Black Graves Are Being Moved In Virginia, But This Isn't the First Time...
'I don't think anybody would want their ancestors exhumed or moved,' said Jeff Bennett, whose great-great-great grandfather remains are at the plantation. 'It just seems that 100 or so odd years after their death, there's still no rest.'
Despite this happening in 2025, Black cemeteries have dealt with abandonment and destruction for centuries. Here are some other examples of Black graves not receiving the respect and care they deserve.
Zion Cemetery, located in Tampa, Florida, is considered the city's oldest Black cemetery. Its roots can be traced to the early 1900s. Back in 2019, it was rediscovered below a public-housing project. Since then, over 100 graves have been identified. Rodney Kite-Powell, a historian at the Tampa Bay History Center, told 'The Art Newspaper' that 'Zion was purposefully obscured from the public record so the land could be developed.'
Boston's second oldest cemetery, Copp's Hill Burying Ground, was established in 1660 and is the gravesite for those who lived, worked, and died in Boston's North End. It is also the burial site of more than 1,000 free and enslaved Black people whose identities remain unknown. Except for a couple of marked graves—including that of Prince Hall and Abel Barbados—evidence of Black people thriving in the city has all but been erased.
In 1874, Greenwood Cemetery was founded in St. Louis, Missouri as the first Black commercial burial ground after the Civil War. More than 50,000 people were buried in Greenwood, including Harriett Scott and along with Dred Scott who famously sued for their freedom. However, after it was sold in the late 1970s, the cemetery was subjected to vandalism and neglect. The Greenwood Cemetery Preservation Association has worked to restore the site and identify those buried.
Evergreen Cemetery was founded in 1905 in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was a segregated cemetery, designated specifically for Black people until expanding into the adjacent Oaklawn cemetery (segregated by section) became necessary. Both Evergreen and Oaklawn operated until 1926 until it was closed and condemned by order of city officials. The city ordinance mandated that those buried at Evergreen and Oaklawn be relocated based on race. The site now sits underneath the city's interstate 175.
The Second Asbury AME (African Methodist Episcopal) cemetery on Staten Island, New York, was established in 1850. The church was torn down by vandals in the 1880s, leaving the remaining headstones completely broken. The site would eventually be seized by the city in the 1950s and turned into a Shell station in 1963. Nearly 20 years later, it was transformed into a strip mall—though none of the bodies were ever moved.
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a day ago
- Buzz Feed
29 Time-Saving Kitchen Products Reviewers Swear By
An apple corer because an apple a day keeps the doctor away. If you love creating tasty apple-based treats for yourself or your littles, you'll appreciate this corer. Once the core is gone, you can slice and dice this baby any way you like. Promising review: "I wish I had one of these years ago because it would've saved me so much time! I love it for coring my apples. It's just phenomenal and so easy. I can make a baked apple in my microwave in just a few minutes. I have arthritis, and this is still so easy to use." —Bettina it from Amazon for $9.99 (available in 18 colors). A corn cob stripper that'll pop those kernels right off the cob. Once you've got the kernels off the cob, you can get busy mastering your corn salsa recipe. Promising review: "The Chef'n Cob Corn Stripper makes enjoying fresh corn on the cob easier than ever. Its innovative design effortlessly removes kernels from the cob in one smooth motion, saving time and reducing mess. The compact size and easy-to-clean construction make this kitchen gadget a must-have for corn lovers." —deanGet it from Amazon for $8. A bench scraper and chopper to speed up any at-home baker's bread-making process. It also has a convenient ruler along the edge, and reviewers love this for easily scooping up sliced veggies and dropping them into pans! Promising review: "Have been using this to quickly pick up all the chopped vegetables, etc. — very handy, sturdy handle on top gives a nice touch too. Easy to clean." —KSPBGet it from Target for $8 (originally $10). A Ninja double stack 12-in-1 counter oven with the power of the oven that'll sit right on top of the counter. Don't believe me? This double stack goliath can ~rapidly~ cook via air fry, convection bake, air roast, whole