I am doing a bit of church history in advance of the Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed’s visit next month. We were most definitely a civil rights congregation; our minister, Fred Cappucino, and one of our members marched in Selma. We hosted some of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party delegation who came to DC in January, 1965, to protest the seating of several congressmen from Mississipi. We worked hard for fair housing in Montgomery Country, Maryland and in neighboring Prince George’s County — one of our members went to jail for participating in a protest at a Leavitt development there. We hosted controversial speakers: Stokely Carmichael in his early Black Power days, and Frank Kameny, the founder of the Mattachine Society. But we also passed up a chance to call an African American minister — still working on the exact date, but either late 60s or early 70s — because of fears that the neighborhood wasn’t ready yet.

It’s a mixed blessing, history.