#BlackCatholicsSyllabus

Black Catholics Syllabus

This syllabus is a collection of resources related to Black Catholics in the United States. It is intended for academics, journalists, educators, diocesan institutions, parishes, congregations of women and men religious, and the general public. This syllabus prioritizes the work of Blacks in order to center the voice of Black Catholics in the creation of their own narrative.

About This Syllabus

Black Catholics have played a vital yet often overlooked role in the history of U.S. Catholicism.
This syllabus gathers essential readings and resources that center Black Catholic voices, experiences, and contributions.

Designed for educators, students, church groups, and independent learners, this guide supports deeper engagement with racial justice, faith, and identity in the Catholic tradition.

This public syllabus is for those who want to learn and think critically about issues such as:

Anti-Black Systemic Racism
White Supremacy
Racial Justice
Anti-Racism
#BlackLivesMatter
Church & Racism
From Individual to Institutional Change

The citations provided here are organized by TYPE OF MEDIA, TOPIC, and DATA RESOURCES. This resource is not a substitute for doing The Work of anti-racism and racial justice. This syllabus is not a step-by-step manual. Rather, it is an invitation to learn, do, and be.

It is a living document and therefore, is subject to addition and revision. To offer suggestions, please email Dr. Pratt at tia@tiapratt.com.

Your donation shows your appreciation for the labor involved, supports the maintenance of the site, and the #BlackCatholicSyllabus’ future growth.

How to Use This Resource

TYPE OF MEDIA

Books and Book Chapters

Anderson, Elijah. 2022. Black in White Space: The Enduring Impact of Color in Everyday Life. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Anderson, Elijah. 2011. The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Race and Civility in Everyday Life. New York: WW Norton and Company.
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. 2018. Racism without Racists: Color-blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America, 5th ed. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
Collins, Patricia Hill. 2000. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Power, Consciousness. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.
Copeland, M. Shawn, ed. With LaReine-Marie Mosely and Albert Raboteau. 2009. Uncommon Faithfulness: The Black Catholic Experience. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books.
Contributors: M. Shawn Copeland, Albert J. Raboteau, Diane Batts Morrow, Cyprian Davis, O.S.B., Cecilia A. Moore, Katrina M. Sanders, La-Reine Marie Mosely, S.N.D., Jamie T. Phelps, O.P., Diana L. Hayes, Bryan N. Massingale, Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, Kevin P. Johnson, Paulinus I. Odozor, C.S.Sp., Clarence Williams, C.P.P.S.
Copeland, M. Shawn. 2017. “White Supremacy and Anti-Black Logics in the Making of U. S. Catholicism,” 61-74, in Anti-Blackness and Christian Ethics. Eds. Vincent W. Lloyd and Andrew Prevot. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books.
Copeland, M. Shawn. 2018. Knowing Christ Crucified: The Witness of African American Religious Experience. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Copeland, M. Shawn. 2020 (Forthcoming). Enfleshing Freedom: Body, Race, and Being, 2^nd ed. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
Davis, Cyprian. 1990. The History of Black Catholics in the United States. New York: Crossroad Publishers.
Davis, OSB, Cyprian and Jamie Phelps, OP, editors. 2003. “Stamped with the Image of God”: African Americans as God’s Image in Black. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Davis, Darren W. and Donald B. Pope-Davis. 2017. Perseverance in the Parish?: Religious Attitudes from a Black Catholic Perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press.
DiAngelo, Robin. 2018. White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism. Boston: Beacon Press.
DuBois, W.E.B. [1903] 1994. The Souls of Black Folk. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.
Feagin, Joe R. 2004. “Toward an Integrated Theory of Systemic Racism”. Pp. 203-223 in The Changing Terrain of Race and Ethnicity edited by Maria Krysan and Amanda E. Lewis. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Feagin, Joe R. 2006. Systemic Racism: A Theory of Oppression. New York: Routledge.
Galawdewos. 2019. The Life of Walatta-Petros: A Seventeenth-Century Biography of an African Woman, Concise Edition. Edited and Translated by Wendy Laura Belcher and Michael Kleiner. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Hayes, Diana L. and Cyprian Davis, O.S.B., eds. 1998. Taking Down Our Harps: Black Catholics in the United States. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Contributors:Diana L. Hayes, Cyprian Davis, O.S.B., Jamie T. Phelps, O.P., M. Shawn Copeland, Bryan N. Massingale, Toinette M. Eugene, Giles Conwill, Clarence Rufus J. Rivers, D. Reginald Whitt, O.P.
Hayes, Diana L. 2016. No Crystal Stair: Womanist Spirituality. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Heisser, David C.R. and Stephen J. White, Sr. 2015. Patrick N. Lynch, 1817-1882: Third Catholic Bishop of Charleston. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press.
Hemesath, O.S.F., Caroline. 1973. From Slave to Priest: The Inspirational Story of Father Augustine Tolton (1854-1897). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
Johnson, Karen J. 2018. One in Christ: Chicago Catholics and the Quest for Interracial Justice. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kendi, Ibram X. 2019. How to be An Anti-Racist. New York: Random House.
Massingale, Bryan N. 2010. Racial Justice in the Catholic Church. New York: Orbis Books.
Mich, Marvin L. Krier. 1998. Catholic Social Teaching and Movements. Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications.
• Chapter 5 – “Ecclesial and Racial Revolutions: Gaudium et Spes and Racism”
Moore, Cecilia A., C. Vanessa White, and Paul M. Marshall, S.M., eds. 2007. Songs of Our Hearts, Meditations of Our Souls: Prayers for Black Catholics. Cincinnati, OH: Franciscan Media.
Morrow, Diane Batts. 2002. Persons of Color and Religious at the Same Time: The Oblate Sisters of Providence, 1828-1860. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
Murphy, SJ., Thomas J. 2001. Jesuit Slaveholding in Maryland, 1717-1838. New York: Routledge.
Nickels, Marilyn Wenzke. 1988. Black Catholic Protest and the Federated Colored Catholics, 1917 – 1933: Three Perspectives on Racial Justice. New York: Garland.
Nutt, Maurice J. 2019. Thea Bowman: Faithful and Free. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.
Ochs, Stephen J. 1990. Desegregating the Altar: The Josephites and the Struggle for Black Priests 1871–1960. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana University Press.
O’Connell, Maureen H. 2022. Undoing the Knots: Five Generations of American Catholic Anti-Blackness. Boston: Beacon Press.
Oluo, Ijeoma. 2019. So You Want To Talk About Race. New York: Seal Press.
Poole, CM, Stafford and Douglas J. Slawson, CM. 1986. Church and Slave in Perry County Missouri, 1818-1865. Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press.
Pratt, Tia Noelle. 2018. “Black Catholic Young Adults: A Broader Context”. PP. 230-236 in Young Adult American Catholics: Explaining Vocation in Their Own Words, Maureen K. Day, ed. Mahwah, NY: Paulist Press.
Pratt, Tia Noelle. 2019. “Black Catholics’ Identity Work”, in PP 132-152 in American Parishes: Remaking Local Catholicism, eds. Gary Adler, Tricia C. Bruce, and Brian Starks. New York, NY: Fordham University Press.
Rowe, Erin Kathleen. 2019. Black Saints in Early Modern Global Catholicism. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Segura, Olga M. 2021. Birth of a Movement: Black Lives Matter and the Catholic Church. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Southern, David W. 1996. John LaFarge and The Limits of Catholic Interracialism, 1911 – 1963. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press.
Williams, Shannen Dee. 2022. Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Articles from Academic Journals

