Black Nouveau

(hopeful music) (upbeat gospel piano music) - Good evening, and welcome to Milwaukee's Black Churches, 1036 and Black Nouveau special, I'm Earl Arms.

- And I'm Portia Young, thanks for joining us.

For more than two centuries, black churches provided a base for the African-American community beyond religious worship.

- They were places for social gathering, education, social welfare functions, politics and even pathways to freedom.

- In Milwaukee, there is a heavy concentration of black churches in the Northwest part of the city.

Much of this is because of the great migration of black people to Milwaukee, and policies that forced them to live in segregated areas.

- [Earl] Milwaukee's black population was small, until the end of World War II, around 10,000 people.

By 1970, that number had grown to 100,000 and by the turn of the century, it had doubled to more than 200,000.

- There are hundreds of black churches in Milwaukee.

We can't cover them all in a half hour, but we can tell you about the first four that were established in the state, and we'll talk with some ministers about the changing role of the church.

- [Earl] We'll visit one of Milwaukee's experts on black sacred music, and we'll find out what some young church goers are doing to move the church forward.

- But let's begin with a little history.

The first black church established in Wisconsin, was not in Milwaukee, but in Racine in 1857: St. Paul's Missionary Baptist Church.

The first black church established in Milwaukee was St. Mark African Methodist Episcopal in 1869.

- The city's first black Baptist church was founded in 1895.

It was originally called Mount Olive, but is now known as Calvary Baptist Church.

And in 1908, the first Catholic parish for African-Americans was established: St. Benedict the Moor.

We asked historian, Reggie Jackson to talk with the pastors and members of these congregations.

- What do you think this historical significance of your church is to the black community?

- I think our church is significant to the black community in terms of history, because of its longevity.

This church has been operating since March of 1857.

According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, it is the oldest predominantly African-American church in the state of Wisconsin.

This church is also the oldest predominant African-American church in the American Baptist convention.

Also, this church was a part of the underground railroad.

According to our history, Joshua Glover worshiped at a Baptist church between 11th and 12th Street on Grand Avenue, way back before slavery ended.

- Ezekiel Gillespie was a founding member of St. Mark AME church here in Milwaukee.

And he sued the state of Wisconsin for the right of African-American men to vote.

And he won that right.

And so that not only blessed the community of Milwaukee, but the black community across the planet, I would say.

And one of the gifts of the black church, in particular the AME church, was the gift of Richard Allen.

Richard Allen, Absalon Jones, a gift to the Episcopal Church; Sarah Hughes, one of the first African-American women to be licensed to preach.

When we think of Daniel Payne and we think of Henry McNeal Turner who pushed for academics and black excellence and education.

And also while at the same time, if we could say, if we could coin it that way, black nationalism, a self, interest in self-pride in one's own community, and self-sufficiency.

Not always looking to the other for affirmation.

And so that work along with the gospel of Jesus Christ is wrapped up in all of those pieces.

- Of great, great significance with St. Benedict the Moor is that when it was founded back in the early 1900s, it was founded as the first and only Catholic church for black Catholics in the state of Wisconsin.

Too many black Catholics were being shunned from other Catholic churches or relegated to the choir loft.

And so, St. Benedict opened as a church specifically for black Catholics, and even more than just the church itself; it established a school and that school has such a prominence even to today, in the sense of really creating just an education for young black students, that led them to all kinds of areas of renown really, throughout the country.

And so I think that's the big name, big claim to fame for St. Benedict.

the Moor is, you know, being very intentional for the black Catholic community and providing not just faith, but an education.

St. Francis of Assisi is the first site of the first disturbance, if you will, of the 1967 civil rights demonstrations.

There was an event on July 29th, 1967; history will talk about July 30th, but if you look very deeply, you'll find that the first kind of incendiary moment and event was on the grounds of Saint Francis Church which then only erupted into something much bigger the following night.

- So, when we've been in the community for 125 years, there are a few things that the members have not done; some significant, some insignificant, some we've continued and some we've discontinued, but always in a desire to be relevant to our community.

And in the late 1950s, we've decided to stay in the community.

We built a church, it looks like an African hut two African huts, and they were to remind us of our African heritage, and we're really pretty pleased with that.

The things that we've done have not changed in many ways, one in particular, that it is our mission to bring to people to Christ, teach them and make them disciples.

And over the 125 years, every pastor, including Reverend John Richard Walton, our current pastor, has that same mission for us.

