DID YA KNOW… First UU History
MAY 2025: DID YA KNOW… The American Unitarian Association Was Organized On May 25, 1825
William Ellery Channing was born into a reputable Newport, RI. Family on April 7, 1780 He began his formal education at the prestigious Newport Academy where he developed an interest in literature and the arts. In 1794 he entered Harvard College and it was here that his doctrinal beliefs were influenced by the moral as well as spiritual aspects of Christian liberal theology. Upon graduation in 1798, Channing chose to enter the ministry. Prior to beginning a period of self-support, he returned to Newport for the summer.
At that time Newport, RI was a popular summer resort favored by wealthy Southern landowners. Channing came to the attention of David Meade Randolph vacationing there with his family.
Randolph was impressed by his character and accomplishments and offered him a tutor position in Richmond, VA.
The Randolph family members held positions of influence and power at the state and federal levels of government. They were old Dominion aristocrats; cordial, elegant, and sophisticated families found seated among the Founding Fathers. David Randolph was a successful inventor, holding patients for improvements in candle making, the drawing of liquor, and shipbuilding. His position as United States Marshal of Virginia, under the administrations of Washington and Adams, along with Mary Randolph’s reputation as one of the city’s leading hostesses, made their home a center for Richmond’s Federalist Society.
In order to satisfy the need for additional funds to continue his education at Cambridge, Channing accepted the position as tutor to the children of David Meade Randolph and a few of his neighbors, about twelve in all. He recalls, in a letter to a friend, that “the time he spent there was perhaps the most eventful of his life.”
Channing’s introduction into this elevated strata of social life brought with it an array of new experiences. He was charmed by the elegance of the Randolph’s hospitality and their apparent lack of concern for money but his exposure to the undercurrents of Virginia politics and the Southern tribal family structures, based on honor and evangelical religious beliefs, eventually began to chafe against his personal values.
Eventually, it was the realization that this gracious society was built upon the labor of enslaved people that drove him into isolation. Channing moved into one of Moldavia’s outbuildings, avoiding all social contact except for his students. He spent long hours of study and sleepless nights struggling in the silence with the intellectual and moral questions that would give meaning to his life within a world of conflict. This period of extreme physical neglect eventually resulted in permanent damage to his health. He later recalled, “If I ever struggled with my whole soul for purity, truth, and goodness, it was there.” Channing returned to Newport in 1800 and after completing his studies in theology at Cambridge, was ordained and installed Minister of the Federal Street Society.
The American Unitarian Association (AUA) was formally organized on May 25, 1825. Its founding began with a club of twenty liberal-minded and public-spirited citizens, known as The Anonymous Association. Meetings were held at the house of Hon. Josiah Quincy. Dr. Channing was chosen as their President at the (W.E. Channing) organizational meeting on January 27, 1825. When he declined the office due to his physical disabilities Aaron Bancroft was the elected first President.
A series of newspaper articles, on the major faiths represented in Richmond, were published by Alison Lane in 1958. A quote from “On Freedom of Thought” refers to the time William Ellery Channing spent in Richmond.
“ The writings of this distinguished essayist and clergyman indicate that it was during his two years here that he underwent the “intellectual and moral conflicts, the excitement of heart and mind, that played a major part in his later becoming known as “The Father of American Unitarianism.”
The Richmond Church can claim with some justification that their city was the birthplace of American Unitarianism, though it was actually in Baltimore in 1819 that Channing, then a Congregationalist minister, preached the sermon that made him the acknowledged leader of a liberal religious movement that was to become organized as the American Unitarian Association in 1825.”
Rev. O. Eugene Pickett served as Minister for the First Unitarian Church in Richmond, VA (1954-1961).
He held the office of President of the Unitarian Universalist Association from 1979 to 1985.
Rev. Robert N. West, a member of First Unitarian Church in Richmond, VA, was ordained as a Minister in 1957. He held the office of President of the Unitarian Universalist Association from 1969 to 1977.
APRIL 2025: DID YA KNOW… More History on Pitkin and DuBois
John Budd Pitkin was called as the first settled minister for the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Richmond, Virginia in 1830. Rev. Pitkin was born in the village of Great Barrington, Massachusetts January 24, 1803, to Merwin Pitkin and Maria Budd Pitkin.
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born, a free African American, in the village of Great Barrington, Massachusetts February 23, 1868. W. E B. Du Bois became known as a sociologist historian, author, editor, and activist for the first half of the 20th century.
Both grew up in a fatherless home, raised by their mothers with the assistance of grandparents. Both were recognized as above average students with exceptional abilities. Both attended the First Congregationalist Church of Great Barrington but it is here that the common path of John Budd Pitkin and W. E. B. Du Bois separates.
John descended from the 14th century Pitcairnes of Warwood Castle, Northumberland, England. William’s mixed heritage descended through Dutch, African and English ancestors on their path to freedom.
