(RNS) ‘Francis Asbury’s role in helping develop Methodism in America,’ one expert said, ‘is one of those factors that gave birth to the Black Christian experience in Philadelphia.’
When Black History Is Unearthed, Who Gets to Speak for the Dead? newyorker.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newyorker.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Kristal Sotomayor
In order to understand the rich history of criminal reform work, up through the vivid stories of crime and punishment presented in the docuseries
Philly D.A., it is important to recognize Philadelphia’s origin story, as it were. This is by no means meant to reflect the entirety of Philadelphia’s complex history around criminal justice, but think of it as a primer on pivotal moments that lead to where we are now.
First, we’ll go
Philadelphia Political Activism Goes Way Back
The territory currently known as Philadelphia is on the ancestral land of the Lenni-Lenape indigenous people. It is estimated that the Lenape people occupied the area for almost 10,000 years prior to European colonization. In 1681, William Penn was granted a charter by King Charles II of England to colonize the land and form the colony of Pennsylvania. A year later, Penn arrived in what would become Philadelphia, and in 1683, the Lenape people signed their first treaty with the Qua
While watching the newly released PBS documentary, “The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song,” I instantly thought about the Negro spirituals and hymns that I grew up hearing in church as a young girl in Athens, Georgia.
The documentary, and the book which bears the same title, comprises the outstanding and vivid storytelling of Henry Louis Gates Jr., the director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University.
An eminent scholar and filmmaker on the Black experience in the U.S., Gates begins his narration of “The Black Church” walking into Waldon United Methodist Church, the house of worship he attended in Piedmont, West Virginia.
Tell me where would I be?
Where would I be?
This was one of the choir anthems of the 1980s in many Southern, Black Baptist churches. I remember it well as a young girl growing up in Ebenezer Baptist Church West in Athens, Georgia.
The adult choir, in their maroon-and-white robes, would march down the aisles to lead the congregation into morning praise. I instantly thought about this childhood memory while I watched the newly released PBS documentary, “The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song.” “If it had not been for the Lord on my side,” along with many other well-known Negro spirituals, hymns and gospel music, provided a rich, soulful backdrop for this four-hour series on the history of the most significant institution within the African American community.