February 17, 2020 ALL

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Black Catholics in American History – Black History Month lunch & learn program

We all know that February is nationally recognized as Black History Month, but do you also know the important role that Black Catholic institutions played in establishing this celebration? During the Jim Crow era, schools administered by African American religious sisters were the first Catholic institutions in the country to teach and celebrate Black history and art.

According to scholar and researcher Shannon Dee Williams, Professor of History at Villanova University and author of the forthcoming book “Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle,” these early attempts to teach Black history in schools stand as evidence of the “visionary leadership of the nation’s Black Catholic sisterhoods and their pioneering commitment to black historical truth telling within church boundaries…. Black history is and always has been Catholic history. It is time for the church to embrace this fundamental truth.”

As our nation marks the 94th annual celebration of Black history this February, as a Catholic institution we gather to learn about the important contributions of Black Catholics to our history. Please join us!

Thursday, February 27
12:00-1:00 pm
Schell Conference Room (across from the Campus Ministry Offices in the Lombardo Student Center)
Lunch will be served.

Spaces are limited. Please register by no later than Friday, February 21 at this link: https://jcu.edu/form/lunch-learn-black-catholics-in-h

This program is a collaboration between the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Division and the Office of Campus Ministry. Please email diversity@jcu.edu with any questions or to request accommodations.

This program is presented as part of the Spring 2020 RISE series. More information about the series is available here: https://jcu.edu/about-us/values-and-jesuit-tradition/diversity/inclusive-excellence/rise-program.