John was encouraged by his religious leader, a Rev. Wheeler, to accept excessive leadership responsibilities for his age. He attended four different academies over short periods of time but in each instance he was required to return home, suffering from exhaustion and his ever present symptoms of consumption. A sense of failure created by his inability to formally graduate and his struggle to define his religious beliefs may have been the cause of his erratic acts that led to censure by the church leadership. John was deeply wounded by what he believed to be an injustice and left Great Barrington to take a teaching position in Maryland.
It was in Baltimore that John met Rev. Otis Skinner and was introduced to the tenants of Universalism. Rev. Skinner led him into its ministry in Richmond where he found acceptance and was shown appreciation for his leadership and dedication to his congregation.
In 1835, Rev. Pitkin died from the chronic lung disorder that had been his lifetime plague. He was not yet 33 years old.
William was part of a racial minority in the village and attended the small integrated public school. His scholastic ability was recognized and encouraged in Great Barrington.
When he was old enough to attend college, members of the First Congregational Church provided assistance toward his tuition. He went on to graduate from three great institutions of learning: Fisk University, Harvard University and the University of Berlin. His accomplishments in the academic field and civil rights gained notable recognition: Author, Professor, Founder of the Niagara Movement, Social Activist, Research Director for the NAACP and editor of its magazine, The Crisis.
First UU research into Du Bois’ religious background revealed him to be a pragmatic religious naturalist. Author Jonathon S. Kahn, in his book “Divine Discontent, the Religious Imagination of Du Bois,” compares his anti-metaphysical viewpoint in the sphere of religious naturalism as typified by William James, George Santayana and John Dewey. In “W.E.B. Du Bois, American Prophet,” author Edward J. Blum writes, “W.E.B. Du Bois is shown to be thoughtful and creative on topics of religion, to possess a religious ingenuity rarely recognized. But he is not, in the comparative historical sense, religious. He was a church reformer who rarely attended church. He was priest with no church, a prophet who presented his works as history, sociology and fiction.”
By 1961, Du Bois had become completely disillusioned with the lack of progress in the United States and chose exile in Accra, Ghana, where he died in 1963 at the age 95.
The sixty-five years that separated their births encompassed major paradigm changes in scientific and industrial development as well as social and religious thought, all of which affected how these men perceived life and were regarded by the world they lived in.
DID YA KNOW… The start of Unitarianism in Richmond
From their founding in 1830, the church membership had been able to rely on Rev. Dods’ leadership and fundraising capacity. He had left an organized group of lay-leaders installed for his recommended successor. John Budd Pitkin stepped into his ministerial position with confidence, leading the congregation for two years prior to his ordination and the dedication of the First Independent Christian Church of Richmond, in January 1833.
Under normal economic conditions, many religious institutions were plagued with financial issues, often resulting from delinquent cash pledges. However, their routine local shortages evolved into a national crisis when President Jackson accused U.S. Bank executives of major abuses and withdrew all of the public funds from the national bank. Citizens, with deposits in the Richmond branch of the national bank, believed that it was on the verge of failure and they joined the rush to withdraw their money, adding to a serious finical panic that began near the end of 1833 and continued through 1834.
By May of 1834, the very survival of the church was under threat for lack of resources to pay their bills. Lay-leaders formed a committee and scheduled a meeting to explore their options. Dr. Robert Briggs was appointed Chairman and Capt. Blair Bolling served as Secretary. The committee agreed upon a resolution to sell the church to its members; shares in the church property were to be offered for sale for the explicate purpose of resolving their financial deficit. Their attorney, Joseph Mayo, was provided with the necessary details to draw up a Deed of Conveyance of the Property to the Subscribers for shares of stock ownership of church property. This venture resulted in enough capital to pay their current bills and avoid closure of the church.
-excerpts from First UU historical archives
DID YA KNOW… Unitarians restarted the Richmond Public Forum
In the 1960s, the city’s second forum, again named the Richmond Public Forum, was the re-creation of the First Unitarian Church’s adult education committee. It grew out of the church discussion groups. The new forum committee borrowed $500 in startup funds from the church.
The group recalled that it began one August afternoon in the basement of the Unitarian church. A group of church members gathered to create a gift we could give to the community. Someone suggested restarting the Richmond Public Forum that had died some years ago.
Some Unitarians talked about their desire to bring back the new Richmond Forum in February of 1963; and the mission for the Forum, later, informed the citizenry for a working democracy. The list of speakers for the new Richmond Public Forum included NBC-TV News Commentator Chet Huntley, writer Gordon Hall and Norman Cousins. Chet Huntley reportedly spoke about racism and politics. Today, the Richmond Forum still presents powerful voices so Richmond can learn from national speakers by elevating public discourse throughout the Richmond region.
-excerpts from 2015 Ray McAllister’s The Forum Files and The Richmond Forum