On February 26th, just before the close of Black History Month, the House of Representatives voted 410-4 to make lynching a federal crime. After more than a century of proposing anti-lynching bills, Congress finally indicated that, at least in this narrow instance, Black lives (finally) matter. But one question immediately leaps to the forefront regarding […]
Is racism mostly a reality of the past? Has America largely overcome its fixation with skin color? Have we become post-racial? The signs of progress inundate our society. We have seen black people and other people of color enter all segments of life from blockbuster movies, to the Supreme Court, to billionaire-level wealth. It appears […]
While activists have initiated remarkable progress when it comes to race in America, the struggle for black freedom continues. The reality is that racism remains. It is sometimes hidden in the walls and rafters of the nation’s institutions but even so, like an un-killable cockroach, racism still frequently scurries back into the light. No matter […]
“Changed laws do not change hearts” is a persistent sentiment in today’s evangelical culture.
In February of 2018, during Black History Month, I had the honor of co-leading a pilgrimage to Charleston, South Carolina. That city served as the major point of entry on the East Coast for newly arrived black slaves. The deplorable institution of race-based chattel slavery shaped the entire history of the city and the state […]
NOTE: This article originally appeared in “Opinion” section of the New York Times. JACKSON, Miss. — When President Trump decided at the last minute to attend the grand opening of the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum here on Saturday, the museums’ staff flew into overdrive. I saw it in their sincere but […]
September 16, 1963 brought news of one of the most horrific acts of hate and violence ever perpetrated during the Civil Rights movement. Four young black girls–Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, and Cynthia Diane Wesley, and Carole Robertson–were killed in a church bombing planned by white supremacists. One could scarcely think of more innocent […]
June 17 marks the anniversary of the murder of the Emanuel Nine. A white supremacist sat through a Bible study at the historic Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina and then he started firing. In the end, nine black believers lay dead. We say their names: Rev. Clementa Pickney (41) Cynthia Hurd (54) Rev. […]
The bullet that killed Medgar Evers didn’t stop in his chest. It ripped through his body, through the wall of his home, and lodged in the refrigerator inside where his wife and three children were still awake. Fortunately, the Evers family had trained for just such an occasion. They immediately dropped to the ground for […]
June 9 marks a grim anniversary in the history of civil rights. On that date in 1963, Fannie Lou Hamer, a poor sharecropper from Mississippi, endured a vicious beating orchestrated by white police officers. Three books— The Senator and the Sharecropper by Chris Myers Asch, God’s Long Summer by Charles Marsh, and I’ve Got the Light of […]
James Meredith has always been his own man. You have to be if you’re going to be the first black student at the University of Mississippi. In 1962, Meredith integrated that bastion of white supremacy in the South. White rioters spent the night in bloodshed and destruction that left two people dead. Nevertheless, Meredith graduated […]
February 26, 2012 marked a resurgence of the civil rights movement in America. Seven years ago, Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African American was walking back from a convenience store in Sanford, Florida wearing a hoodie and carrying Skittles and iced tea. Moments later, he was fatally shot by a neighborhood watchman. The circumstances of Martin’s killing polarized the nation […]
For over thirty years, U.S. citizens have celebrated the third Monday of January as the Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday. A day set aside for this remarkable civil rights leader should be universally welcome, but I admit that I approach the day with mixed feelings. Which Dr. King do we honor on his national […]
The theme of the the Presbyterian Church in America’s 44th General Assembly was “Refreshed In and For the Cross.” For those present on the evening of June 23, 2016, it may have been one of the most refreshing times in the denomination’s history. That night, Overture 43: Pursuing Racial Reconciliation and the Advancement of the […]
Parks had a particular concern for black women who had been victims of sexual violence.
In this article, Otis W. Pickett reflects on when he first experienced Mississippi, and how the story of Emmitt Till’s death impacted him.
The 2015 PCA General Assembly will be remembered most for the debate surrounding the Personal Resolution on Civil Rights Remembrance. Sean Lucas and Ligon Duncan signed the resolution and presented it at the Assembly. While the resolution did not pass at the 2015 Assembly, it was referred to next year’s Assembly for consideration. In the meantime, […]
