Curated Bibliographies

Annual weeklong intensive continuing education event for clergy and laity that includes training, worship, and fellowship. All interested leaders are urged to apply, including those who may not have formal theological training.* BTLI is limited to 50 fellows. BTLI will continue accepting applications on a rolling basis. The 2024 theme is "New Fire in New Places: Reconceptualizing Pentecostalism and the Black Church” July 14-19, 2024. The 2024 Annual Black Theology and Leadership Institute (BTLI) is sponsored by the Betsey Stockton Center for Black Church Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary.
*If you are a member of the Presbyterian church, your registration fee may be waived, and any deposit you make may be refunded by the Presbyterian church.

Several titles in the ACLS Humanities E-Book

April 26, 2023 - Dr. Lerone A. Martin, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and the Martin Luther King, Jr., Centennial Chair and Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University

February 17, 2022 Speaker: Dr. Dwight N. Hopkins, the Alexander Campbell Professor at the University of Chicago Lecture: “Faith and Wealth: Black Liberation Theology & ML King, Jr.”

March 3, 2022 Dr. Weems' lecture is titled “Learning to Think Better Than We Have Been Trained: Black Women and the Academic Study of Religion.” Presented by the Center for Theology, Women, and Gender at Princeton Theological Seminary

Rev. Dr. David Latimore reflects on his first year of service as director of the Betsey Stockton Center and shares his vision for the future

October 17–19, 2022 Venue: Ministerial Complex, Monrovia, Liberia - Colonization, Christianity, and Commerce: The Afterlives of Slavery in the Trans-Atlantic World
An international conference jointly organized by Princeton Theological Seminary, Howard University School of Divinity, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture, and the University of Liberia. https://afterlivesconference.ptsem.edu/

The Afterlives of Slavery Conference, a two-part series presented jointly by Princeton Theological Seminary, Howard University Divinity School, the Smithsonian National Museum of African History and Culture, and the University of Liberia. The first conference took place in Monrovia, Liberia, from October 17-19, 2022; the second conference October 19-21, 2023 in Washington, D.C.

Keyword search in Theological Commons. Results include archival files, audio recordings, and periodicals (Alumni News, Handbook, inSpire, Wineskin, etc.)

The Betsey Stockton Center for Black Church Studies exists to highlight the theological and religious witness, which arises out of the African American and African Diaspora Christian experience. The center helps to prepare men and women for vocational ministry or scholarly pursuits shaped by a wider knowledge and deeper appreciation of black life within American and global Christianity.

Conference Paper; Copyright © 2017 Nicole D. McDonald. Presented here with permission of Nicole D. McDonald and the Academy of Homiletics.

Audio, April 15, 1971, Charles T. Fritsch, 1912–1989, and Edler Garnett Hawkins, 1908–1977, course in Old Testament

On March 1, Dr. Marc Lamont Hill delivered the 2021 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Lecture at Princeton Theological Seminary. Presented by the Association of Black Seminarians and livestreamed on Princeton Seminary's YouTube channel for attendees, Hill's lecture was titled “The Power of Protest: From Civil Rights to Black Lives Matter.”

February 25, 2020 “We Don’t Need a Black Messiah: The Crisis of Civilization and Aspirational Black Patriarchy” Speaker: Dr. Tamura Lomax, author, scholar-activist, and cofounder of The Feminist Wire

July 6, 2022 - Dr. Gregory Nobles in conversation with Rev. Dr. David Latimore

April 8-9, 2019 at Princeton Theological Seminary

A featured collection in the Theological Commons, The Payne Theological Seminary and A.M.E. Church Archive includes two subcollections organized into twenty-one thematic categories of images and textual materials for the study of the history of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) denomination and Black Church tradition while chronicling the leadership and legacy of Payne Theological Seminary. Some materials are cross-referenced in multiple subcollections.

See page 26, also viewable in the Internet Archive here:
https://archive.org/details/inspire314unse/page/n101/mode/2up

This report begins to trace the complicated story of Princeton Seminary and its relationship to slavery.

by James Moorhead. Princeton Theological Seminary’s 19th century faculty and students encountered enslaved people as a familiar part of life. Though early leaders of the seminary owned slaves and largely failed to condemn the institution of slavery, some notable alumni—including the first African American man to graduate from a theological seminary in the United States—became prominent antislavery activists.

