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Mansa Musa was the ruler of the Mali Empire in West Africa. Details recorded here should be sourced; unknown information is left blank.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
Ethnic Mennonites are an ethnic or ethnoreligious group descended from Mennonites in various locations, ultimately tracing back to peoples of Western Europe speaking Dutch, Frisian, and Low German.[1][2] Mennonite is also used for aspects of their culture, such as language, dress, and Mennonite food.[3]
The most prominent ethnic Mennonite groups are Russian Mennonites (German: Russland-Mennoniten), who formed as an ethnic group in Prussia and South Russia (now Ukraine), but who are mostly of Dutch (both Flemish and Frisian) and North German ancestry and speak Plautdietsch and Mennonites of Pennsylvania Dutch heritage who formed as an ethnic group in North America and who are of Swiss-German and South German ancestry.[4]
For centuries, Mennonites almost exclusively married inside their churches, and moved through Europe and into North America in large groups, while maintaining their own language and religious practices. They emerged as distinct ethnic groups in Russia around 1789 and in North America around the 1730s. Many still speak those languages today: Pennsylvania German and Plautdietsch.[5]
While missionary activities after 1950s, converted thousands to the Mennonite church in Africa, India, Indonesia and other places outside Europe and North America, these groups cannot be considered ethnic Mennonites as they do not share the same European heritage. In 2012, the Mennonite World Conference estimated that the majority of people attending Mennonite churches were not of Central European or Eastern European heritage anymore.[6]
Some conservative strains of Mennonites, like the Old Order Mennonites and the Old Colony Mennonites have kept their languages, traditional customs and the practice of endogamy to this day, so that they are considered to be ethnic or ethnoreligious groups. The same is true for the Hutterites and the Amish who are Anabaptists like the Mennonites, but have never engaged in mission activities on a larger scale.
Since most religious Mennonites today do not belong to either Russian Mennonite or Pennsylvania Dutch heritage, discussions have arisen around what the Mennonite identity means. Some see the term "ethnic Mennonite" as unnecessary, believing that the only requirement needed to qualify someone as Mennonite is baptism as an adult into the Mennonite church.
That argument, however, fails to see a distinction between religious Mennonites and ethnic Mennonites, and denies the experience and identity of thousands of people in North America, Mexico, Belize, Paraguay, and elsewhere, who share a common Mennonite heritage.
While many ethnic Mennonites have assimilated into Western culture, and adopted English as their primary language, their heritage and their family names continue to distinguish them as ethnically Mennonites to other ethnic Mennonites, who are proud of their heritage and make a point of knowing who all their relatives are. This is affectionately referred to as the Mennonite Game.
Many ethnic Mennonites, would also consider themselves non-practicing, further demonstrating the need to distinguish between ethnic Mennonites and religious Mennonites, and highlighting the complications of ethnoreligious identity.[7][8][9][10][11]
1. Religion is the major foundation of ethnicity, examples include the Amish, Hutterites, Jews, and Mormons. Ethnicity in this pattern, so to speak, equals religion, and if the religious identity is denied, so is the ethnic identity. [Footnote: In actuality, of course, there can be exceptions, as the labels "jack Mormon," "banned Amish," or "cultural Jew" suggest.] Let us call this pattern "ethnic fusion."
2. Religion may be one of several foundations of ethnicity, the others commonly being language and territorial origin; examples are the Greek or Russian Orthodox and the Dutch Reformed. Ethnicity in this pattern extends beyond religion in the sense that ethnic identification can be claimed without claiming the religious identification, but the reverse is rare. Let us call this pattern "ethnic religion."
3. An ethnic group may be linked to a religious tradition, but other ethnic groups will be linked to it, too. Examples include Irish, Italian, and Polish Catholics; Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish Lutherans. Religion in this pattern extends beyond ethnicity, reversing the previous pattern, and religious identification can be claimed without claiming the ethnic identification. Let us call this pattern "religious ethnicity"
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
Ethnic Mennonites are an ethnic or ethnoreligious group descended from Mennonites in various locations, ultimately tracing back to peoples of Western Europe speaking Dutch, Frisian, and Low German. Mennonite is also used for aspects of their culture, such as language, dress, and Mennonite food.
The Mennonite Church USA (MC USA) is a Mennonite Christian denomination in the United States. Although the organization is a recent 2002 merger of the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church, the body has roots in the Radical Reformation of the 16th century. According to a census published by the association in 2025, it would have 50,000 baptized members in 530 churches.
Old Order Mennonites (Pennsylvania German: Fuhremennischte) form a branch of the Mennonite tradition. Old Order are those Mennonite groups of Swiss German and south German heritage who practice a lifestyle without some elements of modern technology, wear plain dress, and have retained the old forms of worship, baptism and communion. A majority of Old Order Mennonite still drive a horse and buggy, whereas a large minority use cars. All Old Order Mennonites reject certain technologies (e.g., radio, television, Internet), but the extent of this rejection depends on the individual group. Old Order groups generally place great emphasis on a disciplined community instead of the individual's personal faith beliefs. The Pennsylvania German language is spoken vigorously among all horse-and-buggy groups except the Virginia Old Order Mennonites, who lost their original language before becoming Old Order. There is no overall church or conference to unite all the different groups of Old Order Mennonites. In 2008–2009, a minority of Old Order Mennonites accepted automobiles, whereas a majority retain horse and buggy transportation. The total population of Old Order Mennonites can be estimated to be between 72,000 and 84,000 in 2021.
Amish Mennonites came into existence through reform movements among North American Amish mainly between 1862 and 1878. These Amish moved away from the old Amish traditions and drew near to the Mennonites, becoming Mennonites of Amish origin. Over the decades, most Amish Mennonites groups removed the word "Amish" from the name of their congregations or merged with Mennonite groups. In the latest decades the term "Amish Mennonite" is sometimes erroneously used to designate horse-and-buggy Old Order Mennonites, whose lifestyle is more or less similar to the Old Order Amish. Sometimes the term "Amish Mennonite" is used to designate all groups of Amish, both the Old Order Amish and the Amish Mennonites and also the Amish before this division in the second half of the 19th century. The Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online uses the term "Amish Mennonite" in this sense.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Madam C.J. Walker