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


  • US Legally Owes Nicaragua Reparations, But Still Refuses to Honor 1986 International Court of Justice Ruling
    Ben Norton
    US Legally Owes Nicaragua Reparations, But Still Refuses to Honor 1986 International Court of Justice Ruling
    05 Jul 2023
    37 years after a 1986 International Court of Justice ruling, the United States still refuses to pay Nicaragua the reparations it legally owes. Today, the Nicaraguan government is demanding that the…
  • Russo-Ukrainian War: The Wagner Uprising
    Big Serge
    Russo-Ukrainian War: The Wagner Uprising
    05 Jul 2023
    Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Private Military Company, openly denounced the Russian Ministry of Defense and declared a march on Moscow.
  • Black Agenda Radio June 30, 2023
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio June 30, 2023
    30 Jun 2023
    Canada Day celebrations in a settler colonial state and removing Cuba from the "State Sponsor of Terrorism" list.
  • Settler Colonial Racism on Canada Day
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Settler Colonial Racism on Canada Day
    30 Jun 2023
    El Jones is a poet, journalist, professor and activist in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
  • Activists Demand the US Take Cuba #OffTheList of "State Sponsors of Terrorism"
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Activists Demand the US Take Cuba #OffTheList of "State Sponsors of Terrorism"
    30 Jun 2023
    Shaquille Fontenot is a co-chair of the National Network on Cuba and a co-founder of the Low Country Action Committee in Charleston, South Carolina.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us