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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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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.
June 3, 2026
AN EXCEPTIONAL AND INFORMATIVE HISTORY
Cyprian Davis (1930-2015) was a Benedictine monk of St. Mainrad Archabbey, and professor of theology and history at St. Meinrad School of Theology. (Yes, he was Black)
He wrote in the Preface of this 1990 book, “The history of the black Catholic community in the United States has never really been told… The present history… is an attempt to give the larger framework within which future historical research can develop. For a people whose past has been systematically ignored, it is important to start at the beginning and reveal its existence… Hence, the story of the black Catholic community in the United States begins with the story of the Catholic church in Africa. The community itself began with the first baptized black, and it continued with faith and hope and not a little love as the image of God revealed in black.”
He wrote in Chapter 1, “All black history begins in Africa. In one way or another, Africa became part of the self-understanding of American blacks throughout the 19th century… It sought its roots in the religious experience of Africa and its self-definition in the African saints of the early church. American blacks, both Protestant and Catholic, found their roots in the black Africans who appeared in the pages of the Scriptures, both in the Old Testament and the New, and most particularly in the many references to Ethiopia in the Psalms and the Prophets.
“Origen, the great Alexandrian church father of the 3rd century, paved the way with his famous commentary on Song of Songs 1:5 (‘I am very dark, but comely…’)… Origen believed (as most did in his day) that the great love poem of the Old Testament was a composition by King Solomon, in which was set forth the long songs between Solomon and the queen of Sheba. Origen followed the traditional belief of the time in seeing the queen of Sheba as an Ethiopian queen, a beautiful woman with black skin. The Septuagint version … uses the wording, ‘I am black and beautiful.’ ... Origen looks to the Old Testament for examples of blackness that foreshadow the mystery of the church. For him, there are two: the wife of Moses, and Ebed-Melech, the Kushite who saved the life of Jeremiah...” (Pg. 1-2)
He explains, “In the Old Testament, the land of Kush usually meant Nubia, the land south of Egypt… The Nubians… were not only a colony of Egypt and received from it its culture but a people who took that culture and made it an integral part of their own. Nubia was a black African nation with its own pharaohs. The people built their own pyramids, constructed their own majestic temples… in fact, founded their own empire.” (Pg. 2)
He notes, “for many, St. Augustine and his mother, St. Monica, are two examples of black Africa’s contribution to history and world civilization… For African American Catholics in the 19th century, there was a singular pride in being able to point to Augustine as one of their own. But was he in fact black? Augustine was born in 354 … 200 miles southwest of Carthage… His father had the Roman name ‘Patricius’… Augustine’s native tongue was Latin… Augustine’s mother had a Berber name… physically, he probably resembled the typical Algerian of today. He was not a European, despite his long sojourn in Italy. Augustine wrote about black Africans in a commentary on Psalm 74: ‘… How do I understand the Ethiopian peoples?… for the Ethiopians are black. They who have been black are called to faith…’” (Pg. 12)
He reports, “The ‘Liber Pontificalis’ gives the birthplace of … three popes as Africa… For each of the three pontiffs in question, the Liber Potificalis uses the formula.. ‘in nation an African.’ As we have seen, the designation ‘African’ did not necessarily mean a black African… the term ‘African’ would mean most likely … the province around Carthage. It is not out of the question that a black man from this area could have been pope, and yet it does not seem likely.” (Pg. 14)
He says of Martin de Porres (1579-1639), “Through him Africa’s sons and daughters made the Catholic church their own. It is this church, both African and Spanish, that later was to lay the foundation of the black Catholic community in what is now the United States.” (Pg. 27)
He notes, “In 1839 Pope Gregory XVI condemned the slave trade in the apostolic letter ‘In Supremo Apostotus Fastigo.’ He did so… because it was part of his pastoral concern to turn people away from ‘the inhuman traffic in Negroes.’” (Pg. 39)
He explains, “Whether in Spanish, French, or English Catholic areas, slavery was part of the religious scene. Not only laypersons but religious and priests availed themselves of slave labor… the Catholic church in the United States found itself incapable of taking any decisive action … regarding slavery. This factor unfortunately prevented the American church from playing any serious role until the middle of the 20th century in the most tragic debate that this nation had to face.” (Pg. 65-66)
