Historian in Residence for Racial Justice
The Rev. Dr. Craig D. Townsend is the Historian in Residence for Racial Justice for the Diocese of Long Island. He spearheads the Uncovering Parish Histories project, which helps parishes explore their histories of involvement in slavery and the slave economy in antebellum America, of involvement in anti-slavery movements, and of later manifestations of both racial discrimination and injustice and racial reconciliation and justice.
During the 2020-21 academic year, Townsend researched the history of the antecedents of St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn Heights, where he serves as Associate for Faith Formation. He explored the involvement with slavery and the slavery economy of St. Ann’s Church (founded 1874) and Holy Trinity Church (founded 1847). The final report can be found on that parish’s page on this website.
Townsend received a Ph.D. in the Study of Religion (American Religious History) from Harvard University, and he is the author of Faith in Their Own Color: Black Episcopalians in Antebellum New York City (Columbia University Press, 2005). The book is now available in paperback - see the Resources page!
He has served in the ordained ministry of the Episcopal Church since 1982. Townsend is also a Visiting Scholar at Saint Ann's School in Brooklyn Heights.
Research Coordinator, Consultant
Bryan Clarke volunteers as a Consulting Research Coordinator to Uncovering Parish Histories, working with churches on a project by project basis as needed. Previously, Bryan was the assistant researcher from 2021 to 2023, working to facilitate teams finding information for their churches, and searching for supporting contextual data to make available to those teams.
Bryan came onto the project as a curious member of the Long Island community. By uncovering the roles the Church may have played in the institution of slavery, he believes we can begin to understand certain trends we see in our society today and make amends for a more just and blessed society.
Bryan is also an Outreach Assistant at the Queens Public Library, providing re-entry resources to incarcerated individuals and library services to Rikers Island jail.