Anderson, Elijah. 2015. “The White Space”. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity: 1(1), 10-21
Copeland, M. Shawn. 2023. “The Radical Transcendence of Black Catholic Life”. Journal of Catholic Social Thought. Volume 20 (2): 481-96.
Copeland, M. Shawn. 2016. “Anti-Blackness and White Supremacy in the Making of American Catholicism,” American Catholic Studies 127, 3 (Fall 2016): 6-8.
Copeland, M. Shawn. 2001. “‘The African American Catholic Hymnal’ and the African American Spiritual”. U.S. Catholic Historian. 19(2): 67-82.
Crenshaw, Kimberlé. 1991. “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color”. Stanford Law Review 43 (6): 1241-1299.
Curran, Robert Emmett. 2019. “‘To tear down…the Corinthian pillars of Constitutional liberty’: Catholics and Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation”. U.S. Catholic Historian. 37 (2): 109-136.
Emerson, Michael O., Elizabeth Korver-Glenn, and Kiara W. Douds. 2015. “Studying Race and Religion: A Critical Assessment”. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity: 1(3), 349-359.
Morrow, Diane Batts. 2016. “‘Undoubtedly A Bad State of Affairs’: The Oblate Sisters of Providence and the Josephite Fathers”, 1877–1903. The Journal of African American History. 101 (3): 261-287.
Nalezyty, Susan. 2019. “The History of Enslaved People at Georgetown Visitation”. U.S. Catholic Historian. 37 (2): 23-48.
Poché, Justin. “The Catholic Citizens’ Council: Religion & White Resistance in Post-War Louisiana.” US Catholic Historian 24 (2006): 47-68.
Schmidt, Kelly. 2019. “Enslaved Faith Communities in the Jesuits’ Missouri Mission,” U.S. Catholic Historian. 37 (2): 49-81.
Ulshafer, P.S.S., Thomas. “Slavery and the Early Sulpician Community in Maryland”. U.S. Catholic Historian. 37 (2): 1–21.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “Subversive Images and Forgotten Truths: A Selected Visual History of Black Women Religious” in American Catholic Studies, 127 (Fall 2016): 14-21.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “The Color of Christ’s Brides” in American Catholic Studies, 127 (Fall 2016): 93-103.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “‘You Could Do the Irish Jig, But Anything African Was Taboo:’ Black Nuns, Contested Memories, and the 20th-Century Struggle to Desegregate U.S. Religious Life” in the Journal of African American History, 102, no. 2 (Spring 2017): 125-56.

