Annual Meetings

The 2012 Annual Meeting of the Society will convene in New Orleans, LA, March 22-24. Theme: "Creolization: Keeping the Conversation Africana." Headquarters hotel is the Royal Sonesta, in the French Quarter. Please contact the hotel to make your reservations. Mention that you are with the Society for the Study of Black Religion to receive the conference room rate.

Special member tour. In 2012, the SSBR is sponsoring a special study/research tour, in addition to our regular annual meeting. We shall travel to Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, from June 21 - July 3. A full, rich experience has been planned by the tour coordinator and leader, SSBR member Rachel Harding. Specifics of the tour itinerary have been set and will be forthcoming in future communications. The registration form has been sent to the member listserv, and is also copied below. Please note dates and deadlines for trip cost deposits.

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"Traveling the Ancestral Road"

The Society for the Study of Black Religion 2012 Study Trip, June 21-July 3, 2012, to Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.

Registration Form

Personal Information

Legal name (exactly as it appears on your passport):

________________________________________________________________________

Gender: Female _____ Male ______

Address: _____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

Telephone: ________________________________ Email: __________________________

Do you prefer a single or a double room?

Single _____ Double _______

If you choose a double room and are traveling with a partner/friend, please indicate the person's name here:

____________________________________________________________

(If you are not traveling with a partner/friend and would like to stay in a double room, we will place you with another traveler of the same gender.)

Do you have any allergies or medical conditions that could affect your health during this trip?

______________________________________________________________________

Whom should we contact in an emergency? (Name, address, phone and relationship to you)

_______________________________________________

Financial Information

The cost of the trip includes round-trip, non-stop travel from Miami to Salvador, Bahia, 12 days/11 nights single or double occupancy at a comfortable, oceanside hotel, all breakfasts, select additional meals, transfers and group transportation, city tour, excursions to Cachoeira and Itaparica, all workshops, public festivities, religious ceremonies, site visits, workshops/demonstrations and translation. Transportation to and from Miami in the U.S. is not included. Payment Schedule (checks made out to Society for the Study of Black Religion - Brazil Trip)

Payment due date Amount due

Non-Refundable Deposit with registration $500

1st payment January 31, 2011 $600

2nd payment April 29, 2011 $600

3rd payment July 29, 2011 $600

4th payment Oct 31, 2011 $600

5th payment Jan 31, 2012 $600

6th payment April 30, 2012 remainder due: $540 pp for dbl. dbl.occ., $1380 for single occ.

Once we receive your deposit, we will send you more detailed information about itinerary, weather (late June and early July is pleasant in Bahia - low 80s), clothing, passports and visas and other details related to our travel in Brazil.

Send all payments to:

Stephen G. Ray Jr., Executive Director Society for the Study of Black Religion c/o Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary 2121 Sheridan Road Evanston, IL 60201

For Additional Information contact

Lee H. Butler, President: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Stephen Ray, Executive Director: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Payment Amount Enclosed __________________________________________________

Society for the Study of Black Religion 2012 Study Trip June 21-July 3, 2012 Salvador, Bahia Brazil

Additional Payments (Please copy and send in with payments)

Payment # Name: Amount Enclosed _________________________________________________

Gleanings from the Archives

The following chronology, drawn from the Archives of the Society, offers a summary vista into SSBR programming and organizational development through the years. It begins in 1975, the first year for which records were available to the SSBR Archivist. Records from the founding in 1970 are believed to exist but were not accessibie at the time of this compilation. Data and narrative materials were included as archival documents permitted.

[Full Annual Meeting programs on this site for each year are forthcoming. In the interim, please contact Archivist for copies for a particular year. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ]

1975 - Met in Chicago, October 29-30. In conjunction with the AAR/SBL

- Lawrence N. Jones, president - 69 members on roster

- Session on Oral History and Black American Religious Tradition; small group meetings, by academic discipline; reviews of books by James Cones, The God of the Oppressed, Cecil Cone, The Identity Crisis in Black Theology, Henry Mitchell, Black Belief

1976 - Met in Kingston, Jamaica, Nov. 24-26. - Lawrence Jones, president

-Single rooms $12; doubles, 17; banquet, $10

- 17 members in attendance; 71 on roster

- Papers on "Present and Future of Black Theological Studies;" "Black Religion and Social Change;" panel symposium on Leonard Barrett's Sun and Drum; other presentations, addresses by Jamaican faculty and public officials

1977 - Met in Atlanta, October 27-28 - Herbert O. Edwards, president

- Society members invited to play a role in the planned consultation on Black Theology and Black Church, August, 1977

1978 - Met in New Orleans, October 25-27

- Herb Edwards, president; Marshall Grigsby, secretary treasurer

- Major Jones gave a paper on "The Neglected Part of the Trinity: Concept of the Holy Spirit;" paper by Bill Jones, with response by Cornel West; paper by David Shannon

- Discipline group meetings

- Meeting papers declared by president to have presented "unusual intellectual stimulation."