roast, dehydrate and so much more. You can cook everything from a whole chicken and pizza to baked cookies. Promising reviews: "I love, love it. It works great for one or two people. It saves time and energy. I love that I can make two different meals at the same time. Best invention ever. I strongly recommend it." —Marisol Belcher"I like it because it saves me a good amount of time I would have spent waiting for the regular oven to heat. It preheats and then starts cooking. And again, it's heating up a small space, so it is faster than a regular oven. Since it heats a small space, it saves heating up the whole kitchen. This is good in the summertime." —Pamela FernandezGet it from Amazon for $279.99. The Thaw Claw here to help you thaw out meat in under half an hour because, if you live alone, you can't call home and have someone take the meat out in case you forget. Don't worry, dinner isn't ruined. It'll just be delayed a few minutes. Thaw Claw is a Black-owned small biz that's been featured on Shark Tank, HSN, and Good Morning America!Promising reviews: "This device, with its suction base and spread design, keeps the food item under its fingers to allow the thawing process to complete in less than half the time by just putting it in the water. And before you object, 'that's not safe, the temperature will rise too much and promote bacteria growth' — I have ServSafe certs. I know my time and temp levels, and those are in no way even close to approaching the danger zone unless you leave it for hours before cooking. I recommend this item for anyone, but especially anyone who has time constraints for evening dinner prep or any other time for that matter." —mudhen7"This thing is excellent. I make my own dog food and frequently decide to do it at the last minute. This makes life so much easier. It really does allow the meat to thaw in about 15 minutes, which speeds up browning the ground meat. Thank you for a very simple but very much needed kitchen tool!" —Jane KLearn more about safe food thawing methods it from Amazon for $10.95. A rapid ramen cooker, as seen on Shark Tank, that'll let you make perfect noodles without having to boil water on the stove. Promising reviews: "Makes cooking ramen easier, no cover needed. Thought it was a bit expensive but it makes perfect ramen without the mess. Best texture noodles, way better than the stove." —Rupert"LOVED this product! I will be using it a TON! Worked exactly as advertised and you can tell it will hold up well in the future! It's the perfect size and impossible to screw up. Made for the microwave, it has a fill line for the water and you cook it for 4 minutes. I've added the seasoning both before and after cooking and it made no difference for me. Solves the problem of having to dirty a pan to cook the noodles and speeds up the whole process greatly. The noodles are cooked perfectly and a wonderful texture. The pan cleans quickly and easily and then you can eat out of it!! Handy handles that don't burn your hands. LOVED this item. An absolute MUST for the Ramen Noodle lovers out there!! BUY this, you WON'T regret it! What a useful, wonderful invention!" —Kay AGet a pack of two from Amazon for $15.99+ (available in various multi-packs and in 11 colors). A no-touch cooking thermometer to simultaneously make sure you're not serving under or overcooked meat while also making cleanup a breeze! No actual meat touching = no scrubbing in the sink later. Hallelujah. Promising review: " believe I waited this long to get one of these. speeds up the whole process." —JoAnn MahaffeyGet it from Amazon for $18.99 (available in five colors). A spiralizer that's not only easy to use, but oh-so-satisfying to watch (and eat), too. Promising review: "This clever kitchen tool turned zucchini into spaghetti-like strings in a couple of minutes. It was fun! I boiled the zucchini strings and ate them topped with homemade spaghetti sauce." —1SimpleCookGet it from Walmart for $16. A nonstick meat and potato masher ready to break up and ~chop chop~ ground meat, potatoes, and other foods in a flash. It's way easier and more efficient than trying to force another tool to do it. This is made for the *chop* and more than 46,000 reviewers agree. Promising reviews: "Why did I wait so long to buy one of these? The same day I received it, I was making broccoli, and my hubby doesn't like it in big chunks, so I decided to try to break up the broccoli with it, and it was SO fast and easy!! I wish I had bought one sooner!" —Jennifer139"I've seen the chefs use this device and thought I would give it a try. It did speed the process up in breaking up a block of ground beef." —LoreGet it from