The Black Church

From its early origins to today’s Black Lives Matter movement, The Black Church explores the church’s powerful influence as the spiritual, cultural, and political epicenter of the African American community. Hear from iconic musicians such as John Legend, Pastor Shirley Caesar, Kirk Franklin and Yolanda Adams on the powerful role of gospel music within the Black church.

Host Henry Louis Gates, Jr. discusses the origins of Black church and its continued influence as the spiritual, cultural, and political epicenter of the African American community.

As Black political activism evolves through time, new school activists abandon the institution, but not God.

In 1949, Thurman published “Jesus and the Disinherited,'' promoting the discipline of non-violence. Inspired by his ideas, Martin Luther King Jr. urges his followers to follow his word.

Between 1920 and 1960, African Americans had built immense political power allowing them to demand a higher level of accountability from the federal government.

In 1954, Reverend Franklin recorded his popular sermon “The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest” in New Bethel Baptist Church, becoming one of the first church leaders to take advantage of the medium.

In the early days of the phonograph, jazz and blues recordings created by Black artists were marketed as Race Records. The most popular amongst the African American community were religious sermons.

In the first decade after the Civil War, thousands of Black Churches were built across the South to uplift a community that had been degraded in bondage.

In the 1920s, women’s place in society was beginning to change. The Church struggled to accept the transforming culture - something the institution still battles with today.

More than 40 years after Charleston’s staple Black church was destroyed, Reverend Cain started rebuilding the significant place of worship, which became the flagship of the A.M.E denomination.

Founded to be seminaries, divinity schools, and training grounds for ministers and teachers, HBCUs understood themselves to be doing the work of God.

Off the coast of Georgia, you can find some of the deepest traces of Christianity, as well as Islam. Over time, the traditions of the separate religions slowly merged, fusing the two different worlds.