- SSBR members invited to participate in the Black Theology Project, including its upcoming 1980 conference on Theology in the Americas.

- Gayraud Wilmore elected president, an elevation he characterized as a call from God, which included a challenge to him and to the SSBR to use its resources to initiate substantive studies of black religion and black experience.

1979 - Met in Washington, DC, at new, free-standing facilities of the Howard University School of Religion, October 24-26

- Gayraud Wilmore, president - 40 members in attendance

- Dean Lawrence Jones offered reflections on the State of SSBR; papers, book Reviews, addresses, including banquet speech by Ella Mitchell on black women in the black church.

- Proposal from Steering Committee to open membership to persons engaged in "post M.Div. graduate study" doing teaching and/or research about black people. [Came as response to mandate from 1978 meeting.]

- Proposed by-law addition: to Article II, a Section 5 and 6 providing dismissal from membership for failure to attend (without notification to president) and pay dues three consecutive years, respectively

- Society will continue to meet separately from AAR/SBL, but members urged to make SSBR a priority.

- Regional SSBR working groups encouraged

- Annual program focused on the role of women in black religious heritage and on black biblical hermeneutics

- Rather than breakout groups by discipline, there were concurrent small groups by topic, with papers read, and which members could opt at their discretion

- Members encouraged to give input to the August meeting of the Black Theology Project, particularly through SSBR regional groupings

First Newsletter issued, "Vol 1, No. 1," published out of Colgate Rochester, presumably under Gayraud Wilmore's initiative (who was teaching there at the time.)

1980 - Met in New York, October 22-24

- President, Wilmore; secretary, Charles Brown; treasurer, Larry Murphy

- 33 members in attendance; approx. 100 on roster

- At this tenth annual meeting, addresses on "The State of the Society (SSBR)," "The State of the Study of Black Religion," and "The State of Black Theological Education," by Lawrence Jones, Charles Long, and Shelby Rooks, respectively.

- Authorization of a Journal and Proceedings of the Society for the Study of Black Religion; board and editor (Long) named; budget, $1,200

- Rooks elected president.

- Twenty-one persons dropped from membership for attendance and dues issues; fourteen others to be issued notifications of impending dismissal

1981 - Met in Boston, Oct. 21-23 - C. Shelby Rooks, president

- 26 in attendance; membership roster contains 88 names

- President's correspondence to Steering Committee members proposed that the Ventnor, NJ, 1993, meeting have three key presentations on Method, Structure, and Content for Black Theology, Black Ethicists, Black Feminism, respectively - topics of importance but said not to have been previously addressed in SSBR sessions.

- Discussion of a number of challenges confronting SSBR and black religious scholarship, some of which were: the need for greater dialogue with the black Catholic presence; the limitation of addressing only Western Christian religion, to the exclusion, for instance of, folklore; seizing the opportunity for dialogue with Africa, the Caribbean, the Third World; scholarly cooperation and collaboration, as can be facilitated by discipline group discussions at annual meetings; more resource support for black graduate students.

- C. Eric Lincoln presents paper on "Cosmo-centric Cults and Black Religion;" James Tinney presents paper "Perspectives on Black Religion in America;" Leonard Barrett presents paper on "Perspectives on Black Religion in the Caribbean." - Discipline group meetings; book reviews

- Society approves idea of both a conference on Black Theology in North America and South Africa and a dialogue between SSBR and the Association of African Theologians

1982 - Met in Ventnor, NJ, October 20-22 - Shelby Rooks, president

- 29 members in attendance; 84 on roster - Paper on "Theological Method, Structure, and Content for Black Theologians;" review of West, Prophesy Deliverance; Harding, There Is a River; paper on "Method, Structure and Content for Contemporary Black Ethicists;" paper on "A Review of Current Feminist Literature in Relation to Black Feminism and Black Oppression"

- Discipline group meetings

1983 - Met in Atlanta, October 19-22, jointly with the Centennial Convocation of Gammon Theological Seminary

- Shelby Rooks, president

- Theme: An Assessment of Black Theology and Its Relevancy for the Ethos of the Black Church

- Banquet speaker, Bishop Emilio de Carvalho: "The African Liberation Struggle in Historical Perspective."

