national baptist union eview · published monthly by r.h. boyd publishing corporation • 6717...

Published Monthly by R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation • 6717 Centennial Blvd., Nashville, TN 37209-1017

FEBRUARY 2019

Celebrate Black HistoryThe R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation, founded in 1896, and the Boyd family have made pivotal contributions to African-American history for five generations. The National Baptist Publishing Board became the principal source of religious publications for black Baptists worldwide. By 1906, it was the largest African-American publishing company in the United States. The business employed as many as 110 workers. In its first 18 years, the company issued more than 128 million periodicals. It is credited with being the first publisher of the old songs of Negro slaves, and it produced more than 25 songbooks and hymnals by 1921, including Golden Gems: A Song Book for the Church Choir, the Pew, and Sunday School (1901) and The National Baptist Hymnal (1903). The board’s publications are considered to have played a key role in establishing an African American Baptist religious and racial identity in the United States.

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2 • Union Review • February 2019

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This Issue...

From the Publisherp. 2

Dallas Ministers Install New President

p. 2

Post-Slavery Genealogy Project

p. 3

James Van Der Zee Photographer Chronicles Black

Life in Harlemp. 4

A Nation of Immigrantsp. 5

Heart Healthy Livingp. 6

R.H. Boyd Publishing Go Red Day

p. 6

Love Is: A Rule of Action, Not Feeling

p. 7

Remembering the Goodness of God

p. 8

Ministry Opportunitiesp. 8

THE NATIONAL BAPTIST UNION REVIEW

R. H. BOYD, D.D., LL.D.Founder (1896–1922)

H. A. BOYD, D.D.(1922–1959)

T. B. BOYD, JR., D.D.(1959–1979)

T. B. BOYD III, D.D.(1979–2017)

LaDonna Boyd, MBAPresident/CEO

David Groves, D.Min., Ph.D.Director of Publications

EDITORIAL STAFF

Tia Ferrell, M.S. Coordinator

Olivia M. Cloud, M.R.E. Associate Editor

Vivian Crutcher, M.Div.Landon Dickerson, M.T.S.

Amy L. Lee, B.S.Niger Woodruff, M.Div.

Brittany Batson, B.A.Freida Crawley, B.S.

Carla Davis, B.A.

THE NATIONAL BAPTIST UNION REVIEW (USPS 372-300 or ISSN

0744-7353) is published monthly with one extra edition at

6717 Centennial Boulevard, Nashville, Tennessee 37209-1017,

by the National Baptist Publishing Board/R.H. Boyd Publishing

Corporation. Periodical postage paid at

Nashville, Tennessee.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to

The National Baptist Union Review 6717 Centennial Boulevard

Nashville, Tennessee 37209-1017

To our loyal readers, Black History Month is an

opportunity for schools, churches, and communities to learn more about the many significant contributions African Americans have made to the United States and to the world. We must celebrate how God has blessed our people, to rise to great heights in the pursuit of the nation’s great promise.

Our nation’s promise includes the ability to make our lives better through democracy. We see this in action as Americans young and old, black, brown and white continue to speak up and advocate for stronger gun legislation. Thankfully, the House Judiciary Committee has voted in

favor of a bill to bolster background checks for gun sales. This is just a first step, but if approved by the full House, the bill would be the most significant gun-control legislation approved by either chamber of Congress in at least a decade.

During this month of love, I espe-cially encourage African Americans to love yourselves enough to do what is necessary to care for your heart and your health. Reduce your stress. Change your diet. Get some exercise. Get coun-seling. Pray. Meditate. Love yourself enough to make lifestyle changes that can yield a lifetime of better health.

Our capacity to effectively do the Kingdom work that Christ com-mands depends on our having good health. We need healthy bodies to do God’s work, and American Heart Month is a good time to consider how we can make changes for health-ier living. Simple steps can a lead to improvements in our heart health. This issue is critical in the black com-munity, as heart disease affects our people disproportionately.

Plans to carry out the work of the Kingdom continue under the admin-istration of NMBCA president Dr. Anthony E. Sharp I. Best wishes for a blessed Winter Board meeting, Febru-ary 25 –28, in Dallas. The host pastors

and churches have made great prepa-ration receive all who attend.

We also congratulate Dr. Tommy L. Brown, who was recently installed as president of the Baptist Ministers’ Union of Dallas and Vicinity. Dr. Brown is also a member of the R.H. Boyd board of directors.

Preparation is a critical component of impactful ministry, and the 2019 Congress Host Pastor Robert Scott and the St. Paul Baptist Church Host Committee are working prayerfully and diligently to ensure a successful event. The year’s Congress will feature even more enhancements to keep our offerings relevant to the contemporary church experience.

Please visit our Congress website for updates on the 2019 Congress: www.nationalbaptistcongress.org, or email us at [email protected]. Spon-sorship opportunities are available for the week. If your company or organi-zation is interested in being a Congress corporate sponsor, please reach out to me at [email protected].

