THE BLACK CHURCH: THIS IS OUR STORY, THIS IS OUR SONG

In this special presentation by Illinois Public Media, watch the second hour of the acclaimed four-hour documentary series THE BLACK CHURCH, followed by a live performance of gospel music and a post-film discussion panel with local Black preachers plus an audience Q & A.

For many, it’s their house of worship. For some, it is an engine for social justice. For others, it’s a place of transcendent cultural gifts exported to the world, from the soulful voices of preachers and congregants to the sublime sounds of gospel music. For the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., going to church in America also was “the most segregated hour” of the week.

Executive Producer, Host, and Writer Henry Louis Gates, Jr. traces how this came to be in the 400 year-old story of the Black church in America, all the way down to its bedrock role as the site of African American survival and endurance, grace and resilience, thriving and testifying, freedom and independence, solidarity and speaking truth to power.

It reveals how Black people have worshipped, and through their spiritual journeys, improvised ways to bring their faith traditions from Africa to the New World, while translating them into a form of Christianity that was not only truly their own but a redemptive force for a nation whose original sin was found in their ancestors’ enslavement across the Middle Passage.