Henry Louis Gates Jr. (Finding Your Roots; The Annotated African American Folktales) has created a fascinating history book to accompany his PBS series of the same title. Meticulously researched, The Black Church spans more than 400 years of Black ecclesiastical history in the United States--beginning with Catholic enslaved people brought by the Spaniards and continuing all the way to John Legend's take on the essential role the church played in his early life. As Gates puts it, "In a world of utter instability, where African American families could be torn apart at a moment's notice, the enslaved found a rock in the religion and practices they developed in communion with one another."
The Black Church is filled with pictures of Black churchgoers over the years, as well as wide-ranging historical information, including discussion of how Islamic and West African influences brought over by enslaved people played into the creation of the modern Black style of worship. Gates indelibly proves his point about how important church was as a social structure to most Black people. Today, however, the church faces many battles, including the role of women and sexual minorities in church leadership, the after-effects of the crack epidemic and mass incarceration, and staying relevant to young Black people. The church may have to pivot, but Gates believes it will remain vital, since "Black Lives Matter forces the Black church to return to one of its foundational claims; that we are all children of God." --Jessica Howard, bookseller at Bookmans, Tucson, Ariz.