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The entire history of Black America is impossible to sum up in one single article, but Ife and AJ do a very good job painting a wholistic historical account all through the lens of Christ.

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A Brief History of Black America

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written by AJ Freibott + Ife Oladoja | June 19, 2020

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**This article is part of our Uncover series. If you haven’t read our intro article we suggest you do that to understand the voices behind this series as well as the heart and intention. We also suggest you use this article as a means for furthered research. A LOT of historical moments and people will be mentioned, if you are unfamiliar with it do a quick Google search for context, but then create space to go back and learn even more.**

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A Movement Not a Moment

To be honest with you, I’ve really struggled with where to start this article. I carry a lot of hurt when it comes to the church and all of the silencing that has been done of inconvenient truths. The Bible leads me to believe that racial inequity grieves the heart of God who “created mankind in His image.” We, as the hands and feet of the Gospel, need to be the leaders of the charge reminding the world that our Black brothers and sisters bear the same imago dei (image of God) that our white community does.

And, the reality is, historically, we know that God began humanity in Africa, and we are all descendants of Africa ourselves, so those who weaponize the Word of God against our Black brothers and sisters are those who have fallen prey to the tactics of the enemy to distort the truth. John 8:44 refers to the enemy as “the father of lies,” and it’s time we took up the sword of the Spirit against his desperate attempts to distort the Word of God.

But in a culture afraid to engage in conversations about injustice, it can be hard to see that tenacity to fight for the fullness of the Body of Christ demonstrated at our pulpits.

We no longer have the luxury of remaining silent. The Body is aching. Our brothers and sisters’ lives are under fire, they continue their hundreds of years of fighting to ensure their humanity is as valid as their white counterparts. The black community in America is calling for action. We are called to act alongside them. We are called to weep with them. We are called to be an ally and stand beside and behind them.

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In the same way that David praised the Lord for his “acts of justice,” it is our turn to embody the justice of the Lord as we “weep with [our Back brothers and sisters] who weep.” While being anti-racist should not be a partisan issue, it most definitely is a faith issue.

God has created one body, so we, as His disciples, are called to support the body of Christ in its fullness.

Galatians 3:28 says that we are “all one in Christ Jesus.” But, if you turn on the news, open your social media, walk down the street, it’s glaringly apparent that we are not honoring humanity as one. The enemy has distorted our narratives, ransacked our curiosity and our joy, and traded our love for fear.

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Consider this your call to action. Consider this article your starting point to learn where to start in having conversations about racial inequity in our country and beyond. And, consider this article a history lesson that places your educational responsibility on your shoulders so that you can, in turn, listen, understand, and show up for the Black community that is so graciously placing the call for allies.

In this cultural moment, where some of us are beginning to explore the topic of systemic racism in its entirety and others of us are continuing our advocacy, we must remember that this is not a “moment” but a “movement.” The call for equality did not start two weeks ago, and it will not end in two weeks either. While the death of George Floyd served as a catalyst for many to begin educating themselves on the plight of Black communities in America, the fight against racism did not start with Floyd’s untimely death. We hope that our series “Uncover” will serve as a starting point for some, and a continuing dialogue for others, on the harsh reality of our world, our role in it, and Christ’s perspective in it all.

As we begin to engage in conversations about race, and especially as we gather and stand beside and behind the Black community in our country, it is extremely important that we contextualize their grief against the backdrop of their prolonged suffering.

So, to start our conversations about race and it’s intersections with faith, and to open the door to our own education, correction, and allyship, here is a brief history of Black America.

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246 years of Enslavement

America is built on the backs of enslaved African people

**Content warning: this content has been sugarcoated for hundreds of years, so we have chosen to engage in this topic with language that we feel reflects the severity of history. Certain subjects may be triggering**

In my school, when we learned about the foundations of America we recited the rhyme “in fourteen-hundred-and-ninety-two Columbus sailed the ocean blue, it was a courageous thing to do, but someone was already here.” (Talk about white-washing of history, am I right?) We all know the legend of Christopher Columbus — a Spaniard on a quest for a brave new world who hit the shores of South America and overtook the native population to stake his claim. The settlers of the new world enslaved the residents of South America as they overtook and destroyed the native people. (This, in itself, is another topic that deserves some corrective history lessons, but for the sake of brevity we’ll remain on the subject at hand.)