Words from the Publisher LaDonna Boyd

Onward,

LaDonna BoydPresident/CEO

On Sunday, January 27, Dr. Tommy L. Brown, pastor of New Mount Zion Baptist Church in Dallas was installed as president of the Baptist Ministers Union of Dallas and Vicinity, along with all incoming officers. The service of installation and celebration was held at Mt. Zion. The installation preacher was Pastor Bryan

Carter of Concord Church in Dallas.The service was both inspirational

and colorful, featuring a color guard and liturgical dancers. Pastors’ and ministers’ wives, dressed in dark blue outfits accented by a yellow flower, flanked First Lady Ruth Brown during the service. Dallas area pastors came in strong numbers to support Dr.

Brown as their new president. Felicitations included a congratulatory letter from Ms. LaDonna Boyd, president and CEO of R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation. Dr. Brown holds leadership positions with a number of organizations, and is a member of the R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation board of directors.

Dallas Ministers Install New President

Union Review • February 2019 • 3

Follow us on @NationalBaptist @NationalBaptist

Continued on page 7

Tracing genealogy via the Internet has become increasingly popular in recent years, as statistical records be-come widely available and DNA re-search becomes more affordable for the average consumer. A common ob-servation, however, is the dearth of available information about Afri-can-American ancestry. Information is especially scant during and immedi-ately after Slavery. But many formerly enslaved, desperately seeking to re-connect with family members, placed ads in black-owned newspapers hop-ing for information.

LastSeen.com offers genealogists and researchers a new tool for telling family stories of separation and sur-vival during Slavery, Civil War, and Emancipation. The site offers easy ac-cess to thousands of “Information Wanted” advertisements taken out by formerly enslaved blacks searching for long lost family members.

In the waning years of the Civil War, advertisements like this [SIC] began appearing in newspapers around the country:

“INFORMATION WANTED By a mother concerning her children.

“Mrs. Elizabeth Williams, who now resides in Marysville, California was formerly owned to-gether with her chil-dren, vis: Lydia, William, Allen, and Parker, by one John Petty, who lived about six miles from the town of Wood-bury, Franklin County, Tenneesee. At that time she was the the wife of Sandy Rucker, and was familiarly known as Betsy, - sometimes called Betsy Petty.

“About twenty-five years ago, the mother was sold to Mr. Marshal Stroud, by whom, some twelve or fourteen years later, she was, for the second time since purchased by him, taken to Arkansas. She has never seen the above named

children since. Any information given concern-ing them, however, will be gratefully re-ceived by one whose love for her children sur-vives the bitterness and hardship of many long years spent in slavery.”

More than 900 of these kinds of “Information Wanted” notices — placed by African-Americans separat-ed from family members by war, Slav-ery, and Emancipation — have been digitized in a project called Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery, a collab-oration between Villanova University’s graduate history program and Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. Support is provided by the Albert Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest and the Graduate School of Arts and Sci-ences at Villanova, and the Pennsylva-nia Abolition Society.

The ads, which date from 1863 to 1902, come from six newspapers: Philadelphia’s Christian Recorder, the newspaper of the AME Church; New Orleans’ Black Republican, Nashville’s The Colored Tennessean, Charleston’s South Carolina Leader, the Free Men’s Press of Galveston, Texas, and Cincin-nati’s The Colored Citizen.

Judy Giesberg, history professor at Villanova, directs the project. Jesse Nasta, assistant professor, Wesleyan University, is co-director. Margaret Jerrido, archivist at Mother Bethel Af-rican Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, and Carole Emberton, history professor at SUNY, Buffalo, consult. Jesse Flavin, librarian at Villa-nova, contacts other libraries to bor-row the newspapers needed for the project, which I believed to be the first of its kind.

“It’s important to think about that moment in time when it looks like

slavery is really falling apart, that that opens up the opportunity for people who’ve either lived their lives as fugi-tives, or who are recently freed, to be-gin the long process of trying to find family members from whom they’d been separated,” said Giesberg, who also directs Villanova’s graduate histo-ry program.

Jerrido has transcribed hundreds of these newspaper ads. “A lot of the ads that I transcribed were siblings looking for each other. But when I found one where a mother was look-ing for their child, I’d have to stop and sort of blink my eyes a little, be-cause it was a little emotional for me,” she explained.

The program relies on graduate students and volunteers to transcribe the ads. When the graduate students are not in class or writing papers, they scour microfilmed newspapers searching for old newspaper classified ads. Jesse Flavin, librarian at Villano-va, also contacts other libraries to borrow the newspapers needed for the project.

When the students find ads, they copy them, clean up the images so they are legible, and then load them to the site. The group openly recruits volunteers to sign up to transcribe the ads and upload them for submission.

“What I think is most extraordinary about these ads [is] they’re just a few lines, but, in just those few lines, they put people together as a family. It’s a snapshot of a moment in time when this family lived together and existed as a unit. They name names and places and dates, so each one is a small poi-gnant family history,” Giesberg said. “These [ads] are from the mouths of these people and they’re claiming this family as having existed.”

