The Public Sanctuary Movement: An Historical Basis of Hope: Oral Histories, Eileen M. Purcell
On March 24, 1982, five congregations in Berkeley, California, and one congregation in Tucson, Arizona, publicly declared their commitment to "protect, defend and advocate for" Salvadorean and Guatemalan men, women and children fleeing their war ravaged countries of Central America. Conditions in El Salvador and Guatemala pushed people to leave their lands, their families, their professions and their plans behind, often with little more than the clothes on their backs. As thousands of refugees...