Amazon for $11.82+ (available in black and blue). A set of two cast-iron burger presses you can use for all your grilling needs in these last few weeks of summer (*sobs about the impending end of grilling season*). The set comes with one circular press and one rectangular press!Promising review: "Bought them for smash burgers and to help cook quickly. They work great and are easy additions that speed cooking if you are on a flat top. Burgers to Bacon, they make light and fun work of grilling. They also fit inside most of my cast iron pans too." —RAKJGet it from Amazon for $29.99+ (also available as individual sets and other set variations). A hand immersion blender to make your cooking smooth, literally. Perfect for smoothies, sauces, and soups. Promising reviews: "So happy I bought this. My old one, from the thrift store, cracked. It was an oldy! This one is awesome! Blends the soup so well and fast!!!! Great find!" —Sandy Butler"Used for the first time to speed up the breakdown of strawberries for a strawberry reduction for a cake. Did a beautiful job. I am most impressed with the weight and construction of the pieces. Great buy for the money." —Amazon CustomerGet it from Amazon for $34.99. A rice cooker here to take over the task of making your side dish. Just throw your grains in the bowl, set it up, and let the magic of not having to do anything take over. Promising reviews: "For the size and price, this is a great rice cooker. I've been using my Instant Pot for years to cook rice, and it's been mostly fine; however, this cooker just works better. Not only that, it comes with a vegetable steamer. Now I can use the instapot for cooking actual meat/stew and use the rice cooker along with it speeding up cook time." —Adam S. Get it from Amazon for $25.75+ (available in four sizes). A pair of herb scissors that'll make Taco Tuesday prep even easier with five-blade shears ready to chop up extra onions and cilantro. Who doesn't love extra onions and cilantro? Promising reviews: "I've recently tried growing some herbs on my patio and have loved using herbs in cooking. These make life so much easier. After I clean my herbs, these scissors make it easy to quickly cut them into small pieces. The design is brilliant. The plastic cover helps get herb pieces off the scissors, so there's no waste. It's easy to wash, too." —Lori"Wow, you will not regret this purchase. It's one of those you don't think you need, but YOU REALLY DO NEED IT. If it saves that much time, it's worth the investment." —KristinH515Get it from Amazon for $9.99. A Ninja Crispi, my personal kitchen helper, that's helped me cook at home more and more. How can you not cook at home when this nifty and compact device makes it so easy? It has four settings that allow you to make small or family-sized meals. It comes with a handy booklet with recipes and guides on settings for your favorite meals (it even has one for frozen hashbrowns, my personal fave). And when you're done cooking, the glass cooking dish is also your Tupperware *with* lid. It got 5 stars from me and them. ⬇️ Promising reviews: "It was time to replace my old, tired air fryer. I love several other Ninja kitchen appliances, so Ninja was the first company I looked at. That's where I found the Ninja Crispi. I was intrigued by the glass cooking compartment and its unique design. It air fries my frozen fries and tater tots evenly. I also air-fried three boneless pork chops for 15 minutes, which were so juicy and perfectly cooked! The glass cooking compartment is a breeze to clean, too. I could not be more pleased with this air fryer!" —Babs"I currently have a kitchen with no oven and a very small stovetop. This is a GAME CHANGER. I've used this several times today after receiving it in the mail. Made baked sweet potatoes, air fried chicken wings, air fried fish sandwiches - this thing is AWESOME. Considering getting other ninja products. I've been eyeing the CREAMI for ice cream and sorbet. I love this brand. Ninja 👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽 even if you get this just to reheat leftovers, it's amazing. You won't regret it." —VickyGet it from Amazon for $159.95+ (available in six colors). A trio pan that'll let you try out three different lasagna recipes at one time. This is an excellent find for people who like to meal prep for the week. Promising reviews: "I love the ability to make three different types of lasagnas since I have three picky eaters. I have also used this to make three different types of cakes as well. It is so worth the money if you plan on making different dishes or just have a family of picky eaters." —Mmperry"There's nothing but