In sometimes spare language, the ads represent the deep family ties that endured through the Civil War and beyond slavery, despite the best effort of slave owners to sever those ties. In some instances, the ads are placed de-cades after the family members have last been in contact.

So far, the majority of the ads have come from The Christian Recorder, which reaches across the country through the influential AME Church. The archives of behemoths of the black press such as The Chicago De-fender have yet to be tapped.

The Defender, which was founded in 1905, was still publishing these ads into the 1910s — half a century after the Emancipation Proclamation, Giesberg notes.

“It makes you rethink that idea that the generation that grew up after the Civil War really wanted to distance themselves from slavery, wanted to forget about it, when these ads are running in these newspapers 50 years after,” she says.

Of the more than 900 ads currently in the database, only two have been identified so far that suggest family members were reunited as a result. But providing a tool for historians — and finding evidence of reunions — aren’t the only goals of the project.

“The ads are also doing another im-portant service,” Giesberg said, “and that is simply commemorating fami-lies that were lost during slavery.”

Beyond making the information available online, the Last Seen team has established programs to engage communities in the importance of knowing their heritage. The collabo-rative established an art competition

Project Aids Genealogy SearchesDigitized Ads from the Formerly Enslaved Connects Families

An 1854 oil painting by English artist Eyre Crowe depicts newly purchased slaves being loaded into a railroad car at the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad depot on Eighth Street in Richmond, Virginia. Many black families were separated during Slavery and were never reunited after Emancipation, although many made attempts.



Many people know his work even if they don’t know his name. The rich sepia and black and white tones of his photography are windows into a glo-rious era of prosperous times, even for many African Americans. His pictures tell stories of black couples getting married in fancy wedding attire, of black families rearing their children, of black society engaged in the fellow-ship of social organizations.

For a half century, photographer James Van Der Zee depicted black life far from the agrarian South. The peo-ple in his pictures do not appear to be downtrodden or beaten down by in-justice. If only for a moment, Van Der Zee captures the goodness and grace of their lives.

Born on June 29, 1886, in Lenox, Mass., James Van Der Zee developed a passion for photography as a youth. He began dabbling with photography as a teenager after having won an eight-dollar camera as a premium for selling pink and yellow silk sachets. His interest intensified as he photographed friends and family in Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia for pleasure and for occasional commissions. Eventually, he would open his own Harlem studio.

Van Der Zee became known for his detailed imagery of African-American life among the middle class, and for capturing celebrities. During the next forty years, Van Der Zee chronicled the people and celebrations of Har-lem—from schoolchildren, church groups, and wedding couples, to the parades organized by black nationalist Marcus Garvey and the funeral for singer Florence Mills.

Early Life and CareerJames Augustus Van Der Zee en-

tered the world on June 29, 1886, the second of six offspring born to Eliza-beth and John Van Der Zee. The Van Der Zee children were generally good students. James learned how to play piano and violin as a youth. He later developed a passion for photography and took pictures for his high school.

With his brother Walter, James de-parted Lenox for Harlem, New York, in 1906. Once there, he held jobs as a waiter and elevator operator. He mar-ried Kate Brown in 1907, and the newlyweds moved to Virginia, where Van Der Zee did photography work for the Hampton Institute (now Uni-versity). After welcoming their first child, the couple moved back to New

York in 1908. They divorced in 1915.For several years, Van Der Zee put

his musicianship to use, playing with Fletcher Henderson’s band and the John Wanamaker Orchestra while also working as a piano and violin teacher.

Still photography was in his heart, and Van Der Zee obtained a job as a darkroom assistant in a New Jersey department store. By 1916, he had opened his own Harlem studio, Guar-antee Photo. He eventually renamed his workplace GGG Studio, after his second wife, Gaynella Greenlee, whom he had wed in 1920.

Photographing Harlem LifeThe Harlem Renaissance was in full

swing during the 1920s and ‘30s, and for decades, Van Der Zee would pho-tograph Harlemites of all backgrounds

and occupations, though his work is particularly noted for its pioneering depiction of middle-class life among African Americans. He took thou-sands of pictures, mostly indoor por-traits, and labeled each of his photos with a signature and date, which would prove to be important for fu-ture documentation.

Although Van Der Zee photo-graphed many African-American ce-lebrities—including Hazel Scott and Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Mercelino Manuel da Graça, or “Daddy Grace,” Mamie Smith, and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson—most of his work was of the straightforward commercial stu-dio variety: weddings and funerals (including pictures of the dead for grieving families), family groups, teams, lodges, clubs, and people sim-ply wanting to have a record of them-selves in fine clothes. He often sup-plied props or costumes and took time to carefully pose his subjects, giving the picture an accessible narrative.

Van Der Zee’s photos sometimes contained special effects created through darkroom manipulation. In one image, a 1920 photograph ti-tled “Future Expectations (Wedding Day),” a young couple is presented in their wedding day finery, and a ghostly, transparent image of a child at their feet.

Of the subjects he photographed, Van Der Zee observed, “The biggest day for studio photos was Sunday, es-

pecially Easter Sunday. The high class, the middle class, the poorer class all looked good on Sundays.”

