The Legacy and Gift of the Black Church

 I have stayed up really late the past couple of evenings - okay, 11 PM is my idea of burning the midnight oil in my dotage. I watched the two, two-hour segments of The Black Church: This is My Story, This is My Song on PBS. The host was Henry Louis Gates who led viewers through 400 years of the Black church in America, beginning with worship experiences in the early days of slavery which combined the religions of Africa with Christianity before there were church structures for worship.

The second evening included an exploration of the role of women in the Civil Rights Movement, which was strongly associated with the Black church. Most of us are aware of Rosa Parks, but there were many prominent women in the movement, even though their contributions have been less recognized. 

One of those women was activist, theologian, and eloquent speaker, Prathia Hall. In one meeting which included Martin Luther King Jr. Hall prayed using the recurring phrase "I have a dream.". MLK was struck by this phrase, and told Hall that he would use it at some point. He did, in what was one of his best known addresses, often called the "I Have a Dream Speech" at the Lincoln Memorial as the culmination of the March on Washington.

Women were key to the organization of the March on Washington and half a dozen were acknowledged on stage. I've heard that while some of the Black male Civil Rights leaders were invited to the White House to meet with President Kennedy, none of the women were. And apparently none of those men insisted that women be included. 

I would like to know more about the Black Church in Canada. Union United Church is a Black congregation established in Montreal in 1907 by a group of African Canadian railway porters and their wives so that they might  worship in their own style after having been excluded  from other congregations. Union United has had visits from Nelson Mandela, Sidney Poitier Marcus and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, it's where jazz pianist Oscar Peterson learned to play, and offered music lessons in his youth.Surely there were prominent women as well!

If you get the opportunity to watch The Black Church, I highly recommend that you do. 

                                 Nelson and Winnie Mandela visit Union United Church, Montreal in 1990