BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Please set aside some time, perhaps weekly, during Black History Month to increase your knowledge of Black History and Black Catholic History.  We need to walk some miles in the shoes of their ancestors.

Black History

This Black History Ed Zone:  Black History for Young Learners  contains much more than just the Blacks in New Jersey information.  We encourage taking some time to explore the content with your children and grandchildren and even if there are no children with whom to share it.

New Jersey Black History

Also here are some slides of a brief History of Blacks in New Jersey.

 

Black Catholic History

Source:  The Catholic University of America’s Cultural Engagement website

Please listen to the 17-minute video where Dr. Ansel Augustine and the Catholics of St. Peter Claver Church in New Orleans speak about what it mean to them to be Black and Catholic, and their hopes and dreams for the Church.  Then visit the CUA Cultural Engagement website and read the History of Black Catholics in the United States.

The Youtube Description:

The role of this documentary is to shed light on “one story” of the Black Catholic experience. An experience unknown to many in our church. An experience that, although unique, is relatable to the Black Catholic, specifically African American Catholic, experience throughout America. This film hopes to bring out the joy, pain and struggles that are faced in the Black Catholic community, specifically in the Treme area of New Orleans. This film also hopes to share the unique struggle found in youth and young adult ministry within the Black Catholic community. Whether through “America’s Original Sin”, classism, or various other social ills; we are witnessing this unique expression of our Catholic faith disappearing before our eyes. Through the eyes of Dr. Ansel Augustine, the Psalm 119 Step Team (young adults that have performed with Dr. Augustine), Ms. Pearl Dupart, and Deacon Allen Stevens; we see how this experience of Black Catholicism is a “gift to the church” as Sr. Thea Bowman said to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Our prayer is that this documentary, and what flows from it, will be used as another resource for our communities to address racism within our church and to create bridges of hope and understanding so that we may all be one Body of Christ.

In Dr. Augustine’s words about the Black Catholic Community:

“For us,
what keeps us moving and keeps us focused as a people
is the fact that the faith and the strength of our ancestors
runs through our veins.
And if we lean on that
and we know that they made it through
what they went through,
however they made it through,
that same spirit, that same faith, that same God
is in us today and resides with us today.
So for us, our hope is knowing
that no matter what we’re facing
God is with us.
And no matter what comes our way,
we can overcome because we have that same faith.”

 

Another website:

Saints and Holy People of Color

An informative webpage provided by the Archdiocese of Baltimore.