About

Mission:
The mission of the Beloved Community Center of Greensboro is to foster and model a spirit of community based on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s vision of a "Beloved Community." In this spirit, we envision and work toward social and economic relations that affirm and realize the equality, dignity, worth and potential of every person.

"Love is creative and redemptive. Love builds up and unites; hate tears down and destroys. The aftermath of the 'fight with fire' method... is bitterness and chaos, the aftermath of the love method is reconciliation and creation of the beloved community."
~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

History:
Drawing deeply from the life and work of movement leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ella Baker, the mission of the BCC is to model a spirit of community that promotes social, economic, and personal relationships that affirm and realize the equality, dignity, worth, and potential of everyone. Though the BCC has evolved from over 50 years of connected struggles, beginning with the 1960's student sit-in movement, it was in 1991 that this particular manifestation of the movement for beloved community began. Barbara Dua, Assistant Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Z. Holler, Pastor of Presbyterian Church of the Covenant and Nelson Johnson, Pastor of Faith Community Church came to that initial mission as the three together participated in a course at the Servant Leadership School of Greensboro. Since that coming together in 1991, the BCC has moved to pursuing the mission of building an inclusive, egalitarian community through involvement in community organizing, public meetings and protests and other forms of advocacy, as well as training and coalition building.

Our collaborative work is focused in the following areas:

• Education & Youth
• Homeless Hospitality
• Economic Justice: Equity in Stimulus Funds
• Grassroots History: Human Right Tours
• Truth and Reconciliation
• Media & Communications
• Jubilee Institute: Information & Training
• Our Jubilee Institute provides institutional support, social and political analysis, training, and leadership development.

Highlights of the BCC’s work over the years include the following:

• From 1993-1997, the BCC worked across social, economic and political divides to resolve a contentious K-Mart labor struggle. That work that resulted in a significant contract settlement for workers at the Greensboro K-Mart Distribution Center, was chronicled in a report by the Rockefeller Foundation, and made our executive director a sought-after consultant on labor issues.
• In 1995, the BCC expanded its work to include Homeless hospitality and advocacy, and education reform.
• In 2002, the BCC initiated the historic Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project to examine the context, causes, sequence and consequence of the events of November 3rd, 1979. On that tragic day, five community and labor activists were killed and another 10 wounded in an attack by white supremacists that was filmed by TV news crews. More than 20 years after the criminal justice system failed, twice, to find anyone guilty, the Project initiated a democratic process to select the seven-member Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which – after two years of public hearings, interviews, in-depth research and deliberation – published a 529-page report.
• In 2005, the Johnsons were recognized for their work by both the prestigious Ford Foundation “Leadership for a Changing World Award” and by the Faith and Politics Institute of Washington, DC’s “Beloved Community Award.”  Other awards they have received include the “Defenders of Justice Award” from the North Carolina Justice Center of Raleigh (2008) and The Association for Conflict Resolution’s “Diversity and Equity Award” (2009).
• In July 2006, the BCC convened with the International Center for Transitional Justice an international gathering on truth seeking initiatives that included participants from places including Northern Ireland, Peru, South Africa and Sri Lanka.
• In November 2007, the BCC led a delegation to South Africa. The trip was designed as a living-learning experience, where participants both shared reflections of the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation process with their South African counterparts who in