Research explores unity through the racial divides
“These stories address the fundamental concerns of unity and cooperation in our world today.”
ANCASTER, ON—Mennonites and blacks have never been in the same areas at the same time. That’s what Timothy Epp continually heard when he first started exploring black history and his own Anabaptist heritage. But the Redeemer University College Associate Professor of Sociology wasn’t satisfied.
“Books like Hubert Brown’s Black and Mennonite helped me consider that there was something to be found,” says Epp, who has been researching connections between the cultures for 10 years. “Within the broader human story of struggle and tension, I think we need to reclaim stories of connection and cooperation.”
While conducting interviews and archival research, Epp has uncovered many stories of inter-racial and cross-cultural connection and friendship, often buried “just beneath the surface.”
“The stories are not often told, but they are generally positive,” he says. “There are stories of Mennonite and black neighbours helping each other on their farms and stories of a black woman teaching Mennonite girls how to crochet.”
In fact, one of the most repeated stories of Abraham Erb, the founder of Waterloo, Ontario, involves Isaac Jones, a black employee who he brought with him when he left Pennsylvania to settle the region. Jones got lost while tending Erb’s cattle and Erb’s family and friends searched for him day an night.
“He was lost for about a week. They finally found him, but the searchers became lost before they eventually all found their way out together. These [stories] are important because they address some of the fundamental concerns of unity and cooperation in our world today.”
Epp says although his research is primarily about blacks and Anabaptists, he hopes it will spur the public to explore cross-cultural connections in their own past, whether it involves indigenous populations, blacks, whites or other cultures, all together.
Tim Wolfert, Redeemer’s director of communications, says this is exactly the type of work the school wants to support and produce at a new Christian scholarship centre they are establishing through a Stronger Together grant of $75,000.
Stronger Together is a collective of granting partners who fund projects established from a Christian faith perspective.
“The centre will be a place that fosters scholarship that is academically excellent, rooted in a Christian perspective and engages the broader public,” explains Kevin Flatt, Director of Research at Redeemer. “We want to reach beyond the walls of the university and engage in the conversations Canadians are having.”
Flatt says the centre will have a “soft launch” in January 2015, with a more public launch at a conference it will host next fall. The centre will provide a range of grants for faculty research and implement an annual award for emerging Christian scholars who are doing research that engages the public.
“We are very excited about this,” Flatt says. “It is very much in keeping with the mission of Redeemer, which is to do scholarship from a Christian point of view, but also in a way that serves the larger community.”
Dear Readers:
ChristianWeek relies on your generous support. please take a minute and donate to help give voice to stories that inform, encourage and inspire.
Donations of $20 or more will receive a charitable receipt.Thank you, from Christianweek.
About the author