In addition to his services as a por-traiter, he photographed clubs and church groups, sports teams and fam-ily gatherings, barber shops and pool halls. He shot funerals and weddings, soldiers and celebrities. Heavyweight champion Jack Johnson, the Reverend Adam Clayton Powell Sr., entertainers Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and Sun-shine Sammy, singers Florence Mills and Mamie Smith — all were subjects for Van Der Zee’s lens. And when Marcus Garvey was looking for some-one to chronicle the life of the Univer-sal Negro Improvement Association, he chose James Van Der Zee.

He was noted for his funeral pho-tographs, a genre that was fashionable in Harlem during the 1920’s and 1930’s. Some of them are published in his The Harlem Book of the Dead.

Hardship and RenaissanceWith the advent of personal

cameras in the middle of the century, the demand for Van Der Zee’s services dwindled. He procured fewer commissions, though he maintained an alternative business in image restoration and mail order sales. Van Der Zee did not receive public acclaim until he was 82 years old, when his photographs were featured in an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1969. He and

Harlem Photographer Highlights Black LifeJames Van Der Zee Captured the Extraordinary and the Mundane for 50 Years

“Couple in Raccoon Coats” is one of Van Der Zee’s iconic works. His photographs often depicted the middle-class lifestyles of blacks living in Harlem.

The award-winning photographer snagged pictures of many famous African Americans, from Marcus Garvey (above) to Haile Selassie to Daddy Grace, Hazel Scott and heavyweight champion Jack Johnson.

Van Der Zee at age 95 in 1982.



By Rev. Niger WoodruffReferring to persons of color as a

“minority” has always been a rather artful way of calling non-white per-sons “the n-word” to their face. I won-der what will become of the colorful use of majority/minority language when white people are considered a minority group in America? Accord-ing to population projections pre-pared by the Pew Research Center, come 2040 or high water, white peo-ple will no longer be a numerical ma-jority in America. However, besides the actual populace of the planet, truth is, “white folks” have always been a minority in this country.

James Baldwin, in Notes of a Native Son, is more than accurate when he proclaims “white” a recent historical invention. Prior to being greeted by Lady Liberty, European immigrants from France, Germany, Ireland, Poland, or Russia were recognized by their national ethnic origin. In other words, when pale feet first stepped onto American soil they had already left a long trail of historical footprints on the earth as French, German, Irish, Polish, or Russian persons, respectively. But, in an instant, the whole body of pale-skinned immigrants became greater than their individual feats as French, German, Irish, Polish, or Russian persons; because once those European immigrants settled into the soil of this “New Land,” an offer they could hardly refuse was made. Relinquish your national ethnic identity and put on the whole armor of whiteness. Assimilate. Be white.

A white news anchor recently apol-ogized for saying Hispanic immigrants need to do a better job of assimilating

to the United States. Be “white-er” was the implication. European immi-grants always had the freedom to be-come white. Baldwin described that historical phenomenon as white privi-lege. The same prerogative cannot be said for persons of color. Nonetheless, white supremacy tempts persons of color to believe the lie. If you would only dress a certain way or speak in perfect Elizabethan English or style your hair differently then the ethnic groups who erased their national identity and assimilated into white-ness would at long last accept you as a full human being, too.

The white newsman’s regrettable comments followed a succession of statements citing the fear of racial mixing and intermarriage expressed by some white Americans. “I don’t know whether I want brown grandba-bies.” The increased regularity with which talking heads appear on televi-

sion to note the fact that white folks soon will be considered a minority group in America is anxiety-inducing for many white Americans. “White” is neither an ethnicity nor a nationality; but the fear of a perceived loss of (white) power and the dread of the ac-tual loss of (white) power is provoked by statistical demographics that em-pirically prove a point they simply do not want to add up. Most non-white Americans have a slightly different in-terpretation with respect to whites “becoming” a minority group. Rather than seeing white people as somehow losing power, which, consequently, is absolutely correct, as a black man, I see the truth: no racial group will have a numerical majority monopoly on power. Hear the difference? Or should I say it in Spanish?

One aspect of the well-known Exo-dus story concerns assimilation. Ad-opted by Pharaoh’s daughter but

raised by his Hebrew mother, Moses grew up to understand himself as “an alien residing in a foreign land” (Exo-dus 2:22). Even his name was foreign to him. Moses was not his real name. Moses was the Egyptian name Pha-raoh’s daughter gave the baby boy she drew him from the water. With his Hebrew name gone from his memory, the adopted son of an Egyptian prin-cess grew up with all the rights and privileges of royalty in Egypt, as if he was an Egyptian, including the rights and privileges of it language. Moses grew up speaking Egyptian as his first language. Hebrew was his native tongue yet Hebrew was his second language. “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue” (Exodus 4:10).

Slow of speech may indicate a speech impediment or metaphorically reflect Moses’ reluctance to accept God’s divine commission; nonetheless, a Puerto Rican pastor taught me a different interpretation. All my life I had heard it preached that Moses had a stuttering problem when, in truth, Moses simply was not fluent in Hebrew. Moses was incapable of having a conversation with a Hebrew person in Hebrew. Once Moses realized he had deserted his national ethnic identity by assimilating to Egyptian culture, he found himself lost, wandering in the wilderness.

