History of St. Barnabas pt. 2

*Rev. Robert Laughlin Pierson, priest-in-charge of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church (1960-1967?) was arrested with a group of 15 Episcopalian priests during the Freedom Rides of 1961 in Mississippi for trying to enter the lunchroom of a Trailways bus terminal in Jackson, Miss. Father Pierson and 11 other white priests were placed in one large cell while the Black priests were placed in another cell. He was later sentenced to four months in jail. The case was eventually dismissed, but it received much national attention because it involved clergymen and because Father Pierson's father-in-law at the time was Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller.

The Rev. Robert Pierson and Ann Clark Rockefeller were married in 1955. They shared an interest in social causes, like racial equality, women's rights and the welfare of migrant workers. They supported a black dance group in Brooklyn, subsidized James Baldwin's ''Blues for Mister Charlie'' at the American National Theater and Academy (ANTA) Theater, and flew to Moscow in 1965 in a citizens exchange project to thaw the Cold War.

In the 1970's the Basement of the Parish Hall was utilized for a coffee house Called "The Edge" that brought in many of the neighborhood youth. North Porch Women's & Infants Center began its existence at Saint Barnabas also in the 1970's and has been moved to Park Place. In the 1980's the Gymnasium in the Parish Hall was used to minister to the community's youth. The Share program that began in the 1980's evolved into a food pantry that still distributes food twice a week.

The Aids Resource Center opened 1990 and resided here until 2007.

The basement of the Parish Hall currently houses the Jamar Carter Operation Turnaround boxing gym.