Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

White Supremacy Goes Back to the Crusades
Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
12 Nov 2019
🖨️ Print Article

The roots of western European anti-Blackness lie in the Middle Ages, in the Crusades to seize Arab lands, said Cord Whitaker, a professor at Wellesley College and author of “Black Metaphors: How Racism Emerged from Medieval Race-Thinking.” It was during this era that “you started to see the idea that darkness of skin, blackness, denoted potential evil,” said Whitaker. “It was still not the racial ideology we have today, but it was an important step in getting there.”

white supremacy

Related Podcasts

NYPD gang database
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
NYPD Gang Database Targets Young Black and Latino Men
28 February 2025
Proposed legislation in the New York City Council, Intro 798, seeks to end the NYPD’s Gang Database, ensuring that individuals unjustly labeled as
Black Agenda Radio
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio August 9, 2024
09 August 2024
In this week’s segment, we examine why there are violent racist and Islamophobic riots in Britain.
Refugees welcome signs at a rally
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Racist And Islamophobic Riots In Britain
09 August 2024
Roger McKenzie is the international editor of the UK-based Morning Star Online, the only English-language socialist daily newspaper in the world.

More Stories


  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser Epitomizes Black Misleadership
    20 Aug 2025
    Mayor Bowser going along to get along with Donald Trump is unsurprising to anyone who has followed her political career. She is the Black misleader par excellence.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: The Haitian Revolution and its Impact on the Americas, Michel-Rolph Trouillot, 1991
    20 Aug 2025
    “To understand the history of the Americas we must pay tribute to…Haiti.”
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Delirious New Cold Warrior Ted Cruz Proposes US/Israel/Taiwan/Somaliland Pact
    20 Aug 2025
    Senator Ted Cruz has written an open letter urging Trump to recognize Somaliland, causing jubilation among Somaliland secessionists.
  • Jon Jeter
    Clutching at Pearls, the World’s Largest Criminal Enterprise, the US, Cracks Down on Crime
    20 Aug 2025
    The latest liberal discourse on crime offers useless panaceas to analyze the causes of violence and pathologizes communities while absolving the state of its role in creating these conditions.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Ms Maxwell and The Art of The Deal
    20 Aug 2025
    "Ms Maxwell and The Art of The Deal" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us