1984 - Met in Chicago, October 18-29

- Charles Long, president

- 23 in attendance; 57 on roster -

Pres. Long affirmed "disciplinary, state of the field, and work-in-progress workshops" as recurrent part of annual meeting program; his intentions to emphasize relationship between SSBR members who study religion from theological base and those from social sciences base

- Review of Cone's For My People; paper by Wilmore, "The Vocational and Responsibility of the Black Church;" paper by Cain Felder, "The Bible as Foundation for Future Meaning in the Black Religious Experience."

- Voted to enhance the presence of women in membership, program content, and Society leadership

- Voted to publish "Proceedings" of the SSBR

- Second day evening free

1985 - Met in Washington, DC, October 17-19

- 30 members in attendance; 68 on roster

- Paper: "The Shaman's Doorway: Techniques of Myth and Ritual in the Thought of Howard Thurman;" paper, "A Mother to the Motherless: Language, Biblical Texts, and Afro-American Cultural Imagination;" paper, "Liberation Motifs in Afro-American Religion and Literature."

- Program Committee changes end time of annual meetings to noon on Saturday, as opposed to the current 1:00 pm time.

- Second day evening free

1986 - Met in Washington, DC, October 9-11

- Discipline group meetings, Thursday and Friday - Friday evening free

- Report back from discipline groups, discussion, and plans for future research sponsored by SSBR

1987 - Met in Atlanta, Oct. 22-24

- Charles Long, president

- 16 members in attendance

- Papers: "The Ethiopian in the New Testament:" "Blacks in the Old Testament;" "Transformational Process in Gospel Music Performance;" "O. Faduma and the Comparative Study of Religion."

- Body agreed that SSBR publish its papers with established journals (e.g. ITC, Howard) until it can underwrite its own

- Agreed to return to 3rd week in October as regular annual meeting schedule - Discussion of meeting on campuses vs. hotels (the then current practice). Hotels, i.e. away from students, allow for intimate, open dialogue and presentation of experimental material, which are among the core purposes of the Society. Regardless of venue, student inclusion was advocated by some. Matter referred to Program Committee - C. Geno Newsome elected president elect

1988 - Executive Committee moves annual meeting date from traditional October time to later (March, for next meeting), due to on-going conflicts with events scheduled by members' schools and other organizations

1989 - Met in Chicago, March 30 - April 1

- Charles Long is president

- Theme: "A Review and Assessment of Contemporary Perspectives and Recent Publications in Black Religion"

- Reviews: Major Jones, The Color of God; Ella Mitchell, Those Preaching Women, Vols. I, II; Henry Mitchell, Soul Theology; Lincoln, Race, Religion, and the Continuing American Dilemma; Lincoln, The Avenue, Clayton City; Long, Significations. Papers: "Womanist Theology: Implications for the Study of Black Religion;" "The Present State of Black Religious Historiography."

- J.T. Roberson, visitor, made a presentation on "BRSNET, Black Religious Studies Network"

1990 - Met in Chicago, April 5-7.

- Geno Newsome, president; W.C. Turner, Newsletter editor; Clarice Martin, Program Committee chair

- Theme: "The Past and Present as Prologue: Black Religious Studies During the 1990s and Beyond"

- An SSBR Computer Network Committee has been formed to draft a proposal to Lilly Endowment for creating a computer network among SSBR members for collaboration and communication.

- Roberson BRSNET presentation - Awards Banquet, honoring SSBR members for their contributions to SSBR and to African American religious scholarship. Awardees presented the first ever SSBR "Light of Knowledge Award," a silver and glass hurricane lamp of early American design with black candle.

***

- Pres. Newsome and Larry Murphy traveled to Nashville to meet with Dr. T.B. Boyd, III, to discuss prospects of SSBR serving as a source of manuscripts for publication by the National Baptist Publishing Board; Board as publisher of SSBR member authored books, SSBR Journal; cooperation in the SSBR Nationwide Computerized Educational Network Project.

