Footnotes by Jemar Tisby

How white “redeemers” stole an election and why it matters before the 2026 midterms. If you had encountered Charles Caldwell at any other point in his life, he would have been laboring as an enslaved man. Ten years after the Civil War, he was a state senator in Mississippi. On September 4, 1875, Caldwell helped organize a massive political rally to build support for the November 2 elections. The event drew a crowd of more than 1,500 people in Clinton, just west of the state capital, Jackson.

How to know when it's time to stop fighting for a seat and start building something of your own. Maybe you’ve had this feeling lately: I don’t think I belong here anymore. You may be thinking this about your church, an organization you’re involved in, your workplace, or some other community you thought would always be home. Nothing has necessarily happened in a single dramatic moment.

The Reconstruction Era marked the first real attempt at multiracial democracy in United States history. In the years immediately after the Civil War, newly emancipated Black people entered civic and political life with an energy that had been pent up for generations. In less than a decade, the United States had abolished slavery, recognized Black Americans as citizens, and constitutionally guaranteed Black men the right to vote.

Why resisting tyranny starts with naming the antichrists in our own pews If you grew up in evangelical circles like I did, you probably learned about the Antichrist from the Left Behind books: one charismatic figure who rises at the end of time and deceives millions. On this week’s Justice Briefing, Dr. Matthew D. Taylor, author of Defying Tyrants: Following Jesus in a World of Christian Antichrists, showed me how far that picture strays from the Bible.

What the Union Leagues teach us about voting rights and political power Do you believe we should be learning from the past to meet the crisis of democracy in the present? If you do, then recognize articles like this are labor. Support the work. I am frustrated with many voters and potential voters. I sit in some private, pro-democracy groups that gather online to discuss threats to the democratic process and how to mobilize everyday people to exercise their power.

We just published our first self-paced course. And it was entirely self-funded. Do you value my teaching at the intersection of faith, history, and justice? Become a paid subscriber today. I had a revelation during this week’s live episode of The Justice Briefing. I finally realized what we need most to resist white Christian nationalism, and it comes down to one word: CONFIDENCE. And we have reason to be confident in confronting this ideology. The truth is on our side.

When did you first encounter the phrase: white Christian nationalism? For me, it came around 2016. It was just after the presidential election when the exit polls came in. Eighty-one percent of white evangelicals had voted for Trump. I was accustomed to general racism in the church. But I didn’t yet have a name for what happened when racism met nationalism and politics. I discovered the language from the scholars studying white Christian nationalism.

White Christian nationalism is the greatest threat to democracy and the witness of the church in the United States today. It attacks democracy by insisting that only a certain kind of person counts as a “real” American, and it has shown it will restrict voting, reject election results, and even resort to violence to keep power in those hands.

Less than five percent of readers actually pay for this content. Yet their support fuels online courses, film projects, and this podcast. If you find this material helpful, become a paid subscriber today. Just $5.83/month on the annual subscription. For decades, the religious right told Christians that abortion was the most important priority. It was the single issue for voting. The one concern that outweighed every other.

Have you read that report about Gen Z and the church? In a survey, nearly half of Gen Z respondents agreed with the statement, “Christians’ support of Trump has made me less likely to go to church.” Footnotes by Jemar Tisby is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. I don’t find this data particularly surprising, but it is still alarming.