The Civil Rights Movement, the Religion of the Slaves, African Religion, and the End of Songhay

Our Scripture verse for today is Luke 4:18-19 which reads: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Our History of Black Americans and the Black Church quote for today is from Lee June, a professor at Michigan State University and the author of the book, “Yet With A Steady Beat: The Black Church through a Psychological and Biblical Lens.” He said, “As one reads the writings and listens to the speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one encounters an individual who loved and was deeply involved and committed to the institutional church. Overall, he saw the institutional church as a positive factor in the lives of Christians, yet on many occasions he was critical of both the “White Church” and the “Black Church” communities on certain dimensions. He did this because he wanted the institutional church to be better.”

In this podcast, we are using as our texts: From Slavery to Freedom, by John Hope Franklin, The Negro Church in America by E. Franklin Frazier, and The Black Church In The U.S. by William A. Banks. 

Our first topic today is a continuation of some good work done for the “God In America” series titled “The Origins of the Black Church” which was aired by the Public Broadcasting Service. This is just a brief historical overview; we will delve into these topics in greater detail in upcoming episodes. // THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT (Part 2)

Our second topic for today is “The Religion of the Slaves: The Christian Religion Provides a New Basis of Social Cohesion, Part 4” from The Negro Church in America by E. Franklin Frazier. 

Our third topic for today is from “The Black Church in the U.S.: Its Origin, Growth, Contributions, and Outlook” by William A. Banks. // AFRICAN RELIGION (PART 1)

Our fourth topic for today is a continuation of our look at the earliest African states from the book, “From Slavery to Freedom” by John Hope Franklin. We are going to continue looking at the kingdom of Songhay.