good coming from this pan! Yummy, crunchy edges on every piece! I made three different kinds of lasagna in this pan, and all I can say is that there were already plans for the next batch before this one was gone! This pan is heavy-duty, has an awesome nonstick coating, and will definitely stand up to much use. The recipe called for spraying the pan with nonstick spray, but it was completely unnecessary. I've already suggested this pan to others." —sreneeGet it from Amazon for $19.49. A magnetic air fryer cheat sheet in case you're ready to risk it all mixing and matching to create your own air-fryer-friendly recipes. Seems like no matter how many times I make chicken, I still can't remember what temp or time to cook chicken on. Anyone else have that problem? A rectangular lazy Susan, a simple contraption so convenient and practical you'll wonder why you didn't buy it sooner. Easily access your daily go-tos without having to move the ketchup and creamer out of the way several times a day. All you have to do is spin it. A mason jar cold brew maker here to have your *cold* cup of Joe ready when you wake up in the morning. Not a coffee person? Have no fear, reviewers also love to use this mason jar to brew their favorite iced teas or infused waters. A dishwasher-safe garlic peeler that TBH is one of those things that you think you have in the kitchen until you buy garlic, and then you realize you don't have it. You'll never not need it because everything is better with garlic. This includes a ventilated case for review: "This thing is awesome. Made of a thick, quality silicone, it feels like it's made to last. This doesn't feel like a cheap, flimsy kitchen tool. Plus, I like that it has a plastic box to keep it clean. I read a bunch of reviews before buying, because there are a ton of garlic peelers on Amazon for super low prices. I chose this one because I trust Oxo as a brand, have many of their other products, and they've lasted. Plus, positive reviews and a protective case. I'm SO happy I got this thing. I put in 2 cloves of garlic, press lightly on the countertop, and roll it, and BAM. Fresh, clean cloves ready to mince for my recipe. A great kitchen tool to simplify and speed up your process." —AfrobellaGet it from Amazon for $9.99. Or! A Dracula garlic mincer, an unserious yet super helpful kitchen gadget that'll give you another reason to smile while making garlic bread. It's a little ironic, too. A vampire that minces garlic — get it? 😂 A KitchenAid stand mixer duh. If you've ever tried to bake, mix, cook, etc., without one of these babies, you know the struggle. This makes the whole putting-all-the-ingredients-together process so much easier and faster. Promising reviews: "I contemplated buying this for quite a while, but didn't due to the price. My husband finally put it in the cart during sales and bought it for me. I am so glad he did! I love it. It makes the job of baking so much quicker, easier, and enjoyable." —MNShopper"I love that this mixer is so heavy-duty. My kids and I like to bake a lot. The way the paddle blade whips up a bar cookie dough is super fast. I like that I can lock the stainless steel bowl down and control the speed of the mixing process. I've yet to have a tough cookie after switching from my hand mixer to the stand mixer. The wire whisk blade also creates the most fluffy meringue, so light and airy. Once again, being able to control the speed of the whisking action has been key in this process. I also love, love, love the dough hook. I have a sourdough bread recipe that calls for a total of 6 cups of flour. Mixing it with my hand mixer was impossible, and stirring by hand was exhausting. However, this mixer's dough blade attachment did the work in hardly no time at all. I was able to put all the ingredients together and get on with the good part of baking bread much faster and having that wonderful aroma permeate my house." —Amazon CustomerGet it from Amazon for $379.95 (available in 20 colors). A 4-in-1 chopper, spiralizer, dicer and slicer ideal for meal prepping. You can chop onions and nuts, mince herbs, or spiralize zuchinni. And it's compact, which makes it a great addition to kitchens with little to no counter space. Promising review: "What a time saver. I made Pico de Gallo in a couple of minutes. As for the cilantro, I placed 1/2 a jalapeno on the blades, then cilantro. Chopped beautifully. Works very well, well worth the $$." —Yvette GarzaGet it from Amazon for $29.99 (available in five colors). A crepe maker, in case you've constantly tried to make those buttery, thin, flaky sheets of utter goodness, only to be left with a burnt paper-like bready