In the early 1500s, Spanish settlers began importing African people as slaves to work on their plantations once the native South Americans began to die at the hands of the harsh working conditions and enslavement of the settlers. And then, in 1607, English settlers followed suit to explore the new world (and escape religious persecution) and wound up settling in the first North American colony: Jamestown. Keep in mind, the first settlers of the new world were driven by their desire to explore religious freedom, and in pursuing their own freedoms, they twisted the Gospel into the justification for enslaving those who were unlike them.

In 1619, a Dutch settler imported twenty (20) slaves to North America. This is largely credited as the beginning of the enslavement of African people on North American soil. In many ways, it was African people who were the first generation of Americans. They were set to work at the hands of white Europeans to build and create the “New World,” and it was their blood, sweat, and horrific captivity that built this nation.

When the colonies broke away from British rule, they maintained the enslavement of African people as a means of cheap labor and the backbone of the economy. As the cotton industry swelled in the south, the new generation of African Americans fought for their freedom — but their revolts were criminalized and their requests for freedom denied. It wasn’t until 1808 — nearly 200 years since the practice of purchasing people from Africa to serve out their days as slaves on American soil — that Congress finally blocked the importation of slaves.

However, the legislation was largely ignored, and nearly 250,000 Africans were illegally imported to America as slaves. By 1831, Nat Turner, son of an African born slave, staged the first successful revolt on American soil. Largely, this kicked off what we know as the “abolitionist” movement. Since the 1780’s a network of Northerners who opposed slavery had begun using the Underground Railroad to help enslaved people escape their captors and find freedom in the North.

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North America separates into the Union and the Confederacy

And then comes the part that we all learned about in grade school: the Civil War. Contrary to popularly held notions, the Civil War was less about ending slavery than it was about uniting the separated Northern and Southern colonies. While Lincoln held an established “anti-slavery” perspective (which is debatable since the president himself owned slaves), the Civil War was about his quest to “preserve the Union” — which is an entirely different narrative than I was taught in grade school. I, like many of us, was taught that this war was fought to end slavery once and for all. It’s important to remember, that the emancipation of African American slaves was likely a happy bi-product rather than a catalyst for the war itself.

The northern colonies were known as the Union and the southern colonies separated from the north and took the name of the Confederate States of America. The Civil War, the deadliest war on American soil, began in 1861 as the North and South clashed over who believed themselves best fit to run the newly formed United States. By the summer of 1862, the question of slavery was unavoidable. President Lincoln enacted the “Emancipation Proclamation” which stated that from January 1, 1863, and on, any enslaved person shall be forever freed. The 13th amendment, which officially abolished slavery was not enacted until 1865 — two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. This is where the holiday “Juneteenth” comes from. On June 19, 1865, a Union general in Galveston Texas read federal orders that all previously enslaved people were free.

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155 Years of Racial Oppression 

However, within the southern formerly-known Confederacy, a series of “black codes” were put in place to ensure that freed Black peoples’ activities were limited and that they were held captive to their role as laborers.

Now let’s keep in mind that this is 246 years after the first African people were imported to America as slaves. Nearly 250 years of breaking Black bodies to build the wealth of European born colonizers. 

It is important to note, the bulk of colonizers of Northern America were people who prided themselves on their Christian faith. Those who preached the Gospel as a source of freedom and sanctuary used the same Bible to hold slaves captive. We, as believers, are called to sit in that. Our predecessors, who held the same Gospel in their hands, twisted it to benefit their capitalist and brutally dehumanizing power structures.

