Barry C. Black: Chaplain of the United States Senate – From the Hood to the Hill
Posted on 20. Jan, 2010 by Leshell Hatley in History, News, Opportunities, Psychology, Scholarly Celebrations, Theology
Barry C. Black is the 62nd Chaplain of the United States Senate. He was elected to this position on June 27, 2003, becoming the first African-American, the first Seventh-day Adventist, and the first military chaplain to hold the office of chaplain to the United States Senate. He ministers to a flock of 6,000, comprising senators, spouses, Chiefs of Staff, and Capitol Hill employees. Black is advisor to the most powerful people in the United States government on moral, spiritual, and ethical issues that affect the lives of millions in the United Sates and abroad. (The Senate elected its first chaplain in 1789.)
Early Life
Chaplain Barry C. Black was born on November 1, 1948, in the inner city of Baltimore, Maryland, to Pearline and Lester Black.
“My mother was a beautiful person who connected with all her children and made each of us feel special,” Chaplain Black said in an interview with Contemporary Black Biography (CBB). “She was a storyteller with the ability to find allies and build networks, and she was athletic. I inherited these skills from my mother.”
Sensing his destiny, Pearline told her son, “You will have a special destination in life and a life with God.” This she believed because when she was baptized and pregnant with the chaplain she had asked God to do something special with his life.
Pearline taught her eight children the importance of God and education as the way to a better life without poverty. Raising a large family alone, Pearline, a Seventh-day Adventist, found church to be the supportive environment she needed to accomplish this. At Berea Temple and its Baltimore Junior Academy her children found a thriving community of helping hands, a quality education, and much needed tuition assistance. Black’s mother found friends like Albertha Brown, who shared her home with young Barry after school, providing him a haven from the mean streets of Baltimore.
During church services Black heard the best preachers in the community and began to develop his language skills. “Mother supplemented this by giving us a nickel for scriptures we memorized. She had to put me on a flat rate; I was breaking the bank,” Black remembered. At school young Barry would study the prose of Longfellow, Emerson, Milton, and Thoreau.
“I entered poetry readings and oratorical contests. I had a love for the music of language,” explained Black.
Hearing his oratory skills, the congregation and school provided affirmation that oratory was also his gift.
Heeded His Calling
Black felt from an early age that he wanted to be a minister and knew he had a “special feeling for God,” but he resisted. “I wanted to pursue God, but most ministers in the inner city seemed poor. In my junior year of college I decided to go with the desire of my heart and pursue the ministry even if it meant poverty.”
He is the author of From the Hood to the Hill:
Education
First Black received his bachelor of theology degree in 1970, from Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama. He entered Andrews Theological Seminary at Berrien Springs, Michigan, earning a master of divinity degree in 1973. There he enjoyed the focus on theology. Next Black moved to Durham, North Carolina, to pastor seven churches in South Carolina and North Carolina. Preaching two or three times each week allowed Black to learn quickly; within two years he was sent to pastor three other churches in North Carolina.
By this time Black had married Brenda Pearsall, who he met during his junior year at Oakwood College, and he began work on a master’s degree in counseling, completing it in 1978. Brenda was an English major; her skills would become a valuable asset as Black developed his language skills. In 1982 Black completed a doctorate in theology, and received a master’s degree in management in 1989. In 1996 he was awarded a doctorate in psychology.
One day in North Carolina, while speaking with three young servicemen from Norfolk, Virginia, Black wondered why they did not worship back on base. When asked, they said they had never heard of a black Navy Chaplain.
“It planted a seed,” says Black. The Navy needed African-American chaplains, and Black wanted to work with young people. “Also I didn’t want to minister to just people from my own race,” he told CBB. “I wanted a broader challenge.”
Found His Place and Mission
Black was just 25 years old and, citing his young age, church leaders would not grant Black approval to minister to the young people of his church. Subsequently he did find what he was searching for with the United States Navy in 1976. At the time his church was seeking individuals interested in providing ministry in the military, so Black joined the Navy. Intending initially to stay three years, Black knew after his first day he had found his niche.
“The variety of denominations, the improved salary, the appreciation on the part of a diverse group of people for my particular talents and gifts, the additional challenge of being physically fit, the joy of working with young people, all those factors I recognized very quickly and thought this is too good to be true. The experience was a protracted honeymoon for 27 years that went by very quickly,” said Black.
Appointed to Top Posts
Black held several posts during his 27-year career in the Navy, eventually becoming Deputy Chief of Chaplains in 1997, and in 2000 he became Chief of Navy Chaplains. As chief he held responsibility for the spiritual care of servicemen from 190 religious traditions. He advised and provided ministry to the Chief of Naval Operations, the Secretaries of the Navy and Defense, and the Commandants of the Marine Corps and Coast Guard.
He officially retired from the Navy on August 15, 2003.
Barry C. Black Biography
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