^{Public Domain – Rare Book and Special Collections Division/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.}

Black people, both slave and free, help to found this oldest town in the United States. In 1693 Spain offers freedom to the slaves who convert to Catholicism. Until 1763, these freed slaves live 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 U.S.

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.

Meanwhile, Maryland’s Black Catholic population grows to 3,000 as a result of Jesuit evangelization in the region, however, recent reports in the New York Times suggest the Jesuit order owned roughly 300 enslaved people, using the profits from sales to sustain the clergy and to finance the construction and the day-to-day operations of churches and schools.

^{Used with permission of the Oblate Sisters of Providence.}

A handful of women from Baltimore’s Haitian refugee colony begin to educate local children in their homes. With the support of the archbishop, in 1829 they create the Oblate Sisters of Providence. The first superior is Elizabeth Lange, born in Cuba of Haitian parents.

^{Used with the permission of the Sisters of the Holy Family}

Founded by Henriette Delille and Juliette Gaudin in New Orleans, the Sisters of the Holy Family become the second religious order for Black women. Biracial and of African descent, the founders are free people of color, a separate class and culture above the slaves at that time. The order ministers to poor Blacks, educating and tending the sick. Henriette Delille is declared Venerable by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010.

^{Photo from the NBCC Archives}

Daniel Rudd, a journalist from Ohio and founder of the American Catholic Tribune, becomes a leader of Black laity. Fiercely proud of the Catholic Church, Rudd claims the Church is the one place of hope for Black people. Rudd recruits delegates for the first Black Catholic Congress, the first Black Catholic lay congress in U.S. history. In January 1889, almost 100 Black Catholic men meet with President Grover Cleveland on the last day of the congress.

^{The 1892 Congress}

The third Colored Catholic Congress is held in Philadelphia, PA from July 5-7. The gathering was tasked with drawing up a constitution for permanent organization (this action did not come to fruition until 1985). Pictured at center is Venerable Fr. Augustus Tolton.​

^{St. Peter Claver Catholic Church, Baltimore. From the Josephites archives.}

The fifth Colored Catholic Congress convenes in St. Peter Claver Hall in Baltimore, MD from October 8-11. Dr. William Lofton, then President of the Congress, addressed the assembly: “We hope to hail the day…when the American people, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, and the laity shall rise up in their might and stamp out the prejudice which is today destroying the life’s blood of the country.”

^{Unknown photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.}

Led by Thomas Wyatt Turner, the Committee for the Advancement of Colored Catholics forms during World War I to care for Black Catholic servicemen neglected by both the Knights of Columbus and the black YMCA. After the war, the group broadens its focus. Its advocacy gives birth to a new national forum for Black Catholics. The U.S. bishops, despite requests from Rome to act on behalf of Blacks during the race riots and lynchings of 1919, avoid the topic at their first annual meeting. In response, the committee publicly urges the bishops to denounce discrimination and consult with Black Catholics, saying “at present we are neither a part of the colored world (Protestant), nor are we treated as full-fledged Catholics.”

^{Used with permission of the Hancock County Historical Society}

The Society of the Divine Word in Greenville, Mississippi, with the blessing of Pope Benedict XV, opens St Augustine’s Seminary, the first seminary for blacks. Some American bishops are still not convinced of the merit of a Black priesthood.

^{Used with permission of Xavier University Archives}

Xavier University in Louisiana (XULA), founded in 1925 by Katharine Drexel and known as the first Black Catholic University, dedicates its present campus on Palmetto St. (now Drexel Drive) on October 12, 1932.

Many Catholic clergy and women religious join the march in Selma, AL, making the Church’s foray into the civil rights struggle for racial equality.

^{Used with permission of the NBCCC}

Prior to the meeting of the Catholic Clergy Conference on the Interracial Apostolate in 1968, Father Herman Porter of the Diocese of Rockford, IL invites all U.S. Black Catholic clergy to a special caucus. More than 60 Black clergy gather to discuss the racial crisis and they decide to form a permanent organization. They send a statement to the bishops that strongly criticizes the church but is clear in its devotion and hope. The statement lists nine demands for the Church to be faithful in its mission to Blacks and restore itself in the black community. The National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus remains active today.

Pictured from top left to bottom right: Cardinal Wilton Gregory, Bishop Emerson Moore, Bishop Moses Anderson, Bishop J. Terry Steib, Bishop John Ricard, Bishop Joseph Francis, Bishop Harold Perry, Bishop Joseph Howze, Bishop Eugene Marino, and Archbishop James Lyke.

The Black Bishops of the United States publish What We Have Seen and Heard: A Pastoral Letter on Evangelization

NBCC renews the tradition of gathering Black Catholics from across the country. The first renewed congress, Congress VI, takes place in May of 1987 in Washington, D.C. Since then the NBCC holds a national congress every five years, and each event attracts a growing number of attendees.

^{Image is a still from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) video, courtesy of the USCCB}

Sr. Thea Bowman, addresses the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in November 1989 from her wheelchair. In 1990, Sr. Thea Bowman passes into eternal life.

^{Bishop Joseph Francis, SVD, Auxiliary Bishop of Newark, NJ (now deceased) gave the homily at the opening liturgy. Photo from the In A Word archives.}

The 7th National Black Catholic Congress gathering is held from July 9-12 in New Orleans, LA.
The Pastoral Plan resulting from this Congress provides comprehensive statements that address issues such as African American Family Life, the Sacramentality of Marriage, Children and Youth, among others.

^{Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons}

On December 17, 1997, Pope John Paul II declares Pierre Toussaint venerable.

^{From In A Word archives, Congress IX in 2002.}

The 9th National Black Catholic Congress gathering is held from August 29-September 1 in Chicago, IL.
With a Declaration of Principles, the Congress IX assembly dedicates themselves to make an effort to embody the healing presence of God’s unconditional love to others and establish justice by living in patterns of the right relationships in a world challenged by human evil and sin.

^{Unidentified photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons}

The Augustus Tolton cause for canonization is announced by Cardinal Francis George.

^{Photo from the NBCC Archives.}

The 11^th National Black Catholic Congress gathering is held in Indianapolis, IN.
Using the findings from a survey of Black Catholics conducted by the NBCC in cooperation with the University of Notre Dame, the Congress XI Pastoral Plan of Action specified ten areas African American Catholics are called to engage in their faith. The complete Pastoral Plan can be found here.

^{Photo courtesy of CNS/Karen Callaway}

The remains of Servant of God (at that time) Augustus Tolton are exhumed and verified

^{Photo from the NBCC Archives}

The Twelfth National Black Catholic Congress gathering is held from July 6-9, in Orlando, Florida. A Pastoral Plan Committee, working together over the course of the Congress gathering, identified seven topics that they believed were critical for Black Catholics to address over the next five years. The Pastoral Plan was issued, along with an implementation guide, to provide ideas and inspiration to parishes for action on these important topics.

^{©NBCC, 2019}

Fr. Augustus Tolton is declared Venerable by Pope Francis.

^{Photo from the NBCC Archives}

The Thirteenth National Black Catholic Congress gathering is held from July 20-23, 2023, in National Harbor, MD. His Eminence Wilton Cardinal Gregory  gave the Opening Keynote Address and celebrated the Opening Mass at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The Pastoral Plan was issued, along with an implementation guide, to provide ideas and inspiration to parishes for action over the next five years.