North Decatur United Methodist Church | Black History Month 2026

Black History Month at NDUMC

2026 marks the 100th year since the first national observance of Black history and culture. 1926 marked the first “Negro History Week”, created by historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson and other leaders of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now ASALH). Their work has grown into an enduring national movement honoring the richness, resilience, and contributions of Black Americans and the African diaspora. (https://blknews.com/black-history-month-2026-begins-a-century-of-national-commemoration-and-celebration)

NDUMC is offering several resources in hopes that your interest will be piqued and you will share with your families in celebrating significant cultural, scientific, and business contributions.

We will continue to celebrate through Lent by sharing Luke A. Powrey’s Lenten study. Information on the study and a link to purchase the study are included in this brochure. Nanci will lead a Lenten Study Group based on this devotional Wednesday evenings through Lent at 6:30 in the church parlor beginning February 25 and continuing through April 1.

Black History Month 2026 Resources

Black owned Businesses around Atlanta – a couple of websites promoting black owned businesses

1. https://roughdraftatlanta.com/2025/02/03/atlanta-black-owned-businesses

2. https://secretatlanta.co/black-owned-businesses-atlanta/

What other black owned businesses do we need to know about and support?

Black History Museums

1. https://nmaahc.si.edu (part of the Smithsonian in DC)

2. https://www.apexmuseum.org (Apex, Atlanta)

3. https://thekingcenter.org/visit (King Center, Atlanta)

4. https://www.spelman.edu/museum-of-fine-art/index.html (Spellman College Museum of Fine Art)

5. https://www.nps.gov/malu/index.htm (Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Park, Georgia)

6. https://legacysites.eji.org/about/museum (Legacy Museum, Montgomery, Alabama)

7. https://trapmusicmuseum.com (Trap Music Museum, Atlanta – explores origins of Atlanta’s unique musical Genres)

What other Black History Museums have you found interesting and helpful?

Black Art and Music around Atlanta

1. https://www.zucotgallery.com (original artworks by living African-American artists)

2. https://adawkinsgallery.com (Arnika Dawkins Photohraphic Fine Art Gallery, Atlanta)

3. https://secretatlanta.co/black-street-art-bhm-atlanta (Street Art around Atlanta)

What other art and music sites are there around Atlanta that you can share?

Black Poets

1. Maya Angelo

a. About Maya Angelo

b. Purchase their poetry

2. Langtson Hughes

a. About Langston Hughes

b. Purchase their poetry

3. Amanda Gorman

a. About Amanda Gorman

b. Purchase their poetry

4. Audre Lorde

a. About Audre Lorde

b. Purchase their poetry

What other black poets do we need to meet? What else do we need to know about these black poets?

Black Women’s Contributions

Who else do we need to meet? What else do we need to know about these five women? April is Black Women’s History month and April 2 is International Black Women’s History Day.

Suggested Lenten Devotional – Were you There? Lenten reflections on the Spirituals by Luke A. Powrey.

Publisher’s Overview - Valuable not only for their sublime musical expression, the African American spirituals provide profound insights into the human condition and Christian life. Many spirituals focus on the climax of the Christian drama, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the ways in which those events bring about the liberation of God’s people.

In these devotions for the season of Lent, Luke A. Powery leads the reader through the spirituals as they confront the mystery of Christ’s atoning death and victory over the grave. Each selection includes the lyrics of the spiritual, a reflection by the author on the spiritual’s meaning, a Scripture verse related to that meaning, and a brief prayer.

Buy the book

What is this

https://blknews.com/black-history-month-2026-begins-a-century-of-national-commemoration-and-celebration/

Worship Music for
black history month

February 1 - Emmanuel “Chops” Smith,

former musician at NDUMC, joins our ensemble with “Bleed the Same,” by the late Mandisa. Lyrics suggests that, despite external differences like race, nationality, or social status, all people are fundamentally equal, human, and share vulnerability, pain, and mortality.

February 8th - The offertory, “Speak to My Heart,” by prolific songwriter and clinician, J. Eric Brown, calls out, ”Lord, we need to hear from You.”

Sunday, February 15th - features “Acclamation” from Robert Ray’s “Gospel Mass,” a composition celebrating both Gospel and Liturgical Mass traditions by another prolific African American songwriter and musician.

Sunday, February 22nd – includes special music from the NDUMC Choir, the Four Corners, Mattie Varner on djembe, and the North Decatur Strings.

“Stop By, Lord”, a Gospel Anthem by Doris Wesley Bettis, uses themes of anointing the sick, penance, and reconciliation.

“We’ve Come this Far by Faith,” by Albert A. Goodson (b. Los Angeles, CA, 1933) in 1956 and published as a gospel anthem by Manna Music III, 1963. Goodson toured with Mahalia Jackson as an organist and pianist and has been a prominent figure in the development of African American gospel music.

“Wade in the Water” - The North Decatur Strings, accompanied by Mattie Varner on djembe, will present this historic African American spiritual with deep roots in the era of slavery, functioning both as a song of faith and a coded message for escape. It signifies guiding enslaved people to enter waterways to hide their scent from tracker dogs, while biblically referencing Moses and the Israelites’ escape from Egypt. The Four Corners quartet will also join us with music from the Black Experience.

Documentary Night

February 26, 2026, 6:00 pm

“I am Not Your Negro” is a documentary based on an unfinished book by James Baldwin entitled “Remember This House” in which he intended to explore American racism by focusing on the murders of American Civil Rights leaders - Martin Luther King, Jr., Medgar Evers, and Malcom X who Baldwin knew and loved.

Baldwin never finished his manuscript, leaving behind only thirty pages of notes. Director, Raoul Peck approached the project by attempting to construct a finished draft of “Remember This House”. Peck’s documentary brings to life James Baldwin’s urgent ideas about race in America relevant today.