One Washington Post article which discusses the foundations of the “black church” cites that for the lead pastor of the congregation “it is not lost on him that the Gospel he preaches, the Gospel so many African Americans embraced to sustain them through the horrors of beatings and rapes, separations and lynchings, separate and unequal, is the same Gospel used to enslave them.”

We have to believe that the devaluing of human life is a grievance against God. If we are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28) then we also have to believe we are called in solidarity to “weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15). That is the exact reason, that today we can no longer look away while our Black brothers and sisters cry out for mercy. We are called to repent, and we are called to right the narrative that the enemy has used to pollute so many hearts.

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The Jim Crow South

Furthermore, the end of legalized slavery was far from the end of the battle for equality for black communities in America. By 1885, the Jim Crow laws served as the provision for there to be legalities surrounding the call for there to be separate schools, gathering places and public spaces. This called for the “separate but equal” doctrine in 1896 which more or less decreed that it was legal to not allow Black citizens into the same space as white citizens on the premise that as long as Black communities had the same facilities there was no need to integrate. Obviously, we know that the “equal” part of the doctrine was hardly honored. The South was increasingly segregated and doubling down on their hatred for the Black community and its plight for equity.

In 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People  (NAACP) was created to fight race-based discrimination. Largely, the foundation of the NAACP was rooted in the work of W.E.B. Du Bois and the Niagara Movement of 1905. The NAACP was an interracial coalition of people who leveraged the legal system and public speaking to create an equitable society. They called for equal civil rights, the abolition of racial discrimination, and the “full recognition of the humanity of people of all color.” 

To sit in that for a slight minute, we cannot blaze past the fact that the plight of African Americans was simple, and continues to be today: to be recognized as human beings. And as we’ll see as we continue on our history lesson, the fight they took on nearly a hundred years ago has morphed into the same battle we face today.

It wasn’t until 1954 that Brown v. the Board of Education ruled unanimously that segregation in public schools was no longer lawful. This reversed the “separate but equal” doctrine which had been used to satiate the plight of African Americans for nearly 70 years. While this was applicable to public schools only, it also condemned the Jim Crow South and their rampant segregation. In many ways, this is usually what we are taught to view as the “beginning” of the Civil Rights movement in America. To put this in perspective, so that it does not escape us how recent these events are, those of you who have parents or grandparents over the age of sixty have living members of your family who were alive during the time of desegregation in our country. 

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The Murder of Emmett Till and the U.S. Civil Rights Movement 

In 1955 a young African American boy from the North was visiting his family in Mississippi where he was accused of flirting with a white woman at a grocery store. Because of this accusation, he was hunted down, pulled from his bed in his sleep, beaten and shot to death by white men, and then sunk to the bottom of the local river.

If you think this is extremely gruesome and completely despicable, it’s because it is. And in the case of Emmett Till, his killers were acquitted by an all-white male jury, further solidifying that in America, Black bodies and black lives were held as less sacred than their white counterparts.

Largely, the violent and untimely death of Emmett Till was a rallying cry for the Civil Rights movement. A month after his open-casket funeral, the Montgomery Bus Boycott began in Alabama when an African American woman named Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat on the bus to a white man. Parks was subsequently arrested for violating racial segregation ordinances.

After Parks’ arrest, the Montgomery Improvement Association, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., ignited the 90 person Montgomery Bus Boycott. This is largely known as the onset of the official Civil Rights movement. For the sake of brevity (and because it is so important that we do our own research) we will fast forward to 1963 and MLK Jr.’s iconic, “I Have a Dream” speech — a defining moment in the movement for an equitable society.

King’s speech came at the end of a peaceful 250,000 person March on Washington (much like the marches being carried out today), which was the largest demonstration of the Civil Rights movement. Largely as a result of this demonstration, the Civil Rights Act was signed in July 1964.

While this was a massive step, it did not ensure that the legalities were honored in the racially charged south. In 1965, King led a group of peaceful protestors on an attempted march from Selma, Alabama to the state capital of Montgomery. The group had not made it far when they were met with tear gas, whips, and all kinds of brutality at the hands of law enforcement. Unfortunately, this is parallel to the same acts we are seeing across America today.