Public Scholarship

Bellow, Kathleen Dorsey. “Black Catholic Women: Voice Embodied”. National Catholic Reporter, July 8, 2020.
Billings, Cora Marie. “Saved by Grace: Striving for a more racially just and equal church”, America, June 24, 2014.
Clarke, Kevin. “After weeks of protest and calls to defund the police, where do we go from here?”, America, June 12, 2020.
• Dr. Tia Noelle Pratt and Dr. Shannen Dee Williams are quoted.
Copeland, M. Shawn. “Black Theology and a Legacy of Oppression”. America, June 24, 2014.
Davison, Madeleine. “White Christians in the US Helped Build, Sustain White Supremacist Nation, Author Says”. National Catholic Reporter, September 19, 2020.
Gehring, John. “Necessary Bluntness: Archbishop Gregory’s Stand for Integrity”. Commonweal Magazine, June 9, 2020.
Harris, Kim R. “Black Lives Matter in the Worshipping Church”. National Catholic Reporter, July 10, 2020.
Lewis-Mosley, Valerie D. “My Unbridled Tongue Challenges Inequities That Threaten Black Women’s Lives”. National Catholic Reporter, July 9, 2020.
Massingale, Bryan. “Catholics Aren’t Disappointed—They’re Exasperated”. U.S. Catholic, August 30, 2021.
Massingale, Bryan. “Black Catholics Are Leaving the Church. Why?”. U.S. Catholic, June 1, 2021.
Massingale, Bryan. “The Racist Attack on Our Nation’s Capitol”. America Magazine, January 6, 2021.
Massingale, Bryan. “The First African-American Cardinal is a Tribute to the Faith of Black Catholics and a Gift to the Entire Church”. America Magazine, October 30, 2020.
Massingale, Bryan N. “The Assumptions of White Privilege and What We Can Do About It”. National Catholic Reporter, June 1, 2020.
McKinless, Ashley. “The Untold History of Black Nuns in the United States: An Interview with Dr. Shannen Dee Williams”. America, June 22, 2018.
Pratt, Tia Noelle. “Why Pew’s New Study on Black Catholicism is Critical for US Church Leaders”. National Catholic Reporter, March 16, 2022.
Pratt, Tia Noelle. “Following Attempted Coup, Biden Administration Must Prioritize Anti-Racism Work”. National Catholic Reporter, January 8, 2021.
Pratt, Tia Noelle. “Authentically Black, Truly Catholic: Liturgy & Identity in African-American Parish Life”. Commonweal, April 2020.
Pratt, Tia Noelle. “Black Catholics, Racism, and the Sex Abuse Crisis: A Personal Reflection”. The Revealer, March 2020.
Pratt, Tia Noelle. “There Is Time for the Church to Support Black Catholics—If It Has the Will to Do So”. America, September 18, 2019.
Pratt, Tia Noelle. “Confronting Truths About White Supremacy: Why I’m Writing a Book About Black Catholics and Systemic Racism”. Faithfully, July 2019.
Saint-Jean, Patrick. “Black people are crying out for their breath. When will they be heard?” America, June 1, 2020.
Segura, Olga. “What Black Lives Matter can teach Catholics about racial justice” America, February 1, 2019.
Segura, Olga. “How can Catholics help lead the fight against racism?” America, May 29, 2020.
Segura, Olga. “Catholic discourse on Black Lives Matter must amplify women founders” National Catholic Reporter, August 11, 2020.
Segura, Olga. “Catholic Church must reject its anti-Black misogyny” National Catholic Reporter, October 9, 2020.
Slattery, John P. “The Church is Not Yet Dead: An Interview with Dr. Shannen Dee Williams” Daily Theology, May 5, 2015.
Swift, Jaimee A. “Radicals Habits: Unearthing the History of Black Catholic Nuns in the Black Freedom Struggle”, an interview with Dr. Shannen Dee Williams. Black Women Radicals, June 2020.
Taylor, Stephen J. “Misc Monday: African American and Catholic in Early Indianapolis” Historic Indianapolis, June 15, 2015.
U.S. Catholic. “In debates about reproductive health, listen to Black women.” U.S. Catholic, June 30, 2022.
• Interview featuring Rebecca Christian, a Black Catholic doula in California conducted by U.S. Catholic Editors, Rebecca Bratten Weiss and Emily Sanna.
Weiss, Rebecca Bratten. “Anti-racism work is essential. Why don’t parishes do it?” U.S. Catholic, May 14, 2021.
White, C. Vanessa. “Augustus Tolton: Pioneer pastor.” U.S. Catholic, February 2014.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “Segregated Sisterhoods and the Mercurial Politics of Racial Truth-Telling” The Feminist Wire, October 24, 2013.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “Dear U.S. Catholic Theologians: Lives of Black Women & Girls Always Matter.” The Font: Where Many Catholics Dip, December 12, 2014.
• “Statement of Catholic Theologians on Racial Justice” – Revised.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “Sister Antona Ebo’s lifelong struggle against white supremacy, inside and outside the Catholic Church.” America, November 22, 2017.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “Religious orders owning slaves isn’t new—Black Catholics have emphasized this history for years.” America, August 6, 2019.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “Does the Catholic Church have the strength?” Catholic News Service via Catholic Standard, January 2, 2020.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “Black history is Catholic history.” Catholic News Service via The Catholic Review, Archdiocese of Baltimore, February 6, 2020.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “The Black Catholic nun every American should know.” America, March 3, 2020.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “What a forgotten Black nun can teach us about racism and Covid-19.” America, April 23, 2020.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “If racial justice and peace will ever be attained, it must begin in the church.” Catholic News Service via The Dialog, June 10, 2020.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “The church must make reparation for its role in slavery, segregation.” National Catholic Reporter, June 15, 2020.

