Announcement: Art and Faith Bridging the Jewish and Black Communities: Stories of a Historic North Minneapolis House of Worship

The Twin Cities Houses of Worship Project (HOW) and its partners announce a two-day community-oriented opportunity to learn about and engage with the intertwining histories of the Jewish and Black communities in North Minneapolis. Learn about these marginalized communities through stories related to a landmark building that has served as the spiritual home of two congregations: the Jewish Tifereth B’Nai Jacob congregation that built the building and worshiped there until 1957, and the Holiness/Pentecostal First Church of God in Christ congregation that has worshiped in the building since purchasing it in 1957. 

Exhibit opening and lecture: May 10, 4:00 – 7:00 

Symposium: May 11, 9:00 – 3:30

Location: The University of Minnesota Robert J. Jones Urban Center for Research Outreach - Engagement Center, 2001 Plymouth Ave N Minneapolis

Project Team

Dr. Jeanne H. Kilde, Director of the Religious Studies Program and co-director of the Twin Cities Houses of Worship Project. Author of When Church Became Theatre: The Transformation of Evangelical Architecture and Worship in Nineteenth-Century America (2002), Sacred Power, Sacred Space: An Introduction to Christian Architecture (2008), Editor of The Oxford Handbook of Religious Space (2022). (UMN)

Dr. Marilyn Chiat, art and architectural historian and co-director of the Twin Cities Houses of Worship Project

Pastor Tierre Webster, First Church of God in Christ. Executive Director, Damascus Way

Bishop Fred Washington, Minnesota Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, Church of God in Christ

Board Chairman John Lewis, First Church of God in Christ

Dr. Greg Donofrio, Associate Professor of Architecture and Director of the Heritage Studies and Public History Program (UMN)

Dr. Yuichiro Onishi, Associate Professor and Chair of the African American & African Studies Department (UMN)

Ms. Vanessa Steele, Outreach and Campus Immersion Coordinator, African American & African Studies Department (UMN)

Dr. Natan Paradise, Director, Center for Jewish Studies (UMN)

Kate Dietrick, Archivist, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives (UMN)

Mr. Rolf Anderson, historic preservationist, Minneapolis

Cheryll Fong, Interim Curator, Northwest Architectural Archives (UMN)

Sponsoring Organizations

The Twin Cities Houses of Worship Project, the First Church of God in Christ, the School of Architecture (UMN), the Department of African American & African Studies (UMN), the Center for Jewish Studies (UMN), the Department of Art History (UMN), the University of Minnesota's Robert J. Jones Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center (UMN), the Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives (UMN), Institute for Advanced Study (UMN). 

This activity is supported by an Imagine Fund Special Events Grant, an initiative of the University of Minnesota Executive Vice President and Provost, established through a generous gift from the McKnight Foundation, and facilitated by the Institute for Advanced Study.