Ethelred Brown was born in Falmouth, Jamaica, BWI in 1875 (a short fifteen years after Rev. William Jackson appeared at the Autumnal Assembly of the AUA in New Bedford). He was one of five children from an Episcopal family (his brother would become the first Black canon of the Episcopal church in Jamaica). Ethelred came to Unitarianism at a young age, but as there was no Unitarian church in Jamaica he was, as he termed himself, a "Unitarian without a church." For twelve years he served as an organist for two Methodist congregations, and in 1900, after beginning the process to become an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) minister-he wrote a letter, the beginning of which begins this memo.
The letter ended up in the hands of Rev. Frank Southworth, President of Meadville Theological School in Pennsylvania. Southworth responded that Brown would be welcome at Meadville however there were no "colored" Unitarian churches in the United States and white Unitarians only wanted to deal with white ministers. Even with that discouragement, and several botched attempts, Ethelred began his studies at Meadville in 1910. At the end of his studies in 1912, the school ordained him and he returned to Jamaica with hopes of starting a Unitarian church in Montego Bay, not too far from his birthplace in Falmouth.
Ethelred spent eight years trying to plant a Unitarian church in Jamaica; first in Montego Bay and then Kingston. But after receiving little support or understanding from either the AUA or the British and Foreign Unitarian Associations, Ethelred and his wife boarded a boat and headed to New York City. In a letter that he wrote talking of the help (or lack thereof) that he received, Ethelred said, "No missionary Association could have done any less, and dozens have done infinitely more."
Life in New York City was not easy; in Jamaica he could work as an accountant to supplement the little income that he received as a missionary, but in New York the best work he could find in those early years was as an elevator operator.
Life was no easier in New York on the AUA front either. Ethelred established the Harlem Community Church within days of his arrival in New York-the first service was held on March7, 1921. As all missionaries do at the beginning of their mission, they have to ask for donations of supplies and such. Since relations between Ethelred and the AUA were contentious at best, Ethelred did his solicitation outside of the normal system. When word of his solicitations were received in Boston (at AUA headquarters), there began an active campaign to discredit Ethelred and the work that he was doing in Harlem.
After five years, and having only the support of John Haynes Holmes (minister of the Community Church of New York), Ethelred received a letter from the AUA stating that, since the Harlem church was "not in sympathy with the Unitarian spirit and purpose," and as he was not employed full-time as a minister, that the Ministerial Fellowship Committee saw no reason to keep him on the list of fellowshipped ministers unless he showed them otherwise. As you can see, this became a no-win situation. How could Ethelred ever gain employment as a full-time minister if no established Unitarian church was willing to have an African American as their minister AND the AUA would not give him monetary assistance in his missionary efforts? And the Harlem Community Church was set up as a Unitarian congregation, so how could it not be "in sympathy with Unitarian spirit and purpose?"
While this attempt at removing Ethelred from the fellowship roll was unsuccessful (as was a second attempt in 1928), the third attempt was successful and Ethelred was removed from the fellowship roll in 1929. It was only through the help of the ACLU and their threat of a lawsuit that Ethelred was able to have his fellowship reinstated-six years later, in 1935.
The Harlem Community Church-later the Harlem Unitarian Church-continued to exist under Ethelred's leadership until after his death in 1956.
There is so much more that could be said. If you are interested in learning more about Ethelred Brown I can point you to two books; first is Black Pioneers in a White Denomination, written by the Rev. Dr. Mark Morrison-Reed, who until his retirement served Unitarian Universalist churches in Rochester, New York and Toronto. The second book is The Origins of Black Humanism in American: Ethelred Brown and the Unitarian Church, written by Dr. Juan M. Floyd-Thomas, who is a professor of theology at the Vanderbilt School of Divinity.
*-all quotes come from Black Pioneers
Kim Hampton,
Intern Minister
First Unitarian Church of Worcester
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