News Items

Asiedu, Kwasi Gyamfi. “Black gay priest in NYC challenges Catholicism from within.” The Associated Press, February 13, 2022.
• Profile of Fr. Bryan Massingale, STD
Buckley, Stephen. “A Taste of Dixie in Brazil.” The Washington Post, August 22, 1999.
Christian, Gina. “Black Catholic spirituality a force in fight against racism, say pastors”. CatholicPhilly.com, June 21, 2020.
Christian, Gina. “Work for racial justice starts with study of Black Catholic experience”. CatholicPhilly.com, June 23, 2020.
Crary, David. “Black Catholics’ history: Will US Catholic schools teach it?” Associated Press, July 25, 2020.
Crary, David. “Black Catholics: Words not enough as church decries racism.” Associated Press, June 22, 2020.
Dunklin, Reese and Michael Rezendes. “AP: Catholic Church lobbied for taxpayer funds, got $1.4B.” Associated Press, July 10, 2020.
Feuerherd, Peter. Oakland priest calls bishop a ‘liar’ and a ‘racist’. National Catholic Reporter, June 19, 2020.
Fields, Gary, Juliet Linderman, and Wong Maye-E. Church Offers Little Outreach to Minority Victims of Priests. Associated Press, January 4, 2020.
Fraga, Brian. 2022. “Three-quarters of Black Catholics say fighting racism ‘essential’ to faith.” National Catholic Reporter, March 15.
Kuruvilla, Carol. “History of white evangelical racism also implicates Catholics, scholar says.” National Catholic Reporter, November 6, 2021.
Martin, Eric. “The Catholic Church Has a Visible White-Power Faction”. Sojourners, August 2020.
Mayes, Brittany Renee. “Tensions in the U.S. Catholic Church over abortion, race and politics come to a head in a Maryland classroom”. The Washington Post, May 28, 2021.
McCoy, Terrence. “They lost the Civil War and fled to Brazil. Their descendants refuse to take down the Confederate flag.” The Washington Post, July 11, 2020.
Paul, Dwayne David. “U.S. Bishops Must Choose: Black People or the Police”. The Bias Magazine: The Voice of the Christian Left, July 24, 2020.
Roewe, Brian. “Catholic university leaders call for their institutions to address systemic racism”. National Catholic Reporter, June 25, 2020.
• Department/Program Leaders’ Full Statement: A Call To Action To Catholic University Communities
Russ, Valerie. “Black members of St. Charles Borromeo Church in South Philly allege racism and will protest to declare their ‘parish lives matter’”. The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 18, 2020.
Sadowski, Dennis. “Hard work, prayer can lead church to overcome racism, Bishop Fabre says”. Catholic News Service via Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse, July 26, 2020.
Salvadore, Sarah. Indiana Catholic pastor suspended after calling Black Lives Matter protesters ‘maggots’. National Catholic Reporter, July 2, 2020.
Segura, Olga. “Theologians affirm ‘Black Theology Matters’ at symposium”. National Catholic Reporter, October 13, 2021.
Trent, Sydney. “She sued her enslaver for reparations and won. Her descendants never knew.” The Washington Post, February 24, 2021.
U.S. Catholic. 2022. “In debates about reproductive health, listen to Black women.” U.S. Catholic, June 30.
• Interview featuring Rebecca Christian, a Black Catholic doula in California conducted by U.S. Catholic Editors, Rebecca Bratten Weiss and Emily Sanna.

Films, Videos, Podcasts

Meet Father Rivers Podcast. https://meetfatherrivers.libsyn.com/
Dr. Erin Kathleen Rowe, “Black Saints in the Americas – Past and Present.” Inaugural Mother Mary Lange Lecture at Villanova University, November 8, 2021.
Sr. Patricia Chappell, SND – 2017 Ignatian Family Teach-In
Rev. Bryan Massingale, S.T.D. – Keynote Address, 2017 Ignatian Family Teach-In
Tia Noelle Pratt – Interview with Classical Ideas Podcast, May 15, 2020
St. Peter Claver, Mother Church of Black Catholics: Let Us PrAy! Let Us PrEy!
Trahan, Nicole, FMI. “Being Black and Catholic: A Reflection.”
Racism in Our Streets and Structures: A Test of Faith, A Crisis for Our Nation – Georgetown University, Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life• Featuring: Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Washington, DC, Dr. Marcia Chatelain of Georgetown University, Ralph McCloud of Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Gloria Purvis of EWTN
This Experience of Black Catholicism is a “Gift to the Church” – Documentary
Religion and Race: The Future of Anti-Racism and the Catholic Church• Featuring Olga Segura and Dr. Tia Noelle Pratt
“Creating Our Own Narrative: A Conversation with Dr. Tia Noelle Pratt.” Invited Lecture, Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest, Villanova University, November 4, 2020. Virtual
• Featuring: Dr. Tia Noelle Pratt and Dr. Shannen Dee Williams
Munch, Regina. “‘Worship A False God’: An Interview with Bryan Massingale.” Commonweal Magazine, December 27, 2020.
Harris, Kim R. “Dr. Kim R. Harris Preaches for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.” Catholic Women Preach, January 1, 2021.
Black Communities and the Clerical Abuse Crisis, Fordham University, April 2021
• Featuring: Fr. Bryan Massingale, Fr. Manuel Williams, C.R., and Dr. Tia Noelle Pratt
National Catholic Reporter Article: Davison, Madeleine. “Panel: Racism Compounds the Clergy Sex Abuse Crisis for Black Catholics.”, April 28, 2021.
Black Churches, Black Catholics: Exploring a New Survey from Pew Research, February 2021.
• Featuring: Dr. Tia Noelle Pratt and Fr. Bryan Massingale

Church Documents

Black Bishops of the United States. 1984. ‘What We Have Seen and Heard’: A Pastoral Letter on Evangelization from the Black Bishops of the United States. Cincinnati, OH: St. Anthony Messenger Press.
Braxton, Most Rev. Edward K. 2015. “The Racial Divide in the United States: A Reflection for the World Day of Peace 2015”. Diocese of Belleville, IL.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. 2020. Ministry Resources for Black Catholics
United Conference of Catholic Bishops. 2018. Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love, A Pastoral Letter Against Racism. Washington, DC: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. 1979. Brothers and Sisters to Us: U.S. Bishops’ Pastoral Letter on Racism in Our Day. Washington, D.C.: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Organizations, Websites, and Social Media