March 20, 2012, Yolanda Nicole Pierce
Series: Princeton in the Church’s Service: A Conference Celebrating the History and Heritage of Princeton Theological Seminary
Series: Bicentennial Celebration
Series: Journey of a Seminary: An Honest Look, Lecture 3

Selected titles and recordings related to Martin Luther King, Jr., his life and work

Bishop Flunder spoke at Princeton Seminary on February 6, 2019

From the Princeton Theological Seminary Media Archive

From the Princeton Theological Seminary Media Archive

October 5, 2005, Lecturer: Daniel Morrison, Series: Theological Student Fellowship Forum

In Episode 15 of Delgado Podcast, Mike Delgado speaks with Prof. Lisa M. Bowens, PhD about her recent book, African American Readings of Paul: Reception, Resistance & Transformation. Listen to the podcast or watch the video of their conversation, posted November 24, 2020.

June 28, 2021 - "Keri L. Day sees a unique space in theological education for Black students and professors, and it contributed to the title of her new book..."

Tweets with the hashtag #1619Project. The 1619 Project is an ongoing initiative from The New York Times Magazine that began in August 2019, the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. It aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.

The 1619 Project is an ongoing initiative from The New York Times Magazine that began in August 2019, the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. It aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.

Lecture given by Dr. W. Datsun at Princeton Seminary in the Mackay Campus Center on April 10, 1981 as part of an ABS (Association of Black Seminarians) Symposium

This collection contains transcribed letters, articles, and reports related to the IMB's early African-American missionaries to Liberia and Sierra Leone (1846-1861), including John Day, Boston J. Drayton, A. P. Davis, B. P. Yates, and others.

This collecting initiative redoubles PHS's efforts to document Black lives, work, and witness in an increasingly multicultural Church—from the organization of the First African Presbyterian Church in 1807 to the election of the first African American stated clerk of the PC(USA) in 2016.

In Episode 15 of Delgado Podcast, Mike Delgado speaks with Prof. Lisa M. Bowens, PhD about her recent book, African American Readings of Paul: Reception, Resistance & Transformation. Listen to the podcast or watch the video of their conversation, posted November 24, 2020.

The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song is a moving four-hour, two-part series from executive producer, host and writer Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, that traces the 400-year-old story of the Black church in America, all the way down to its bedrock role as the site of African American survival and grace, organizing and resilience, thriving and testifying, autonomy and freedom, solidarity and speaking truth to power. A production of McGee Media, Inkwell Media and WETA Washington, D.C, in association with Get Lifted.

"Black Perspectives is the leading online platform for public scholarship on global black thought, history, and culture."

By Tanasia Kenney - March 29, 2019 - Atlanta Black Star

Air Date: November 21, 2019. Princeton Theological Seminary recently announced that it would set aside nearly $28 million for reparations to make up for the school’s ties to slavery — one of the largest efforts of its kind. The Why’s Annette John-Hall explains why some black students at the seminary are rejecting the proposal, and how it’s forcing a bigger conversation about what making reparations should actually look like.

The Betsey Stockton Center for Black Church Studies exists to highlight the theological and religious witness, which arises out of the African American and African Diaspora Christian experience. The center helps to prepare men and women for vocational ministry or scholarly pursuits shaped by a wider knowledge and deeper appreciation of black life within American and global Christianity.

Throughout February, the Museum is celebrating Black History Month with a host of new programs, initiatives and experiences.

The Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership at Union Presbyterian Seminary recognizes the significance of centering Black women’s scholarship as viable sources and resources for theological education. The center serves as a site of participatory learning for scholars, students, clergy, laity, and community leaders.

History of Presbyterian and ecumenical involvement in civil rights movements, protests, and social justice issues, as well as individual social reformers and activists.

Established in 2021, "[the Crossroads Project] emphasizes the diverse landscape of Black religions, reflecting the voices and leadership of those not featured in traditional accounts."

April 2019 (Audio also available on Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/princeton-seminary/darnell-moore-legacy-and-mission)

July 6, 2022 - Dr. Gregory Nobles in conversation with Rev. Dr. David Latimore

Princeton, New Jersey

The Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. African American Synods Collection, RG 395, Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Wilmore, Gayraud S. 2012. "Historical Perspective." In The Cambridge Companion to Black Theology, 19-32: Cambridge University Press. Also available in print REF BT82.7 .C363 2012

An overview to the Presbyterian Historical Society's holdings that document historically Black schools and colleges established or supported by the Presbyterian Church

May 13-14, 2022; registration required
A hybrid conference organized by The Betsey Stockton Center for Black Church Studies and The Center for Asian American Christianity

How did enslaved African and African American women experience slavery? What were their daily lives like? And how do historians know as much as they do about enslaved women? Explore the answers to these questions with Jennifer L. Morgan, a Professor of History and Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University

Premiered Feb. 28, 2021 - Writer and producer Emil Wilbekin curates a conversation between noted Black gay and queer authors who have been inspired by life and works of James Baldwin. Panelists: George M. Johnson, author, "All Boys Aren’t Blue," a memoir manifesto discussing their young adult experience growing up Black and Queer; Robert Jones, Jr., author, "The Prophets" and creator of the social-justice social media community Son of Baldwin; Darnell L. Moore, author of the 2019 Lambda Literary Award-winning memoir, No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black & Free in America

Gross, Bella. 1940. "Life and Times of Theodore S. Wright, 1797-1847." Negro History Bulletin 3 (9): 133-144.

