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

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

BAR Radio
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Report October 23, 2026
23 October 2026
In this week’s segment, we hear about the ongoing uprising in France against neo-liberal austerity, colonialism, and white supremacy.
france
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
French Protests Against Neoliberal Austerity, Colonialism, and White Supremacy
23 October 2026
Bouna Mbaye is an activist, writer, and a member of the Pan-African League-Umoja, the Pan-African Brigade for Palestine, and the US Out of Africa N
BAR Radio
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio September 11, 2026
11 September 2026
In this week’s segment, we discuss the 55th anniversary and legacy of the 1971 Attica prison revolt. But we begin with the history of W.E.B.

More Stories


  • Laundering Black Rage
    Too Black
    Laundering Black Rage
    07 Sep 2022
    Rage is a natural human emotion that is denied to Black people. Black rage is dangerous and is washed away, laundered, as if it were an ill-gotten gain. Too Black explains in the first part of a two-…
  • accra reparation
    Mark P. Fancher
    Reparations by Appeal to Conscience or by Demands from a Position of Strength?
    07 Sep 2022
    The pursuit of justice and reparations for African people has been constant. The question of whether to pursue appeals for concessions or active struggles for power, has not been resolved.
  • Fact Find Mission to Donbass Part 3
    John Parker
    Fact Find Mission to Donbass Part 3
    07 Sep 2022
    John Parker is the Socialist Unity Party candidate for U.S. Senate in California on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket. This is Part 3 of his report on his fact-finding trip observing …
  • At Least One Person Dead After a New Day of Anti-Government Protests in Haiti
    Peoples Dispatch
    At Least One Person Dead After a New Day of Anti-Government Protests in Haiti
    07 Sep 2022
    Haitians have been mobilizing against the Ariel Henry administration’s inability to combat crime, inflation and poverty. All of these ills are a direct result of Haiti's status as a puppet of the U.S…
  • Land Grabs and Conservation Propaganda
    Aby L. Sène
    Land Grabs and Conservation Propaganda
    07 Sep 2022
    The African conservation movement is run by European and American NGOs and wealthy individuals. Land grabs are committed in the name of biodiversity.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us