The Necessity of Black History & the Black Church
Dr. Rachel Atkins, Director of Civic Discipleship
As Black History Month draws to a close, I am thankful for this opportunity to focus our attention on often-overlooked aspects of American history. Some have asked why we still have months designated to the history of a single group based on their race. In an ideal world, we would teach American history in ways that include unsanitized stories of African Americans and other racially marginalized groups. However, since this is rarely the case, Black History Month provides an opportunity to learn omitted parts of history. Learning the history of Black Americans is essential not just for knowledge's sake but because it helps us understand the present. When we don’t know the history that helps explain the racial inequality we see in the present, we risk repeating that history or dismantling the infrastructure that produced and preserved the progress our nation has made.
For example, on January 20, 2025, the day we inaugurated the 47th president of the United States, Donald Trump issued an executive order to “coordinate the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear." The stated purpose of this order was to undo his predecessor’s Executive Order 13985, “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government.” In a seemingly sick twist of fate, January 20th, 2025, was also the day we commemorated the life and work of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, who advocated for policies that would fall under the umbrella of DEI today (1). As an academic economist who conducts research and teaches courses on racial economic inequality, this executive order and other recent actions by the Trump administration have left me feeling weary and uncertain.
I am concerned because while our country has certainly made progress towards a more racially just society, we still have a long way to go. The most recent data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances reports that the 2022 median before-tax family income was $81K for White families and just $46K for Black families. (2) It also shows that wealth for the median White household was $284K compared to just $44K for the median Black household. (3) These disparate outcomes illustrate persistent racial and economic segregation in America. They suggest that Black Americans are still not fully integrated into the US economy. It's true that though these statistics may show unequal outcomes, they don’t illustrate whether or how our economic, social, and political systems produce inequality. Indeed, many assume that these outcomes are merely reflections of differences in preferences or behavior among individuals from different racial or ethnic groups. These faulty assumptions ignore the historical evidence of generations of discriminatory laws and practices. Moreover, they illustrate why the work my colleagues and I do is so vital since our research evaluates and often dispels these faulty assumptions. We use rigorous methods to document inequality and investigate what does and, importantly, what does not explain the disparities we observe.
The executive order comes at a time when activist groups and networks are aggressively working to eradicate policies and programs that were created to make our society more inclusive and fair by addressing systemic inequality. Their combined efforts have had a chilling effect on the work I do since their reach extends beyond the federal government. Private sector funding for our work is drying up for fear of retribution from the Trump administration or lawsuits from private groups who portray any activity that seeks to include individuals from historically excluded racial backgrounds as discrimination.
For many of us, these events have been disheartening, troubling, and at times anxiety-inducing. I worry about the viability of our research agenda and the implications for society if our work cannot continue. However, amid these feelings of disillusionment, I can honestly say that I have found hope in the testimony of past generations of Black American Christians whose shoulders we stand on. Revelation 12 declares that our brothers and sisters in Christ overcome the evil one who deceives the whole world (verse 9) by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony (verse 11). It is their testimony and the declaration of the good news of Jesus Christ that has given me hope in these dark days.
First, I am encouraged to overcome these present dark realities in light of the testimony of Black Christians who fought racial injustice when the United States was in its infancy. (4) Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, and others formed the first Black church in Philadelphia in 1787, just a few years after the founding of our nation. (5) They created the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in response to the racism African Americans faced while seeking to worship at St George's Methodist Episcopal Church. Black congregants were removed from St George's while they were on their knees praying so that church officials could enforce racial segregation practices within the walls of the church. It must have been incredibly discouraging for these believers to enter the house of the Lord, their sanctuary from the racial oppression that pervaded American society, only to experience it at the hands of people who professed Christ. Many of you reading this can relate to that story all too well.
However, rather than succumbing to the pain and pressure induced by oppression from the social order of the day, Allen, Jones, and others followed the way of Christ instead by founding the AME Church. They opposed the racism that infected the broader American church by establishing a denomination that honored the image of God in all of its members. Their testimony reminds me that by the power of God’s Spirit, we can overcome the unjust spirit of our time and place by living according to the righteousness and justice that characterize the Kingdom of God.
Second, I am encouraged to overcome these present circumstances because of the blood of the lamb. The power of Jesus Christ, who inhabited a human body––a body found amongst an oppressed people––that died, was buried, and then rose from the dead with that same body and spirit intact, was displayed in and through the founding of the Black Church in America. By forbidding the practice of slavery and rejecting sinful segregation in their midst, they proclaimed, in both word and deed, the good news of a Christ who saves embodied human souls. They created communities where Christians could freely image God, love him, and love their neighbors made in God’s image at maximum capacity, unbound by earthly chains. These counter-cultural acts declared that Jesus is Lord no matter how loudly the laws of the land and societal norms proclaimed the reign of slavery and segregation.
Some may argue that their pursuit of racial justice was biblical but not gospel. I believe that our Lord and his Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul, would take issue with this characterization. The faithful Christian witness of these Black believers harkens back to an account recorded by Paul in his letter to the Galatian Church. In chapter 2, verses 11 and 12, he writes, “ When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.” He goes on to write in verse 14, “I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel.” For Paul, race or ethnicity-based segregation was antithetical to the gospel.
So, as Black History Month 2025 winds to a close, my weary soul is not without hope. The evil one has deceived many in our society into thinking that intentionally including people from historically excluded racial groups is tantamount to discrimination. But we can overcome this by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony to the goodness of God as we declare the Lordship of Christ through the faithful pursuit of racial justice.
Prayer: Father, as we conclude this Black History Month, we thank you for your great faithfulness to the Black church. The Black church’s historic struggle for justice––a struggle deeply rooted in you and your Word––transformed (and continues to transform) a nation whose Christianity often presented a distorted Christ. In this season when some try to truncate or marginalize the full story of how you have been revealing your justice amongst us, we resolutely celebrate the diversity of your people, the equality of all who bear your image, the inclusion of all nations accomplished by Jesus, and the ways the Black church has often led the way in rightly proclaiming the truth of your justice in this unjust world. Empower your people today to do similarly. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.
(1) www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-08-18-op-35403-story.html and also https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2023/07/09/gov-sanders-is-wrong-mlk-supported-affirmative-action
(4) To learn about how the importance of the Black church in the U.S., check out “The Prophetic Voice of the Black Church”
(5) www.ame-church.com/our-church/our-history/