Scarritt Bennett Center Blog

Fasting as Part of Our Lenten Journey

Jesus’ time in the wilderness was a time of soul-searching, temptation, fasting and prayer. His wilderness journey is often the model for many during the season of Lent. In an old hymn we read: “Forty days and forty nights you were fasting in the wild; Forty...

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William Barbee’s Story, 1964

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVNAUTS4Cuo Following the Campus Grill protest in 1963, Scarritt College students continued to participate in civil rights demonstrations. In 1964, another explosion of demonstrations happened around the downtown area. Demonstrators focused efforts on some of the establishments that refused to desegregate, including Krystal, Morrison’s Cafeteria, and...

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Campus Grill Boycott, 1963

In 1963, the sit-in movement continued in Nashville with dynamic student leadership from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Scarritt College had been integrated for over 10 years, longer than any other predominantly white college in the area. Scarritt had students from all over the world,...

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Reflections on Lent

“You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” -Mary Oliver As the season of Epiphany and celebration has come...

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Welcoming Tennessee

by Kelsey Atwood, Belle H. Bennett fellow   “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” - Archbishop Desmond Tutu Last Thursday night I had the opportunity to hear South Asian American activist and author Deepa Iyer give a talk...

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Racial Equity & the Arts

Racial Equity & the Arts *Hover over "here" to click on a hyperlink! Last October, I jumped into a pilot project called Racial Equity in Arts Leadership (REAL) launched by the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, in partnership with Vanderbilt’s Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, & Public Policy....

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Martin Luther King at Scarritt College, 1957

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALq7DFbmIyE On April 25, 1957, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke in Wightman Chapel at Scarritt College to the Conference on Christian Faith and Human Relations. The Conference on Christian Faith and Human Relations was hosted by Scarritt College and Vanderbilt Divinity School and co-sponsored by...

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Welcome Refugees: A Call to Action

*Hover over "here" to click on hyperlink! A Letter to Faith Leaders As you know, in the wake of recent global tragedies, our nation is experiencing a surge in anti-refugee, anti-Muslim, and anti-immigrant rhetoric. Sadly, this is not new to Tennessee. Over the past several years, some...

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Getting to Know You, God

Lent begins this year with Ash Wednesday on February 10. This holy season of the church year is a time of preparation as we move toward Good Friday and Easter. It is a time of prayer, reflection, silence, repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation, and renewal on...

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