The light we kindle is set in the lamp of our history.
We inherit this free faith from the brave and gentle, fierce and outspoken, hearts and minds that have come before us.
Let us be worthy inheritors of this faith, and through our good works, pass it boldly to a new generation.
~ Rev. Audette Fulbright (All Souls Associate Minister 2016-2023)
Welcome!
The Unitarian Church of All Souls NYC was founded on November 15th, 1819.
From its humble beginnings in a downtown parlor to its rise as
a flagship of Unitarian Universalism, it has been
a beacon for liberal religious thinking for more than two centuries.
The Annual 2025 Bellows Lecture
"Reconstructing Our Unitarian History: Perils and Possibilities"
given by Rev. Wayne Arnason on Friday, May 16th at All Souls.
Rev. Arnason told us the fascinating story of Rev. Egbert Ethelred Brown, a Jamaican immigrant who was the first Black minister to start a Unitarian church in North America, and his efforts to make it into a racially integrated congregation. His church, which never had the funds to build its own building, was the Harlem Unitarian Church. Rev. Arnason also discussed the complicated but meaningful relationship between Rev. Brown and Rev. Laurance Neale, the minister of this church, in the 1940s and 50s.
This history was based on hours of research in the All Souls Archives and the Ethelred Brown papers at the Schaumberg Library of the NYPL. Rev. Arnason told us how Rev. Brown faced much skepticism—from white Unitarian leaders and even from Harlem’s Black elite—but his drive and spirit enabled him to keep his church going for 35 years, from 1920 until his death in 1955. He became a respected leader in his community, where he was the President of the Jamaican Progressive League, and was also very involved in the Jamaican independence movement.
Rev. Neale tried to support the Harlem Unitarian Church by inviting Rev. Brown to preach at All Souls often, starting in the early 1940s, and encouraging their congregation members to attend each other’s services, joining both churches if they wished. However, even though the two ministers developed a warm friendship, led services together and wrote numerous letters back and forth, Rev. Neale never really put his weight behind the funding needed to keep Rev. Brown’s church going. Rev. Arnason outlined some of the reasons for this, which included the fact that All Souls was also struggling financially, but also that there was plenty of unacknowledged racism and lack of understanding of Black church culture among the All Souls congregation.
Although the Harlem Unitarian Church ultimately did not thrive as a multiracial community, the story told by Rev. Arnason was inspiring. It provides valuable lessons for the ongoing work of racial justice in Unitarian Universalism. As Rev. Arnason reminded us, it involves confronting three big challenges: building real, honest interracial relationships, dealing with the power gaps tied to wealth and status, and truly understanding different cultural communities.
The Rev. Dr. Wayne Arnason retired in 2016 from a forty-year career in Unitarian Universalist ministry serving in both parish ministry and in staff and governance roles in the Unitarian Universalist Association. Since retiring, he has taken up his passion for history. A graduate of the Harvard Divinity School, Wayne Arnason was recognized by Meadville Lombard Theological School in 2014 with their honorary doctorate degree for his lifetime of service. Arnason has published an institutional history of the liberal religious youth movement entitled We Would Be One (2005) and an internally published history of the UUA’s Ministerial Fellowship Committee entitled In Fellowship (2020). He is part of a team presenting the 2025 Minns Lectures entitled "Deconstructing Mythologies of Unitarian Anti-Racism" (click for video). He currently volunteers as the Archivist of the UU Congregation in Charlottesville VA and is married to our Bridge Senior Minister, Rev. Kathleen Rolenz.
Come and help us to preserve All Soul’s history
We have some interesting projects coming up:
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Taking care of our amazing art and artifacts, deciding how best to display them in the building to educate the congregation about our history
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Interviewing long-time members of All Souls, making oral histories, and collecting community stories
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Studying our digital archives to learn about our history, and organizing more of our records to be digitized
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Organizing talks like the next Bellows Lecture, and giving tours of our building.
Our members are the heart of the Historical Society
and an integral part of the All Souls story.
Renew or become a new member of the ASHS
to help make possible our mission of promoting the study of All Souls’ history.
We need history more than ever during these stressful and uncertain times.
Learn more about membership at Dues and Donations