Black History

OP-ED: New Study Brings Black Catholics into Forefront

Pew’s 2021 study reports that 46% of Black young adults in Generation Z (ages 18-23 at the time of the survey) seldom or never attend religious services. Organized religion — across denominations — ignores this finding at its peril. The sex abuse crisis has already damaged the church’s credibility across generations. This reality coupled with Pew’s finding that close to half of all young Black American adults rarely or never attend religious services should be a warning to Church leaders that concrete action must be taken now.

Published

2 years ago

March 20, 2022

Oakland Post

Members of the Voice of Praise Ensemble sing during Mass Nov. 17, 2019, at St. Therese of Lisieux Church in Brooklyn, New York, in celebration of November as National Black Catholic History Month. (CNS/The Tablet/Andrew Pugliese).

By Nia Tia Noelle Pratt

My entire 20-year career has been about ending the erasure of Black Catholics from academic and public discourse.

This is one of the reasons I began the #BlackCatholicsSyllabus and articulated from the outset that the point of the syllabus is to prioritize the voices of Black Catholics in the creation of our own narrative. It’s also why this week’s Pew Research Center report, “Black Catholics in America” is the data I dreamed of having as an undergraduate and graduate student. I also dreamed of having a report like this in the years since I finished graduate school.

Much of my efforts have focused on ending erasure within the Catholic sphere. However, Black Catholics are not just erased from Catholic narratives — they are also erased from discourse on the Black church as well.

This dual erasure is why Pew Research Center’s report is so important. Along with last year’s “Faith Among Black Americans,” this week’s survey on Black Catholics is urgently needed. Both are poised to be regarded as landmark studies.

“Black Catholics in America,” published on March 15, examines Black Catholics within a larger Catholic contest and within the context of “Faith Among Black Americans.”

The new study tells us that 6% of Black Americans are Catholics. While this percentage is admittedly small, it still means that there are nearly 3 million Black Catholics in the U.S.

Millions of people must be included in the conversation about what it means to be Catholic in our country if the conversation is going to be comprehensive. Furthermore, we learn from this study that 20% of Black Americans born in sub-Saharan Africa and 15% of Caribbean-born Black Americans identify as Catholic while only 5% of U.S.-born Black Americans identify as Catholic.

“These numbers tell us that Black Catholics in the United States are not a monolith. These drastically different numbers deserve further consideration by scholars and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as well as dioceses and parishes. Church leaders must keep this in mind in ministering to Black Catholics and creating pastoral plans. Similarly, scholars must incorporate this knowledge into their research.

I was not surprised to learn from the full report that only 17% of Black Catholics attend a predominantly Black church and a comparable 18% of Black Catholics report a combination of call-and-response, and other expressive forms of worship during Mass. Part of my research involves examining liturgy as a form of identity work where I’ve discussed just this type of worship experience in detail.

I’ve discussed at length how African American Catholics incorporate music, preaching and Church aesthetics into liturgy in order to create a unique identity as African Americans and as Catholics.

Only 41% of Black Catholics report having heard a homily on race in the 12 months prior to completing the survey and only 31% reported hearing a homily on political engagement in the same time period. The reckoning around systemic racism that we have seen over the last year has demonstrated that it is long past time for the church to regard racism as a pro-life issue.

For this reason, these findings are also a call to action. A thunderous 77% of Black Catholics said that “opposition to racism is essential to what being Christian means to them.”

Many Black Catholics are not getting a message at Mass that they identify as something essential to being a Christian.

This week’s report also tells us that 46% of Black adults who were raised Catholic no longer identify as such. The aforementioned disconnect between the themes Black Catholics hear about at Mass and what they consider essential to being a Christian provides some insight as to why so many Black Catholics leave the church. The results for young adults only exacerbate this situation.