"a partnership among several dedicated individuals and three community organizations: the New Brunswick Area NAACP; the New Jersey chapter of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS); and The Unitarian Society, which has acted as the Project’s fiscal sponsor."

"In 1893, the first predecessor to NBPC was organized. It was called the Afro Presbyterian Council and was organized by the Reverends Francis Grimke, R.H. Armstrong, Matthew Anderson and John B. Reeve. It advocated for political, religious, and social interest...."

by Rev. Francis J. Grimké, 1850-1937. From the Missionary Research Library Pamphlets collection (https://commons.ptsem.edu/mrl) in the Theological Commons

October 8, 2019 - Dr. Walter Fluker, Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Ethical Leadership at Boston University
Dr. Mozella Mitchell, professor emerita and former chair of religious studies at the University of South Florida

1773; digitized and presented in the Theological Commons

Subject = African Americans

by Maira Liriano, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, July 12, 2016. The Wright Library collection contains all of the books in this list.

Rev. Grimké was a graduate of Princeton Seminary and pastor of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C. His portrait is on the second floor of the library overlooking the atrium. Read more about Grimké and other alumni from the early years of the seminary in the Princeton Seminary and Slavery Report

"Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words showcases rarely seen materials that offer an intimate view of Rosa Parks and documents her life and activism—creating a rich opportunity for viewers to discover new dimensions to their understanding of this seminal figure. The materials are drawn extensively from the Rosa Parks Collection, a gift to the Library of Congress from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation."

The papers of Rosa Parks (1913-2005) span the years 1866-2006, with the bulk of the material dating from 1955 to 2000. The collection contains approximately 7,500 items in the Manuscript Division, as well as 2,500 photographs in the Prints and Photographs Division. The collection documents many aspects of Parks's private life and public activism on behalf of civil rights for African Americans.

This web-based, mobile friendly tour shares stories from throughout the history of African Americans at neighboring Princeton University.

Garrett-Scott, Shennette. “‘When Peace Come’: Teaching the Significance of Juneteenth.” Black History Bulletin 76, no. 2 (2013): 19–25. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24759690. Includes teaching resources by Rebecca Cummings Richardson, Venita Dillard-Allen and Shennette Garrett-Scott

A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the research, preservation, understanding, appreciation and celebration of the rich and proud history of African-Americans in Princeton, New Jersey.

A featured collection in the Theological Commons, The Payne Theological Seminary and A.M.E. Church Archive includes two subcollections organized into twenty-one thematic categories of images and textual materials for the study of the history of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) denomination and Black Church tradition while chronicling the leadership and legacy of Payne Theological Seminary. Some materials are cross-referenced in multiple subcollections.

James W.C. Pennington (1807-1870) emphasized the need to educate and help find employment for the increasing numbers of free African Americans. He also spoke out against racism in the north, including in the white churches that often segregated white and black worshipers and shut out black clergymen. Pennington also helped many fugitive slaves and supported efforts to desegregate public transportation in New York City. Pennington did tours in the United Kingdom to speak out against slavery and to garner British support for American abolitionist efforts. BKBB is a growing partnership between the Presbyterian Historical Society and Community College of Philadelphia.

Absalom Jones, James Pennington, and Henry Highland Garnet were highly respected Protestant ministers who condemned chattel slavery both from the pulpit and through their work as church leaders, teachers, community organizers, and activists. BKBB is a growing partnership between the Presbyterian Historical Society and Community College of Philadelphia.

An open access collection in CORE. Learn more about CORE, Commons Open Repository Exchange, a library-quality repository for sharing, discovering, retrieving, and archiving digital work. https://hcommons.org/core/what-is-core/

February 26, 2023. The National Black Presbyterian Caucus, Philadelphia Chapter, and the Presbytery of Philadelphia's 2023 African American Presbyterian Heritage Service of Worship, Sunday, February 26, 2023, at Oxford Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia. The Rev. Dr. Jerry L. Cannon, Vice President, Ministry Innovation at the Board of Pensions PC(U.S.A), preaching.

by Neely Tucker for the Library of Congress Blog, June 19, 2020

FEBRUARY 13, 2016 Brandon Byrd's bibliography. The "books all pertain to the origins, evolution, professionalization, and expansion of the field of black history. The authors of these books examine the concerns of early black historians, find an enduring tradition of black race histories, and address the key role that black women have played in the writing of black history. They also recover the process by which Woodson and others helped define the modern field of black history and they make a case for the significance of writings about black history today."