By the late 60’s and early 70’s the African American community, and the country at large, was faced with the reality that racial equity was still unattainable. This led to the Black Power movement and the eventual creation of the Black Panther Party — groups that demanded equity and equipped themselves to do so. Soon, clashes between Black Panther groups and local law enforcement erupted (This is so incredibly nuanced, I would recommend spending a good amount of time on this alone). To top this off, King, a figurehead of the Civil Rights movement, was assassinated in April of 1968 which led to several days of rioting across hundreds of cities.

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Our More Recent History

For decades, several Black leaders ran for public office, but by 1992 the racial inequities of our country were once again pushed to the forefront with the beating of Rodney King at the hands of California highway patrol. This is largely credited as the first recorded and mass-distributed act of police brutality against the black community. The four officers involved were acquitted and the verdict led to four days of what has become known as the L.A. Riots. Again, to put this in perspective, this was likely happening during our parents’ early adulthood. This is not ancient history, the fight against racial inequity has evolved, but it is still alive and well in the fabric of our country. 

In 2008, a major win for the Black community came with the election of President Barack Obama. However, as history is apt to repeat itself, this was far from the end of racial division in our country. Politics aside, Obama’s blackness in itself was a threat to the systems that kept white people in control. While strides were made, by 2012 another massive blow to the Black community came with the death of Trayvon Martin a 17-year-old Black man shot to death by neighborhood watch in a white community in Florida. Martin’s death was the first time that the term “Black Lives Matter” was used by Alicia Garza. Today, the #blacklivesmatter is a tool to spread high profile cases of the deaths of the Black community.

A number of black deaths sparked outrage as Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice and so many more died at the hands of police brutality. The movement continued to grow, until it came to a head with the recent death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. Floyd was pinned down by his neck by a white officer and three supporting officers who applied pressure for nearly nine minutes, leading to his asphyxiation and death.

Only weeks before, two other Black individuals, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, died at the hands of racial violence.

So, you see, Spring 2020 protests are not a sudden or uncalled-for thing. They are the product of 401 years of enslavement, inequity, and rampant injustice against the Black community. They are a collective group of people standing up and saying enough.

This is not just another hashtag or social trend, this is the continued fight for human dignity. 

Like those who came before us in the fight for civil rights for all, the basic tenant has been the acknowledgment of Black people as human beings. 

Sit in the discomfort of knowing that even after 401 years, they are still pleading for the same thing. 

I know that this is a lot of information to absorb. And I also know that I missed a lot because it turns out distilling years of oppression into a blog post is an arduous task. But, we cannot look away. We cannot turn our backs to the continued oppression of our black brothers and sisters who have been fighting the same battle for 401 years.

In the Bible, the Israelites were held in captivity at the hands of Egyptian Pharaohs for 430 years. In America, we have held the black community captive for 401 years.

There will be a reckoning.

The Lord weeps at the displacement of His children. It is time for our repentance and advocacy. It’s time to sit in discomfort and act in the strength of the Gospel.

In the same way that the Lord brought His chosen people out of Egypt, I believe that it is His heart to bring His children home. Now it’s time for us to decide, which side of history do we want to be on?

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SOURCES: 

• https://www.nps.gov/saga/learn/education/upload/african%20american%20history%20timeline.pdf
• https://legacy.npr.org/news/specials/blackhistorymonth/timeline.html
• https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/black-history-milestones
• https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/florida-teen-trayvon-martin-is-shot-and-killed
• https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history-timeline/
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/the-bible-was-used-to-justify-slavery-then-africans-made-it-their-path-to-freedom/2019/04/29/34699e8e-6512-11e9-82ba-fcfeff232e8f_story.html
• https://www.facinghistory.org/nobigotry/religion-colonial-america-trends-regulations-and-beliefs

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