In the summer of 1865, the good news of freedom finally came to more than 250,000 slaves in Texas. Union troops gathered in the city of Galveston and read a general’s order to the public: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance…
In Richmond, churches retrace the path of the enslaved to confront their own history
From 1830 to 1860, tens of thousands of enslaved people disembarked ships at Richmond’s Manchester Docks, an entry point into a bondage system that built Virginia’s wealth and shaped the city’s history. Shackled together, the enslaved people trudged along a…
Juneteenth reminds us of Black Americans’ long struggle for education following end of slavery
The abolitionist and writer Frederick Douglass is known for many things, but perhaps among the most significant is his views on education’s relationship to slavery. Douglass himself was born into slavery in Maryland in 1818.
To understand today’s SBC, listen to history
Across America this week, Baptist women are carrying a familiar weight. Some are pastors who have faithfully answered the call of God, only to watch the Southern Baptist Convention debate whether God possibly could have called them. Some are seminary…
Pope Leo XIV makes historic apology for Holy See’s own role in legitimizing slavery
Pope Leo XIV made a historic apology on Monday for the role the Holy See itself played in legitimizing slavery and for having failed to condemn it for centuries, calling the Vatican’s record a “wound in Christian memory.”
Is the SBC still haunted by the slavery hermeneutic?
Had the holding of slaves been a moral evil, it cannot be supposed, that the inspired Apostles, who feared not the faces of men, and were ready to lay down their lives in the cause of their God, would have…
‘Crimes against humanity’ and the fight for reparative justice
I recently traveled to Geneva to attend the fifth session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, an advisory body to the Human Rights Council of the United Nations. As executive director of JustFaith Ministries, I joined representatives…
NY Episcopal Diocese outlines plan for $1.2M racial reparations fund
The Episcopal Diocese of New York has launched the second phase of its racial reparations efforts, releasing a new report detailing how it plans to invest the nearly $1.2 million the diocesan convention began committing to the effort in 2019.
Foley: Greed is the root of racism
Greed is the root cause of racism, Malcolm Foley told the “Compassion and Justice” conference Feb. 21. Foley serves as special advisor to Baylor University President Linda Livingstone and as co-pastor of Mosaic Church in Waco, Texas. He is the…
Let holy curiosity guide you this Black History Month
Last January, I had the opportunity to spend a week in Richmond, Va., exploring the complicated role of religious freedom in our country. Specifically, the group I was with pressed on the wounds of race, power and inequality. We explored…
The carol that won’t stop singing a subversive song of hope
It tends to be the same every year: Soon after the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers is consumed, I sit down at the piano to plunk through an archaic collection of Christmas carols. Without fail, “O Holy Night” has long…
The unholy alliance that’s OK with bringing back slavery
A chilling and terrifying convergence is under way on the American religious right. On one side comes raw, unfiltered and vitriolic bigotry straight from the gutter. The most recent display of this came in the form of leaked Telegram chats…