structure. It stops today! Promising reviews: "This thing is great. You can cook a pile of crepes in half the time it takes using a large pan or griddle, and it's way easier. They're perfectly sized and shaped, too." —MixedProducts"My kids love crepes, and I debated a lot if this would be worth it or not — 100% worth it! Makes crepe making so easy! I taught my kids, so now they can make their own. So happy I took a chance on it and got it!" —JenGet it from Amazon for $29.99 (available in seven colors). A rapid egg cooker so you can boil, poach, scramble, or even make an omelet super quickly. Now, you can finally fit breakfast into your morning routine. You'll get picture-perfect eggs every time — just look at the pictures below. 👇🏽 Promising reviews: "This little device speeds up cooking of soft, medium, and hard-boiled eggs by at least 10 minutes because I don't have to wait for water to boil in a pot first. Water starts steaming very quickly. The alarm isn't super loud either. Put the eggs in an ice bath afterwards, and they peel easily. Comes with a measuring cup that also has a pin on the bottom to puncture the eggs before cooking. Excellent instructions, too. It also makes poached and small omelets too." —D.G."This is the best kitchen appliance I have bought in a long time! Super easy and quick to use. I have a busy schedule, and I make egg salad a LOT to take with saves me SO much time and effort. Set it and forget it, but the super loud, continuous buzzer/alarm will NOT let you forget it, which is a nice safety design. Takes exactly 16 minutes to boil eggs, and they are perfect. They're also REALLY easy to peel! I've never peeled eggs so easily before. Huge plus that I hadn't even considered. This little contraption is also pretty small and stores easily. Even if you only boil eggs once in a while, it's worth it!" —Jaime BGet it from Amazon for $17.94+ (available in nine colors).Check out our Dash rapid egg cooker review for more deets! A double breakfast sandwich maker because yes, one would probably take up less space, but you know you're gonna want another, so let's not pretend. Or, you can make two because you know your partner is going to see how good yours looks, and instead of sharing, you can hand them their own. Promising reviews: "I have had this for six months now and use it all the time!!!! Need an easy supper idea…breakfast sammiches!!! Need a quick breakfast!!! Four minutes is all it takes! No more babysitting an egg on the stove and messing with a toaster hoping it melts your cheese…. I'm ordering a second one so I have one for camp and one for home!!!" —Amazon Customer"My husband loves a great breakfast sandwich. This was fun, and quick, and gave us lots of yummy ideas. The quality was actually amazing and really elevated breakfast and lunch. High performance at a super cheap price, well worth it, and will be buying more for gifts. It's quick to clean and stores easily away. The plates are great quality and it's super stable. My kids love it for a quick meal on the run." —Michelle JurichGet it from Amazon for $38.49. A two-basket Ninja air fryer that'll let you cook just about anything you want from the comfort of your dorm. You won't even miss your oven back home. With the double baskets, you can cook two different foods at the same time. Promising reviews: "So I had the original air fryer with one compartment and I was just fine with that. But getting this opened me up to more possibilities. You can cook double the food at separate temperatures much faster. It's got a bit of weight on it but it's sturdy. A little quieter than I expected, too." —UncleNahshon"I have 3 kids and this speeds up dinner time by A LOT. It's one of, if not the best, kitchen item I've purchased." —David GarrisonGet it from Amazon for $159.99 (available in different sizes). A mandoline slicer because, despite the number of tutorials you've watched, cutting even, symmetrical veggies just isn't your strong suit, and that's completely okay. Promising review: "This mandoline has made my life a lot easier when it comes to cooking. It is incredibly sharp, can be adjusted to slice even the most paper-thin slices, and I really like the attachments for salads/garnishes/pickle making, etc." —Angeline"I really have enjoyed using the slicer. I do a lot of raw foods, and it certainly speeds up the process." —Sheila LarsonGet it from Amazon for $30. A set of stainless-steel measuring cups (and spoons!) for quickly portioning off your ingredients so you can get all your ducks in a row before it's time to combine them all for your secret marinade or cupcake batter. Promising reviews: "Simply love everything