A Story That Sounds Like Hidden History Every so often, I come across a piece of history that makes me stop and say, now hold on, let me look into this for myself. The claim that Black Friday began with enslaved Black people being sold at discounted prices after Thanksgiving is one of those stories.
Black Friday: The History We Should Know and the Myth We Should Not Repeat Read More »
When a Spiritual Teaching Makes Me Stop I recently came across a teaching from Derek Prince that made me stop and think because it touched directly on Black Christians, slavery, and spiritual freedom. Prince argued that Black Americans had been politically emancipated from slavery but had never fully experienced what he called spiritual emancipation. He
Were Black Christians Ever Spiritually Emancipated? Read More »
The Question That Stops Me Cold When I hear somebody ask whether slavery was necessary, my answer is no. Absolutely not. I understand how somebody can look at their life today and recognize that their ancestors surviving slavery eventually placed later generations in the United States. A descendant may feel grateful for the life, citizenship,
Slavery Was Never Necessary Read More »
Looking at Grass Differently I never thought much about a front lawn beyond whether it needed cutting, watering, or cleaning up around the edges. Grass seemed neutral to me, just another part of the American house. Once I started looking at the history of the lawn, I realized there was more beneath that green surface
The Hidden History Beneath the American Lawn Read More »
Something Has Changed in Military Recruiting As a Black man who served in the military, I pay attention when the conversation turns to who America recruits to defend this country. Military recruiting has always been about more than putting somebody in a uniform. It touches economics, education, opportunity, patriotism, family tradition, and sometimes the simple
Black Men, Military Service, and the Changing Face of Recruitment Read More »
Two Battles at the Same Time In 1942, Black Americans were being asked to help fight a war for democracy overseas while still living under segregation here at home. Black men could be drafted into the armed forces and sent to fight Nazi Germany while being denied basic dignity in their own country. They could
The Double V Campaign: Fighting Fascism Abroad and Racism at Home Read More »
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,
When Racism Learned to Change Its Clothes Read More »
The Bible Has Been Used in More Than One Way The Bible has given millions of people comfort, hope, moral guidance, and spiritual strength. But history also shows that powerful institutions have sometimes used it to justify control over others. Those two truths can sit in the same room without canceling each other out. Enslaved
When Faith and Control Get Packaged Together Read More »
The Question Behind the Argument I keep coming back to a difficult question about race, law, and American democracy. For generations, openly discriminatory laws created damage that did not simply disappear when those laws changed. So how does a society repair that damage when some efforts to correct it can also be challenged as discriminatory?
When the Remedy for Discrimination Gets Called Discrimination Read More »
The Night Everything Changed On August 13, 1990, Curtis Mayfield walked onto an outdoor stage at Wingate Field in Brooklyn expecting to do what he had done for decades. He was forty-eight years old, still performing and creating music, with a voice people recognized the moment they heard it. Then the weather turned dangerous, and
Curtis Mayfield: A Life That Kept on Pushing Read More »