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The History of Black Catholics in the United States
This book makes an extremely valuable contribution to our understanding of African-American religious life by presenting the first full-length treatment of the Black Catholic experience. It should be read by all interested in the history and culture of Black Americans.
366 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 27, 2025
A must-read for every Catholic in America
With all the rewriting of History happening, I suggest every Catholic read this book regardless of their politics. Learn what history is speaking to us in our world today. Cyprian was a scholar and most excellent historian. One evening, sitting on the office floor on huge cushions, we discussed why white Catholics must understand the history of black Catholics. To be truly Catholic means to understand our history, including the early movements and the role blacks contributed to the universal church. In an era of slavery, it is paramount to understand that many slaves were Catholics when they arrived in slave boats in the US, and slave owners who bought them were also Catholics. And ask what part of the gospel we did not grasp.
With all the rewriting of History happening, I suggest every Catholic read this book regardless of their politics. Learn what history is speaking to us in our world today. Cyprian was a scholar and most excellent historian. One evening, sitting on the office floor on huge cushions, we discussed why white Catholics must understand the history of black Catholics. To be truly Catholic means to understand our history, including the early movements and the role blacks contributed to the universal church. In an era of slavery, it is paramount to understand that many slaves were Catholics when they arrived in slave boats in the US, and slave owners who bought them were also Catholics. And ask what part of the gospel we did not grasp.
October 13, 2020
Davis is an incredibly thorough and fair voice in the Catholic Church. As a life-long, theology degree holding Catholic, this easily is one of the top three books American Catholics need to study.
June 29, 2021
In 1990, at the time of the publication of Cyprian Davis' keystone work, there were roughly 1.5 million African-American Catholics in the United States - since that time, the number has doubled to over three million. Despite their numbers, African-American Catholics have often been largely overlooked, not only in academia, but also by the general public which still holds a view of the Catholic Church largely being the religion of white immigrants and their descendants as well as Americans of Hispanic background.
Within his work, The History of Black Catholics in the United States, Cyprian Davis seeks to challange this assumption and to shine a light upon the history and experiences of African-Americans within the Catholic Church. Beginning with the very foundations of the Church and then exploring the Spanish colonial Empire, he seeks to show that Africans have been part of the story of Catholicism literally from the founding of the Church itself. It is only after he had done this that he turns to the history of the United States itself and explores the experiences of African-Americans within the American Church.
It would be easy to have built his history around the narritive of a disinterested Church heirarchy which drug its feet in reaching out to freed African-Americans in the years after the Civil War. Indeed, despite the work of activist clergy members, as well as the constant prodding from the Vatican, the American Chuch was much slower to make their presense felt within the freedmen community than many Protestant denominations - the first African-American priest, Augustine Tolten, would not be ordained until 1886. Reasons for this an be given as many of the ranking Catholic bishops were Southron in heritage or Irish, the latter of which community continued to fear being out-competed by free African-Americans during, before and after the Civil War.
However, it is a credit to Davis' skill as a historian that he does not fall into the trap of this narrative. Yes, this thread is present throughout the work, but it never comes to dominate. Instead, Davis works to show the agency of African-American Catholics throughout the history of the United States. He takes special interest in the formation of several Orders of sisters founded by members of the African-American community such of the Oblate Sisters of Providence as well as the Sisters of the Holy Family. He also works to show the initiative of lay members of the community and how the growth of Black Catholicism throughout the 19th and 20th centuries often had more to do with their zeal and abilities than it did with the clergy, such as with the formation of the Colored Catholic Congress in 1889 by newspaperman Daniel Rudd.
Davis' work is not without issue, however. As others have noted, the work rushes through the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s in a scant 20-30 pages. This is doubly a shame as Catholicism began to grow stronger amongst the African-American community during these years and after. However, it should be noted that the work was published in 1990 - meaning that much of the research and writing would have been done over the course of the 1980s, and historians are notoriously reticent about dealing with the recent past. Another issue is that Davis is effectively writing to three seperate audiences throughout: Academics, African-American Catholics themselves, as well as a white audience which is likely unaware of the history of the community. Because of this, certain sections of the work can seem to be aimed at one particular group and somewhat out of place within the totality of the whole.
Despite these issues, The History of Black Catholics in the United States remains a monumental work. It is masterfully written and researched, and details the story of the community which is so often overlooked in the popular culture as well as academia. It stands as a testament to Davis, as well as a pointed critique to the nation, that over 30 years after it's publication, The History of Black Catholics in the United States remains the defacto first and last word on this topic. Certainly, more work needs to be done in the field and a greater appreciation for the myraid Catholic experiences in the United States must be fostered.