1991 - Met in Los Angeles (actually Culver City,) March 21-23.

- Theme: "The Black Biblical Canon in Diverse Contexts."

- Geno Newsome, president. [Absent for medical reasons; Larry Murphy stands in to preside, at Newsome's request]. Vincent Wimbush, treasurer

- 26 members in attendance

- Theme: "The Biblical Canon in Diverse Contexts"

- SSBR awarded $25K from Lilly Endowment on its planning proposal for a computer network

- Considerable discussion about how program themes and meeting locations are decided, and how these impact attendance. Concern expressed over declining attendance.

***

- Correspondence received from Rev. John Gilmore, Moderator of the Central Hudson Baptist Association (Newburgh, NY), applauding he SSBR initiative on computer-based distance education. Offers churches in the association as test sites for classes and to provide at least 10 pastors/ministers as students. Particularly appealing would be online access to a D.Min. program. He concludes, "African American scholars and the African American Church come together through the communications technology of the Information Age - a rather inspiring eulogy don't you think? I will await your reply with great anticipation."

1992 - Met in Boston, April 9-11 - Geno Newsome is president

- Theme: "Black Church Leadership and Theological Education: The Cry, the Crisis, the Challenge."

- Mozella Mitchell elected next president

- Oscar McCloud, Exec. Director of Fund for Theological Education, asks if SSBR members would consent to serve as mentors for FTE doctoral students. [Minutes do not indicate response]

***

- Shelby Rooks has retired

- Letter to President Mitchell from SSBR historian, Lillian Ashcraft-Eason: has placed copies of SSBR annual meeting tapes and other documents in her possession at Atlanta University Center Library, as official repository.

1993 - Met in Philadelphia, April 1-3

- Theme: "Afro-Centrism and Its Implications for African American Religious Studies"

- 37 members in attendance

- Report on BRSNET

- Announced that local churches have extended an invitation to members to preach, for those staying over to Sunday

- Letter from new president Mozella Mitchell to membership recommends, for consideration, the bestowing of awards each year (at annual banquet) for distinguished scholarship and religious leadership, including an award to a student for outstanding theological education. Purposes: to elevate the visibility and academic and social significance of the Society; enhance Society/academic community/church community links; encourage member attendance.

1994 - Met in Atlanta, March 24-26

- Mozella Mitchell, president; James Cone, vice-president

- Theme: "The Womanist Perspective in Theology"

- Reviews of Higinbotham, Righteous Discontent; Townes, Womanist Justice, Womanist Hope;---- Who Do You Say I Am: The Black Christ; Discussion: "Evil and Suffering;" Film and discussion: "Upon This Woman Rock."

- Executive Committee asked to report on a policy/procedure for dealing with ABDs

- Moratorium declared for all who have allowed their membership to lapse. Procedures outlined for reinstatement.

1995 - Met in Atlanta, April 6-8 [Decision to meet in DC could not be implemented; Atlanta chosen by Executive Committee as alternative]

- Theme: " ‘Cast Down Your Buckets:' Contours of Black Religious Thought in the 20th Century, 1895-1995."

- Mozella Mitchell, president; Louis-Charles Harvey, treasurer

- 22 members in attendance - Associate member category established for ABDs

- Ad hoc committee established to work on making SSBR presentations and research available to clergy and the laity, "to make connections between our research and the pressing issues of the community."

1996 - Meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, March 28-30

- Single/double room to be $105. [Compare 1976 room rates, above]

- Mozella Mitchell, president - Theme: "African Spiritualities: Afro-American and Afro-Caribbean Realties'

- 25 members in attendance - Discussion of frequency of meeting outside US (e.g. every second year, third year.) No resolution of question.

- Letter received from Shelby Rooks commending SSBR on its record of leadership in African American religious scholarship and challenging it to continue, with even more intentionality to nurturing new scholars, particularly in light of the recent demise of the Fund for Theological Educaton.

- In response, Paris and Cannon to co-chair a committee to develop a proposal to the Ford Foundation to fund the kind of initiatives suggested by the Rooks letter.

1997 - Met in Dayton, OH, March 19-22.

- Themes: "Who Are We, Who We Are: The Story of Our Lives As People of Faith." And, "The Legacy of Colorism and a Theology of Beauty: Color Codes in Church and Community."

