03/01/2026
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF THE MEDIATOR, BRONX CELEBRATES BLACK HISTORY (FEBRUARY) AND WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH! (MARCH)
Within the Church of the Mediator, there is a set of stained glass windows set on the rear wall of the nave, which honors Rev. John Campbell, who served as church rector from 1897 to 1937. It portrays religious figures but also Booker T. Washington and Jane Addams, who represent the "Apotheosis of Social Christianity", as practiced by the Episcopal Church.
These are key points of Social Apotheosis:
* Represents the highest ideal of integrating faith with social justice.
* Emphasizes the moral responsibility of Christians to address societal issues.
* It advocates for the transformation of society through love and service, encourages active participation in community welfare and activism, and highlights the importance of compassion and empathy in social actions.
Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, and orator. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the primary leader in the African-American community and of the contemporary Black elite.
He was a leading African-American leader and intellectual of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He founded an educational establishment in Alabama and promoted a philosophy of economic self-reliance and self-improvement for the black population. Born a slave, Washington grew up in a deeply racist and segregated society. Due to the deeply entrenched hostility, he felt it was necessary to accept segregated laws and concentrate on economic and cultural self-improvement. However, his conservative stance on race relations became increasingly criticised by a new generation of civil rights leaders who wished to be more assertive in challenging segregation and the Jim Crow Laws.
Washington is widely acknowledged for playing a significant role in promoting education for African-Americans and slowly raising the hopes and aspirations of an oppressed people. [https://biographyonline.net/politicians/american/booker-t-washington-biography.html]
Booker T. Washington became the first African American to be invited to the White House in 1901, when President Theodore Roosevelt invited him to dine with him. It caused a huge uproar among white Americans—especially in the Jim Crow South—and in the press, and came on the heels of the publication of his autobiography, “Up From Slavery.” But Roosevelt saw Washington as a brilliant advisor on racial matters, a practice his successor, President William Howard Taft, continued.[https://www.history.com/articles/booker-t-washington -T.-Washington:-First-African-American-in-the-White-House}
Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 – May 21, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker,[3][4] sociologist, public administrator, philosopher, and author. She was a leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage. In 1889, Addams co-founded Hull House, one of America's most famous settlement houses, in Chicago, Illinois, providing extensive social services to poor, largely immigrant families.
Philosophically a "radical pragmatist", she was arguably the first woman public philosopher in the United States. In the Progressive Era, when even presidents such as Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson identified themselves as reformers and might be seen as social activists, Addams was one of the most prominent reformers. She Promoted peace and international cooperation, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Addams]
These windows were a gift from not of a single individual or family, but of the choir, women’s guilds, and other congregants, sometime in the 1930s.
Learn more about the Episcopal Church of the Mediator in Kingsbridge, the Bronx at
https://www.churchofthemediator.org/
