We Shall Overcome

February is set aside as Black History Month. Americans have recognized black history annually since 1926, first as "Negro History Week" and later as "Black History Month." We owe the celebration of Black History Month, and more importantly, the study of black history, to Dr. Carter G. Woodson. He was disturbed to find in his studies that history books largely ignored the black American population. Likewise the church has ignored the importance of Black Africans who were a part of Christianity from its very beginning and played a spiritual role in spreading the Word. "Among the prophets and teachers of the church at Antioch of Syria were Barnabas, Simeon (called "the black man"), Lucius (from Cyrene), Manaen (the childhood companion of King Herod Antipas), and Saul. Acts 13:1 (New Living Translation)."

 And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.  Mark 15:21 (Simeon and Simon are alternate spellings of the same name). His son Rufus was mentioned in Romans 16:13 (Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord) as one of the early missionaries in Rome, who were left their after the emperor Claudius expelled the Jewish Missionaries from Rome. "Since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he [the Emperor Claudius] expelled them from Rome."  His order did not include the African missionaries that remained in Rome until his death 54 AD.

Black Americans have been part of the American church since colonial times and have long sought to express their spirituality and their African identity through their faith and their songs. Among our hymns are “It's A Highway to Heaven” and “Leave it There” by Thomas A. Dorsey and C. A. Tindley. C. A. Tindley is often called a founding father of American gospel music. A host of musicians owe a debt to Charles Tindley—including, by his own admission, Thomas A. Dorsey. One Tindley song, “I’ll Overcome Some Day,” written in 1901, gave rise to the popular civil rights song “We Shall Overcome".