America’s Black Catholic History
The Rich and Complex History of Black Catholics in the U.S.
The history of black Catholics in the United States is long and complex, paralleling the broader struggle of black Catholics for equal rights and recognition in society at large. It’s a story filled with resilience, faith, and the unwavering pursuit of equality within the Church and society, making it a valuable addition to our homeschool studies. Learning about the unique challenges and contributions of Black Catholics not only deepens our understanding of history but also enriches our children’s appreciation of the Church’s diversity and commitment to justice.
As November is Black Catholic History Month, today we will be reviewing some important milestones in black Catholic history within the United States. The events covered here are by no means exhaustive; indeed, it would be a monumental task to give a comprehensive history of the experiences of black Catholics in America. It is presented rather as a starting point for those wishing to familiarize themselves with the basics, as well as a launch pad for those wishing to do further research.
In the Colonial Era: Early Black Catholics in America
St. Augustine, Florida, is the oldest city in the United States. When this city was founded in 1565, blacks—both slave and free—were there to lay its foundations and work on constructing the historic Castillo San Marcos, the city’s iconic fortress. In 1693, Spain offered freedom to any slaves within Florida willing to convert to Catholicism. These freed slaves established a town in northeastern Florida called Gracia Real de Santa Teres de Mose (also known as “Fort Mose”), the first free black town in the future United States.
A generation later, Governor Don Felipe de Neve of Spanish California recruited 11 families to settle on the Porciuncula River near what is now Los Angeles. These settlers—all Catholics—were predominantly zambos, persons of mixed African and Native American ancestry. The settlement in 1781 marks the founding of the city of Los Angeles.
Around the same time, the black population of Catholic Maryland swelled to over 3,000, primarily as a result of the missionary labors of the Jesuits among blacks, both slave and free.
After the Founding of the United States: A Growing Black Catholic Presence
In 1791, only two years after the United States adopted the Constitution, the Caribbean country of Haiti was rocked by the Haitian revolution, a revolt of black Haitians against their French colonial masters. Lasting until 1804, the revolution destabilized the island, causing large numbers of Haitians to flee the island for the United States. Many of these Haitian refugees (mostly Catholic) came to Baltimore. Poor and without access to Catholic schools, the women began to educate children in their homes. With the support of the archbishop, in 1829, they created the Oblate Sisters of Providence. Future prelates would scoff at the idea of an entirely black religious order but found support from St. John Neumann, Archbishop of Philadelphia. They would later be invited to open houses in Philadelphia as well as New Orleans.
By the 1830s, pressure, both domestically and internationally, was growing for the abolition of slavery and the slave trade. In 1839, Pope Gregory XVI published the bull In Supremo, condemning the slave trade as the “inhuman traffic in Negroes.” This was also the heyday of American anti-Catholicism, which is exemplified by the chaos in the Diocese of Charleston. Here, throughout the 1830s, Bishop John Clancy England had established free schools for African American children and said a weekly Mass just for blacks in the Charleston cathedral. Anti-Catholic agitators, meanwhile, attempted to attack England’s schools, but the bishop had them defended by the Irish Volunteers, an Irish militia formed to protect Charleston’s Irish and Catholic interests.
In 1842, the Sisters of the Holy Family were founded in New Orleans as the second religious order for black women. The sisters ministered to poor blacks, with a focus on education and tending to the sick. The sisters struggled to get public recognition until they proved themselves by ministering to the sick during a deadly outbreak of yellow fever. Despite this, it was not until 1872 that they were allowed to wear their habits in public, as ecclesiastical authorities worried that the sight of black women in religious habits would provoke open hostility among white Southerners.
The Civil War to Today: Black Catholics Organize and Advocate for Equality
The end of the 19th and early 20th centuries saw black Catholics organize themselves into social and fraternal organizations to promote their interests within the Church and society at large.
In 1889, Daniel Rudd founded the Catholic Colored Congress, a lay-run organization of black Catholics dedicated to advancing the cause of African Americans within the Catholic Church. In January of that year, one hundred black Catholic men met President Grover Cleveland at the first convention of the Colored Congress. The organization’s platform included calls for designated Catholic schools for black children, admission of blacks to labor unions, and encouraging the temperance movement. Rudd’s Catholic Colored Congress argued thay black Catholics should not be treated as a special category within the Church and focused heavily on the Church’s social teaching.
In 1909, following the success of the Knights of Columbus, the Knights of Peter Claver was formed as a black parallel to the KofC. The Knights of Peter Claver would open chapters throughout the country and also open branches for women and children.
A few years later, Thomas Wyatt Turner established the Committee for the Advancement of Colored Catholics (1916), founded during World War Iforms during World War I to tend to the needs of black servicemen.
The Church’s Response to Racism in the 20th Century
The years after World War I saw growing pressure on the Church leadership to make open denunciations of racism. The horrific race riots of 1919 prompted Rome to request the U.S. bishops to speak out on behalf of beleaguered blacks suffering during the riots. The bishops, however, avoided addressing the issue. This prompted the Committee for the Advancement of Colored Catholics to pressure the bishops to denounce racism. The Committee famously said, “At present, we are neither a part of the colored world (Protestant), nor are we generally treated as full-fledged Catholics.”
Things improved in the 1920s, as the Society of the Divine Word in Greenville, Mississippi, opened the first seminary for black Catholics aspiring to the priesthood. The seminary was controversial. Not all bishops believed admitting black men to the priesthood was a good idea. By the post-World War II years and the dawn of the civil rights era, however, Catholic bishops had pretty well aligned themselves against the continued regimen of discrimination in American society.
Many Catholic clergy and women religious joined the famous civil rights march in Selma, Alabama, in 1965. Three years later, in 1968, Fr. Herman Porter of Illinois organized the black American clergy into a special caucus that would be called the National Black Clergy Caucus (NBCC). The NBCC drafted a letter to the American episcopate offering strongly worded suggestions for the full integration of black Catholics within the broader Church culture. The NBCC remains active today.
1979 saw the American bishops issue their first pastoral letter on racism, “Brothers and Sisters to Us,” a strong denunciation of the lingering attitudes of racism within American society. In 1985, Daniel Rudd’s Catholic Colored Congress was refounded as the National Black Catholic Congress, renewing the old tradition of gathering black Catholics from across the country to discuss issues of relevance. The Congress is still active today.
A Long Journey: Honoring Black Catholic History
Black Catholics’ journey to equality has been long and winding, often moving two steps forward and one step back. That is why the Church has designated November as a time to familiarize ourselves with this aspect of America’s Catholic heritage and honor the heroic efforts of the men and women who worked for the civil and ecclesiastical equality of African Americans, that the Catholicity of the Church might be more perfectly-recognized.
If you’d like more resources on Black Catholic history, check out our archives of posts on the subjects from the Homeschool Connections blog.
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