From Niger to Nigger: Simeon And The Other Black Apostles

Did you know that the apostle Simeon was nicknamed Niger… pronounced NEE-GER in Latin? Growing up, I was taught that it was pronounced ny-jer, so I never gave it any additional thought. A couple of years ago, a friend of mine brought up the reference in Acts, which motivated me to give it a second look. Let’s start by looking at the verse:

“Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.” – Acts 13:1

We’re going to dig into every aspect of this verse, starting with the word “Niger” and then we’re going to investigate what I believe to be a list of black apostles in the Bible.