TOPIC

Social Theory and Empirical Social Science Research

Anderson, Elijah. 2022. Black in White Space: The Enduring Impact of Color in Everyday Life. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Anderson, Elijah. 2015. “The White Space”. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity: 1(1), 10-21.
Anderson, Elijah. 2011. The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Race and Civility in Everyday Life. New York: WW Norton and Company.
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. 2018. Racism without Racists: Color-blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America, 5^th ed. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
Collins, Patricia Hill. 2000. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Power, Consciousness. 2^nd ed. New York: Routledge.
Crenshaw, Kimberlé. 1991. “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color”. Stanford Law Review 43 (6): 1241-1299.
Davis, Darren W. and Donald B. Pope-Davis. 2017. Perseverance in the Parish?: Religious Attitudes from a Black Catholic Perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press.
DuBois, W.E.B. [1903] 1994. The Souls of Black Folk. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.
Emerson, Michael O., Elizabeth Korver-Glenn, and Kiara W. Douds. 2015. “Studying Race and Religion: A Critical Assessment”. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity: 1(3), 349-359.
Feagin, Joe R. 2004. “Toward an Integrated Theory of Systemic Racism”. Pp. 203-223 in The Changing Terrain of Race and Ethnicity edited by Maria Krysan and Amanda E. Lewis. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Feagin, Joe R. 2006. Systemic Racism: A Theory of Oppression. New York: Routledge.
Pratt, Tia Noelle. 2018. “Black Catholic Young Adults: A Broader Context”. PP. 230-236 in Young Adult American Catholics: Explaining Vocation in Their Own Words, Maureen K. Day, ed. Mahwah, NY: Paulist Press.
Pratt, Tia Noelle. 2019. “Black Catholics’ Identity Work”, in PP 132-152 in American Parishes: Remaking Local Catholicism, eds. Gary Adler, Tricia C. Bruce, and Brian Starks. New York, NY: Fordham University Press.
Pratt, Tia Noelle. “Authentically Black, Truly Catholic: Liturgy & Identity in African-American Parish Life”. Commonweal, April 2020.
Tia Noelle Pratt – Interview with Classical Ideas Podcast, May 15, 2020

Theology and Black Catholic Spirituality

Braxton, Most Rev. Edward K. “The Racial Divide in the United States: A Reflection for the World Day of Peace 2015”. Diocese of Belleville, IL, 2015.
Black Bishops of the United States. ‘What We Have Seen and Heard’: A Pastoral Letter on Evangelization from the Black Bishops of the United States. Cincinnati, OH: St. Anthony Messenger Press, 1984.
Christian, Gina. “Black Catholic spirituality a force in fight against racism, say pastors”. CatholicPhilly.com, June 21, 2020.
Copeland, M. Shawn. 2023. “The Radical Transcendence of Black Catholic Life”. Journal of Catholic Social Thought. Volume 20 (2): 481-96.
Copeland, M. Shawn. 2001. “‘The African American Catholic Hymnal’ and the African American Spiritual”. U.S. Catholic Historian. 19(2): 67-82.
Copeland, M. Shawn, ed. With LaReine-Marie Mosely and Albert Raboteau. 2009. Uncommon Faithfulness: The Black Catholic Experience. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books.
• Contributors: M. Shawn Copeland, Albert J. Raboteau, Diane Batts Morrow, Cyprian Davis, O.S.B., Cecilia A. Moore, Katrina M. Sanders, La-Reine Marie Mosely, S.N.D., Jamie T. Phelps, O.P., Diana L. Hayes, Bryan N. Massingale, Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, Kevin P. Johnson, Paulinus I. Odozor, C.S.Sp., Clarence Williams, C.P.P.S.
Copeland, M. Shawn. “Black theology and a legacy of oppression”. America, June 24, 2014.
Copeland, M. Shawn. 2017. “White Supremacy and Anti-Black Logics in the Making of U. S. Catholicism,” 61-74, in Anti-Blackness and Christian Ethics. Eds. Vincent W. Lloyd and Andrew Prevot. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books.
Copeland, M. Shawn. 2018. Knowing Christ Crucified: The Witness of African American Religious Experience. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Copeland, M. Shawn. 2020 (Forthcoming). Enfleshing Freedom: Body, Race, and Being, 2^nd ed. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
Harris, Kim R. 2017. “Sister Thea Bowman: Liturgical Justice Through Black Sacred Song”. U.S. Catholic Historian. 35 (1): 99-124.
Harris, Kim R. “Dr. Kim R. Harris Preaches for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God”. Catholic Women Preach, January 1, 2021.
Hayes, Diana L. and Cyprian Davis, O.S.B., eds. 1998. Taking Down Our Harps: Black Catholics in the United States. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
• Contributors: Diana L. Hayes, Cyprian Davis, O.S.B., Jamie T. Phelps, O.P., M. Shawn Copeland, Bryan N. Massingale, Toinette M. Eugene, Giles Conwill, Clarence Rufus J. Rivers, D. Reginald Whitt, O.P.
Hayes, Diana L. 2016. No Crystal Stair: Womanist Spirituality. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Moore, Cecilia A., C. Vanessa White, and Paul M. Marshall, S.M., eds. 2007. Songs of Our Hearts, Meditations of Our Souls: Prayers for Black Catholics. Cincinnati, OH: Franciscan Media.
This Experience of Black Catholicism is a “Gift to the Church” – Documentary
Williams, Shannen Dee. “Dear U.S. Catholic Theologians: Lives of Black Women & Girls Always Matter”. The Font: Where Many Catholics Dip, December 12, 2014.
“Statement of Catholic Theologians on Racial Justice.” *Catholic Moral Theology*, Revised Edition.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Ministry Resources for Black Catholics. 2020.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love, A Pastoral Letter Against Racism. Washington, DC: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2018.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Brothers and Sisters to Us: U.S. Bishops’ Pastoral Letter on Racism in Our Day. Washington, DC: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1979.

