This article examines how Black and White identities were constructed and negotiated in coverage of the Welsh Mountain Mission in Pennsylvania by three late 19th and early-20th century denominational newspapers: Herald of Truth, The Mennonite, and Gospel Herald. The author employs racial formation theory and the concepts of ‘racial projects,’ ‘imagined community,’ and “Whiteness” in focusing on how these publications reflected and reproduced racial tropes of the period. The article concludes with suggestions for applying the analysis to current discussions on race and social justice in North America, and calls for Mennonites to learn from the past in order to navigate the present and future effectively.