Local faith communities have been working together on a course called “Overcoming Racism” over the last three Wednesday evenings—May 3, 10 and 17. Three more meetings are to come in this six-part series: May 24, 31 and June 7, 6:30 PM-8:00 PM, at First Congregational Church 200 N Main Street, Mount Vernon, Ohio. The classes are open to the entire community, and are supported and presented by First Congregational Church, Gay Street Methodist Church, St Paul Episcopal Church, All Souls Unitarian-Universalist Church, Apostolic Faith Church and Beulah Apostolic Church. The class centers around the book Overcome: My Life in Pursuit of a Dream by Dr. Ellamae Simmons. The book is available or can be ordered at Paragraphs Bookstore in downtown Mount Vernon.

The class on racism is jointly led by Rev. Scott Elliott, Father David Kendall-Sperry, Pastor Lauren Miller, Pastor Will Humphrey and Pastor Eddie Massey. Elliott, the pastor at First Congregational Church, noted, “The class on racism that we led last fall in turn led to a great community Martin Luther King Jr. Service in January and now it has led to this, a new class about overcoming racism based on the incredible story of Ellamae Simmons, a local woman, who breaks a number of race barriers as she embarks on (an) arduous journey to become, first, a nurse and then a doctor. Everyone is invited and welcome to what we expect to be thoughtful, respectful and enlightening discussion on overcoming racism—which is what Dr. Simmons does.”

For information on the class, visit the Churches and Others Working to End Racism Facebook page.