Rev. Dr. Derrick Elliott, Pastor, Sun Lakes United Church of Christ
When I was growing up, I rarely learned about the history of Black Americans. What I did learn often came in fragments, limited to a few familiar names or moments, separated from the deeper story of struggle, faith, and survival that shaped generations. Black History Month gives us space to listen more carefully to that full story. When we take time to learn about one another, fear often loses its grip. Understanding invites empathy. Ignorance, on the other hand, leaves room for stereotypes and suspicion to grow. Learning the history of others helps us see people not as threats, but as neighbors whose stories matter.
At the heart of Black history is resilience. Despite centuries of enslavement, segregation, and discrimination, Black communities continued to shape culture, challenge injustice, and imagine a future rooted in dignity. For many African Americans, faith in Jesus played a central role in that endurance. From the era of slavery through segregation and into the present, faith was not abstract. It lived under pressure. Enslaved Africans were stripped of homeland, language, and legal protection, yet many held onto beliefs with determination. Often denied education and the freedom to gather openly, they carried Scripture through memory, song, and prayer. Faith became something portable, shared quietly, and sustained together.
Jesus mattered in this context, because his story resonated with lived experience. He was born into poverty, lived under an occupying empire, and suffered injustice and violence. For people shaped by hardship not of their own choosing, Jesus was not distant or idealized. He was someone who understood suffering from the inside. This understanding shaped the spirituals that emerged from enslaved communities. Songs about crossing rivers, walking through valleys, and longing for rest held grief and hope together. They named pain honestly while trusting that suffering would not have the final word. Faith did not erase hardship. It helped people endure it.
The Black church carried this faith forward. Churches became spaces where dignity was affirmed in a society that denied it. Worship offered comfort and truth-telling. The story of Jesus, especially the resurrection, shaped hope grounded in reality. Death and injustice were real, but they were not ultimate. Today, this tradition continues. Black faith communities still wrestle openly with grief and injustice while nurturing resilience and hope. Black History Month invites us to learn these stories more fully. When we do, fear gives way to understanding, and understanding opens the door to a more just and shared future.