African American Studies Commons^™

Critical Race Religious Literacy: Exposing The Taproot Of Contemporary Evangelical Attacks On Crt, Robert O. Smith, Aja Y. Martinez

Journal of Critical Race and Ethnic Studies

No abstract provided.

Blessed, Broken, And Shared, Joseph Penny

Obsculta

This paper seeks to boldly confront the evils of racism while simultaneously pointing to a renewed baptismal ecclesiology and a praxis of radical communion as a way forward. Venturing into the unknown, we will persevere onward to the road less traveled by briefly charting the Catholic Church's historical cooperation with White Supremacy. We will also celebrate the wisdom gleaned from Black and Latin American communities and their seemingly mundane yet deeply sacred rituals.

Blindspotting And Covid: The Gentrification Of Racism, Ashley Starr-Morris

Journal of Religion & Film

The novel Coronavirus is not only exposing old patterns of racism and systemic inequalities, but deepening them as well. The notion of blindspotting, as described in the film by the same name, is used to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts the “spiritual emergency” or crisis of racism in America. "Blindspotting" is an image or situation that can be interpreted in two ways but is understood by some in only one way, thereby producing a blind spot. In 2020 and 2021, we see segments of American society, from politics to white Christian nationalism, upholding a sacred canopy of exceptionalism by …

Religious Racial Socialization: The Approach Of A Black Pastor At An Historic Black Baptist Church In Orange County, California, Shandell S. Maxwell

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

This case study explored and developed the religious racial socialization (RRS) approach of a Black Baptist pastor in Orange County, California. The aim was to assess how the pastor’s direct messages about race influenced and transformed members’ racial and social views and actions and examined the message alignment between what the pastor said and what church members and the leadership team heard. This study took a multimethod exploratory approach, examining multiple sources of data gathered from a Likert scale members’ survey, leadership team interviews, and archival materials. To support triangulation of the data, a word query and emergent thematic analysis …

Burden, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Burden (2020) directed by Andrew Heckler.

That They May All Be One: Historical And Contemporary Ideologies Of Regional Conferences In The Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Debbie-Ann Francis

Master's Theses

The Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church has been known for its wide diversity along with its struggles in racial relations within the Black SDA community in the United States. The SDA Church established regional conferences for Black SDA leaders as an alternative to full integration within the denomination. For this analysis, an ideological criticism was performed on two videos that focused on the topic of regional conferences. The hegemonic ideology that surfaced was that separation within the church organization based on race is necessary in order to fulfill the mission of the SDA Church and that issues such as racism will …

Abdurraqib, Samaa, Iris Sangiovanni, Samar Ahmed

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Samaa Abdurraqib is a Black, queer, Muslim woman living in Portland, Maine. Abdurraqib was raised in Columbus, Ohio. She attend the University of Ohio, and later the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she received a PhD in English Literature. After graduating she worked as a visiting professor at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Next she went on to work the American Civil Liberties Union in Maine as a reproductive rights organizer. She now works for the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence. Her advocacy and organizing work has included places such as Sexual Assault Response Services of Southern Maine, …

Racial Integration In One Cumberland Presbyterian Congregation: Intentionality And Reflection In Small Group, Carolyn Smith Goings

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Negative attitudes toward racial minorities and consequent maltreatment of non-Whites continue to be a crisis in America. The crisis of racism is still realized in phenomena such as residential segregation (Bonilla-Silva, 2014), health disparities (Chae, Nuru-Jeter, & Adler, 2012; Chae, Nuru-Jeter, Francis, & Lincoln, 2011), and in the not-so-uncommon unjust arrests and imprisonment of persons of color (Alexander, 2012). Improvement in race relations through the development of meaningful cross racial relationships in racially integrated settings is one avenue that may lead to reduction of racism (E. Anderson, 2010; Fischer, 2011; Massey & Denton, 1993). Christian congregations are common settings in …

Selma Is America, Rashida Aluko-Roberts

SURGE

During my recent trip to Selma, Alabama, I was overwhelmed by the tangible evidence that blatant racism and segregation still exists. In a town where many had made great sacrifices to combat America’s racial injustices, it was disheartening to see how very little change had come to the town MLK described as the “most segregated” in America. [excerpt]

A Christian Understanding Of Aesthetic Agency: A Theological Framework Of Resistance To Cultural Imperialism, Elise Edwards

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

Aesthetic agency refers to conditions, capacities, and states that inform artistic forms of acting and exerting power on social structures. In resistance to the marginalization of women of color, aesthetic agency is exercised through creative acts of culture-making and critique of such practices to challenge domination and representation of the oppressed other. To support this work as a feminist Christian ethicist, I construct a theological framework for aesthetic agency. This paper proposes a theological understanding of transformative aesthetics and then describes the exercise of aesthetic agency for Christian communities by using a television special, Black Girls Rock! as an example.

Spirituality As A Viable Resource In Responding To Racial Microaggressions: An Exploratory Study Of Black Males Who Attended A Community College, Lloyd Sheldon Johnson

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Upon entering college, Black males must negotiate a system that assumes they are in need of academic remediation and are lacking in higher-order critical thinking skills (Washington, 1996; Brown II, 2002; Harper, 2012). The low enrollment levels of Black males in college and their disenchantment with their college experiences has increased the likelihood that they will not be in classrooms with a diverse student population and a climate where they could feel comfortable (NSSE, 2008; Harper, 2006A; Harper, 2012). Black males who have enrolled in college must shoulder the stresses that accompany perceptions and stereotypes on campus about who they …

The Association Of Racial Attitudes And Spiritual Beliefs In Post-Apartheid South Africa, Timothy B. Smith, Christopher R. Stones, Christopher E. Peck, Anthony V. Naidoo

