Black History

When I Heard There Were African Popes When I first heard somebody say that three African men once led the Catholic Church, I had to stop and think about what I had been taught about early Christianity. Most images of early Christianity make the faith appear almost entirely European, as if it moved directly from

A Story Worth Looking Beneath When I first heard the debate about Quinta Brunson possibly developing and starring in a Betty Boop movie, I was not surprised by the reaction. The discussion quickly brought the story of Baby Esther back into the spotlight. I understood why people wanted to take another look at the history

When the Story Begins in Chains One thing that has troubled me about the way Black history is often presented is where somebody chooses to begin the story. Too many lessons seem to introduce Black people when Europeans are putting Africans on slave ships or when enslaved people are already standing in American fields. We

The Man Who Attacked Slavery Without Loving Black People One of the strangest arguments against American slavery came from a white Southerner who certainly was no friend of Black people. His name was Hinton Rowan Helper, and he was born in North Carolina in 1829. In 1857, he published The Impending Crisis of the South:

Remembering Africa Before the Wound When I think about Africa, I refuse to begin the story with chains, slave ships, and somebody else’s idea of what Black people were supposed to be. Africa had civilizations, governments, trade networks, mathematics, architecture, medicine, religion, philosophy, agriculture, and scholarship long before the modern Atlantic world existed. Ancient Egypt

This Was Not Ancient History When I look at photographs of white parents protesting school integration in the 1970s, I have to remind myself that I am not looking at some distant century. These were not people standing outside a schoolhouse in 1865. This was happening during the age of color television, Motown, Muhammad Ali,

The Comparison Needs More Care Than Competition I understand why Black people sometimes look at other communities and ask why we have not achieved the same level of collective organization, wealth, or political influence. That question can open a serious conversation about history, institutions, family networks, education, land, discrimination, and the long consequences of slavery.

Freedom Was Never Handed Over Easily Sometimes I look at the history of Black voting in America and ask a difficult question: what if freedom was never intended to come without resistance? Slavery officially ended, but the struggle over Black citizenship certainly did not. Every major step forward seemed to produce another argument about how

More Than a Beautiful Voice When people talk about Marvin Gaye, they usually start with the voice. They remember the smoothness, the tenderness, and the way he could make a love song sound like it was meant for one person alone. They remember “Let’s Get It On,” “Sexual Healing,” “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,”

Freedom Did Not Automatically Bring Political Power When I look at Black history in America, one lesson keeps showing up over and over again. Winning a right and being able to exercise that right are not always the same thing. The end of slavery did not suddenly place Black Americans on equal political ground with