History

Buckley, Stephen. “A Taste of Dixie in Brazil.” The Washington Post, August 22, 1999.
Crary, David. “Black Catholics’ History: Will US Catholic Schools Teach It?” Associated Press, July 25, 2020.
Davis, Cyprian. 1990. The History of Black Catholics in the United States. New York: Crossroad Publishers.
Davis, OSB, Cyprian and Jamie Phelps, OP, editors. 2003. “Stamped with the Image of God”: African Americans as God’s Image in Black. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Galawdewos. 2019. The Life of Walatta-Petros: A Seventeenth-Century Biography of an African Woman, Concise Edition. Edited and Translated by Wendy Laura Belcher and Michael Kleiner. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Hamilton, Catherine. “Georgetown Explained: The GU272”. The Georgetown Voice, August 28, 2020.
Hemesath, O.S.F., Caroline. 1973. From Slave to Priest: The Inspirational Story of Father Augustine Tolton (1854-1897). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
Johnson, Karen J. 2018. One in Christ: Chicago Catholics and the Quest for Interracial Justice. New York: Oxford University Press.
McCoy, Terrence. “They lost the Civil War and fled to Brazil. Their descendants refuse to take down the Confederate flag.” The Washington Post, July 11, 2020.
McKinless, Ashley. “The untold history of black nuns in the United States: An Interview with Dr. Shannen Dee Williams”. America, June 22, 2018.
Morrow, Diane Batts. 2016. “‘Undoubtedly A Bad State of Affairs’: The Oblate Sisters of Providence and the Josephite Fathers”, 1877–1903. The Journal of African American History. 101 (3): 261-287.
Nickels, Marilyn Wenzke. 1988. Black Catholic Protest and the Federated Colored Catholics, 1917 – 1933: Three Perspectives on Racial Justice. New York: Garland.
Nutt, Maurice J. 2019. Thea Bowman: Faithful and Free. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.
Ochs, Stephen J. 1990. Desegregating the Altar: The Josephites and the Struggle for Black Priests 1871–1960. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana University Press.
Morrow, Diane Batts. 2002. Persons of Color and Religious at the Same Time: The Oblate Sisters of Providence, 1828-1860. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
Poché, Justin. “The Catholic Citizens’ Council: Religion & White Resistance in Post-War Louisiana.” US Catholic Historian 24 (2006): 47-68.
Rowe, Erin Kathleen. 2019. Black Saints in Early Modern Global Catholicism. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Southern, David W. 1996. John LaFarge and The Limits of Catholic Interracialism, 1911 – 1963. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press.
Swift, Jaimee A. “Radicals Habits: Unearthing the History of Black Catholic Nuns in the Black Freedom Struggle”, an interview with Dr. Shannen Dee Williams. Black Women Radicals, June 2020.
White, C. Vanessa. “Augustus Tolton: Pioneer pastor”. U.S. Catholic, February 2014.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “Subversive Images and Forgotten Truths: A Selected Visual History of Black Women Religious” in American Catholic Studies, 127 (Fall 2016): 14-21.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “The Color of Christ’s Brides” in American Catholic Studies, 127 (Fall 2016): 93-103.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “‘You Could Do the Irish Jig, But Anything African Was Taboo:’ Black Nuns, Contested Memories, and the 20th-Century Struggle to Desegregate U.S. Religious Life” in the Journal of African American History, 102, no. 2 (Spring 2017): 125-56.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “Sister Antona Ebo’s lifelong struggle against white supremacy, inside and outside the Catholic Church”. America, November 22, 2017.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “Black history is Catholic history”. Catholic News Service, via The Catholic Review, Archdiocese of Baltimore, February 6, 2020.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “The black Catholic nun every American should know”. America, March 3, 2020.
Williams, Shannen Dee. Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2022.
St. Peter Claver, Mother Church of Black Catholics: Let Us PrAy! Let Us PrEy!