We've provided leadership and participation in civic and cultural organizations.

We've provided food, clothing and shelter and our church was the first one to build safe, affordable housing in Milwaukee, for senior citizens.

And then we provided leadership to Christian organizations such as American Baptist Churches, with which we are in covenant.

Four of the state leaders have come from Calvary Baptist Church, and the first female African-American woman Reverend Trinette McCray, was the first black president of American Baptist Churches USA.

- So what is the one thing you are most proud of about your church is currently involved in, related to the black community?

You know, prior to COVID hitting, obviously a lot of things were curtailed because of COVID, but some of the programs and things that you were offering as resources to the community, prior to COVID-19 hitting.

- Our Calvary Enrichment Camp, is what I am most proud of, in terms of our, I would say inreach and outreach and obviously upreach, because everything we do is to the glory of God, but we have a camp, a summer enrichment camp, and it's an academic camp.

We include sports, we include arts, dance, spoken word, all of that.

This camp has been in existence, with the exception of this past summer.

It's a summer camp, with the exception of this past summer, due to COVID for 14 years at Calvary.

And I'm very proud to say that our camp is funded by Calvary Baptist Church, and so we're able to espouse and share Christian values, unhindered.

We're able to teach and speak the name of Jesus and talk about Jesus, et cetera, without government involvement, et cetera, because of the wisdom and and the frugality of Calvary members past.

It is funded through our endowment.

Mrs. Venora McKinney actually started the camp and ran it for two years, and then Mrs. Lorrie Craig Walton, my lovely wife and first lady of Calvary has led the camp and expanded it tremendously over these past 12 years.

- Our church is, and has continued to be, and has for many years, been a leader as it relates to advocating for African-Americans, whether that is going to court, talking to judges, talking to the district attorney, talking to other attorneys, advocating for African-Americans because we know that the criminal justice system in the state of Wisconsin is probably the worst in the nation, and we have been getting and giving leadership in terms of advocating for people who need advocacy, and we continue to do that.

Our members are also encouraged to volunteer their time for nonprofit and faith based organizations, throughout the city and county of Racine.

We also maintain a close relationship with the mayor, the county exec, and other elected officials and officials, in order to hold them accountable and to keep in front of them the issues that concern the African-American community.

(organ music) - Whether it's playing the organ or leading a church, or community choir, Dr. Wallace Cheatham has been a musical fixture in Milwaukee's black community.

He has won numerous awards for his contributions to sacred and classical music.

He joins us now to discuss the importance of music in the black worshiping community.

Why has music always been just that major part of worship in the black church?

- I think it's because, well, I know it's because music has such a foothold, has always had a major foothold within the culture itself, and the black church has always promoted variety within its musical involvement, and that is something that I hope will not change, although it's not as strong as it once was, the variety and the quality of level in music.

But that's the reason, that music is just such a, has such a foothold within the culture itself, and of course the black church has long been a major institution within black culture.

And I grew up in a community, a small town in Cleveland, Tennessee, about the size of Kenosha, and there was no one playing for, or directing a choir in a church within that community, that was paid, that not, that had not had some formal training.

That's something I don't think is as strong now as it once was.

- How has the black music in the black church, how has that influenced American music and American pop culture today?

- Well, probably quite a bit.

I think the, I wish the influence had been maybe the other way around.

It seems that the pop culture has influenced the music in the church more than the formal atmosphere of what was once church music, the quality of music in the church.

It has become all but impossible to go into the black church and hear a variety of quality good music.

- Is Milwaukee's black, religious music, is that music community here in Milwaukee, is it unique?

- No, I think it's a nice national situation.

In fact, I know it is, because I have friends and colleagues all over the country and everybody has the same story to tell about the level, what has happened to the level?

(upbeat gospel piano music) - And here to talk about some of the challenges and opportunities facing today's churches, are Reverend Brandle Morrow, who was the senior pastor over at Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church, and we have the Reverend Greg Lewis, Assistant Pastor over at St. Gabriel's Church of God in Christ.

And I should mention that Reverend Morrow is my pastor, 'cause I'm a member of Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church.

I wanna start with you though, Reverend Lewis, because you have a few things going on at your church, Souls to the Polls, and then I just learned of an adult center that you have at your church.

So, talk about the things that you do that serves your congregation and the community in which your church serves.

- Yeah, we have an adult day center.

We cater to the needs of, you know, elderly and handicap.

And it is really, it's a challenge every day, and you get to know some of the issues that our older and disabilities people have in community.

