02/02/2026
“We encourage you to read these histories, if for no other reason than that they provide a fascinating insight into the varied circumstances out of which African American Presbyterian churches have emerged,” Darius L. Swann writes in the preface of his 2002 compilation of Black Presbyterian congregational histories. “There are poor people, well-off people, those emerging from slavery as well as those who had already won or purchased their freedom...these fragments of African American Presbyterian history should awaken us to the urgency of recovering and recording our history…A people who have no knowledge of their history cannot dream of the future.” Though this publication is over 300 pages long, Swann clarifies that it “does not represent the totality of African American congregations in the Presbyterian Church (USA),” as at the time “There are an estimated four hundred such congregations” and only 65 answered Swann’s call, which came in the form of a letter asking each church to send along a brief history of their sanctuary. Darius then compiled those reports and images into a binder, which lives in the archives of the Presbyterian Historical Society.
This Black History Month, we encourage you to consider your church’s history—and maybe write a report of your own for submission. In June 2020, the 224th General Assembly passed item 00-29, which calls on congregations to work on: “Repenting, both personally and corporately, for the role we as individuals and as a predominantly White-dominated church played in history and continue to perpetuate today, even if unknowingly, in systemic racism and White Supremacy, especially in terms of our own local silence, silencing those who attempt to speak or act, and our failure to act regarding police brutality, voter suppression, educational and healthcare inequality, and other acts of systemic racism on federal, state, and local levels.”
In response, many churches and mid councils began work to study their history of racism and to write their own anti-racism policies. You can view examples and learn how to submit your own item to the digital collection here: https://hubs.ly/Q03__zFF0. Furthermore, you can access the entirety of Swann’s congregational histories here: https://tinyurl.com/4mczpx5j