- 133 members on roster

1998 - Met in Claremont, CA

- Lillian Ashcraft-Eason, president

- Themes: "Human Sexuality and Social Transformation: Black Religion and Culture; "Where Do We Go from Here?: SSBR in the Twenty-First Century"

- Peter Paris proposes to Ford Foundation a planning grant for A Seminar for African, African American, and Caribbean Religious Scholars, to promote academic discourse and collaboration between these colleagues. SSBR formally endorsed the project. It was to cover three years. One seminar each year in US, with an annual seminar also in Ghana, Kenya, and Southern Africa, respectively

1999 - Met in Atlanta, March 18-20

- Peter Paris, president; Lee Butler, treasurer

- Approx. 170 members on roster - Theme: "African American Religion: Beyond he Mainline"

- C. Eric Lincoln has sent $500 as an expression of appreciation for what the Society has meant to him. Discussion as to how to handle the contribution (e.g. the establishment of an endowment fund) and solicitation of other contributions (e.g. from members). Referred to Executive Committee

- SSBR now has membership cards

- Discussion of membership (attendance, dues, decision-making). Referred to Executive Committee

- SSBR website up and running

2000 - Thirtieth Anniversary meeting, Atlanta, April 6-8

- Peter Paris, president - Theme: "African American Religious Studies: Past, Present, and Future"

- Reception in honor of Archbishop Desmond Tutu

- Tour to Ebenezer Baptist Church and the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center

2001 - Met in Philadelphia, March 29-31

- Peter Paris, president; Noel Erskine, recording secretary

- 32 members in attendance - Office of Executive Director created, to implement SSBR policy. Anthony Pinn elected first holder of the office.

- Presentation by Sonia Sanchez

- Points raised by members for consideration: 1. Begin meetings with prayer 2. Give more attention to international students and their preparation 3. Challenges and opportunities for educating African American students 4. Attention to technological resources for teaching 5. Enhancing career goals 6. Attention to youth leadership 7. Focus on music 8. The development of Islamic faiths 9. A society for the development of black religion, not black Christianity - Tour to historic Bethel AME Church

2002 - One-day meeting held the day prior to AAR/SBL, Toronto, Friday, November 22, 9 - 3:30

2003 - Met in Crystal City, VA (metro Washington, DC), March 27-29

- 17 members in attendance

- Session topics included: "Centennial anniversary of Souls of Black Folk;" "Thirtieth Anniversary of Gayraud Wilmore's Black Religion and Black Radicalism;" "Black Mega-Churches;" "Pan-African Seminar on Religion and Poverty;" "Black Religion in the African Diaspora" - By-Laws amended to provide for four-year terms for all elected officers

2004 - Met in Louisville, KY, March 25-27

- Katie Cannon, president; Noel Erskine, recording secretary

- 25 members in attendance

- Book reviews: Young, Dogged Strength Within the Veil; Parker, Trouble Don't Last Always; Crawford, Hope in the Holler; Roberts, Black Religion, Black Theology. Roundtable : "The State of Black Religious Studies in the 21st Century;" Pan African Seminar Report; banquet speech, presentation, by Ed Hamilton, sculptor

2005 - Met in Louisville, March 10-12 - Rosetta Ross, treasurer.

2006 - Met in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, March

2008 - Met in Mt. Pleasant (Metro Charleston,) SC, March 6-8

- Lee Butler, president - Theme: "Maafa: Our Past, Our Present"

- Panels: "Priests in the New World;" "Is There an Abuser in the House?" "Jena 6: The New Symbol for Civil Rights?" "Inter-religious Dialogue," [included a representative from Oyotunji Village]; banquet speech by Tracey Hucks; lecture by Shawn Copeland.

2009 - Met in Crystal City, VA, March 26-28

- Lee Butler, president.

- Theme: "The Voices of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow: Black Religion, Black Leadership, and American Politics" - Panels: "No Body Knows the Trouble I've Seen;" "‘Can I Get a Witness?' Leaders of the Struggle;" "Cultural Critics and Critiques of Black Religion;"

- Field trip to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies

2010 - Fortieth-Anniversary Meeting, Atlanta, March 18-21.

- Lee Butler, president

- Theme: "Sankofa: Looking Back Over 40 Years; Looking Forward to the Next 40 Years."

- Click here for program