Special Events During the Annual Event

Memorial Performance

Thursday, January 26
8:00pm
No charge but tickets are required.

At the  National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, AL hang 805 steel rectangles representing each of the counties in the United States where a documented lynching took place.   There are 4,400 names listed.  On the pillar for Jefferson County, Alabama, the county in which Birmingham is located, there are 29 names recorded of lynching victims from 1883 to 1940.  The play, Memorial, seeks to put flesh, heart and soul to these names. The play includes traditional music of the time to share the story of the trauma for the families and loved ones of the victims. Troy University Theatre Professor and Birmingham native, Quinton Cockrell, wrote the play, Memorial, where it had its debut  at the Red Mountain Theatre in Birmingham in 2021.  From the playwright, “One of the issues that’s at the center of the play is that we can’t just move on from this. It did happen a long time ago, but these people deserve to be remembered, and the fact that this happened needs to be remembered because we need to make sure that the attitudes that lead to it don’t crop up again,” Cockrell said. “A point I really try to make in the play is that it’s not just about white people did this to black people, but the kernel that caused this kind of inhumanity is in everybody—it just takes the right conditions to bring it out.  This play is powerful. You will not want to miss it.  The play is being performed by actors and musicians from the Red Mountain Theatre Company in Birmingham, and its performance is made possible by a grant from The First Presbyterian Church, Dunedin Fl, Dana Beck Fancher Missions Committee. Be there to experience their stories and SAY THEIR NAMES!
Enjoy dinner on your own with friends and colleagues before returning to the BJCC for this performance.

Seminary Lunches

Friday, January 27
11:30am – 1:00pm

Join other students and alum from your seminary for lunch and hear the latest updates. Contact your seminary for more information and to sign up.

Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Contact: Selina Aguirre
saguirre@austinseminary.edu

Columbia Theological Seminary
Contact: Julie Bailey
BaileyJ@CTSnet.edu

Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary

McCormick Theological Seminary
Contact: Anita Crittendon
acrittenden@mccormick.edu

Union Presbyterian Seminary
Contact: Nicole Smith
nicole.smith@upsem.edu

Diversity Task Force Luncheon

Friday, January 27
11:30am – 1:15pm
Fee: The cost for lunch is subsidized by the DTF, and there is a sliding fee scale. Please pay what you can.
$40 purchase lunch for yourself and sponsor another lunch
or $20 purchase lunch for yourself
or $10 reduced rate

Come, sit at table with us. Be challenged by the work of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Learn about how we have examined APCE’s sructure and practices and hear about plans for how the work will continue. Consider ways that APCE can becme more just and equitable and how you can join the effort to become all that God calls us to be.
Led by members of the APCE Diversity Task Force – women and men, persons of color and persons of white, of many ages, geographies, and denominations.

Memorial Arch

The Faith & Grief Memorial Arch is a place of hope and comfort. The Arch offers you a place to remember your loved ones who have died by writing each of their names on a ribbon and tying those ribbons to the Arch as a symbol of remembrance. The Faith & Grief Memorial Arch Project was born as a direct response to the tragedy experienced in Dallas in 2016. Five first responders were killed following a vigil and march being held to remember others killed by police. We recognized the community needed a place to mourn and find comfort. We host the Faith & Grief Memorial Arch for the community each year in Dallas during the holidays at Klyde Warren Park through sponsorships.

After the tragic mass shooting in El Paso, we as an organization decided to offer a traveling version of the Arch that we provide to communities dealing with tragedies to create their own space to mourn, and that is what we have brought here to APCE, the Faith & Grief Traveling Memorial Arch. Faith & Grief acknowledges the social, mental, and spiritual challenges of bereaved individuals and families and the importance of remembering loved ones; we hope the Arch gives you a place to pause and remember.

Friday Night Entertainment

The UAB Gospel Choir is a music performance class open to students of all majors. It performs traditional and contemporary American Gospel Music tours throughout the United States and abroad, and its acclaimed productions offer students one-of-a kind performance opportunities. The choir is multi-dimensional that incorporates Steppers, Mimes, Orators, and Dance into its performances.