about the measuring cups and spoons. The extra measuring markings on each cup surprised me and make my 'baking time' go so much faster! Now I can free up drawer space by discarding old plastics with unreadable markings. Thank you for a great product!" —Kricket"This is my second set. I just wanted an extra set to help speed up time on big cooking days. Love them!" —BethGet a 12-piece set from Amazon for $42.99. A pancake batter dispenser sure to make you the ruler of hotcake perfection. You'll ~wow~ with your next set of pancakes, waffles, crepes, and more, as long as you get the measurements right. You can also use it to dispense cake batter, too. KPKitchen is the small business that created this nifty contraption. Promising reviews: "I just upgraded my pancake game!! This thing was SUPER easy and not messy at ALL!! 5/5 review from me! Get yours NOW!" —Bobbi Ocker"I saw this on Instagram and had to get it. I am pretty much happy with the product. It's very easy to use. Really, anyone can use it, and it doesn't make a lot of mess. It can be a pain to clean, but just a little. Make sure to thoroughly clean. And make sure to have no lumps at all, or you will find the batter difficult to dispense. Overall, I am satisfied, and it speeds up the process." —Jessica it from Amazon for $24.99.
Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Chicago Tribune
Naperville News Digest: Long Table Dinner to benefit West Suburban Community Pantry; Knox Church's garden walk raises $5,000 for food bank
The 6th annual Long Table Dinner on Water Street will take place from 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 7, outside the Hotel Indigo in downtown Naperville. The chefs of Water Street will prepare a six-course meal with a welcome cocktail and four wine pairings, a news release said. Music will be provided by Pete Ellman Jazz, and guests are asked to dress in all-white attire. A silent auction is part of the event. Tickets for $195 each or $1,560 for a table of eight are on sale now. The deadline to make a reservation at is Sept. 3. Proceeds support the West Suburban Community Pantry, which serves 1,000 people each week in the Naperville area. Knox Presbyterian Church in Naperville donated $5,000 to the Northern Illinois Food Bank in Geneva as part of its annual Garden Walk fundraiser. More than 300 people toured six Naperville-area gardens on July 12. The walk is sponsored by the Presbyterian Women of Knox Church. Members of the Garden Walk committee presented a money to Northern Illinois Food Bank's Christine Fisher to assist the agency in supplying food to pantries across 11 counties, including Loaves & Fishes in Naperville, a news release said. For every dollar donated, the food bank can buy $8 worth of groceries for Illinois families, according to the release. The Naperville Cemetery gravestones for Pvt. William Barber, a Black Hawk War veteran, and Sgt. George E. Hall, a Civil War veteran, were replaced and rededicated thanks to a $2,500 grant and a private donor. Barber was among 70 soldiers who died between April and August 1832. While few details are available, he may have been among the 12 militiamen killed during a retreat at the Battle of Stillman's Run in Illinois, a news release said. Hall was born in England in 1839 and enlisted in Company D, 156th Illinois Infantry. Though he survived the Civil War, he died at the age of 40 in 1879. Brenda Ajster, a veteran and member of the Fort Payne Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, provided a monetary gift for the gravestones. Among the organizations attending the July 26 rededication ceremony were the Fort Payne Chapter NSDAR, based in Naperville, the Judd Kendall VFW Post 3873 and the Naperville Honor Guard. Naperville Preservation Inc. is hosting a summer social from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 13, at the Judd Kendall VFW Post 3873, 908 Jackson Ave. The event is free to members but open to anyone interested in historic preservation. Tickets for nonmembers are $10 each. Membership to Naperville Preservation is $25. Snacks and soft drinks will be served, and beer and wine available to buy. The event serves as an opportunity to discuss historic preservation in Naperville, including the city's historic district, mid-century modern homes and downtown buildings, an event announcement said. Architect Tom Ryan, Naperville Preservation's chief preservation officer, will talk about the '10 Commandments of Timeless Design for Houses of Any Age.' For tickets, go to For questions about membership, email napervillepreservation@
San Francisco Chronicle
3 days ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
