Note sull'episodio
This archival episode from 2022 features UUMUAC founder Rev. Dr. Finley C. Campbell, introduced warmly by Rev. Richard Trudeau. Trudeau begins by situating Campbell within the long Universalist tradition of honoring senior clergy, noting that Campbell—scholar, minister, activist, and teacher—has become a beloved figure in that lineage. Campbell’s academic path, from Morehouse to Atlanta University to his 1969 University of Chicago PhD, is highlighted alongside his decades of teaching literature, composition, and Black studies.
Listeners will hear Campbell sing several hymns with new lyrics he wrote specifically for this service, including “Oh, Freedom’s One Foundation Is Multiracial Unity.” The text shows him explaining that he rewrote traditional Christian hymns to better reflect a broad-based, multiracial UU faith. One example captures his approach when he sings, “Oh, freedom’s one foundation / Is multiracial unity / It is the power of struggle / For bright equality.”
The heart of the episode is Campbell’s farewell homily as a racial‑justice activist, delivered on the winter solstice. He describes his theological stance—“Marxist‑Leninist historical theism”—and uses the symbolism of the darkest night of the year to reflect on global suffering, hope, and the ongoing struggle for justice. He weaves biblical narrative, political critique, and social analysis into a meditation on light persisting through darkness.
Campbell then offers a sweeping autobiographical sermon recounting his five decades of activism, beginning with the night of Dr. King’s assassination in 1968. He describes organizing biracial responses in Atlanta, building Black student unions and John Brown Societies in Indiana, confronting academic racism in the 1970s, and later challenging what he saw as neo‑racist trends within Unitarian Universalism. His narrative emphasizes a lifelong commitment to building organizations rather than momentary movements.
The episode closes with Campbell’s reflection on UUMUAC itself—its endurance, its mission, and its potential. He celebrates the organization’s growth, its journal The MAC Arrow, its new leadership, and its role in sustaining multiracial UU values. In his final words as an activist, he passes the torch to future organizers, urging them to “build nuclei” and continue the work he began.