Within his work, The History of Black Catholics in the United States, Cyprian Davis seeks to challange this assumption and to shine a light upon the history and experiences of African-Americans within the Catholic Church. Beginning with the very foundations of the Church and then exploring the Spanish colonial Empire, he seeks to show that Africans have been part of the story of Catholicism literally from the founding of the Church itself. It is only after he had done this that he turns to the history of the United States itself and explores the experiences of African-Americans within the American Church.
It would be easy to have built his history around the narritive of a disinterested Church heirarchy which drug its feet in reaching out to freed African-Americans in the years after the Civil War. Indeed, despite the work of activist clergy members, as well as the constant prodding from the Vatican, the American Chuch was much slower to make their presense felt within the freedmen community than many Protestant denominations - the first African-American priest, Augustine Tolten, would not be ordained until 1886. Reasons for this an be given as many of the ranking Catholic bishops were Southron in heritage or Irish, the latter of which community continued to fear being out-competed by free African-Americans during, before and after the Civil War.
However, it is a credit to Davis' skill as a historian that he does not fall into the trap of this narrative. Yes, this thread is present throughout the work, but it never comes to dominate. Instead, Davis works to show the agency of African-American Catholics throughout the history of the United States. He takes special interest in the formation of several Orders of sisters founded by members of the African-American community such of the Oblate Sisters of Providence as well as the Sisters of the Holy Family. He also works to show the initiative of lay members of the community and how the growth of Black Catholicism throughout the 19th and 20th centuries often had more to do with their zeal and abilities than it did with the clergy, such as with the formation of the Colored Catholic Congress in 1889 by newspaperman Daniel Rudd.
Davis' work is not without issue, however. As others have noted, the work rushes through the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s in a scant 20-30 pages. This is doubly a shame as Catholicism began to grow stronger amongst the African-American community during these years and after. However, it should be noted that the work was published in 1990 - meaning that much of the research and writing would have been done over the course of the 1980s, and historians are notoriously reticent about dealing with the recent past. Another issue is that Davis is effectively writing to three seperate audiences throughout: Academics, African-American Catholics themselves, as well as a white audience which is likely unaware of the history of the community. Because of this, certain sections of the work can seem to be aimed at one particular group and somewhat out of place within the totality of the whole.
Despite these issues, The History of Black Catholics in the United States remains a monumental work. It is masterfully written and researched, and details the story of the community which is so often overlooked in the popular culture as well as academia. It stands as a testament to Davis, as well as a pointed critique to the nation, that over 30 years after it's publication, The History of Black Catholics in the United States remains the defacto first and last word on this topic. Certainly, more work needs to be done in the field and a greater appreciation for the myraid Catholic experiences in the United States must be fostered.
April 30, 2024
Thank you Cyprian, you goated ass Benedictine. This might be the only book acting as a comprehensive overview of the history of black catholics in America. Literally couldn't find anything else.
Cyprian manages a deft balance between hearty info and rousing theological and ethical analysis (of what is quite often the Catholic church and clergy's failure to confront racial inequality).
Tl;dr, if you were ever curious why there are so few black Catholics and so many black Protestants, it's because most of the Protestant churches took considerable effort to make black laity feel welcome shortly after the end of the Civil War, whereas the Catholic church did little of the sort. The best black Catholics could hope for was a tut-tut letter from Rome telling American bishops and priests to stop being racist, which did nothing for them.
First non-white passing/white identifying black priest was ordained 1886, first bishop with the same credit was consecrated in 1966. If you were curious, the white-passing Healy brothers had among them the first black bishop (1854) and the first Jesuit (1864), but neither identified as black nor did they do anything for blacks. That should paint a picture.
Sometimes Cyprian has little more than Church census records to go off of, and those segments are admittedly dry. But he's able to wring substantial drama out of the figures leading the fight for racial equality in the Catholic church of the early 20th century.
It's astounding how hard the black clergy and laity fought to get a place at the table. It's equally astounding that this history was not discussed at all in my 16 years at Catholic educational institutions.
Also hilariously this book provides 10x as much historical info on nearly all the African American Catholics on the road to sainthood, which really exposes how paltry that other book was.
Cyprian manages a deft balance between hearty info and rousing theological and ethical analysis (of what is quite often the Catholic church and clergy's failure to confront racial inequality).
Tl;dr, if you were ever curious why there are so few black Catholics and so many black Protestants, it's because most of the Protestant churches took considerable effort to make black laity feel welcome shortly after the end of the Civil War, whereas the Catholic church did little of the sort. The best black Catholics could hope for was a tut-tut letter from Rome telling American bishops and priests to stop being racist, which did nothing for them.
