Kyra and Jolyon Pruszinski, parishioners since 2012, have recently begun formal research for the Church on slavery in the Diocese of New Jersey. Kyra has been hired this year by Trinity to document our parish history with respect to slavery, building on the work done last year by Abigail Edwards during her gap year. Kyra has had a longstanding interest in history, anti-racism, and advocacy, and was a founding member of the People of Color Advocacy Group at West Windsor Plainsboro High School South.
Her dad, Jolyon, was recently hired by the Diocesan Reparations Commission to perform similar work at the Diocesan level. Jolyon comes to the job having worked for the past five years as a Lecturer in the History and Religion Departments at Princeton University. The position will involve a combination of archival work with individual parishes and documentation of this data within the broader historical sweep of social, legal, and religious developments from the colonial era to the present.
He writes: “The history of the Diocese is complicated. There are a lot of ways in which white New Jersey Episcopalians supported slavery and oppressed Black Americans, though at times some white Episcopalians resisted such actions. But there are also many instances of Black Episcopalians who faithfully made a way for themselves in spite of the actions of their white Episcopal siblings in the faith. These stories need to be remembered and lifted up. We can’t repair damage we don’t know about or won’t admit to. We can’t make a better future without remembering the past. It is important to bring these things to light so that we can do the right thing in the present.”