National Underground Railroad Freedom Center President Speaking at Post-Election Unity Day Church Service in North Carolina
MEDIA CONTACT:
Jamie Glavic
(513) 333-7511
(513) 802-7355
jglavic@nurfc.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CINCINNATI, OH (November 12, 2016) – National Underground Railroad Freedom Center President, Dr. Clarence G. Newsome, has been invited to speak at a post-election Unity Day church service in Clayton, North Carolina. Members of the predominantly white Greater Heights United Methodist Church and the predominantly African-American Mount Vernon Christian Church will host the Clayton community in the historic Unity Day church service. Led and hosted by Pastors Matt Evans and Terence Leathers, respectively, the service will be held this Sunday, November 13, at 11:00 a.m. at the Clayton Town Center Auditorium, 111 East Second Street, Clayton, NC 27520. No tickets are necessary and all are invited to attend.
Since 2015, Pastors Evans and Leathers have been working to bridge the gap at the “most culturally segregated time” in America, the Sunday worship hour. Together, focusing on cultural humility, the pastors have “swapped pulpits” and led efforts to bridge faith groups in order to provide a greater impact on the community’s social and economic conditions. They have developed initiatives to provide services to individuals who are experiencing homelessness and hunger, joblessness, and sexual and physical abuse. They have implemented teen mentoring and workforce development programs, and are vocal advocates in reducing healthcare disparities, to name a few.
Throughout the 2016 presidential campaign Pastors Evans and Leathers saw a need to provide a “safe sacred space” to heal the community and springboard plans to work together toward improving the “beloved community” of which Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. so often spoke.
“I am humbled by the invitation to preach in Clayton this weekend,” says Dr. Newsome. “North Carolina is where I was born and raised. As a child of the segregated South, it is my personal mission to remind those around me of how far we have come, and how far we have yet to go. Now is not the time to turn our backs towards one another; we must lift one another up.”
Dr. Newsome has been the president of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center since 2013. He is the former President of Shaw University and former Dean of Howard University’s School of Divinity.
The Unity Day church service in Clayton, NC will be held this Sunday, November 13, at 11:00 a.m. at the Clayton Town Center Auditorium, 111 East Second Street, Clayton, NC 27520. No tickets are necessary and all are invited to attend.
For more information about this weekend’s Unity Day church service, please contact Martel A. Perry at (919) 604-3600 or cts21stperry@gmail.com
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ABOUT THE NATIONAL UNDERGROUND RAILROAD FREEDOM CENTER
The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center opened in August 2004 on the banks of the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. Since then, more than 1.3 million people have visited its permanent and changing exhibits and public programs, inspiring everyone to take courageous steps for freedom. Two million people have utilized educational resources online at freedomcenter.org, working to connect the lessons of the Underground Railroad to inform and inspire today’s global and local fight for freedom. Partnerships include Historians Against Slavery, Polaris Project, Free the Slaves, US Department of State and International Justice Mission. In 2014, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center launched a new online resource in the fight against modern slavery, endslaverynow.org.