In December 1959, approximately one hundred lay and ordained Episcopalians organized ESCRU in an attempt to remove all vestiges of segregation from the life of the Church. The group took issue with the de facto racial segregation that dominated much of Church life in the South. By adopting the tactics of other civil rights protesters, such as peaceful protest and civil disobedience, ESCRU sought to publicize long-standing problems of segregation and racial division in the Church and to promote racial unity. The ESCRU archive comprises 34 linear feet of a national office administrative files, including chapter records, project files, convention records, photographs, and tape recordings, spanning the years 1959 to 1970. Of particular note are the project files which document the civil rights related activities of ESCRU, such as the Prayer Pilgrimage, the Lovett School Integration controversy, and the work and murder of seminarian Jonathan Daniels. The Archives acquired the records of ESCRU along with personal papers of its founder, the Reverend John Morris, in 1998. More information can be found in the Archives' online exhibit, The Church Awakens.
