FEBRUARY 2026

Welcome to the end of February, friends! Before you start scrolling and reading our Black History month features, we've got two pieces of information to share.

First thing's first: have you submitted to the survey? If not, this is your reminder that PHS seeks your input as we work to create an online self-study tool for congregations and mid councils to investigate their own history through an anti-racist lens. If your church has begun engaging in this work, we want to hear from you on what additional resources might be useful. Click here to submit your responses.

That's not all: there's an upcoming deadline that we want to make sure is on your radar. The application for our Research Fellowship Program is open until March 2nd. The program is designed to encourage faculty, independent researchers, and students to use and publish from the society's rich holdings, by awarding grants of $2,500. Apply now to be considered for the 2026 cohort!

This month in Presbyterian history

Katie Geneva Cannon on Phillis Wheatley

The 49th stamp in the USPS's Black Heritage series honors Phillis Wheatley, the first Black author to publish a book in the American Colonies. In 2012, the Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon gave a lecture titled in which she offered up three lessons of liberation for 21st century living. One of these lessons was drawn from Phillis Wheatley’s life story.

Art in the archives: Duke Ellington 

The press release for this photo, published on June 29, 1976, reads: 

"'La Amistad,' a recreation of the 130-foot, top-sailed schooner which was captured by a band of slaves from Sierra Leone in 1839, awaits visitors at a Hudson River pier in New York after participating in Operation Sail. The vessel, several artistic representations of it, an art and history exhibition, and an opera were prepared by agencies and congregations of the United Church of Christ as the denomination's contribution to the U.S. Bicentennial.

In 1839, 52 Africans under the leadership of a village chieftain's son named Cinque revolted against the crew of a Cuban slave ship, 'La Amistad,' killing all but two whom they kept alive to navigate. Although the Africans wanted to go back to their homeland, the Cubans at night sailed toward the U.S. and eventually landed at Montauk Point, Long Island. The rebels were captured, charged with murder and piracy, and jailed in New Haven.

A number of abolitionists formed a group called the Friends of Amistad and provided legal defense for the rebels up to the U.S. Supreme Court, where their case was successfully argued by former President John Quincy Adams in 1841. The slaves were acquitted and returned to Africa, and the Friends of Amistad continued as the American Missionary Association, now a part of the UCC Board for Homeland Ministries."