Take Action

People at Paint Branch Unitarian Universalist Church have been movers and shakers since day one. We hope you will join us in our current social justice work.

Read this history of our involvement in social justice.

1950s

We advocated for racial justice in various forms by picketing for Fair Housing and open public accommodations, lobbying for opening motels, restaurants, and other public accommodations. We developed a brochure with statements from six well known restaurants in DC declaring that serving all customers had not hurt their business. Jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd, a UU, was the first to give us a statement for our brochure which was distributed to every member of the MD General Assembly. Two from Paint Branch Unitarian Universalist Church (PBUUC) went to the Editorial Office of the Washington Post and discussed the injustice of public accommodations being segregated. We wrote an editorial for the man who saw us, while we waited over half an hour for him to appear for our appointment. The next day the Post printed a long editorial using most of what we had written. Copies were bought and the editorial was put on every legislator’s desk along with our brochure. Lowell Owens spoke before the assembled legislators. We pressured Prince George’s County Hospital in Cheverly to allow mothers of color to nurse their new babies. Since wards were segregated and mothers of color were on a different floor than the nursery, mothers of color were not able to have contact with their babies and could not breast feed. Mothers generally stayed in hospital about 5 days in those days. Campaign was successful. Newspaper coverage helped. NAACP came to our meetings regularly. The Minister and his wife attended all meetings of the Fellowship for Social Justice (later SAC). A member of PBUUC, Louise Yuell, was on the school board for 3 or 4 terms as an appointee, and kept us up to the minute on what was going on so we could lobby.

1960s

Housing was a very big issue. Suburban Fair Housing was supported by PBUUC. Many small meetings were held preparing for action. We jointly held a large (200 people) meeting in the Greenbelt Armory with Carlton Sickles and Blair Lee, both prominent members of the General Assembly, as speakers. There was a long discussion period at end. We collaborated with those who were testing for discrimination after some partial laws were passed saying apartment developments couldn’t turn away people of color. A white couple would apply for an apartment and then a black couple. Support was given to efforts leading to school integration. UUs were on the committee in PG County that studied where boundaries should be. A member of PBUUC home schooled the children of several black families who were in the process of suing to have their children admitted to public schools. Roy Hart, member of PBUUC, was elected to the Gen. Assembly in early 60s. Great help in knowing who to lobby and how to lobby. Sue Bienacz, a member of PBUUC was on the PG County school board, several terms. Then Agnes Williams, another member of PBUUC, served one term on the school board. All this was very helpful to the Social Action Committee (SAC). We were very involved in the UU Service Committee (UUSC) foreign projects. A member of PBUUC went to work for the UUSC as a fund raising and project selection staff person.

This meant we were informed of every new idea and some members and the Kelleys (the minister and his wife) went to Haiti, where a successful mother and child health system was running with leadership from very strong Haitian doctors and professionals. Brinley Lewis, a member of PBUUC was the treasurer of the UUSC, too.

1970s

Schools were integrated and pressure moved to employment and college attendance for people of color. Meetings held in people’s homes to gain personal experience with people of different racial backgrounds. PBUUC participated in this effort off and on for several years. Peace efforts were stepped up beyond what had been supported in late 60s, working to end the Vietnam War and later to limit nuclear weapons in the Nuclear Freeze Movement. Very many participated in giant marches in DC and elsewhere. Big letter writing campaigns were conducted. Candidate nights were held at PBUUC. Women’s issues rose in importance. The P.G. County Women’s Center was established in what is now the church office. Monthly support meetings were held with pot lucks. A newsletter was printed and distributed regularly. Support groups were held after training was carried out for leaders. Safe housing for women leaving their husbands was available by volunteers. One professional and one clerical staff were paid through grants and donations. This was a first in the area. Mary Ann Kelley, the Minister’s wife, was largely responsible for pushing this and got many others involved, including some males. The Night Winds Group established three locations for alternative housing arrangements, one of which, a farm in southern MD is still in existence. These were experimental ways of putting families together and group decision making for finances, child discipline, house work, etc. Various service projects were given some leadership by the SAC. P.G, County Community Ministry was very active in starting and supporting food banks around the county, known as “Help by Phone,” as well as preventing evictions with small emergency grants. A member of PBUUC was treasurer of the Community Ministry for over 10 years. A PBUUC group began cooking and serving a hot meal at noon one day per month, a service that continues to this day.