Faculty Publications

Previous research has investigated the complex association between religious beliefs and racism. Many studies have found that fundamentalist religious beliefs are positively associated with racial prejudice among European and European American populations. However, few studies have examined whether this association is found in other cultures or whether the association also characterizes spiritual beliefs. Data from 493 South African university students from three racial backgrounds revealed significant differences among the groups. A positive association between fundamentalism and racial prejudice was found among participants, but general spiritual beliefs were negatively associated with racist attitudes. The results emphasize the need to address contextual …

Burning Hate: The Torching Of Black Churches, Salim Muwakkil

Trotter Review

Nearly 100 predominantly Black churches have been torched since 1990, their congregations forced to watch in horror as the very centers of their communities were consumed by the flames of racial hatred. Americans of all races have recoiled in shock—and often with genuine shame—as the attacks have escalated in past months. But despite President Clinton's call for interracial solidarity and the belated appeals of white evangelical Christian leaders for racial reconciliation, many African Americans are left wondering whether white America grasps the meaning and significance of this reign of terror.

Samuel, Patrick And Cato: A History Of The Dallas Fire Of 1860 And Its Tragic Aftermath, William R. Farmer (1921-2000)

Perkins Faculty Research and Special Events

In this unpublished work, William R. Farmer (1921-2000), former associate professor of New Testament at Perkins School of Theology, recounts the story of the Dallas Fire of 1860 and the events that followed: the hanging of three innocent African American men and the whipping of many local slaves. Farmer’s work explores the causes of these acts of racial terrorism by presenting and discussing numerous primary resources. Accompanying the book manuscript is a related work: “A Reader for the Study of the Dallas Fire of 1860.” Both documents were created in the late 1990s.

God Doesn't Look At Skin Color, Oral Roberts

Chapel AV & Transcripts

This is a transcript of the September 26, 1989 chapel service held on the campus of Oral Roberts University in which Oral Roberts delivered a message entitled, "God Doesn't Look at Skin Color."

Roberts shares that when the university opened, a member of the federal government called him to ask about his racial policy. He replied, "ORU is established in three ways, first, to be international. Second, to be interdenominational, and third to be interracial."

Chapel Transcript January 14, 1983 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'S Birthday By Larry D. Hart, Larry Hart

Chapel AV & Transcripts

This is a transcript of an ORU Chapel service held on January 14, 1983 on the campus of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, OK. The chapel is a celebration of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. Reflections on Dr. King were shared by ORU faculty member, Dr. Larry Hart, and students Monty Norwood and Benny McFarland.

Chapel Transcript: February 22, 1974 - "Blackness And Christianity" Bishop G.O. Patterson, Holy Spirit Research Center, Oral Roberts University

Chapel AV & Transcripts

This is a transcript of a chapel service from February 22, 1974 on the campus of Oral Roberts University. The guest speaker is Bishop G.O. Patterson of the Churches of God Christ, the largest Pentecostal denomination in North America. Also in attendance is Bishop Charles E. Blake, presiding bishop of California. Oral Roberts invited Bishop Patterson in honor of "Negro History Week".

Bishop Patterson's topic was "blackness and Christianity." He discusses the idea that Christianity is not a "white man's religion" as some in his day were saying. He traces the historic roots of Christianity into Africa, through Church history …

Chapel Transcript: February 20, 1974 - Bob Goodwin Black Heritage Week, Holy Spirit Research Center, Oral Roberts University

Chapel AV & Transcripts

This is chapel transcript from "Black Awareness Week" held on February 20, 1974 on the campus of Oral Roberts University. The Speaker is Robert (Bob) Goodwin. Goodwin was born in Tulsa and a graduate of Oral Roberts University. Goodwin was the editor of his father''s newspaper, the Oklahoma Eagle, an African American newspaper in Tulsa. He also worked in the President George H.W. Bush administration.

Booker T. Washington High School Desegregation Announcement, Oral Roberts

Oral Roberts Speeches and Addresses

In 1973, Booker T. Washington became a pilot school for desegregation in Tulsa, Oklahoma. On April 10, 1973, Oral Roberts issued a statement in support of the "future of Washington High School" and the "voluntary efforts to integrate" the families of Tulsa. Roberts declared, "We all hope and pray that we all can get together and that is will be more than an experiment, it will be something living in the midst of all of us that demonstrates our real sincere feelings of brotherhood."

Racism Is Wrong - Mayor James Evers - Oru Chapel, Holy Spirit Research Center, Oral Roberts University

Chapel AV & Transcripts

This is a transcript of the September 27, 1972 Chapel service on the campus of Oral Roberts University where Mayor James Evers, one of only four black mayors in the United States, delivered a message entitled, "Why Racism is Wrong".

Chapel Transcript: February 18, 1972 - Black Awareness Chapel Mccrary Singers, Holy Spirit Research Center, Oral Roberts University

Chapel AV & Transcripts

This is a transcript of a chapel held on February 18, 1972, on the campus of Oral Roberts University. The guests are members of the McCrary Singers. This is a transcript of the talks about the black experience that took place between songs.

Chapel Transcript: February 16, 1972- Black Awareness Panel, Holy Spirit Research Center, Oral Roberts University

Chapel AV & Transcripts

This is a transcript of a chapel held on February 16, 1972 on the campus of Oral Roberts University. The theme of the chapel was issues surrounding black Americans. The talk included a panel discussion of race issues that included the following:

• Don Ross, director of the Tulsa Labor Program,
• Dr. Zan Holms, Texas legislator and Methodist superintendent,
• Homer Johnson, director of the Citizen Participation program of Model Cities.

This rather lengthy talk included discussion of racism, poverty, societal structures, militancy and black/white relations as well as questions and comments from ORU students.