"a list of readings that educators can use to broach conversations in the classroom about the horrendous events that unfolded in Charleston, South Carolina on the evening of June 17, 2015. These readings provide valuable information about the history of racial violence in this country and contextualize the history of race relations in South Carolina and the United States in general. They also offer insights on race, racial identities, global white supremacy and black resistance. All readings are arranged by date of publication. This list is not meant to be exhaustive–you will find omissions. Please check out #Charlestonsyllabus and the Goodreads List for additional reading suggestions."

August 10, 2015 - Associate Professor of Religion and Literature and Director of the Center for Black Church Studies at Princeton Seminary, Rev. Dr. Yolanda Pierce's contribution to the "How #BlackLivesMatter Changed My Theology" series from Sojourners: https://sojo.net/articles/series/how-blacklivesmatter-changed-my-theology

Blog post from the Wabash Center's Race Matters in the Classroom blog. June 23, 2015

June 24, 2015 - The New Yorker magazine's Joshua Rothman profiles Princeton Theological Seminary alumna Pastor Carolyn Winfrey Gillette (Class of 1985), and the hymn she wrote in response to the killing of 9 African American worshipers gathered for Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015.

January 25, 2022, Princeton Theological Seminary

Login required

October 5, 2019 lecture by Rev. Dr. Brian K. Blount, Princeton Seminary alumnus, and President and Professor of New Testament in the Walter W. Moore and Charles E.S. Kraemer Presidential Chairs of Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia
Video recording and transcript posted January 15, 2020 by The Presbyterian Outlook

Selected reading from the Wright Library collection, as well as related links

Attempts to gain voting rights for African Americans began long before the Civil War and the passage of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution in 1870. Free black people were able to vote in a few northern states including Pennsylvania until 1838, and some exercised that right, though they were often met with hostility at the polls. BKBB is a growing partnership between the Presbyterian Historical Society and Community College of Philadelphia.

The Freedmen’s Bureau Project — a new initiative spearheaded by the Smithsonian, the National Archives, the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints — will make available online 1.5 million historical documents, finally allowing descendants of former African-American slaves to learn more about their family roots.

Protestant Council of the City of New York panel discussion with James Baldwin, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Dr. Thomas C. Kilgore, Jr. From the Pearl Digital Collection at the Presbyterian Historical Society: https://digital.history.pcusa.org/

Princeton Theological Seminary Professor Lisa Bowens participates in service marking 7th anniversary of deaths at SC church bible study

This report begins to trace the complicated story of Princeton Seminary and its relationship to slavery.

by James Moorhead. Princeton Theological Seminary’s 19th century faculty and students encountered enslaved people as a familiar part of life. Though early leaders of the seminary owned slaves and largely failed to condemn the institution of slavery, some notable alumni—including the first African American man to graduate from a theological seminary in the United States—became prominent antislavery activists.

by Omar Farah, The Daily Princetonian, October 20, 2019. "...the [Association of Black Seminarians] will pursue formal negotiations with the Seminary to express its thoughts on how to move forward."

March 4, 2019 - Association of Black Seminarians' (ABS) response to the Princeton Theological Seminary Slavery Audit

FEBRUARY 17, 2016 - Keisha N. Blain's list of readings. "Representing a variety of academic fields—including History, English, and Political Science—these works highlight the writings, speeches, performances, activism, and overseas travel of a diverse group of black women activists and intellectuals, thereby moving women from the margins to the center of historical narratives on black internationalism."

Press release, action plan, timeline approved unanimously by the Princeton Theological Seminary Board of Trustees, October 2019

Includes an in-depth journey through the history of slavery and freedom, based on the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture's permanent exhibition

by Gilbert Haven, 694 pages

ePub, Kindle, plain text

This portal "provides digital tools, online exercises, video instructions, scholarly articles and more than 100 multi-media resources tailored for educators, parents and caregivers—and individuals committed to racial equality."

"Revealing moments in black history, with unpublished photos from The New York Times’s archives. We’ll add images daily in February." - NY Times

At Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries

Features primary sources from the Presbyterian Historical Society collection along with secondary sources. In addition, contains contextual information on the topic, full citations, information about the author, and reading questions. BKBB is a growing partnership between the Presbyterian Historical Society and Community College of Philadelphia.

The Reigner Collection (Christian Education) is located on the Second Floor of the library near the microform collection.

Recordings of some lectures by Dr. James H. Cone given at Princeton Theological Seminary

Dr. Pierce highlighted the authors named above in a series of tweets in 2017. Prof. Pierce is now Dean of the Howard University School of Divinity. She had been the Elmer C. Homrighausen Associate Professor of Religion and Literature and the Director of the Black Church Studies Program at Princeton Theological Seminary.