Here are some ideas for celebrating black history and culture in February and throughout the year.
Please write to us and let us know what your church does, either before (preferably) or after, to celebrate Black History Month. And please send us some more ideas for this month, as well as Women’s History Month in March and the other history months throughout the year.
- Read, share and discuss the various Black History Month articles–and view embedded videos–appearing on the denomination’s official Web site: www.umc.org. Articles and videos, most of which are reprised, feature our own Tindley Temple and Mother African Zoar UM churches in Philadephia, as well as African-American spirituals, a Timeline: Methodism in Black and White and even folk singer Pete Seeger’s contribution to the Civil Rights anthem “We Shall Overcome.”
- View and discuss some of the photos and videos from our conference’s celebration last year (May 30) of the former Delaware Annual Conference, an historic event that celebrated a beloved, 101-year old (1864-1965) black Methodist institution. View photos in our photo gallery and videos on our conference’s YouTube Channel.
- Find a rich trove of more ideas, stories and resources for worship, study and celebration on the UMC’s Global Ministries and Discipleship Ministries Websites.
- Engage in an interracial and intergenerational dialogue about race and racism.
- Teach a class, create a display, or research and report on important contributions and concerns of Black Americans (and plan to do the same with other racial-ethnic groups in American society during their history recognition months).
- Try to arrange for a joint worship service, mission project, dialogue or fellowship event with a predominantly African American church–if not United Methodist then perhaps African Methodist Episcopal (AME) or African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ) or Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) denominations.
- Learn about the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which celebrates its bicentennial this year, and about its courageous founder, Bishop Richard Allen, who was honored this week with a U.S. postal stamp. The AME Church will have its General Conference this July in Philadelphia, where it was born out of protest against racist mistreatment suffered by black members at Historic St. George’s (UM) Church. That painful past has since been reconciled by the two sister churches, and AME Church delegates will visit St. George’s during their conference.