We honor the significant historical achievements of African Americans and the emerging young Black leaders who are making a difference today. | |
Young Black Leaders' Spotlight | |
Olivia Watkins – Age 27
President of Black Farmer Fund
From: Manchester InkLink
Included in Forbes 2021 “30 Under 30” list, Olivia Watkins has been financing, developing, and operating environmental and social initiatives across the United States for the past seven years. She is currently the President and co-founder of Black Farmer Fund. Watkins earned her MBA from North Carolina State University and worked in numerous production jobs at Soul Fire Farm Institute and Kahumana Organic Farms before starting Black Farmer Fund in 2017.
As of 2019, out of 57,000 farmers in New York state, only 139 are black. Utilizing her environmental biology degree to manage and expand ecologically regenerative and socially responsible business operations, Watkins’ fund has benefited black farmers across New York State. Since 2019, Watkins’ organization has raised over $1.2 million for black farmers across the state.
Find out more about Olivia Watkins here.
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Photo by Eva Bronzini. Free to use image from Pexels | |
Highlighting Black History | |
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The Selma Marches were a series of three marches that took place in 1965 between Selma and Montgomery, Alabama. These marches were organized to protest the blocking of Black Americans’ right to vote by the systematic racist structure of the Jim Crow South. With the leadership of groups such as the Dallas County Voters League (DCVL), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Selma Marches would become a watershed moment that led to the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
In the late 1950s, an organization created in Selma, Alabama named the Dallas County Voters League, was embattled with white segregationists over registering Black Americans to vote. Amelia Boynton and other leaders of DCVL were at the front and center of demonstrations that resulted from violence and menacing tactics used to prevent black citizens from voting. In 1963, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee joined forces with the DCVL and began participating in sit-in protests in Selma. These protests resulted in hundreds of civil rights activists being assaulted and arrested.
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Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. National Archives, Access and Use Unrestricted. | This is a photograph of President Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act as Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights leaders look on. National Archives, Access and Use Unrestricted. | |
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Universal Newsreel Volume 38, Release 22. March 15, 1965
from the U.S. National Archives
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Burial Site of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The burial site of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. serves as a poignant symbol of the struggle for civil rights and holds immense significance as we honor Black history. Nestled within the serene Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park in Atlanta, Georgia, the site features a tranquil reflecting pool that gracefully surrounds the intertwined tombs of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. This peaceful setting invites visitors to pause, reflect, and pay homage to their enduring legacy in the fight for justice and equality.
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Above: Photo from EWY Media - stock.adobe.com, licensed by NBCC 2025. Below, photo by User:Sjkorea81 from Wikimedia Commons | |
"Free at last, Free at last, Thank God Almighty, I'm Free at last."
(from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's 'I Have a Dream' Speech) Click the image to view enlarged version.
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Photo: St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church/Former St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church (1902; Thomas C. Kennedy, architect) and school (1927; John Stack, builder), 1501 E. Oliver Street, Baltimore, MD 21213. Public domain photograph by Eli Pousson, 2019 February 14.
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Historic St. Francis Xavier Church
From Wikipedia.com
Historic St. Francis Xavier Church is a Black Catholic parish in Baltimore, Maryland. It is said to be the first exclusively Black parish in America, having been established in 1863 (with roots in the late 18th century).
On July 11, 1791, six ships from the French fleet arrived at Fell's Point, Baltimore, bringing a large number of Black Catholic refugees from Cape Francois in the French colony of San Domingo. There were between 500 and 1,000 Black refugees, both enslaved and free. The Sulpician Fathers had fled France in 1790 as refugees of the French Revolution and were affiliated with St. Mary's Seminary, in whose basements the Haitians began to meet. Both the Sulpicians and the Haitian refugees spoke French.
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Meharry Medical College
A beacon of Black excellence in medicine, dentistry, and research, Meharry Medical College was the first medical school founded solely for the education of Blacks.
Learn more...
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Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Public domain (via Wikimedia) | |
Nurses at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Photo public domain via Wikimedia Commons | |
Class of 1916, Meharry Medical School, Nashville, Tennessee. Photo public domain via Wikimedia Commons | |
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Black History Month 2025 Special
ABC Action News
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Louisiana's Role in shaping early African American work, art | |
Decline of Christianity in the U.S. Has Slowed, May Have Leveled Off
Findings from the 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study
By Gregory A. Smith, Alan Cooperman, Becka A. Alper, Besheer Mohamed, Michael Rotolo, Patricia Tevington, Justin Nortey, Asta Kallo, Jeff Diamant and Dalia Fahmy
After many years of steady decline, the share of Americans who identify as Christians shows signs of leveling off – at least temporarily – at slightly above six-in-ten, according to a massive new Pew Research Center survey of 36,908 U.S. adults.
The Religious Landscape Study (RLS) is the largest single survey the Center conducts, aiming to provide authoritative figures on the size of U.S. religious groups because the U.S. census does not collect that information.
Read more...
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Adobe Stock Photo licensed to NBCC. | "Meanwhile, the share of Americans who identify with a religion other than Christianity has been trending upward, though it is still in single digits." | |
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"May the nations be glad and rejoice;
for you judge the peoples with fairness,
you guide the nations upon the earth.
Selah
May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you!"
Psalm 67:5-6 NABRE
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The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons | |
A Prayer for Pope Francis during his grave illness
By James Martin, S.J. As published in America Magazine
Loving God:
As Francis, our beloved pope, suffers from grave illnesses, we come before you in prayer.
We ask you to look with mercy on your servant Francis, who has served you devotedly and tirelessly as a Jesuit, a priest, an archbishop, a cardinal and as pope.
Most of all, he has served you as a faithful Christian sharing the love, mercy and compassion that your Son showed to all he encountered in his public ministry, especially those who were poor or in any way struggling. During his papacy, Francis has striven to imitate your Son by reaching out to all who were feeling abandoned, ignored or neglected, making it his special task to care for those who were in any way sick.
As Francis himself now faces serious and complex illnesses, help the doctors, nurses and medical team who care for him, help him bear any pain with grace and help him to heal quickly. Send your Holy Spirit, your own breath, into his weakened lungs
to heal him, inspire him and raise him up again so that he may live out his vocation as the Vicar of Christ. But if it is your will, loving God, to take him to yourself, let his passing into new life be painless and peaceful.
We ask all this in your Holy Name.
Amen.
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Looking for a Worship Guide for Lent? | | |
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Return to me with all your heart: Reflections for Lent 2025
This year’s Lent booklet features reflections for every day of Lent from Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday written by Ralph McCloud. Ralph, who was recently named the recipient of the Pax Christi USA Eileen Egan Peacemaker award, served for 16 years as the director of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), an anti-poverty program of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Currently he is the board chair of the Catholic Mobilizing Network, serves on the Leadership Group for the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University, and is a Senior Fellow at NETWORK Lobby in Washington DC. He has received multiple accolades and awards for his work as an advocate for those living in poverty and on the margins.
Join Ralph through a Lenten journey with the scriptures, as we watch Jesus move from his time in the desert to the heady days in Jerusalem leading up to his execution. How are we to respond as followers of Christ today, in the 21st century? What is the message God is sending us in this Jubilee year of hope and forgiveness?
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