Submitted by Rodell Jefferson
PASADENA, Calif. — All Saints Church Pasadena will unveil a permanent plaque acknowledging and lamenting the parish’s participation in Jim Crow segregation at noon on Monday, September 14, 2026.
The gathering will take place at All Saints Church, 132 N. Euclid Avenue in Pasadena. All Saints clergy will be joined by leaders from local faith and community organizations for an act of public remembrance recognizing the church’s history of segregation as part of the wider history of Pasadena.
The plaque will be installed at the cornerstone of All Saints’ current church building, which was laid in 1923. Its inscription honors “the African Americans and people of color who were turned away from All Saints Church by its white parishioners during the Jim Crow era in Pasadena.” It recounts how eight African American women responded to that exclusion by gathering in their homes over several years to create a worship space of their own, founding what became St. Barnabas Episcopal Church a mile away in northwest Pasadena.
“We acknowledge and repent of these racist actions, and we ask forgiveness from the descendants of those excluded,” the inscription states. “Today, as we commit to living out our mission that all are welcome, we recognize our past history so that such racist actions may never be repeated.”
“This plaque is a significant outward and visible sign of the reckoning we are undertaking at All Saints with our past participation in discriminatory and racist practices,” said the Rev. Tim Rich, priest-in-charge of All Saints Church. “If we are to live more fully into the beloved community of belonging we hope to become, we have to truthfully acknowledge the sins of our past.”
The unveiling grows out of All Saints’ Telling the Whole Story project, established in 2023 to examine portions of the parish’s history that had not been fully acknowledged. The project’s work has included historical research, education and spiritual formation, relationship-building between All Saints and St. Barnabas, and examination of the economic harm caused by segregation.
The September 14 gathering is intended to create a shared public memory of this history and to affirm that honest remembrance must lead to continuing repentance, relationship and repair.
EVENT DETAILS
What: Unveiling of a plaque acknowledging All Saints Church’s participation in Jim Crow segregation
When: Monday, September 14, 2026, at noon
Where: All Saints Church, 132 N. Euclid Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101
MEDIA INFORMATION
Members of the media are invited to attend. Interviews and additional historical background are available by contacting Rodell Jefferson at rjefferson@allsaints-pas.org or (626) 676-1152.
ABOUT ALL SAINTS CHURCH PASADENA —Founded in 1883, All Saints Church is an Episcopal parish in Pasadena committed to radical inclusion, courageous justice, joyful spirituality and ethical stewardship. Its Telling the Whole Story project examines the parish’s history as part of an ongoing process of sel fexamination, repentance, reconciliation and repair.