While white America laments losing power, the rest of America has found itself broadcasting the fact that all people will have a unique, historical opportunity to share power in this country for the first time. However,

A Nation of ImmigrantsAddressing the Browning of America

Greenlee were subsisting on very limited means when the museum mounted Harlem on My Mind, bringing the photographer and his work renewed attention.

Richard Benson, former dean of the Yale School of Art, printed Portfolio of Eighteen Photographs in 1974, under Van Der Zee’s supervision, perhaps signaling renewed interest in the artist’s work during the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Arts Movement.

Even with his rebirth in popularity, Van Der Zee and his wife still faced financial difficulties. After they were evicted from their Harlem residence, they relocated to the Bronx. Greenlee died in 1976, and Van Der Zee was reported to be living in squalor and poor health. Art gallery director Donna Mussenden took up his cause—structuring his home space and organizing his public appearances—and the two married in 1978. Revitalized, Van Der Zee was in demand with a new wave as a celebrity photographer. Some of the luminaries he captured upon his resur-gence included Lou Rawls, Cicely Tyson, and Jean Michael Basquiat.

In 1981, Van Der Zee filed a suit to reclaim more than 50,000 images from the Studio Museum of Har-lem, the rights to which he had signed away after his eviction. The case would be settled posthumously, with half of the work being returned to the photogra-pher’s estate, and the remainder being retained by the museum and the James Van Der Zee Institute.

Van Der Zee received several accolades upon his return to the spotlight, including becoming a permanent fellow of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a Living Legacy Award from President Jimmy Carter, and honorary doctorates from Seaton Hall University and Chicago’s Columbia College. During his later years, Van Der Zee mostly was confined to a wheelchair. After receiving an honorary doctorate from Howard University on May 22, 1983, Van Der Zee became ill in his hotel room and was admitted to Howard University Hospital, where he died the following morning of heart failure.

Van Der Zee strove to capture the personality, char-acter, and intrinsic beauty of his sitters. His photographs are not simply documents, but also celebrations of Har-lem lives, which included some degree of affluence and an appreciation of small luxuries—a beaded dress, a fur stole, an attentively decorated home. His photographs were an opportunity for African Americans to see them-selves as the center of a universe, as white Americans could in mainstream society. For Van Der Zee, this was reflected in the careful framing of a world of elegance, refinement, and a beauty sometimes elusive in the world outside his studio.____________________

Information for this story was complied from vari-ous sources, including biography.com and the Smithso-nian website: americanart.si.edu

James Van Der Zee... (continued from p. 4)

Continued on page 8

“Future Expectations (Wedding Day)”, 1920



African Americans and Heart HealthBlacks are at higher risk for heart disease, but less likely to get the medical care they need.Editor’s Note: Please consult your healthcare professional before staring any diet, exercise, supplement or medication regimen. Article from www.WebMD.com.

Heart disease has haunted generations of Robin Drummond’s family. “I have a family history of heart disease on both sides,” said the 55 -year- old African American resident of Hammond, La. “I’ve had uncles, aunts, and grandparents who’ve died from heart attacks and heart disease, and two of my mother’s brothers died four months apart. One had a heart attack in church, and four months later, one had a heart attack in the post office.”

When Drummond’s father succumbed to heart disease at age 50, she was shaken. “Particularly when my dad died, I wanted to make sure that I was okay,” she says. She went to her doctor for testing and learned that her heart was mildly enlarged, placing her at risk for heart failure. Drummond, a registered dietitian, took strenuous measures to ward off trouble. But not all African Americans are aware of the danger.

African Americans and Heart FailureIn a startling study published in the New England

Journal of Medicine, researchers found that African Americans have a much higher incidence of heart failure than other races, and it develops at younger ages. Heart failure means that the heart isn’t able to pump blood as well as it should.

Before age 50, African Americans’ heart failure rate is 20 times higher than that of whites, accord-ing to the study. Four risk factors are the strongest predictors of heart failure: high blood pressure (also called hypertension), chronic kidney disease, being overweight, and having low levels of HDL, the “good” cholesterol. Three -fourths of African Amer-icans who develop heart failure have high blood pressure by age 40.

African Americans and Health CareTo prevent heart failure and other heart disease,

it’s crucial to treat risk factors successfully, says Anne L. Taylor, MD, a professor of medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital and vice dean of academic af-fairs at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. But, compared with their white peers, African Americans often have less access to health care, she says. Not only are they less likely to visit a doctor and get routine screenings, but they’re less likely to be referred to specialists.

“African Americans with heart failure are more likely to be taken care of in a primary care practice,” Taylor said, “even though the data would suggest

that the best care — the care that decreases hospi-talizations and improves mortality rates — happens in cardiologists’ offices.”