He points out, “We do not have much information regarding the religious life of black Catholics prior to the Civil War.” (Pg. 89) “The first successful foundation of black sisters took place [in 1829] in Baltimore. It was a work of a French priest and four women of color, all of whom were part of the Haitian refugee colony in Baltimore.” (Pg. 99) Later, he adds, “The history of black sisters in the 19th century is a pivotal chapter in the history of African American Catholicism, for three reasons. First… they made a unique contribution by their ministry to neglected African Americans… Second, the African American religious communities witness to the existence of a vigorous black Catholic community even prior to the Civil War… Third, the African American religious sisterhoods helped lay the faith foundation of the black Catholic community. No one would contest the fact that white sisters and priests carried out remarkable work in the evangelization of the African American population… Nevertheless, the pioneers in black ministry were the followers of Elizabeth Lange, Henriette Delille, and … Mathilda Beasley. As pioneers, they often worked without encouragement or support and too often in the face of indifference of antipathy. Without them the black Catholic community would not be what it is today.” (Pg. 114-115)
He states, “[The] climate of public opinion that placed African Americans in a subordinate position in society because of their purported inherent inferiority would affect the work of evangelization. It would affect not only the perception of those who did the evangelizing but the public’s attitude toward them. The Josephites and others would share the stigma attached to the black population of the United States.” (Pg. 130)
He summarizes, “The history of the Catholic church’s efforts to evangelize the black people of the United States in the period following the Civil War is not a very glorious one. One might note that the ethnic group that she had known the longest in this country, aside from the Indians, longer than any of the more recent immigrant groups in this country, was the group that she treated as stepchildren, the last considered and the first to be jettisoned when funds and personnel were scarce.” (Pg. 136)
He reports, “in the modern period the ordination of Africans to the priesthood took place as early as the 18th century, and even earlier in the case of Afonso the Good [16th century]. In the United States, however, the notion of an indigenous African American clergy was generally unacceptable. When it was a question of blacks, the American hierarchy in the 19th century and even in the early part of the 20th century did not share the views of the Congregation of the Propaganda on the importance of people having priests from their own ethnic background. Even before the Civil War, however, black Catholic men were ready to step forward to become priests. The story of their courage and persistence is a glorious and sometimes tragic page in the history of American Catholicism… The first three black priests in the United States were three brothers, all of whom were born slaves to Michael Morris Healy, an Irishman.” (Pg. 146)
He reports, “In 1875 James Augustine Healy was named the second bishop of Portland, Maine… Healy was the first black Catholic bishop in the history of the United States. He did not exploit this fact, nor did he speak out on behalf of African Americans. One might wonder why he never addressed the issue of racial inequities in this period of growing tension. In the last decade of his episcopate, black Catholics began to make their voices heard within the church. Healy, however, never accepted the invitations made by the leaders of the black Catholic congress to address their meetings or even to be present at them.” (Pg. 150)
He recounts that in January 1889… almost a hundred men, all African Americans… [were] ushered into the presence of President Grover Cleveland… and the occasion was the last day of the 4-day meeting of… the first black Catholic congress in the nation’s history… The visit to the White House was only surpassed by the cablegram from Pope Leo XIII’s secretary of state… the pope had sent them his apostolic blessing. Less than a quarter century after the end of slavery, a Roman pontiff had given his approbation and blessing to a nationwide assembly of black Catholic men. Thus a new age for the black Catholic community had emerged… The one individual responsible for this new development among black Catholics was Daniel Rudd] 1854-1933]… newspaperman, lecturer, publisher, publicist, and ‘leading Catholic representative of the Negro race.’” (Pg. 163-164) “He died … at the age of 79… With him ended one of the most important influences in the history of black Catholicism in this country… his vision and his dreams of what the church could be for blacks and what blacks could be within the church would still be an expression of hope and challenge in the contemporary period.” (Pg.214)
He explains, “Thomas Wyatt Turner … represented the generation of American blacks that came to maturity after the First World War. These men were the first university-trained generation among blacks. They were proud, independent, and determined that the Negro should be the equal of any white man or woman. They were the generation of black professionals and of the Harlem Renaissance.” (Pg. 229)
He admits, “By and large Catholics, either black or white, were not in the forefront of the civil rights movement or among the leadership of the protest organizations. Black priests, unlike many black Protestant clergymen, were not in the vanguard of grass-roots leadership that supported and followed [Martin Luther] King on the local level.” (Pg. 256)
This is a genuinely EXCELLENT history of a little-discussed topic.
