Black Deaths Matter, Too

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie C. Cooper
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
Historically Black ◽  
Black Church ◽  
The United States ◽  
Racial Reconciliation ◽  
Racial Relations ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Racial Divide ◽  
The Church

Valerie C. Cooper’s chapter takes up the events of June 2015, when a white supremacist gunman entered a historically black church, Emanuel AME, in Charleston, South Carolina, and after sitting with the parishioners for some time during a Bible study, opened fire, killing nine blacks, including the pastor of the church. The incident precipitated a re-evaluation of racial relations in Charleston and around the United States. This chapter explores the difficulties in bridging the racial divide between black and white churches in America by focusing upon Americans’ reactions to the deaths at Emanuel. Black and white Christians’ responses to the massacre at Emanuel demonstrate, Cooper concludes, that believers’ views of history and their personal experiences matter as much or perhaps more than their theology in efforts at racial reconciliation.

Steps to Racial Reconciliation: A Movement to Bridge the Racial Divide and Restore Humanity

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis Jemal ◽  
Sarah Bussey ◽  
Briana Young
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
The United States ◽  
Racial Reconciliation ◽  
Racial Oppression ◽  
Racial Privilege ◽  
The Us ◽  
Social Work Practitioners ◽  
Racial Divide ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Masses

The United States is a divided nation on many fronts; but, race seems to be particularly divisive. This is not surprising since race was created to divide the masses to be conquered by the few. This conquest allowed the foundation of the nation’s social, political, and economic structures to be rooted in the institution of a unique form of slavery based on the fabricated characteristic of race. Racism (i.e., racial oppression and white racial privilege) is a dehumanizing force. When one is dehumanized, all are dehumanized. To restore the promise of life, liberty and justice for all, racial reconciliation efforts must restore humanity by addressing the harm in racial disharmony. In considering the issue of racial reconciliation in the US and focusing on social work responses within a Christian context, this paper: 1) explores foundational concepts pertinent to developing a rigorous and coherent definition of racial reconciliation; 2) develops the steps for the process of racial reconciliation efforts grounded in the conceptual model of anti-racism critical transformative potential (TP), and framed by restorative justice principles; and 3) examines how Christian and/or social work practitioners can participate in racial reconciliation efforts. 

scholarly journals Black Protestants in a Catholic Land

2015 ◽  
Vol 89 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 258-288
Author(s):  
Christina Cecelia Davidson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African American ◽  
Dominican Republic ◽  
Black Church ◽  
African Methodist Episcopal ◽  
The United States ◽  
West Indians ◽  
Methodist Episcopal ◽  
American Immigrant ◽  
The Church

The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, a black Church founded in the United States in 1816, was first established in eastern Haiti when over 6,000 black freemen emigrated from the United States to Hispaniola between 1824 and 1825. Almost a century later, the AME Church grew rapidly in the Dominican Republic as West Indians migrated to the Dominican southeast to work on sugar plantations. This article examines the links between African-American immigrant descendants, West Indians, and U.S.-based AME leaders between the years 1899–1916. In focusing on Afro-diasporic exchange in the Church and the hardships missionary leaders faced on the island, the article reveals the unequal power relations in the AME Church, demonstrates the significance of the southeast to Dominican AME history, and brings the Dominican Republic into larger discussions of Afro-diasporic exchange in the circum-Caribbean.

Unequal Positions: A Relational Approach to Racial Inequality Trends in the US States, 1940–2010

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah K. Bruch ◽  
Aaron J. Rosenthal ◽  
Joe Soss
Keyword(s):  
Racial Inequality ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Uniform Structure ◽  
Central Feature ◽  
Racial Inequalities ◽  
Racial Relations ◽  
Black And White ◽  
National Trends ◽  
Over Time