And we see the challenges that occur, just with them coming and showing up every day.

And most of the times, you know, we have to kind of be their families because, you know, there's a reason why they come to, you know, our church for those services because most of them have families that probably don't have the ability or, you know, the desire to deal with situations like that.

We're the ground zero for our Souls to the Polls there, you know, we really get a lot of support from our senior pastor, Lee A. Shaw.

We get tremendous support from him and all the congregation members and, you know, and we add our adult day center folks in there too.

And that's how we find out how people really need help, when it's time to vote, because they have problems getting those absentee ballots or going to vote early or going to vote at all.

They all need some kind of transportation and they need to understand when and where they have to go vote.

So, you know, it's really a telling situation you know, working with the adult day center, it really tells a huge, huge amount of a story that our people are dealing with in this community.

And, you know, kind of, you know, God has put me there just so I could see the needs and we react to them and we understand how to react in our community.

- And Reverend Morrow, Metropolitan has a focus on scholarships, so just talk about that, and what the church does in that regard, and also any other things that the church does in the community.

- Well, each year we have what's called a Baccalaureate Worship Service, whereby we celebrate our young people for graduating and making their way up the educational ladder, either from high school to college, or college and further on, and therefore we offer scholarship monies, so that they can fulfill their dream or the vision that God has for their lives, so they can continue to infiltrate the city of Milwaukee and the country to make sure that they are holding up the blood-stained banner of Christ, as well as offering what black people are not often afforded you know, in this country, which is an opportunity, a chance, and educational community is one way whereby they can do so.

Also we offer scholarship money for those who are going on to four year accredited colleges or a trade school.

We also, for our community, we believe wholeheartedly in two major things: Christian education and missions, both foreign and domestic.

So domestically, we offer food, hot and groceries to our community surrounding the 53206 ZIP code.

We offer opportunities out for them, of course, to worship with us, but if we only meet their physical needs that is adhering to the call of Jesus Christ, to offer to others food to eat.

So, we make sure that we do that and then hot meals, so they have opportunity to come into the actual physical edifice and eat.

We again, pride ourselves on just being a church of that is shining brightly for Christ on 13th and Burleigh, and we pray that we'll continue to do so, in the days and months and years ahead.

- I'll go back to you, Reverend Lewis, how have you seen the role of the church evolve over time, just through the '50s and '60s, the civil rights movement until now?

- Well, you know, in the early years that you spoke of, the '60s, you know, the church was the place where you'd go and organize to build community and we've kind of got away from that a bit.

But now it's coming back to the point where the church is the only thing we have in our community.

We don't have businesses, we don't have homes, you know, we don't own property but we do still have the church, and that's the stability factor in our communities.

I mean, it's the only thing that has not been diminished in our communities, and we have to continue to work hard to make sure that that's built up, because a lot of people are not going to church.

- Reverend Morrow, you've heard the challenges that Reverend Lewis brought up, as well as the successes of the church, so how has Metropolitan been able to manage from those past challenges and been able to evolve and survive now?

- I believe, first and foremost, education is important, remembering our history, making sure we are keenly aware, that I believe it's encoded in our spiritual DNA to be the black church, to form identity, to find our purpose and vocation within our ecclesial perspective, meaning the church and the church, black church, has been born through the crucible of oppression, and therefore to fight against social injustice, (indistinct) I think it's just a part of who we are, it's how we were born, it's our identity.

And for, in today's world, it's important to, number one, remember that historically and then to remember that we've made some great strides over the centuries, and now I think in position to make even greater strides.

(upbeat gospel piano music) - Throughout tonight's special, you've heard a lot about the history of Milwaukee's black churches.

Now we're gonna talk to a few young people about the significance of black churches in Milwaukee today.

I'm joined by my pastor, Pastor Kenneth Lock II, who is senior pastor of Evolve Church.

We're also joined by Cherisse Cannon, who was the author of the book, "Young Christian" and co-host of the radio show, "Saved and the City" on WGLB 1560 AM.

And last but not least, we're joined by Teej Boone who is worship leader at Jericho Church Without Walls and also a co-host of "Saved and the City".

Thank you all for joining me.

When we hear the phrase, the black church, for many people it can sound old school or a thing of the past, but what role does the black church serve today, and Teej, you can start us off.

- I believe the black church today serves the role that it has always served, it has been a pillar in the community, it has been a safe haven for black families and black people, if we think of, of course in the slavery times it has always been a place where we could commune and we can get together and kind of express ourselves, outside of slavery.