Anti-Racism, White Supremacy, and Racial Justice

Anderson, Elijah. 2022. Black in White Space: The Enduring Impact of Color in Everyday Life. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Asiedu, Kwasi Gyamfi. “Black gay priest in NYC challenges Catholicism from within”. The Associated Press, February 13, 2022.
• Profile of Fr. Bryan Massingale, STD
Braxton, Most Rev. Edward K. “The Racial Divide in the United States: A Reflection for the World Day of Peace 2015”. Diocese of Belleville, IL, 2015.
Christian, Gina. “Work for racial justice starts with study of Black Catholic experience”. CatholicPhilly.com, June 23, 2020.
Copeland, M. Shawn. 2016. “Anti-Blackness and White Supremacy in the Making of American Catholicism.” American Catholic Studies 127, no. 3 (Fall 2016): 6–8.
Davison, Madeleine. “White Christians in the US helped build, sustain white supremacist nation, author says”. National Catholic Reporter, September 19, 2020.
DiAngelo, Robin. 2018. White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism. Boston: Beacon Press.
Johnson, Karen J. 2018. One in Christ: Chicago Catholics and the Quest for Interracial Justice. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kendi, Ibram X. 2019. How to be an Anti-Racist. New York: Random House.
Martin, Eric. “The Catholic Church Has a Visible White-Power Faction”. Sojourners, August 2020.
Massingale, Bryan N. 2010. Racial Justice in the Catholic Church. New York: Orbis Books.
Massingale, Bryan. “The First African-American Cardinal is a Tribute to the Faith of Black Catholics and a Gift to the Entire Church”. America Magazine, October 30, 2020.
Massingale, Bryan N. “The assumptions of white privilege and what we can do about it”. National Catholic Reporter, June 1, 2020.
Massingale, Bryan. “The Racist Attack On Our Nation’s Capitol”. America Magazine, January 6, 2021.
Massingale, Bryan. “Black Catholics are leaving the church. Why?”. U.S. Catholic, June 1, 2021.
Massingale, Bryan. “Catholics aren’t disappointed—they’re exasperated”. U.S. Catholic, August 30, 2021.
Nickels, Marilyn Wenzke. 1988. Black Catholic Protest and the Federated Colored Catholics, 1917–1933: Three Perspectives on Racial Justice. New York: Garland.
Ochoa, Leticia Adams. “Whiteness at Work”. Catholic Herald, January 13, 2021.
O’Connell, Maureen H. 2022. Undoing the Knots: Five Generations of American Catholic Anti-Blackness. Boston: Beacon Press.
Oluo, Ijeoma. 2019. So You Want To Talk About Race. New York: Seal Press.
Poché, Justin. “The Catholic Citizens’ Council: Religion & White Resistance in Post-War Louisiana.” US Catholic Historian 24 (2006): 47–68.
Pratt, Tia Noelle. “Confronting Truths About White Supremacy: Why I’m Writing a Book About Black Catholics and Systemic Racism”. Faithfully, July 2019.
Pratt, Tia Noelle. “‘I Bring Myself, My Black Self’: Sr. Thea Bowman’s challenge to the Catholic Church”. Commonweal, November 2020.
Pratt, Tia Noelle. “Following attempted coup, Biden administration must prioritize anti-racism work”. National Catholic Reporter, January 8, 2021.
Religion and Race: The Future of Anti-Racism and the Catholic Church• Featuring: Ogechi Akalegbere, Fr. Robert Boxie, Gerald Smith, Jr., Dr. Shannen Dee Williams
Saint-Jean, S.J., Patrick. “How Catholics can work for racial justice”. U.S. Catholic, June 9, 2020.
Segura, Olga M. 2021. Birth of a Movement: Black Lives Matter and the Catholic Church. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Segura, Olga. “Catholic Church must reject its anti-Black misogyny”. National Catholic Reporter, October 9, 2020.
Southern, David W. 1996. John LaFarge and The Limits of Catholic Interracialism, 1911–1963. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press.
Trahan, FMI, Nicole. “Being Black and Catholic: A Reflection”.
Sr. Patty Chappell, SND – 2017 Ignatian Family Teach-In
Rev. Bryan Massingale, S.T.D. – Keynote Address, 2017 Ignatian Family Teach-In
“Creating Our Own Narrative: A Conversation with Dr. Tia Noelle Pratt, Curator of the #BlackCatholicsSyllabus”. Lepage Center, Villanova University, Nov 4, 2020. Virtual.
• Featuring Dr. Tia Noelle Pratt and Dr. Shannen Dee Williams
Trent, Sydney. “She sued her enslaver for reparations and won. Her descendants never knew.” The Washington Post, February 24, 2021.
U.S. Catholic. 2022. “In debates about reproductive health, listen to Black women”. U.S. Catholic, June 30.
• Interview featuring Rebecca Christian, a Black Catholic doula in California conducted by U.S. Catholic Editors, Rebecca Bratten Weiss and Emily Sanna.
Weiss, Rebecca Bratten. “Anti-racism work is essential. Why don’t parishes do it?”. U.S. Catholic, May 14, 2021.
Williams, Shannen Dee. 2022. Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

#BlackLivesMatter

Dunklin, Reese and Michael Rezendes. “AP: Catholic Church lobbied for taxpayer funds, got $1.4B.” Associated Press, July 10, 2020.
Paul, Dwayne David. “U.S. Bishops Must Choose: Black People or the Police”. The Bias Magazine: The Voice of the Christian Left, July 24, 2020.
Russ, Valerie. “Black members of St. Charles Borromeo Church in South Philly allege racism and will protest to declare their ‘parish lives matter’”. The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 18, 2020.
Saint-Jean, Patrick. “Black people are crying out for their breath. When will they be heard?” America, June 1, 2020.
Salvadore, Sarah. “Indiana Catholic pastor suspended after calling Black Lives Matter protesters ‘maggots’”. National Catholic Reporter, July 2, 2020.
Segura, Olga M. 2021. Birth of a Movement: Black Lives Matter and the Catholic Church. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Segura, Olga. “What Black Lives Matter can teach Catholics about racial justice”. America, February 1, 2019.
Segura, Olga. “Catholic discourse on Black Lives Matter must amplify women founders”, National Catholic Reporter, August 11, 2020.
Segura, Olga. “Hearing the Voices of Black Catholics”. Sisters of Mercy Blog, November 17, 2020.
Pratt, Tia Noelle. “There is time for the church to support black Catholics—if it has the will to do so” America, September 18, 2019.
“Important Conversations- Black Lives Matter and the Catholic Church: A Conversation with Olga Segura.” American Catholic Historical Society.
• Featuring: Olga Segura and Dr. Tia Noelle Pratt

Catholic Slaveholding

Billings, Cora Marie. “Saved by Grace: Striving for a more racially just and equal church”, America, June 24, 2014.
Curran, Robert Emmett. 2019. “‘To tear down…the Corinthian pillars of Constitutional liberty’: Catholics and Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation”. U.S. Catholic Historian. 37 (2): 109-136.
Hamilton, Catherine. “Georgetown Explained: The GU272”. The Georgetown Voice, August, 28, 2020.
Heisser, David C.R. and Stephen J. White, Sr. 2015. Patrick N. Lynch, 1817-1882: Third Catholic Bishop of Charleston. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press.
Mich, Marvin L. Krier. 1998. Catholic Social Teaching and Movements. Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications.
• Chapter 5 – “Ecclesial and Racial Revolutions: Gaudium et Spes and Racism”
Murphy, SJ., Thomas J. 2001. Jesuit Slaveholding in Maryland, 1717-1838. New York: Routledge.
Nalezyty, Susan. 2019. “The History of Enslaved People at Georgetown Visitation”. U.S. Catholic Historian. 37 (2): 23-48.
Poole, CM, Stafford and Douglas J. Slawson, CM. 1986. Church and Slave in Perry County Missouri, 1818-1865. Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press.
Schmidt, Kelly. 2019. “Enslaved Faith Communities in the Jesuits’ Missouri Mission,” U.S. Catholic Historian. 37 (2): 49-81.
Ulshafer, P.S.S., Thomas. “Slavery and the Early Sulpician Community in Maryland”. U.S. Catholic Historian. 37 (2): 1–21.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “Religious orders owning slaves isn’t new—black Catholics have emphasized this history for years”. America. August 6, 2019.
Georgetown University – The Georgetown Slavery Archive Twitter: @GUslavery
Georgetown University – Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation
Jesuits Conference of Canada and the United States – Slavery, History, Memory and Reconciliation Twitter: @SHMRJesuits