US military chaplaincy marks 250 years of providing spiritual support to service members
(RNS) — In 1775, a year before there was a United States and six weeks after the Continental Army was formed, George Washington made a declaration that has shaped the military ever since. 'We need chaplains,' he reportedly remarked, prompting action by the Continental Congress near the start of the Revolutionary War. The U.S. military chaplaincy marked 250 years on July 29 as the national military marked its own 250th anniversary in June. A week of celebrations includes a golf tournament at Fort Jackson in South Carolina, hosted by an organization raising funds for scholarships for family members of chaplains, and a sold-out ball nearby in Columbia. Meanwhile, across the globe, thousands of clergy in uniform continue to provide counsel and care to military members of a range of faiths or no faith. 'In times of peace and war, our chaplains have held fast as beacons of hope and resilience for our troops, whether enduring the brutal winter of Valley Forge, comforting the wounded and dying on the battlefields during the Civil War, braving trench warfare in World War I, storming the beaches of Normandy during World War II, marching the frozen mountains during the Korean War, slogging through the rice paddies and jungle battlefields of Vietnam or traveling the bomb-filled roads of Iraq and Afghanistan,' said retired Chaplain (Major General) Doug Carver, a former Army chief of chaplains in charge of the Southern Baptist Convention's chaplaincy ministries, at the denomination's June annual meeting in Dallas. A month later at the annual session of the Progressive National Baptist Convention in Chicago, Navy Chaplain J.M. Smith, the grandson of a former PNBC president, stood before delegates and described his just-completed tour as a Marine Corps command chaplain in Okinawa, Japan, and his plans to report to a ship in Norfolk, Virginia, to begin a tour of Europe and the Middle East and be promoted to lieutenant commander. 'My team and I have ministered to thousands of Marines, sailors, civilians and Japanese,' he said. 'We increased our chapel's membership from eight to 100. We incorporated spiritual readiness into our base's core curriculum.'' ___ Chaplains serve in hospitals, hospices and manufacturing plants, and while chaplaincy researchers see commonalities among them, there are also key differences in the military. All are involved in gaining the trust of people who are in their particular milieu, enabling them to think and sometimes pray through their times of greatest need and day-to-day struggles. An example of both the danger and the dedication of military service chaplaincy is the 1943 death of four chaplains — two Protestant, one Catholic and one Jewish — who helped save some of those aboard a World War II ship, turning over their life jackets and praying and singing hymns before it sank. All four were trained at Harvard University, then the site of the Army's chaplain training school, during a two-year wartime period. "It was a real defining moment,' said retired Gen. Steve Schaick, who served as Air Force chief of chaplains from 2018 to 2021, and in the same role for the Space Force from 2019 to 2021. 'The stories that came from that really kind of highlighted chaplains at their best.' The Army's chaplaincy corps also includes religious affairs specialists and religious education directors. Some service members provide armed protection to unarmed chaplains and set up worship spaces in on-base chapels or makeshift altars on truck hoods in the field. For example, Berry Gordy, who later founded Motown Records, served as a private in the Korean War and played a portable organ and was known as a chaplain assistant, notes ' Sacred Duty,' a new comic book posted on the Army's website to mark the anniversary. While 218 chaplains served in the Revolutionary War, 9,117 chaplains served in World War II, according to the Army. Currently, the Army has 1,500 chaplains on active duty. The Navy Chaplain Corps, which began on Nov. 18, 1775, had 24 chaplains during the Civil War; 203 by the end of World War I; 1,158 at its height in 1990; and currently has 898 on active duty, according to the Navy. 