So, it was a place where we can come together, it was always a place of community, a place where we could worship freely.

And if you think about those times, that has continued throughout this time 'cause some people may not have any other organizations, clubs or groups that they're a part of, but they can always associate themselves with the church and find that community, those resources that they may need, and that fellowship, and even just being able to connect on just a basic level, outside of spiritual.

So, I believe that it has always been the role and that is still the role that it plays today.

- Thank you, so moving on to my next question.

When we think of social movements, black clergy have always played a large part in demanding change and you know, it is black history month, and when we look back through the civil rights movement, there were so many black clergymen that were, you know on the front lines, women as well.

So pastor Ken, this summer you spent a significant amount of time protesting, and I'm curious, why did you feel it was important for you to show up to those spaces, being a pastor?

- Oh man, I'm happy to answer that, I believe it's essential not just for me as a black, current clergyman, but anyone who is a black clergyman to be involved in this space.

I stated briefly earlier, that the very first message that Christ ever preached in the temple ever, was that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him, and God had anointed him to do several things.

And one of those main and pivotal things he spoke of, was to set the oppressed free.

This is His original message, this is why He came to earth.

And so if we are to preach Christ, then we have to preach what His message was.

And so for me, I had to be a part of it, because that's part of Christ's message.

It's not just to help people spiritually, which is a pivotal part, but not just to help them spiritually, but also naturally.

What are we doing, that to partner with the community, the black church and black clergymen in the '50s and '60s understood that their role was bigger than the four walls of the church.

- Thank you, and Cherisse, this question is pointed towards you.

In your book, "Young Christian", you discussed young people moving away from the church, and I'm curious, why do you think that disconnect between the millennial generation and the church exists?

- Yes, so a couple of things.

I brought that up in that book because like, this is my generation.

I was born and raised in the church and I've had friends that I've grown up with in the church.

You know, children's church, we all went to children's church together, and I just assumed as I grew that we would all remain, you know, with that belief.

But once I became an adult and we were able to make our own decisions, and it wasn't just mom or dad taking us to church on Sundays every morning, and they got the decision and choosed to say, "Hey I don't wanna believe this anymore."

Or "I'm leaning more towards that", they began to walk away.

And I think it's a couple of things.

So, it's that wide question.

A lot of times when we were younger, we were taught, you know, we were taught the Bible, we were taught scripture, we were taught the Bible stories.

We were taught all of this, but there were some stories in there that we just wanted to know why and how and what happened, like people didn't go further into it.

It wasn't an in-depth to the point where as an adult it would pull me to believe.

Sometimes in our generation, when we were younger, it was just, "Because I said so," sometimes.

And sometimes it was like that because maybe they didn't know, maybe our parents didn't know, it was just instilled into them, that this is what we do.

And then if you want to trail it farther back, if we go back into slavery time as Teej touched on, they were changing things in the Bible.

They were taking things out to kind of try to control people.

So, that that why question was always there.

- So Pastor, how do you think we begin to heal the millennial generation with the black church?

- Okay, if we're going to heal the church, specifically the black church with millennials, we have to deal with truth.

We have to deal with the fact that there was some hurt and damage in the black church.

We had to deal with the fact that there was some brokenness within leadership and that people were hurt.

And that there's this term called church hurt which is really just a church word for people hurt, right?

Believing in the wrong type of believer and just, or leader and just dealing with this kind of truth, and then breaking in through love.

- The Bible declares that "Love is patient, love is kind" and that that's who He is, and that's how we have to move.

That's how we have to lead, we have to lead with love.

We have to lead with compassion.

When you don't understand a person, you don't know how to reach a person.

You extend love, you show love, and I believe that's how we heal.

We have a lot of work to do in that area, to undo some damage that has been done.

But I believe if we lead with love and compassion, there's nothing we can't do as a church, a black church.

- Thank you Teej, this has been such a good conversation with you three.

Thank you so much for taking the time for talking to me, has been a pleasure.

- As we close tonight, remember there is much more on this topic on our website, milwaukeepbs.org.

I have an extended interview with Dr. Cheatham.

- And I continue my discussion with Reverends Lewis and Morrow.

You'll also find links to the history of the four oldest black churches in Wisconsin and much more.

- For 1036, I'm Portia Young.

- And for Black Nouveau, I'm Earl Arms, have a good night.

(upbeat gospel piano music)