Black History Month: Day Twelve--Fair and Balanced?

*Note: For The Journey: Day Twenty-Five see my earlier post today.

Black History Month: The History and the Controversy

Day Twelve: Fair and Balanced?

Though we are not nearing the end of Black History Month, we are nearing the end of my ministry series on the history and mystery of Black History Month. What started as a day or two, has become half the month! I’ll focus the rest of the month on The Journey: Forty Days of Promise—Celebrating the Legacy of African American Christianity.

So What Do I Think?

I’ve been inviting conversation rather than stating my opinion about whether Black History Month is still necessary. Much of the discussion about whether it is necessary has related to whether “main stream” history is accurately covering Black History year-round.

My specialty is Black Church History, so I will speak to that anecdotally. As you will see, I don’t think Evangelical Black Church History is being fairly covered year round…not close!

Anecdote # 1: Research for Beyond the Suffering

As Karole Edwards and I researched the history of African American soul care and spiritual direction, we found plenty of primary sources for Black Church History from 1500-1900 (our time-frame).

However, when we looked in secondary sources written today about American Church history, we found an embarrassing dearth of focus on women and minorities. Even in 2009, most general texts on American Church history continue to focus on dead White guys!

Anecdote # 2: Response from Participants of Heroes of the Black Church Seminars

As I present around the country on Heroes of the Black Church, participants are angry! Fortunately, they are not angry at me. They are angry because in their Evangelical Bible colleges, Christian liberal arts colleges, and seminaries, they are taking Church history courses and hearing nothing about Blacks, especially Evangelical Blacks. And even in their HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) they were not taught about Black Church history, especially not Evangelical African American Christianity.

Stay tuned tomorrow for additional anecdotes demonstrating that Black Church History still lacks year-round fair and balanced coverage…and the implications of that fact.