Further, some African Americans “tend to see ill-ness and disease as the main reason for health care, so you don’t go to the physician for preventive med-icine — you go when you’re sick,” said Keith C. Ferdinand, MD, FACC, FAHA, a clinical professor in the cardiology division at Emory University and chief science officer of the Association of Black Car-diologists. “When are you sick? When you have symptoms: chest pain, shortness of breath, swelling, dizziness. By the time people manifest the signs and symptoms of cardiovascular disease, they have al-ready had that disease present for one, two, or even three decades.”

Treating Heart Disease Risk FactorsDrummond’s father, who had health insurance

but not a physician he would go to on a regular basis, provides a cautionary tale about why African Americans must maintain a consistent relationship with a good doctor who knows their medical history and provides preventive care, screenings, and referrals to specialists.

“He had a leaking valve, and it didn’t get replaced as soon as it should have,” said Drummond. “The doctor told us it should have been replaced six or seven years earlier. When he started having swelling in his legs and shortness of breath, that’s when he went to the hospital.” Doctors diagnosed the leak-ing valve and performed surgery, but “it was too late

for him,” Drummond said. He died a few weeks after his surgery.

Besides a strong family history, Drummond has other risk factors for heart disease. She was diag-nosed with high blood pressure at age 28 and with type 2 diabetes about five years ago. After years of unsuccessfully trying to control her blood pressure with diet and exercise, she now takes medications.

She’s under a doctor’s regular care, and she stays fit and eats healthy foods. “I work hard. I go to the gym to help control my hypertension and diabetes. I take the meds, I watch my sodium intake, and I work at keeping my weight within normal range.” So far, she says, she’s avoided heart failure.

Exercise, a healthy low sodium diet that includes plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, and drinking plenty are part of a healthy lifestyle that reduces risk factors for heart disease.

What to Ask Your Doctor About Heart Disease

High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart failure. Work with your doctor to keep it in check by asking the following questions:

• What is my risk for developing high blood pressure? How can I limit my risk and help prevent it?

• What are the symptoms? • What does my blood pressure reading

actually mean? • Am I taking any medicines that make me

more susceptible? • What medications are available if I have

high blood pressure? What are the benefits and side effects?

Employees Participate in R.H. Boyd Wear Red Day

Employees at R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation wore red on February 14 in honor of Valentine’s Day and in recognition of National Heart Month.

“We encourage all of our employees to live heart healthy lifestyles and provide support through our benefits package to help everyone at R.H. Boyd minimize their risk factors and stay healthy,” said Ms. LaDonna Boyd, president/CEO.

Overall health has improved among African Americans during the last decade, and blacks are living longer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As a community, however, African Americans have higher rates of the risk factors for heart disease.



for young people ages 12 to 18 to submit an original work.

Student artists were invited to choose an ad from InformationWanted.org for their inspiration. Then entrants could draw, paint, photograph, sculpt, knit, sew, paper mache, etc. their original work that brings the ad to life. They also were to write a 300-word reflection explaining how the artwork relates to the advertisement they choose.

Winners and runners-up in three age categories (12-14, 15-16, and 17-18) will have their work displayed on the Last Seen Project website and at

the Voices from Slavery’s Lost Families theatre performance held in Villano-va’s Vasey Hall on February 18, 2019.

The Voices production was an unique event commemorating the 1000s of families separated during Slavery. The production’s director Valerie Joyce en-listed approximately 50 volunteer Afri-can-American actors. Dr. Joyce recruit-ed volunteers people of all ages, drawn widely from the community, to read the ads in a staged performance, which was held on February 18, in honor of Black History Month.

Information from www.NPR.org contributed to this story.

LOVE IS: A Rule of Action, Not FeelingBy Rev. Niger Woodruff

(Girl’s name) and (Boy’s name) sitting in a treeK-I-S-S-I-N-GFirst comes love.Then comes marriage.Then comes baby in the baby carriage.

This playground rhyme, chanted by gaggles of giggling girls and boys, either taunted or tormented you as a child. Perhaps you felt embarrassed by whom you were paired with or humil-iated by the innuendo. Either way, far too many are socialized to amble through adulthood to the rhythm of a childhood rhyme. Adult expectations to fall in love, get married, and have children often remain a romantic fan-tasy rather than a lived reality, even among the deeply religious.

The religion of Jesus never mentions romantic love. Rather, love is a rule of action in the New Testament, not a romantic exploit. So, as a person of faith, if you are to fall in love, where should you stand to begin with? And when the fall is done, are you left hurt or whole? And if you happened to land on your feet, was it actually a fall or a jump? A romantic may ponder the poetry of such questions, but the religion of Jesus questions the poetry of

love. By poetry I simply mean the quality of beauty and intensity of emotion regarding the expressions of love in life.

Love is neither an emotion nor a feeling. A feeling cannot be commanded. Action is ordered by love. Christ commands us to love—God and one another. Feeling is not requisite wherever the love-ethic is demanded. To love God and your neighbor is to act lovingly even when fondness of feeling is absent. To love God and your neighbor as yourself is to act with love regardless of mood or emotion.