Confronting Racism in the Church

Bellow, Kathleen Dorsey. “Black Catholic Women: Voice Embodied”. National Catholic Reporter, July 8, 2020.
Christian, Gina. “Work for racial justice starts with study of Black Catholic experience”, CatholicPhilly.com, June 23, 2020.
Clarke, Kevin. “After weeks of protest and calls to defund the police, where do we go from here?”, America, June 12, 2020.
• Dr. Tia Noelle Pratt and Dr. Shannen Dee Williams are quoted.
Crary, David. “Black Catholics’ history: Will US Catholic schools teach it?”, Associated Press, July 25, 2020.
Crary, David. “Black Catholics: Words not enough as church decries racism.” Associated Press, June 22, 2020.
Feuerherd, Peter. “Oakland priest calls bishop a ‘liar’ and a ‘racist’”, National Catholic Reporter, June 19, 2020.
Fields, Gary, Juliet Linderman, and Wong Maye-E. “Church Offers Little Outreach to Minority Victims of Priests”. Associated Press, January 4, 2020.
Gehring, John. “Necessary Bluntness: Archbishop Gregory’s Stand for Integrity”, Commonweal Magazine, June 9, 2020.
Harris, Kim R. “Black lives matter in the worshipping church”, National Catholic Reporter, July 10, 2020.
Lewis-Mosley, Valerie D. “My unbridled tongue challenges inequities that threaten Black women’s lives”, National Catholic Reporter, July 9, 2020.
Mayes, Brittany Renee. “Tensions in the U.S. Catholic Church over abortion, race and politics come to a head in a Maryland classroom”, The Washington Post, May 28, 2021.
Pratt, Tia Noelle. “Black Catholics, Racism, and the Sex Abuse Crisis: A Personal Reflection”. The Revealer, March 2020.
Roewe, Brian. “Catholic university leaders call for their institutions to address systemic racism”. National Catholic Reporter, June 25, 2020.
• Department/Program Leaders’ Full Statement: A Call To Action To Catholic University Communities
Sadowski, Dennis. “Hard work, prayer can lead church to overcome racism, Bishop Fabre says”. Catholic News Service via Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse, July 26, 2020.
Segura, Olga. “How can Catholics help lead the fight against racism?” America. May 29, 2020.
Slattery, John P. “The Church is Not Yet Dead: An Interview with Dr. Shannen Dee Williams.” (DT) Daily Theology, May 5, 2015.
Taylor, Stephen J. 2015. “Misc Monday: African American and Catholic in Early Indianapolis”. Historic Indianapolis, June 15.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “Segregated Sisterhoods and the Mercurial Politics of Racial Truth-Telling”, The Feminist Wire, October 24, 2013.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “Does the Catholic Church have the strength?”. Catholic News Service via Catholic Standard., January 2, 2020
Williams, Shannen Dee. “What a forgotten black nun can teach us about racism and Covid-19”, America, April 23, 2020.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “If racial justice and peace will ever be attained, it must begin in the church”, Catholic News Service via The Dialog, June 10, 2020.
Williams, Shannen Dee. “The church must make reparation for its role in slavery, segregation” , National Catholic Reporter, June 15, 2020.
Williams, Shannen Dee. 2022. Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Racism in Our Streets and Structures: A Test of Faith, A Crisis for Our Nation – Georgetown University, Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life
• Featuring: Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Washington, DC, Dr. Marcia Chatelain of Georgetown University, Ralph McCloud of Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Gloria Purvis of EWTN
Black Communities and the Clerical Abuse Crisis, Fordham University, April 2021
• National Catholic Reporter Article: Davison, Madeleine. “Panel: Racism compounds the clergy sex abuse crisis for Black Catholics”, April 28, 2021.

DATA RESOURCES

PEW RESEARCH CENTER

“Black Catholics in America”, March 2022

• Full Report
• Summary Findings
• National Catholic Reporter Article: Fraga, Brian. 2022. “Three-quarters of Black Catholics say fighting racism ‘essential’ to faith”. National Catholic Reporter, March 15.
• National Catholic Reporter Op-Ed Pratt, Tia Noelle. 2022. “Why Pew’s new study on Black Catholicism is critical for US church leaders”. National Catholic Reporter, March 16.
“Faith Among Black Americans”, February 2021

• Full Report
• Summary Findings
• AP Article: Crary, David. “Survey: Black Americans attend church and pray more often”. February 16, 2021.
• Fordham Univeristy Panel Discussion: Black Churches, Black Catholics: Exploring a New Survey from Pew Research, February 2021.
• US Catholic Article: Massingale, Bryan. “Black Catholics are leaving the church. Why?”. U.S. Catholic, June 1, 2021.

Additional Resources

Explore further with these carefully selected resources, including articles, interviews, and videos.

Moving From Awareness to Action

Designed for educators, students, church groups, and independent learners, this guide supports deeper engagement with racial justice, faith, and identity in the Catholic tradition.

Contact

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