I don't normally deal with counterfactuals, but since I'm avoiding writing about why I think UUism (or most UU congregations) will stay white it's related.
So let's play the "what if..." game:
-What if Rev. William Jackson had been welcomed by the meeting of the nascent AUA instead of being given a few dollars and sent on his way?
-What if the Unitarians and Universalists had given the Joseph Jordans the money to found a seminary instead of doing misadventures in Japan?
-What if the AUA had left Ethelred Brown and the Harlem Unitarian Society alone instead of stripping him of his fellowship and sabotaging the church?
-What if the AUA (and the local ministers) had done anything (like recognize) Rev. William H.G. Carter and church he founded in Cincinnati?
-What if the UUA had followed through on its commitment to BAC?
And that's just the ones off the top of my head.
In a different view...what if the Unitarians had done like the Methodists, Baptists (Presbys and Lutherans to a much lesser extent) and had established a few Black congregations themselves? What is/was in Unitarian theology that stopped this from happening?
What's striking to me is the lack of imagination that U/U/UUs displayed and continue to display. I'll write about that eventually.
