A reflection on how historic segregation in sacred spaces may be resurfacing today through silence, hierarchy, and the marginalization of the very builders who sustained the Black church. During Black History Month, I want to talk about something many people have never been taught. In many white churches in the 18th and 19th centuries, the upper balcony was not just extra seating. It was often a forced separation. Enslaved people and free Black worshippers were pushed into lo