1980s

The congregation was beginning work on organizing for the rights of GLB persons. Ed Kobee and Al Usack gathered a core of PBUUC supporters and others, and, with a grant from the national Unitarian Universalist Association, formed the Interfaith Fairness Coalition, which began putting on workshops and services around the state, at first with U congregations, then various denominations. A monthly pot luck at PBUUC with different discussion topics and speakers attracted GLBT people and their allies from many of the UU churches in the DC area. This snowballed relatively quickly. Teachers’ groups were involved in many activities because they were so vulnerable and because we were trying to involve teens who were “questioning.” We operated a poorly attended Sat. morning drop in for teens at Paint Branch for most of a year, then decided to support instead the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (SMYAL) through special collections and by occasionally attending their meetings, We publicized the support group held monthly at Cedar Lane UU church for parents. We had speakers from various groups, including PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) and the teachers. We organized an invitation for the PG School system to send a senior administrator to a weekend meeting in NYC at a Columbia U. about the hard problems facing teens who are coming out. Marge Owens and Abby Crowley went too. We opened up some helpful dialog with the schools, which led to our participation in one statewide conference. We were invited to some of the high school Gay Straight Alliances and attended. Racial issues addressed through an Anti-Racism Committee, chaired by Denis Dryden and Ann Irvine.

1990s

Racial issues of a more pointed kind got attention. The census figures of 1990 showed that PG county was a majority “minority” jurisdiction and that the black population had a higher median household income than the white population and had a higher median education level than the white population. However, this did not prevent those zip codes nearest to DC being problem neighborhoods. SAC made some efforts to figure out how to support groups in the poor areas to succeed with home grown ideas. Working with U churches closer to these areas was one successful idea. Davies Memorial UC, in central county, had mixed-age and mixed-race evening talks followed by music, that we supported, publicized and attended. Abby Crowley, PBUUC member, was a member of the P.G. Co, School Bd. We benefited from continuing knowledge about the status of the local schools. Peace issues continued to get attention. Women’s issues and GLBT issues expanded. We became recognized by the UA as a welcoming congregation.

2000s

The Social Action Committee invested time on international issues and depended on the U United Nations Office in NY as well as the local United Nations Association, which had mainly UU leadership. One ongoing effort was to raise funds and awareness about the unexploded landmines in many countries. Some of these were decades old and still killing and maiming children and farmers around the world. A member of Cedar Lane U Church supplied information and materials to be distributed. At the end of the project, funds for clearing a large section of Laotian land was raised in the DC area, and a ceremony was held at

Cedar Lane with a young student from that area who came to thank everyone. She was attending grad school in DC. The fire in the RE building and the celebration of our 50th anniversary took enormous effort and energy for the middle of this decade from the group that had been most active in social action. A new member of the PG County School Board, also a member of PBUUC, Heather Islip, came to meet with SAC and helped us with pushing further for official support for gay students and for gay and straight alliances. Immigration issues beginning to be addressed through educating ourselves and the congregation. Environmental concerns came up throughout this decade.

2010s

We became a Green Sanctuary Congregation through the UUA. Many separate environmental issues were worked on. There were efforts to support CASA of MD, a group assisting and advocating for Latinos. Unsuccessful attempts were made to connect with the nearby high school, High Point, that was facing a long period of turmoil and three changes of Principal in little over a year. The Community Learning Center was established to offer English classes for recent immigrants. We have been allies with a group in Arizona that has developed and published workbooks and offered training for the volunteers. Carmelita Carter-Sykes has been the force behind this current effort. PBUUC was the site for a once-a-week phone bank in support of marriage equality and the Dream Act, both of which were enacted into law. Minister Diane Teichert was very active in both campaigns. She involved the whole congregation in some public actions.

Written by Marge Owens
Edited by Marj Donn