Love, as an act commanded by Christ, can grow only from a positive self-regard. In other words, you can-not obey Christ’s command to love God and one another until you love yourself. And you cannot love your-self until you know yourself. Reverse the great commandment and see the truth. To love yourself as your neigh-bor is to recognize the knowledge of self to be the means of loving of one’s true God-given self so that you are ca-pable of loving another. Only love can recognize the true self and, as a result, truly love every single God-given self. To do unto others as you would have them do unto you is to love others as you would have them love you. If we

accept that God is love then we will begin to understand that all expres-sions of love are acts of God.

If we acknowledge the God and humanity within the self and others, we will begin to clearly see each other being the image and likeness of God and not acting objects of mere desire (be it marriage or otherwise). How beautiful it is to see God within

yourself and others. How powerful it is to recognize the humanity of yourself and others. If you are looking for a person to love and marry, love yourself first. Love will open your eyes to see how to recognize the God-given personhood of a potential life-partner. The quest for love is a journey to recognize God within one’s self and others. Indeed, first comes love.

God of love, help us love ourselves; and once we love ourselves well, give us eyes of faith to choose

and be chosen; know and be known; understand and be understood; love and be loved. Amen.

Last Seen Genealogy Website ... (continued from p. 3)

Ads searching for formerly enslaved relatives were common in black-owned newspapers (right) after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863, and continued in some papers in the 1910s.

given the looming legacy of white supremacy, the incarnation of the white supremacist doctrine dwelling among us as racism, and the spirit of the doctrine, which we know as white privilege, blowing wherever it will, what we understand to be the dominant, normative narrative in this country can and, unless somehow interrupted, will most likely continue to maintain a majority influence upon our domestic (and international) policies, procedures, and unwritten rules even in 2040 and beyond.

The dearth of white babies being born may translate to the death of whiteness. The current us vs. U.S. debate over the need for a border wall is a losing effort to make America whiter again. The

primary privilege enjoyed by the recent historical invention called “white” was the guaranteed distinction never to be (mis)treated, that is, obliterated like the indigenous Indian tribes or enslaved like the African peoples. A wall of other-ness was meant to protect white identity in America forever. That wall has collapsed. The rubble is being excavated now for materials that can erect something else to preserve whiteness for perpetuity. But once the veil of endowed white privilege is lifted, in 2040 or before, and the possibility of a greater number of Asians, African Americans, and Latinos sharing power with white folks is a numerical reality in this country, and the impermanence of whiteness is

exposed, how shall America speak of majority-minority? ¿Con miedo y temblor? (With fear and trembling?) ¿O la salvación? (Or salvation?)

A Nation of Immigrants... (continued from page 5)

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Please visit www.nationalbaptist.com/resources/ministry-opportunities for more details.

East Mount Zion Baptist ChurchCleveland, OhioPastor

With thanksgiving to Almighty God for 41 years of committed service from our retiring pastor, Dr. A. Charles Bowie, the East Mt. Zion Baptist Church is prayerfully seeking a full-time pastor. The pulpit committee will entertain applicants for the position who possess the following qualities and qualifica-tions: being a man of God guided by the biblical standards of an elder as set forth in 1 Timothy 3:1–7; Titus 1:5–9; and 1 Peter 5:1–4.

Interested candidates should submit a letter of interest and resume to:

East Mount Zion Baptist ChurchAttention: Pastoral Search Committee9990 Euclid AvenueCleveland, OH 44106The application period is open until suitable candi-

dates are found.

Destiny Church, Fort Worth, TexasStudent Pastor

The student pastor is responsible for all aspects of ensuring the spiritual growth and development of children ages six months through 12th grade. This includes curriculum selection, volunteer recruitment and development, classroom management, and operational management necessary to ensure successful and constantly improving weekend student services and periodic special events. Visit DiscoverDestiny.org/destiny-careers. The position will remain open until filled.

First Missionary Baptist ChurchWhitewright, TexasPastor

FM, a medium-sized congregation in a com-munity of under 2,000 in proximity to Sherman/Denison/McKinney, is prayerfully seeking a full-time pastor, who is called by God and equipped to effectively preach and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, according to the Word of God and to lead

By Rev. Olivia M. CloudIt was a big day for Israel! God miraculously had

called back the raging waters of the Jordan River so that all the people could cross over and step into the Promised Land. At last, they were where God wanted them to be, and where they had longed to be—the Promised Land. As the last person crossed, surely a great celebration ensued.

During Black History Month, we consider our history and heritage—remembering the struggles and the victories. For so many of us, electing a black president was just such an accomplishment. It was something past generations may have thought impossible.

But a generation will come when the election of a black president won’t seem like such a big deal.

Amid Israel’s cheers, God whispered in Joshua’s ear, “Before I allow the waters of the Jordan River to flow again, tell the priests to go into the river bed and gather 12 stones, one for each tribe. The stones will remind you of your journey, so that you don‘t forget!” (See Joshua 4:1-11.)

So, what do the stones mean? God commanded the gathering of the stones to remind generation after generation what God had done.