Cyprian Davis (1930-2015) was a Benedictine monk of St. Mainrad Archabbey, and professor of theology and history at St. Meinrad School of Theology. (Yes, he was Black)
He wrote in the Preface of this 1990 book, “The history of the black Catholic community in the United States has never really been told… The present history… is an attempt to give the larger framework within which future historical research can develop. For a people whose past has been systematically ignored, it is important to start at the beginning and reveal its existence… Hence, the story of the black Catholic community in the United States begins with the story of the Catholic church in Africa. The community itself began with the first baptized black, and it continued with faith and hope and not a little love as the image of God revealed in black.”
He wrote in Chapter 1, “All black history begins in Africa. In one way or another, Africa became part of the self-understanding of American blacks throughout the 19th century… It sought its roots in the religious experience of Africa and its self-definition in the African saints of the early church. American blacks, both Protestant and Catholic, found their roots in the black Africans who appeared in the pages of the Scriptures, both in the Old Testament and the New, and most particularly in the many references to Ethiopia in the Psalms and the Prophets.
“Origen, the great Alexandrian church father of the 3rd century, paved the way with his famous commentary on Song of Songs 1:5 (‘I am very dark, but comely…’)… Origen believed (as most did in his day) that the great love poem of the Old Testament was a composition by King Solomon, in which was set forth the long songs between Solomon and the queen of Sheba. Origen followed the traditional belief of the time in seeing the queen of Sheba as an Ethiopian queen, a beautiful woman with black skin. The Septuagint version … uses the wording, ‘I am black and beautiful.’ ... Origen looks to the Old Testament for examples of blackness that foreshadow the mystery of the church. For him, there are two: the wife of Moses, and Ebed-Melech, the Kushite who saved the life of Jeremiah...” (Pg. 1-2)
He explains, “In the Old Testament, the land of Kush usually meant Nubia, the land south of Egypt… The Nubians… were not only a colony of Egypt and received from it its culture but a people who took that culture and made it an integral part of their own. Nubia was a black African nation with its own pharaohs. The people built their own pyramids, constructed their own majestic temples… in fact, founded their own empire.” (Pg. 2)
He notes, “for many, St. Augustine and his mother, St. Monica, are two examples of black Africa’s contribution to history and world civilization… For African American Catholics in the 19th century, there was a singular pride in being able to point to Augustine as one of their own. But was he in fact black? Augustine was born in 354 … 200 miles southwest of Carthage… His father had the Roman name ‘Patricius’… Augustine’s native tongue was Latin… Augustine’s mother had a Berber name… physically, he probably resembled the typical Algerian of today. He was not a European, despite his long sojourn in Italy. Augustine wrote about black Africans in a commentary on Psalm 74: ‘… How do I understand the Ethiopian peoples?… for the Ethiopians are black. They who have been black are called to faith…’” (Pg. 12)
He reports, “The ‘Liber Pontificalis’ gives the birthplace of … three popes as Africa… For each of the three pontiffs in question, the Liber Potificalis uses the formula.. ‘in nation an African.’ As we have seen, the designation ‘African’ did not necessarily mean a black African… the term ‘African’ would mean most likely … the province around Carthage. It is not out of the question that a black man from this area could have been pope, and yet it does not seem likely.” (Pg. 14)
He says of Martin de Porres (1579-1639), “Through him Africa’s sons and daughters made the Catholic church their own. It is this church, both African and Spanish, that later was to lay the foundation of the black Catholic community in what is now the United States.” (Pg. 27)
He notes, “In 1839 Pope Gregory XVI condemned the slave trade in the apostolic letter ‘In Supremo Apostotus Fastigo.’ He did so… because it was part of his pastoral concern to turn people away from ‘the inhuman traffic in Negroes.’” (Pg. 39)
He explains, “Whether in Spanish, French, or English Catholic areas, slavery was part of the religious scene. Not only laypersons but religious and priests availed themselves of slave labor… the Catholic church in the United States found itself incapable of taking any decisive action … regarding slavery. This factor unfortunately prevented the American church from playing any serious role until the middle of the 20th century in the most tragic debate that this nation had to face.” (Pg. 65-66)
