Church Leadership, Participation and Activism & The Black Church and Family Traditions: Mr. Richard Tarrence
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Mr. Richard Tarrence (age 57; born 1945 in Cleveland, Ohio; moved to Maine in October 1975)
Mr. Richard Tarrence: “I was not. I had not really picked out a church. I had visited the AME church here. It’s an interesting point. I’m from an AME family, and this is an AME Zion church. I don’t know if you know anything about the AME Church. At one point they were one church and they split…I’m from a staunch AME church. My belief at that time was that, well, it’s not really my denomination, but it was the church here, so I would visit. And many people would try to get me involved in the AME Zion church, but I didn’t go back to that church until about 7 years ago and became a full-fledged member, a working member of that church. So, it was, to answer your question, it was off and on that I was going, and I was not regularly attending at that time…Just the traditional holidays. I mean, we had little things we’d do in the traditional holidays. Like, you know, as New Year’s it was the family gathering and the black-eyed peas and stuff. And I didn’t become aware of Kwanzaa until many years later – just recently. And I don’t do it as a family celebration, but I celebrate it with my church family. We have programs to celebrate Kwanzaa. But to answer your question: I had nothing specific other than just the traditional family gatherings that as a family we always held and to eat some traditional foods that we always ate.”
Publication Date
5-17-2002
Keywords
African American, Oral History, Maine, Church, Faith, Family
Recommended Citation
Talbot-Ross, Rachel, "Church Leadership, Participation and Activism & The Black Church and Family Traditions: Mr. Richard Tarrence" (2002). We Exist Series 3: Audio Recordings. 2.
https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/we-exist-exhibit3-audio/2