'Today's Chaplain Corps includes Chaplains representing a multitude of faith groups, and the Chaplain Corps recruiting team is actively working to increase the Corps' diversity, with a special focus on increasing the number of women Chaplains in the Corps and the number of Chaplains representing low-density faith groups,' reads an Army historical booklet marking the Chaplain Corps' 250 years. Initially, U.S. military chaplains were Protestants. The first Catholic chaplains served in the Mexican-American War in 1846, and the first rabbi was commissioned in 1862 and served in the Civil War. The first Muslim chaplains were commissioned in the Army in 1993. The first Buddhist Army chaplain was named in 2008, followed by the first Hindu chaplain in 2011. Chaplain Margaret Kibben, acting chaplain of the House of Representatives and former chief of chaplains of the Navy — the first woman in that role — said the isolation and the immediacy of ethical decisions faced by military members, as well as a high level of confidentially, can make the work of military chaplaincy teams different from other settings where chaplains work. 'It's the one place that people can go where there's essentially a sanctuary around them, wherever they find themselves, a safe place to have somebody to talk to about a whole host of issues,' she said, adding that topics can include anything from supporting their families to handling combat responsibilities. 'How do you deal with those issues in a place where you're not going to look stupid, you're not going to look weak or unreliable because you have these doubts and you have these concerns — to have a place that you can go to ensure that you can get that off your chest?' Those private conversations often are not faith-filled, added Kibben, reflecting on her military career that began in 1986. 'What I realized later, 20, 30 years later, was that many service members have never learned the language of faith,' she said, citing terms like confession and forgiveness. 'So as a chaplain, we had to figure out our way around the lack of a lexicon of faith. How do you speak about grace to someone who doesn't have a clue how powerful grace is?' Another change, sparked by the efforts of Julie Moore, the wife of a military officer who served in the Vietnam War, was the Army's method for notifying the next of kin when a soldier died. Soon after a 1960s battle in that war, a chaplain and a uniformed officer began teaming up to knock on families' doors; prior to that time, the news arrived in a telegram delivered by a cab driver. The work of chaplains has sometimes been the source of church-state debates. For example, Michael 'Mikey' Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for separation of church and state in the U.S. military, has questioned what he viewed as proselytism in the chaplains' ranks. Meanwhile, conservative Christian organizations have voiced concerns about an antipathy against some Christians in military ranks. Karen Diefendorf, a two-time Army chaplain and a board member of the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps Regimental Association, which supports chaplains and their families, said the primary goal for chaplains is 'to provide for the free exercise rights of every soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, Coast Guardsman.' She currently is an interim minister of an independent Methodist church in South Carolina, after serving as a chaplain at Tysons Foods and in hospice care. 'I had soldiers who were practitioners of Wiccan faith, and my job is not to say to them, 'Hey, wouldn't you like to love Jesus?'' she said, recalling how she assisted a Wiccan Army member serving in Korea. 'My job was to help that young soldier find where his particular group of folks met and where he could practice his faith.' Also during her service in Korea in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Diefendorf said she provided cassette tapes of sermons to soldiers and entrusted one with Communion elements because she knew she wouldn't be able to reach their location often. 'So far, the courts have upheld that you certainly have two competing clauses within the First Amendment, establishment and free exercise,' she said. 'And at this point, certainly chaplains have to walk that fine line not to create establishment in the midst of trying to also enable people to practice their beliefs.' Schaick recalled being deployed overseas in the Air Force when a new rabbi joined his staff. On arrival, the rabbi described himself as 'first and foremost a chaplain and secondarily a rabbi' — an order of priorities that Schaick said applies to chaplains to this day, regardless of their faith perspective. 'The longer you serve in the chaplaincy, I think the closer you get to really believing that — and therefore, religious affiliation becomes secondary,' he said. 'It's 'How're you doing today?' and 'I'd love to hear what's on your heart' and 'How can I be able to help you today?' Those kind of questions, quite frankly, are impervious to religious distinctions.'
