 National Coalition for Burned Churches Records
Collection DescriptionHistorical NoteThe National Coalition for Burned Churches began in 1996 as the Suth Carolina Burned Church Restoration Coalition, headquartered in Charleston, SC. One year later the organization expanded its scope and reorganized itself as the National Coalition for Burned Churches and Community Empowerment. The mission of this mutliracial, interdenominational organization was to provide assistance and resources to congregations recovering from arson and collect data on hate crimes targeting houses of worship--churches, synogogues, and mosques. Its victim assistance program included offering a central point of contact for victims to report church burnings and request assistance; a law enforcement bias hotline; legal assistance; and access to processionals trained in dealing with trauma and loss. Through site visits and such events as the annual Church Burning Status Conference, the NCBC created a nationwide network for responding to, recovering from, and preventing hate crimes targeting houses of worship. The NCBC's first president was Reverend Terrance Mackey, pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Greeleyville, SC. In 1995, two members of the Ku Klux Klan set fire to Mt. Zion Baptist. This attack attracted national attention, including a visit by President Bill Clinton. The event inspired Rev. Mackey to form the SCBCRC and later the NCBC. The organization's board of directors included seventeen other ministers from around the United States representing churches that had been targeted by arsonists. In 1998, the NCBC organized the Church Burning Research Center to "maintain a permanent central repository of contemporary church burning activity," in the hope of identifying "hot spots of church-directed violence" and identifying those responsible. Reverend Rose Johnson-Mackey, first vice-president of the NCBC and program director of the Center for Democratic Renewal, served as the research director of the Center. The CDR provided some initial seed data in the form of crime reports and media coverage. The Research Center then built upon this through site visits and field surveys. In the early 2000s, the Coalition moved from Charleston to Gainesville, GA. Around 2015 the Coalition dissolved due to a lack of funding. Scope and ContentThis collection contains reports, correspondence, incident reports, and other working documents produced by the National Coalition for Burned Churches during its years of operation, as well as publications and news media items collected by the Coalition during that time. The bulk of the collection are its internal administrative documents, detailing the daily operations of this inter-state nonprofic organization, including grant applications, internal memos and external correspondence, special projects, and annual reports. The most valuable information can be found in the arson reports found in Series V, sub-series D: Yearly Church Burning Files. These files contain locations, police reports, and other data concerning arsons committed against houses of worship throughout the United States from the 1980s through the early 2010s. Organization and ArrangementThis collection is organized into eight series reflecting the filing system employed by the Coalition during its years of operation. Series I: Administrative Files Series II: Resource Library Series III: Rebuilding Resources Series IV: Photographs Series V: Church Burning Research Center Files Series VI: Oversized Items and Memorabilia Series VII: Audiovisual Recordings Series VIII: Electronic Records The Church Burning Research Center files are further subdivided into four sub-series: State Arson Division Files, Activity Files, Research Issues, and Yearly Church Burning Files. Each series features notes with a more detailed description of the contents, as well as any information about the filing system. Administrative InformationAccess RestrictionsThis collection is open for research. This collection contains digital files. To access these files, please request the folders you would like through the finding aid using your research account. An archivist will be in contact with you to explain how to access the files. Please note that not all file formats are currently supported by the library for research use. This collection contains audiovisual materials. Reference copies of the audiovisual recordings are available upon request. Research requests will be filled as soon as possible and will be dependent upon the condition of the recordings. Preferred CitationNational Coalition for Burned Churches Records. Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia, 30602-1641. Finding Aid PublicationFinding Aid prepared by Robert Lay, Lacy Hamilton, Jessie Wylie, 2022. General NotesDocuments in this collection describe traumatic acts performed against minority communities. Some users might find this content disturbing. Related Materials and SubjectsSubject TermsRelated Collections in this RepositorySnapshots of the NCBC's website, ncfbc.org, are available through the Internet Archives Wayback Machine at: https://web.archive.org/web/20090601000000*/ncfbc.org The Coalition lost its domain registry between October and November 2009, so any website captures after October 12, 2009 do not reflect content created by the NCBC. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||