A conversation with Rachel L. Swarns, the author of “The 272: The Families Who were Enslaved and Sold to Build The American Catholic Church”
Race
Posted inArts & Culture, Music
Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ embraces country music, Black history and religious imagery
With “Cowboy Carter,” her eighth studio album, Beyoncé not only explores the longed-for and carelessly and/or intentionally erased Black past in country music, but also moves the genre forward into a hopefully more expansive future.
Posted inFaith, Faith and Reason
What to do when a saint is racist: Wrestling with St. John of the Cross
It is necessary that we grapple with hard facts, even if it means wearing scars. But let us not yield when confronted with the racism, sexism or other sins of any saint.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
Langston Hughes: Communist, Christian—or both?
Langston Hughes, the great Black poet, playwright, journalist and author, had a nuanced and not easily categorized religious life.
Posted inFaith, Features
Bill Russell, K.C. Jones and the Black players who made basketball history at San Francisco’s Jesuit university
Men’s college basketball’s finest squad did not come from one of the N.C.A.A. powerhouses of the past three decades, but from the University of San Francisco, where Bill Russell led the team to consecutive national championships in 1955 and 1956.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
Jesuit George Dunne loved a good fight—and hated injustice
George Dunne, S.J., never backed down from a fight or a perceived injustice in a long career as a priest, academic and activist.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: St. Katharine Drexel’s complicated record on race
In ‘Katherine Drexel and the Sisters Who Shared Her Vision,’ the historian Margaret McGuinness has performed another valuable service to American Catholic history.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: August Wilson, a playwright of multitudes
In ‘August Wilson: A Life,’ an excellent new biography by Patti Hartigan, we read of the winding path that led Wilson to his ascendance, then delves into the tumults and triumphs of his two decades at the heights of achievement.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: The underlying philosophy of Black Lives Matter
Vincent Lloyd’s ‘Black Dignity’ is is a profound challenge to anyone who takes seriously the struggle for human dignity, antiracism and the work of dismantling white supremacy.
Posted inArts & Culture, Theater
‘Peter Pan Goes Wrong’ and ‘The Thanksgiving Play’ take a satirical aim at theater itself
The ambitions of these two comedies could hardly be more disparate, yet the craft employed in both is rooted in similarly precise calibrations of our attention and sympathies.