17: “The Justice Bell” in the Patriots Bell Tower…………………..………..153 FIGURE 18: Re-enactors assemble after the service on French Alliance Sunday……..166 FIGURE 19: The Paul Washington Mural………………………………….………….178 FIGURE 20: COA facing the rear of the nave from platform……………………….....202 FIGURE 21: Floor Plan of Church of the Advocate……………………………………206 FIGURE 22: The north transept with Painting 1 at right of picture…………………....220 x FIGURE 23: Painting 3 by Edmonds…………………………………………………..222 FIGURE 24: Painting 5 by Edmonds…………………………………………………..225

Load more