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 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.
Gerald Horne
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Gerald Horne, "Black and Red: Du Bois and the Afro American response to the Cold War, 1944-63"
11 September 2026
Our guest is Dr.
Patriot Front in DC
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Opposing Patriot Front and White Supremacist Groups
10 July 2026
Daryle Lamont Jenkins is founder of One People’s Project, which seeks to combat and exp

More Stories


  • Kenyan police
    Communist Party of Kenya
    Kenyan Police in Haiti- A Betrayal of Principles and a Dance with Imperialism
    15 Nov 2023
    The Kenyan government now demands that the United Nations pay for the deployment of a police force to Haiti. But Black face imperialism is the problem, not negotiations over money.
  • Protesters in Tacoma, Washington block loading of an Israeli bound ship.
    Essam Elkorghli
    Labor and Resistance for Palestine
    15 Nov 2023
    Workers around the world can play a role in mobilizing action against the apartheid Israeli state.
  • Cover of “Experiments with Power”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: J. Brent Crosson’s Book, “Experiments with Power”
    15 Nov 2023
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is J. Brent Crosson. Crosson is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and…
  • Child's funeral in Deir al-Balah, Gaza strip.
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Halloween
    15 Nov 2023
    “You belong to us, body and belongings, and we can dispose of them and do with you as we please.” Holy Roman Emperor Louis VI in 1343. 
  • Cuban journalist Liz Oliva Fernandez
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    US Blows Off the Whole World to Punish Cuba
    15 Nov 2023
    When oppressed people get organized, the US gets angry. It's been punishing the people of Cuba since 1962. 
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us