Racial reconciliation in the wider church came home to St. James the Less in Scarsdale, NY, with the recent removal of United Daughters of the Confederacy markers from the gravesite of Leonora Schuyler. Schuyler was president general of the UDC during the early 1920s, and several other confederate monuments in the north were likely placed during her tenure.
Years after her death in 1952, UDC placed a commemorative plaque and footstone at Schuyler’s gravesite in the St. James the Less graveyard. The Rev. Astrid Storm, rector of the church, noted in a statement, “It’s well-established practice in Episcopal graveyards not to allow memorials of overt social or political advocacy, even given clear evidence of the decedents’s desire,” which isn’t apparent in this case, and the placement by the UDC was “in direct contravention of our established rules, which permit only the plot’s owner to erect anything on the site.”
The plaque was removed earlier this spring, and the footstone will require professional removal. The markers will be stored in the church archives.
The news story covering this, “Church removes plaque, footstone to affirm racial justice,” is behind a paywall.