Since the summer of 2020, the U.S. bishops’ conference has hosted “Journeying Together” as an ongoing series of events focused on young adults and those who minister to young adults. While this is a concrete action directed at young adults, it reaches those who are already actively engaged in the church. Evangelization must be directed at those young adults who are not, or are only minimally, engaged. Refusing to critically engage this group will not bode well for the sustainability of parishes and schools in the decades to come.

Tia Noelle Pratt is director of mission engagement and strategic initiatives and courtesy assistant professor of sociology at Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania.

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Black History

Crafting Freedom and Time: The Life and Legacy of Clockmaker Peter Hill

Peter Hill, a skilled clockmaker, was born on July 19, 1767, in Burlington Township, New Jersey. Peter’s journey unfolded against the backdrop of both challenge and triumph.

Published

12 hours ago

September 28, 2023

Oakland Post

One of clockmaker Peter Hill’s works is on display at the National Museum of History and Technology at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. File photo.

By Tamara Shiloh

Peter Hill, a skilled clockmaker, was born on July 19, 1767, in Burlington Township, New Jersey. Peter’s journey unfolded against the backdrop of both challenge and triumph.

Hill’s lineage is thought to trace back to enslaved parents, owned by Joseph Hollinshead Jr., a clockmaker. A twist of fate had Peter growing up within the Hollinshead household, where he absorbed the intricate art and craft of clockmaking. As he matured, the hands of destiny guided him towards assisting Hollinshead in his clock store, honing his skills with each passing tick.

In 1794, at the age of 27, Hollinshead emancipated Hill from the chains of enslavement, and the subsequent year witnessed the official affirmation of his freedom through a court document. A momentous turning point, this marked the beginning of Hill’s journey as a free man.

A love story of significance unfolded when Peter Hill and Tina Lewis exchanged vows on Sept. 9, 1795. Tina, celebrated for her adept writing and her efforts in offering education to African Americans within the community through the Society of Friends (Quakers), brought her own radiant light to their shared path.

After marrying, he embarked on a new endeavor in 1795, crafting clocks and watches within his Burlington, New Jersey home. As his craftsmanship flourished, so did his success, prompting him to expand his horizons. Alongside timepieces, Peter’s legacy extended to the ownership of cattle, horses, and expansive plots of land.

By 1814, Peter relocated his clockmaking business to Mount Holly. There, he thrived within the Quaker farming community where his creations would succeed. It was amidst the hum of paper mills and iron works that Peter’s clocks found their place.

The passage of time bore witness to the endurance of Peter’s craft. Not one, but two of his timepieces survived the era. The first, created for neighbor Rowland Jones in 1812, found a new home at Westtown School in Westtown, Pennsylvania.

The second, a stately tall case clock, graced the halls of the National Museum of History and Technology at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., a testimony to Hill’s enduring legacy.

On a notable date, Feb. 20, 1820, Peter Hill’s story took another turn as he acquired a brick dwelling house and land in Mount Holly. That same year, he passed away, leaving behind a legacy woven into every tick of time. Even after his passing, his influence, his craftsmanship, and the spirit of his journey continue to echo through the pages of history.

Black History

Civil Rights Exhibit Opens at Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum in New York

Hyde Park, NY — The opening of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum’s feature exhibit, “Black Americans, Civil Rights, and the Roosevelts, 1932–1962,” allows the library to share its extensive collection relating to Black American history. By highlighting these critical primary sources, the library’s team aims to inspire a deeper understanding of Black American experiences and a critical evaluation of the period.

Published

13 hours ago

September 28, 2023

Oakland Post

A complete uniform on loan from the Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum. Photo courtesy of Clifford Laube.

By Kristin Phillips
National Archives News

The exhibition showcases archival documents from across the library’s collections. It centers the historical voices of many Black community leaders, wartime service members, and other citizens who directly engaged the Roosevelt administration and pushed for progress.

“This exhibit looks critically at how Black Americans fared under the New Deal and throughout the Roosevelt administration, and how the Roosevelts worked with prominent Black American leaders and advanced the causes of civil rights,” said Supervisory Curator Herman Eberhardt.