First non-white passing/white identifying black priest was ordained 1886, first bishop with the same credit was consecrated in 1966. If you were curious, the white-passing Healy brothers had among them the first black bishop (1854) and the first Jesuit (1864), but neither identified as black nor did they do anything for blacks. That should paint a picture.
Sometimes Cyprian has little more than Church census records to go off of, and those segments are admittedly dry. But he's able to wring substantial drama out of the figures leading the fight for racial equality in the Catholic church of the early 20th century.
It's astounding how hard the black clergy and laity fought to get a place at the table. It's equally astounding that this history was not discussed at all in my 16 years at Catholic educational institutions.
Also hilariously this book provides 10x as much historical info on nearly all the African American Catholics on the road to sainthood, which really exposes how paltry that other book was.
June 14, 2020
Growing up in 1970's Queens, I lived in a heavily Catholic neighborhood. Never once during my childhood, however, did I ever encounter a person of color in my parish church. This led me to assume, then, that there were no Black Catholics. I just assumed they were all Protestant. Likewise the Catholic schools I attended through high school were almost homogeneously white. Not until I attended college did I have any serious meaningful interaction with African American Catholics.
That's why reading Father Cyprian Davis's "The History of Black Catholics in the United States" (1990) was such an eye-opener for me. This book introduced me not only to Africa's rich Catholic heritage, but more importantly to the African American Catholic experience. Black Catholics compose some 2-3% of the entire American Catholic population, and they suffered greatly to make their voice known. For decades, they were excluded from priesthood and religious life, even from many parish churches. They FOUGHT to be Catholic and STAY Catholic, often in the face of overwhelming hostility and prejudice from their fellow Catholics.
This is an enlightening and inspiring book. It reminds us of the true meaning of the word "Catholic": "universal." That means the Church belongs to everyone, and all must welcome. I love this book!
That's why reading Father Cyprian Davis's "The History of Black Catholics in the United States" (1990) was such an eye-opener for me. This book introduced me not only to Africa's rich Catholic heritage, but more importantly to the African American Catholic experience. Black Catholics compose some 2-3% of the entire American Catholic population, and they suffered greatly to make their voice known. For decades, they were excluded from priesthood and religious life, even from many parish churches. They FOUGHT to be Catholic and STAY Catholic, often in the face of overwhelming hostility and prejudice from their fellow Catholics.
This is an enlightening and inspiring book. It reminds us of the true meaning of the word "Catholic": "universal." That means the Church belongs to everyone, and all must welcome. I love this book!
November 2, 2016
Certainly a book worth reading. It seems well researched with ample documentation. I wanted to read it because i was very interested in learning about how the Catholic Church dealt with slavery in the ante-bellum and Civil War Period. Fr. Davis provides excellent insights on a variety of themes. The history of Black Catholics truly was a zig zag affair and the US Catholic Church's ministry to African Americans was likewiose and is shown to be far too dependent on the culture of the day rahter than evangelizing that culture. Davis does point out both the aggravating and mitigating circumstances of that aspect very fairly. It is captivating to see both tthe highlights and the lowlights to see how teh CHurch nearly burst through to the light but was at times stymied.
I rated the book a little lower because I felt that its treatment of the latter half of the 20th Century left a bit to be desired. It may be simply that as a thorough historical book, written in 1990 that some of the period from the 50's on were just too raw or the documents just not availableto write an objective history. The post script contains and interesting though in some ways disturbing turn that I will not reveal.
This is a serious book that is worth the effort form those who wish to asssit teh Church in being part of the discussion of race relations in America.
I rated the book a little lower because I felt that its treatment of the latter half of the 20th Century left a bit to be desired. It may be simply that as a thorough historical book, written in 1990 that some of the period from the 50's on were just too raw or the documents just not availableto write an objective history. The post script contains and interesting though in some ways disturbing turn that I will not reveal.
This is a serious book that is worth the effort form those who wish to asssit teh Church in being part of the discussion of race relations in America.
October 24, 2016
Not only are there wonderful facts, dates, and ancedotes, there's some wonderful inclusion of dynamics between gender, class, education, and activism. Anyone interested in the full spectrum of Black experiences should give this book a try. Largely academic, of course, yet easily understood. It isn't a definitive work, of course, but that's part of the point in terms of academic scholarship, regardless of its topic and areas of emphasis---add in something to the conversation. Moreover, the fact that it's very Catholic in tone--in terms of no nonsense, goodwill toward all in community, all the while remaining clear where responsibilities lay for individuals, groups, and historical/political/social contexts over time--lends a great deal of warmth to a history of Black Catholics in the U.S. from across the diaspora.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews