Black Catholic History Month Facts
1565: St. Augustine, Florida - Blacks, both slave and free, help to found this oldest town in the United States. In 1693 Spain offers freedom in Florida to slaves who convert to Catholicism. Until 1763, these freed slaves lived in a community northeast of St. Augustine. Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, or Fort Mose, established in 1738, thus becomes the first free black town in the United States.
1780: The city of Chicago is founded by Jean Baptiste Point du Sable who participated in Catholic Sacraments. You can learn more about him at https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/dusable-jean-baptiste-point-1745-1818/#:~:text=Sometime%20in%20the%20late%201770s,River%20on%20October%2027%2C%201788.
1781: Los Angeles, California - Governor Don Felipe de Neve recruits 11 families to settle on the Porciuncula River—now Los Angeles. The settlers are all Catholic, a mix of Africans, Spanish, and American Indians.
1889: Daniel Rudd calls the first Black Catholic Congress in Washington, DC. Learn more about the Congress at www.nbccongress.org
1909: The Knights of Peter Claver are founded in Mobile, AL, and, in 1922 the Ladies Auxiliary is authorized. Learn more about KPC at www.kofpc.org
1920: The first seminary for Black men to study for priesthood, St. Augustine Seminary, is founded in Greenville, MS by the Society of Divine Word Missionaries.
1925: Xavier University of Louisiana is founded by St. Katharine Drexel. You can learn more about the only Catholic HBCU at www.xula.edu
1984: The Black Bishops of the United States release their document, What We Have Seen and Heard: A Pastoral Letter on Evangelization. You can learn more about this document, and its upcoming 40th Anniversary, at https://www.usccb.org/committees/african-american-affairs/what-we-have-seen-and-heard-pastoral-letter-evangelization
June 1989: Servant of God, Sr. Thea Bowman, FSPA, addresses the USCCB about “What Does it Mean to Be Black & Catholic?” You can view the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOV0nQkjuoA
Learn about the six African Americans on the road to Canonization by going to https://www.usccb.org/committees/african-american-affairs/road-sainthood-leaders-african-descent
Additionsl resources
The History of Black Catholics in the United States by Cyprian Davis (Book)
The History of Black Catholics in America (Smithsonian Magazine)
On Kongolese Catholicism by Cécile Fromont (Book)
On Christianity and the Origins of White Supremacy (Podcast)
On Haitian Black Catholics in Miami (Podcast)
On Afro-Cuban Catholicism and Syncretism (Video)
There Are More Black Catholics in the U.S. than Members of the A.M.E. Church (The Atlantic)