The story emerges as one of Black Americans organizing and expanding national networks of political allies to create new opportunities for social justice and to find ways to combat Jim Crow segregation, widespread discrimination, and the harsh and often violent realities of racism in America.

From the Great Depression and New Deal through World War II and the postwar Civil Rights movement, “Black Americans, Civil Rights, and the Roosevelts” offers critical perspectives on, and candid assessments of, the administration’s policies and practices and of the Roosevelts themselves.

Records relating to educator, activist, writer, Presidential adviser, and the first Black woman to head a federal agency, Mary McLeod Bethune, on display in the new exhibit. Photo courtesy Clifford Laube.

“The FDR Library may not come to mind as a destination for studying Black history, but in fact there is tremendous documentation of Black perspectives, and evidence of government interactions with Black communities, preserved and made available here,” said Supervisory Archivist Kirsten Carter.

“There are countless and very moving testimonies of Black American experiences woven deeply throughout the archives. With this exhibition, the library has an opportunity to share and celebrate these primary sources, and hopefully to inspire new, original research.

The exhibit was developed over three years, in collaboration with a committee of distinguished scholars chaired by David Levering Lewis, a Pulitzer Prize–winning American historian and professor at New York University. It draws from archival collections at the Roosevelt Library and beyond.

The Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum loaned a complete uniform. Many political campaign and protest materials like buttons, fliers, signs, and newspapers came from private collections nationwide.

Many documents and artifacts in the exhibit are on display for the first time. One example is a letter from Mary McLeod Bethune, educator, activist, writer, Presidential adviser, and the first Black woman to head a federal agency. Her letter to FDR in June 1938 encouraged him to support a bill to increase federal funding for Black American education in the South. These materials provide evidence of the unrelenting efforts of many key figures of the early civil rights movement, such as Bethune.

Exhibits also document the racism and discrimination in American politics as well as the culture of the era, highlighting the contradictions inherent in fighting for democracy abroad while injustice persisted at home.

“Our hope is that this exhibition will spark civil dialogue and engagement, leading to an inspired change in our nation,” said Roosevelt Library Director William Harris. “We’ve seen examples of this throughout history with our nation’s courage to overcome the Great Depression and how the world joined together to overcome fascism during World War II.”

Black Americans, Civil Rights, and the Roosevelts, 1932–1962, is on display through December 31, 2024. For more information, visit the library and museum’s website. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum is on the eastern shore of the Hudson River, four miles north of Poughkeepsie, New York, midway between New York City and Albany. The library is easily reached by car, train, or plane.

Black History

Remembering the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

The “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,” brought an unprecedented throng to the National Mall on Aug. 28, 1963. From every corner of the U.S., marchers came to demand fair wages, economic justice, an end to segregation, voting rights and long overdue civil rights. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his incomparable “I Have a Dream” speech on that day.

Published

1 day ago

September 27, 2023

Oakland Post

March on Washington, August 1963

By Gay Elizabeth Plair Cobb

Gay Plair Cobb

Editor’s note: The “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,” brought an unprecedented throng to the National Mall on Aug. 28, 1963. From every corner of the U.S., marchers came to demand fair wages, economic justice, an end to segregation, voting rights and long overdue civil rights. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his incomparable “I Have a Dream” speech on that day. Below, Gay Plair Cobb shares her remembrance.

“Sleepy eyed, joining the early morning-chartered bus ride from New York City to Washington, DC … exhilarated, but not knowing what to expect in the late August heat

…. the yearning for justice, solidarity with others on the journey, the possibility of new legislation, and also the possibility of violence … We just did not know.

In the end, there were an amazing 250,000 of us, awed and inspired by Mahalia Jackson, John Lewis, Dorothy Height, James Farmer and, of course, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Dream that became our North Star is still our North Star 60 years later and into eternity. Grateful to have been a foot soldier then. Still grateful now.”