A Time for Burning: Religion, Race, and Civil Rights in Omaha

A Time for Burning: Religion, Race, and Civil Rights in Omaha October 21, 2013

In 1966, Lutheran Film Associates did something surprising. They commissioned and publicly released A Time for Burning, a documentary film that laid bare the harsh reality that racism was alive and well within Augustana Lutheran Church in Omaha, Nebraska. The film, directed by Bill Jersey and Barbara Connell, documented the efforts by Augustana’s new pastor Bill Youngdahl to get his all-white congregation to reach out to neighboring black churchgoers in the interest of racial reconciliation and integration. 

The cameras rolled as leaders within Augustana discussed the pros and cons of launching a voluntary “couples exchange” program, in which white Lutheran families would have dinner with black Lutheran and Presbyterian families (spoiler alert: the cons outweighed the pros). The cameras also captured Youngdahl’s attempts to reach out to Omaha’s black community, and grabbed footage of a number of lively discussions between African American teenagers, Youngdahl’s reluctant congregants, Omaha’s mayor, and more. The film was widely praised at the time of its release, receiving an Academy Award nomination in 1967 for Best Documentary Feature. Nearly fifty years later the movie is still intensely fascinating. This is a film that should be seriously considered for use in any class that covers the Civil Rights Movement. 

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