On this holiday, #BlackCatholicHistoryMonth invites us to remember that much of early #American history is #Catholic history & much of early #AmericanCatholic history is #Black history. This is part of the reason I say #BlackHistoryisCatholichistory & vv. https://theconversation.com/what-catholic-church-records-tell-us-about-americas-earliest-black-history-109709

#BlackCatholics in the US are too often looked at as anomalies &/or inauthentic. US #BlackCatholic history is also routinely misunderstood by many in the church & beyond as recent history. However, the US roots of #BlackCatholics run deeper than most of their white counterparts.

Native Americans living in the continental United States first encountered #Spanish Catholics *and* #African & #African-descended Catholics, enslaved & free, beginning in the 16th century. #CatholicHistoryisBlackHistory

Remember that slavery & free black life in what became the US began under #Catholic auspices in Spanish North America in the early 16th century, preceding the #1619 arrival of enslaved Africans in VA by over a century. #BlackCatholicHistoryMatters

#BlackCatholic life & labor in the US also preceded the arrival of most English, Irish, German, & Polish Catholics by 2+ centuries. Free & enslaved #BlackCatholic labor built the nation's earliest #Catholic churches, seminaries, and convents. #BlackCatholicsBeenHere

In fact, the first recorded Christian marriage in what became the US took place in St. Augustine, FL between Miguel Rodríguez, a #Spanish Conquistador, and Luisa de Abrego, a free #Black servant from Seville, Spain in 1565. #BlackHistoryisCatholicHistory http://laflorida.org 

During the colonial & early national eras, St. Augustine, FL, home to N. America's 1st free black settlement, was a pop. destination for fugitives slaves, who would be granted freedom in exchange for converting to #Catholicism & joining the Span. military. #1stUndergroundRailroad

To learn more about the #African origins of US #Catholicism, please follow @SlaveSocieties. Remember, too, that archive of @DOSACatholics doesn't just contain the nation's oldest documents. It preserves the earliest records of #Black and #Catholic history in what became the US.

Also, pick up the following titles by Jane Landers and Dennis Herrick:

https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/89txp6pt9780252067532.html https://unmpress.com/books/esteban/9780826359810

Finally, as #BlackCatholicHistoryMonth winds down, please remember that much of #BlackCatholic history in the US & world remains suppressed, under-researched, & unwritten. The work needed to illuminate, disseminate, & do #justice to this history is tremendous. Let's get to it!