bequest Archives

Redeeming a racist bequest

Posted December 10th, 2020

Ever since discovering their church was built a century ago partly through funds donated “for the white race only,” the 1,200 or so members and the leadership of Knox Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, have worked hard not to duck the church’s history, but to learn from it and to, in tangible ways, reach out and make connections that make it clear where the church is headed during the next 100 years: ending the sin of systemic racism.

North Carolina woman leaves $2 million bequest to PDA, SDOP

Posted June 14th, 2017

While sorting through the papers of her late cousin Matilda Cartledge, Rebecca McClure found a couple of sentences in her relative’s handwriting that she says reflect Cartledge’s values.

North Carolina woman leaves $2 million bequest to PDA and SDOP

Posted May 9th, 2017

While sorting through the papers of her late cousin Matilda Cartledge, Rebecca McClure found a couple of sentences in her recently-deceased relative’s handwriting that she says reflect Cartledge’s values. The unattributed sentences, which are a quote from President Franklin Roosevelt’s second inaugural address, read: ‘The test of our progress is not whether we add to the abundance of those who have much. It is whether we provide for those who have too little.’