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Black History Month: 20 Stories Christians Should Know

Meet the leaders, activists, ministers, and artists who changed the church and the world.

Christianity Today February 21, 2020
Illustration by Rick Szuecs / Source images: Archive Photos / Reg Lancaster / Stringer / Getty / Time & Life Pictures / Getty / Library of Congress

In honor of Black History Month, we remember and celebrate the powerful work of God in and through the lives of influential African Americans. From enslaved Christians and abolitionists through the Jim Crow era to civil rights figures, the believers featured in these articles served as leaders in the church and powerfully impacted society.

In addition to the 20 articles below, you can also read our pieces examining important events in African American Christianity prior to the Civil War, the theology conveyed in spirituals, the dark history of lynching in America, and the impact of the Great Migration on worship music. Finally, you can read “God’s Place in Black History” which discusses how lessons from the past can impact the church today.

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