The election of Barack Obama was a stone, a marker in history to help black people to remember from whence we have come—from the Middle Pas-sage and the African slave trade, to slavery to Jim Crow to segregation to lynchings and dispropor-tionate imprisonment rates to Dr. King’s murder to president of the United States. When Obama was elected, people found every way possible to remem-ber Tuesday, January 20, 2009.

I remember my five-year-old niece excitedly informing me during Thanksgiving 2008, “Barack Obama beat John McCain!” Children like the notion of winning. But after the thrill of the victory, then what comes?

God knew that future generations would to come back and visit the river and ask, “What do these stones mean to you?”

In 20 or 50 or 100 years, our children, grandchil-dren, great grandchildren may wonder: “What was the big deal about Barack Obama?” They may be so

far removed from this moment that they won’t un-derstand it fully.

Since the thrill of Brown vs. Board of Education has worn off, what has happened to our black children in schools? Since the thrill of the Montgomery Bus Boycott has worn off, have black people truly gained equal access to goods and services that white citizens take for granted? Since the joy of President Lyndon Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has passed, what has happened to our opportunities in education, housing and employment?

The stones taken from the riverbed were a memorial to the power and presence of God in the lives of His chosen people. The word memorial in Scripture comes from a word that means to prick, to pierce, or to penetrate the memory. Throughout the Bible, God ordained memorials—the rainbow, the stone tablets with the Commandments written on them, the jar of manna kept in the Ark, circumcision, communion, baptism, the cross—to remind us that God has been and is still at work in our lives.

We marvel when God does something amazing, and we celebrate His presence and His power, but then at the next difficult patch we may forget and question whether God has left us. In the darkness of troubling times, and our faith is stretched thin.

God sometimes allows us to have these kinds of “desert” experiences, out of which we (eventually) emerge closer to Him and deeper in our relationship with Him. God uses the past as a foundation for the future to remind us that what God has done throughout the course of history, He will do again. God wants us to remember the past so we’ll always have hope for the future.

Knowing and remembering what God is capable of builds and fortifies our faith. We treasure these things as continual reminders of God’s faithfulness to all generations.

Do you have a story to tell? Have you told others about the victories that God has brought you through? This is what Joshua 4 is about. “What do these stones mean?”

In other words, What does your 40-year marriage mean? What does that scar running down your

chest mean? We all have stones. It may be the old “hoopty” you had to drive, but now you have several cars in your driveway. It may be moving from a studio apartment to a house with many rooms. Maybe it was making $1.35 an hour, and now you make more in a minute than you once made in an hour. Maybe it was when the surgeon was about to cut you open but didn’t give you much of a chance for survival. Maybe it was when two spouses were working odd shifts and long hours and barely saw each other to pay the bills.

The stone of that experience can remind you that every single time God was with you—at your bedside, in your car, in your work cubicle, in your kitchen, or your hospital room, in your home, in your children’s home, or in the courtroom.

Before the Israelites crossed the Jordan, it seemed like the river would overtake them. Sometimes in life, it may seem like a river of trouble is about to overtake you, but God dries up the river right before your eyes and keeps it dry until you go across.

So when you’re standing in front of a raging river, remind yourself of the mighty acts of God. Then share that stone with someone else: “Hang in there. God won’t leave you. I know…let me tell you what He’s brought me through.”

God says, “Look at these stones. I delivered you then; I’ll deliver you now. Just don’t forget.” We all have stones as our benchmarks of faith. And we need to use them as building blocks of hope for future generations.

Do you have some living stones in your life? Do you have spiritual landmarks you can point to?

When we forget our way, we can get lost. Deut. 4:23 says, “Be careful not to forget.” Forgetfulness leads to getting lost, and then we forget how God has brought us. Therefore, let us not forget.

Remember the mighty acts of God—that He loved us so much that He gave His only begotten Son. That is a reminder. Every time we see a cross, we can remember the goodness of God and let our faithfulness to Him be a stone we leave to pass to the next generation.

Remembering the Goodness of GodOur stones are benchmarks of God’s faithfulness. We can use them as building blocks to inspire hope for the future.

us in loving God, loving others and serving well. Our beloved pastor of over 30 years went to be with the Lord. Candidates must be licensed and ordained (preferably in the Baptist church) and seek to lead the membership with vision and pur-pose. The position will remain open until filled.

Metropolitan Baptist Church, Memphis, Tenn. Senior Pastor

Metropolitan Baptist Church is prayerfully seeking a full-time senior pastor, called by God, to serve as the spiritual and administrative leader of the church. The desired candidate will be a visionary leader with strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work in an unbiased manner with all constituents to facilitate a well-developed vision of growth for the future of our church. Submitted packages must be postmarked by March 11, 2019.

Greater St. James Baptist Church, Alton, Ill. Senior Pastor

Greater St. James Baptist Church, with a progressive history of 91 years serving the African-American community of Alton, Ill. is seeking an experienced, ordained pastor. Applications will be accepted until March 31, 2019.

MinistryOpportunities

East Mount Zion Baptist Church, Cleveland, Ohio

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