Racial inequality remains a painful and central feature of daily life in the United States. Yet few would deny that decades of political struggle have transformed the nation’s racial landscape. In this article, we seek to advance long-standing sociological efforts to disentangle this braiding of persistence and change. Specifically, we intervene in two ways designed to build on national studies of inequality trends for black and white Americans. First, by shifting measurement to the state level, we reveal distinctive subnational trajectories and dynamics of convergence that have been obscured by the field’s emphasis on aggregate national trends. Second, by drawing on relational theories of boundaries and positions, we develop a new empirical strategy for measuring racial inequalities over time. Identifying two key analytic dimensions (exclusion and subordination), we analyze the relative positions of whites and blacks in two domains (work and housing) across the decades from 1940 to 2010. Our results suggest that racial inequalities rooted in boundary-based dynamics of social closure (exclusion) proved far more durable than inequalities tied to inferior positions alone (subordination). Moreover, we find evidence of a significant nationalization of racial relations, with subnational units converging on a more uniform structure of racialized relations over time. We conclude that the period from 1940 to 2010 was marked by a “consolidation” of racial exclusion (i.e., convergence around relatively stable levels of inequality) paired with the comparatively greater “equalization” of racial subordination (i.e., stronger convergence around more substantial declines).

scholarly journals Kojichk’ulal – Kojiq’b’ej – Kojinatil

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaspar Tomas ◽  
◽  
Lorenza Tomas ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Carolina ◽  
Community Organizations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Youth Group ◽  
Youth Groups ◽  
The Church

Brother and sister discuss Maya community organizations in South Carolina and describe how the Church and Maya heritage work together. Their own path to becoming aware of Maya heritage and their establishment of an active and productive Maya youth group give a powerful example of the possibilities for a better future. They hope to connect with and build relationships with other Maya youth groups in the United States.

AME Church

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jualynne Elizabeth Dodson
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
African Americans ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
The United States ◽  
Methodist Episcopal ◽  
Free People Of Color ◽  
Ame Church ◽  
The World ◽  
African Descendants ◽  
The Church

Organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the last decade of the 18th century by free African Americans, the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church is one of the oldest, centrally organized, Christian communions in the world founded and led by US African descendants. Independent-minded free Blacks chose separate Christian worship rather than suffer discriminating racist restrictions to their chosen worship practices. The entire number of African American members “walked out,” of Philadelphia’s white St. George Methodist Episcopal congregation, including the several women members. Richard Allen is the declared “iconic founder” of the denomination, though an original female member provided space for the earliest organizing meetings of what would become the AME Church. In 1816 the Pennsylvania court authorized the emerging group’s legal social status as a denomination. Earlier, a large congregation of African Americans in Charleston, South Carolina, had joined the evolving AME Church, and the denomination continued to grow and expand for more than 200 years, almost equal the age of the United States of America itself. In the first half of the 19th century, a considerable number of AME congregations served as way-stations for self-liberated enslaved persons on the Underground Railroad, and the Church participated in conversations with and about “African Colonization of Free People of Color.” The denomination declined colonization and kept “African” in its name. During the US Civil War, as the Northern military freed Confederate territories, AME Church leaders were allowed to accept recently freed African descendants into the denomination. This brought into the Church the largest numbers of new members and resources ever seen. Currently, there are some 2,510,000 AME members; 3,817 pastors, and 7,000 congregations, and the denomination has belonged to the World Council of Churches since that body organized in 1948. The AME Church is an integral and essential component of US society and has a presence in nineteen African nations, in many countries of the Caribbean islands, and in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Guyana in South America. For more than two centuries, it has published hymnals, Sunday School literature, newspapers, periodical journals, histories of individuals, places and events, a wide variety of local memorabilia, and much more. The keeping of AME records has continued throughout its history and can serve as a great reservoir for future scholarship.

scholarly journals The Continuing Task of Black Theology: The Challenges Emerging from the Contemporary Black Church in the United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce L. Fields
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Black Community ◽  
Black Church ◽  
African Descent ◽  
Present Situation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Black Theology ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
The Voice ◽  
The Church

