A Time for Burning

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A Time for Burning is a 1966 documentary film which explores the attempts of the minister of Augustana Lutheran Church in Omaha, Nebraska, to persuade his all-white congregation to reach out to "negro" Lutherans in the city's north side. The film was directed by San Francisco filmmaker William C. Jersey and was nominated as Best Documentary Feature in the 1968 Academy Awards. The film was commissioned by the Lutheran Church.

The film, shot in "cinéma vérité" style, has no script or narration. The film chronicles the relationship between the minister, the Rev. L. William Youngdahl, his white Lutheran parishioners and black Lutheran parishioners in the community. Youngdahl was the son of a former governor of Minnesota and federal judge, Luther Youngdahl. The film includes a meeting between Youngdahl and an articulate black barber named Ernie Chambers who tells the minister that his Jesus is "contaminated". At one point another Omaha Lutheran minister, the Rev. Walter E. Rowoldt, of Luther Memorial Lutheran Church, states that "This one lady said to me, pastor, she said, I want them to have everything I have, I want God to bless them as much as he blesses me, but, she says, pastor, I just can't be in the same room with them, it just bothers me." Rev. Rowoldt and other ministers also discuss the concern that blacks moving into white neighborhoods will decrease property values.

The attempt to reach out does not succeed and costs Youngdahl his job.

On December 27, 2005, A Time for Burning was named by the Library of Congress as one of 25 films to be included in the National Film Registry.

The black barber, Ernie Chambers, was elected as a Senator in the Nebraska Legislature in 1970 and is the longest-serving state Senator in the history of Nebraska.