He points out, “We do not have much information regarding the religious life of black Catholics prior to the Civil War.” (Pg. 89) “The first successful foundation of black sisters took place [in 1829] in Baltimore. It was a work of a French priest and four women of color, all of whom were part of the Haitian refugee colony in Baltimore.” (Pg. 99) Later, he adds, “The history of black sisters in the 19th century is a pivotal chapter in the history of African American Catholicism, for three reasons. First… they made a unique contribution by their ministry to neglected African Americans… Second, the African American religious communities witness to the existence of a vigorous black Catholic community even prior to the Civil War… Third, the African American religious sisterhoods helped lay the faith foundation of the black Catholic community. No one would contest the fact that white sisters and priests carried out remarkable work in the evangelization of the African American population… Nevertheless, the pioneers in black ministry were the followers of Elizabeth Lange, Henriette Delille, and … Mathilda Beasley. As pioneers, they often worked without encouragement or support and too often in the face of indifference of antipathy. Without them the black Catholic community would not be what it is today.” (Pg. 114-115)
He states, “[The] climate of public opinion that placed African Americans in a subordinate position in society because of their purported inherent inferiority would affect the work of evangelization. It would affect not only the perception of those who did the evangelizing but the public’s attitude toward them. The Josephites and others would share the stigma attached to the black population of the United States.” (Pg. 130)
He summarizes, “The history of the Catholic church’s efforts to evangelize the black people of the United States in the period following the Civil War is not a very glorious one. One might note that the ethnic group that she had known the longest in this country, aside from the Indians, longer than any of the more recent immigrant groups in this country, was the group that she treated as stepchildren, the last considered and the first to be jettisoned when funds and personnel were scarce.” (Pg. 136)
He reports, “in the modern period the ordination of Africans to the priesthood took place as early as the 18th century, and even earlier in the case of Afonso the Good [16th century]. In the United States, however, the notion of an indigenous African American clergy was generally unacceptable. When it was a question of blacks, the American hierarchy in the 19th century and even in the early part of the 20th century did not share the views of the Congregation of the Propaganda on the importance of people having priests from their own ethnic background. Even before the Civil War, however, black Catholic men were ready to step forward to become priests. The story of their courage and persistence is a glorious and sometimes tragic page in the history of American Catholicism… The first three black priests in the United States were three brothers, all of whom were born slaves to Michael Morris Healy, an Irishman.” (Pg. 146)
He reports, “In 1875 James Augustine Healy was named the second bishop of Portland, Maine… Healy was the first black Catholic bishop in the history of the United States. He did not exploit this fact, nor did he speak out on behalf of African Americans. One might wonder why he never addressed the issue of racial inequities in this period of growing tension. In the last decade of his episcopate, black Catholics began to make their voices heard within the church. Healy, however, never accepted the invitations made by the leaders of the black Catholic congress to address their meetings or even to be present at them.” (Pg. 150)
He recounts that in January 1889… almost a hundred men, all African Americans… [were] ushered into the presence of President Grover Cleveland… and the occasion was the last day of the 4-day meeting of… the first black Catholic congress in the nation’s history… The visit to the White House was only surpassed by the cablegram from Pope Leo XIII’s secretary of state… the pope had sent them his apostolic blessing. Less than a quarter century after the end of slavery, a Roman pontiff had given his approbation and blessing to a nationwide assembly of black Catholic men. Thus a new age for the black Catholic community had emerged… The one individual responsible for this new development among black Catholics was Daniel Rudd] 1854-1933]… newspaperman, lecturer, publisher, publicist, and ‘leading Catholic representative of the Negro race.’” (Pg. 163-164) “He died … at the age of 79… With him ended one of the most important influences in the history of black Catholicism in this country… his vision and his dreams of what the church could be for blacks and what blacks could be within the church would still be an expression of hope and challenge in the contemporary period.” (Pg.214)
He explains, “Thomas Wyatt Turner … represented the generation of American blacks that came to maturity after the First World War. These men were the first university-trained generation among blacks. They were proud, independent, and determined that the Negro should be the equal of any white man or woman. They were the generation of black professionals and of the Harlem Renaissance.” (Pg. 229)
He admits, “By and large Catholics, either black or white, were not in the forefront of the civil rights movement or among the leadership of the protest organizations. Black priests, unlike many black Protestant clergymen, were not in the vanguard of grass-roots leadership that supported and followed [Martin Luther] King on the local level.” (Pg. 256)
This is a genuinely EXCELLENT history of a little-discussed topic.
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.
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