Because of continual shifts in the sociocultural, political, and economic realities of any setting, theology, in order to maintain relevance, must be reflective of such shifts. It must commit itself to the maintenance of recognised confessional constants, but it must speak in relevant ways to the needs of the church’s present situation. This is the voice of many African Christian theologians. Black theology in the United States is confronted with the same type of challenge, namely, what is relevant reflection for the black church and the black community in the present? Confronting and overcoming racism has been a constant challenge for people of African descent in the United States. What kind of theological reflection emerging from the black church, would best accomplish two things: to enable the black church to exercise leadership in the movement toward black flourishing despite the effects of racism, and to contribute to the enhancement of Christian theological reflection for the church of Jesus Christ, in general. There are a number of important factors to be considered, but I see three areas of needed consideration. First, what is the meaning of “blackness” in play today? Second, what is the nature of “oppression” experienced in the present? Finally, is there a place for forgiveness in the black church in the present?

The Early Years of the Jewish Presence at the University of Illinois

1992 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-245
Author(s):  
Winton U. Solberg
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Characteristic Form ◽  
University Of Illinois ◽  
American Higher Education ◽  
Jewish Students ◽  
The University ◽  
The Church

For over two centuries, the College was the characteristic form of higher education in the United States, and the College was closely allied to the church in a predominantly Protestant land. The university became the characteristic form of American higher education starting in the late nineteenth Century, and universities long continued to reflect the nation's Protestant culture. By about 1900, however, Catholics and Jews began to enter universities in increasing numbers. What was the experience of Jewish students in these institutions, and how did authorities respond to their appearance? These questions will be addressed in this article by focusing on the Jewish presence at the University of Illinois in the early twentieth Century. Religion, like a red thread, is interwoven throughout the entire fabric of this story.

Pentecostalism and African diaspora : a case study of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), in North America

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-92
Author(s):  
Rotimi Williams Omotoye
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
North America ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Church Of God ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Church

Pentecostalism as a new wave of Christianity became more pronounced in 1970's and beyond in Nigeria. Since then scholars of Religion, History, Sociology and Political Science have shown keen interest in the study of the Churches known as Pentecostals because of the impact they have made on the society. The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) was established by Pastor Josiah Akindayomi in Lagos,Nigeria in 1952. After his demise, he was succeeded by Pastor Adeboye Adejare Enock. The problem of study of this research was an examination of the expansion of the Redeemed Christian Church of God to North America, Caribbean and Canada. The missionary activities of the church could be regarded as a reversed mission in the propagation of Christianity by Africans in the Diaspora. The methodology adopted was historical. The primary and secondary sources of information were also germane in the research. The findings of the research indicated that the Redeemed Christian Church of God was founded in North America by Immigrants from Nigeria. Pastor Adeboye Enock Adejare had much influence on the Church within and outside the country because of his charisma. The Church has become a place of refuge for many immigrants. They are also contributing to the economy of the United States of America. However, the members of the Church were faced with some challenges, such as security scrutiny by the security agencies. In conclusion, the RCCGNA was a denomination that had been accepted and embraced by Nigerians and African immigrants in the United States of America.

Utilizing Brief Spiritual Assessments with Clients who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 30-44
Author(s):  
Gordon Limb ◽  
David Hodge ◽  
Richard Alboroto
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
The United States ◽  
Assessment Instrument ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Church Culture ◽  
Spiritual Assessment ◽  
Mental Health Settings ◽  
Consistency Strengths ◽  
Growing Churches ◽  
The Church

 In recent years social work has increasingly focused on spirituality and religion as key elements of cultural competency.  The Joint Commission—the nation's largest health care accrediting organization—as well as many other accrediting bodies require spiritual assessments in hospitals and many other mental health settings. Consequently, specific intervention strategies have been fostered in order to provide the most appropriate interventions for religious clients. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the fourth largest and one of the faster growing churches in the United States.  In an effort to facilitate cultural competence with clients who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ, a brief spiritual assessment instrument was developed.  This mixed-method study asked experts in Church culture (N = 100) to identify the degree of cultural consistency, strengths, and limitations of the brief spiritual assessment instrument. Results indicate that the framework is consistent with Church culture and a number of practice-oriented implications are offered.

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