The Crossroads Project

Black and white image of a river baptism with the words SPIRIT HOUSE: A Crossroads Project added.

New projects and a teaching resources added to the Crossroads Project's online gallery at SPIRIT HOUSE! Designed by @mpgphd.bsky.social, the site features 37 original projects exploring Black religious histories, communities and cultures. 1/2

Visit the site: www.crossroads-spirithouse.org

SPIRIT HOUSE SPIRIT HOUSE invests in and celebrates the richness and abundance of Black religions as they manifest through scholarly research, artistic expression, and community building.

In addition to the new projects, SPIRIT HOUSE now features a teaching guide (linked below), also available in text form at the project site (crossroads.princeton.edu/resources/te...).
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Black and white image of a river baptism with the words SPIRIT HOUSE: A Crossroads Project added.

New projects and a teaching resources added to the Crossroads Project's online gallery at SPIRIT HOUSE! Designed by @mpgphd.bsky.social, the site features 37 original projects exploring Black religious histories, communities and cultures. 1/2

Visit the site: www.crossroads-spirithouse.org

Black Religion in the Americas Seminar The Crossroads Project’s Black Religion in the Americas Seminar explores topics in religions and cultures broadly and from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including anthropology, biography, cu...

We are excited to announce the 2025-2026 schedule for the @xroadproj.bsky.social's *Black Religion in the Americas Seminar,* which meets on select Fridays on Zoom. Free and open to faculty, graduate students, and interested members of the public. Registration required.

Congratulations to the Journal of Africana Religions on @ahmadgreene.com's appointment as Managing Editor. The journal and field are fortunate to have such a stellar scholar involved in this work.

YouTube video by Mellon Foundation In Monumental Art, Discover Untold Stories of America

Revisit @xroadproj.bsky.social Arts Fellow @ashoncrawley.bsky.social's moving 2023 sound installation on the National Mall as part of an exhibit curated by the Mellon Foundation. You can learn more at our SPIRIT HOUSE site:
www.crossroads-spirithouse.org/crawley

Donate Here As we embark on our exciting journey as a newly established stand-alone center, our primary goal is to secure vital funding of $12,000 wi...

As we embark on our exciting journey as a newly established stand-alone center, our primary goal is to secure vital funding of $12,000 within the next three months.
r3center1.blogspot.com/p/donate.html

Congratulations to @xroadproj.bsky.social friends @jstuart.bsky.social and Eziaku Nwokocha on being selected for the next cohort of @csraac.bsky.social Young Scholars in American Religion!

There's still time to submit a proposal to share your work in our new seminar. The sessions will be virtual and open to colleagues, students, and interested members of the general public with registration.

Photograph of some old, typed notes about a newspaper article from June 20, 1866

For Juneteenth, I published some newly (re)discovered evidence about the very first celebration of the holiday in 1866. Read more …

Spirituals and Shout Songs from the Georgia Coast | Smithsonian Folkways Recordingsicon-circle-playsvg-new-pause-buttonicon-circle-playsvg-new-pause-buttonicon-circle-playsvg-new-pause-buttonicon-circ... Acclaimed upholders of the African American ring shout, the McIntosh County Shouters keep the faith, form, and fervor of the generations-old tradition rooted in their small community of coastal Georgi...

The Smithsonian Folkways site is a treasure trove of African American, African diaspora, and African religious music. For Juneteenth, Folkways recommends "Spirituals and Shout Songs from the Georgia Coast."

More than a massacre: How an outsider captured Mother Emanuel's legacy (RNS) — In 'Mother Emanuel: Two Centuries of Race, Resistance, and Forgiveness in One Charleston Church,' journalist Kevin Sack offers perspective on the historic Black church, beyond the 2015 murder ...

An interview with Kevin Sack about his new book on the history of Charleston's Mother Emanuel AME.

YouTube video by LIL BUZZ DirectOr In The Shadow of Malcolm X

We're so glad to have this video from the Africana Islamic Social Sciences and Humanities Association of the May conference, "In the Shadow of Malcolm X," held in Dakar, Senegal to mark Malcolm's 100th birthday.

Buffett Q&A: Reflections from Our Inaugural Buffett Undergraduate Research Fellows : Buffett Institute for Global Affairs - Northwestern University Read insights from four Northwestern undergraduate and graduate students who attended COP29 through the Buffett Institute's support.

Read about the work of @xroadproj.bsky.social Community Stories Fellow KB Dennis Meade's undergraduate research assistant, Atarah Israel. Israel worked with Dennis Meade and Khytie Brown on their documentary *Crossing the Kalunga Line.*

So great to read @mpgphd.bsky.social's conversation with @ahmadgreene.com about his new book, *Underworld Work: Black Atlantic Religion Making in Jim Crow New Orleans,* which is a game-changer. #AfAmReligion

Home - Reading Religion

There are lots of #AfAmReligion books available for review on Reading Religion, and grad students are welcome to review. Here are a few:

Ahmad Greene-Hayes, *Underworld Work*
Kai Parker, *City of Black Souls*
Alphonso Saville, *The Gospel of John Marrant*
Danielle Boaz, *Voodoo*

Theology Meets Southern Gothic Horror in Ryan Coogler’s "Sinners" - Reading Religion The title Sinners invites a theological reading. Who are the sinners, and what is sin? In a world where whiteness proclaims itself as salvation, Remmick’s declaration—“I am the way”—parodies Christian...

A review by Amber Lowe: "Theology Meets Southern Gothic Horror in Ryan Coogler's *Sinners*."

The Launch of Global Black Thought: A New Journal from Penn Press - AAIHS After two years of planning and preparation, the new AAIHS journal Global Black Thought has officially launched! Published by the University of Pennsylvania Press, Global Black Thought is devoted to t...

@xroadproj.bsky.social Graduate Fellow Kim Akano has been part of the team working to launch the new journal *Global Black Studies.* Read her interview with the journal’s editor, Keisha Blain.

Remembering ‘MOVE' as American religion on the 40th anniversary of Philadelphia bombing its own residents Forty years ago today, the city of Philadelphia dropped a bomb on itself. The city of Philadelphia let that fire burn for more than a day while firetrucks and firefighters stood watching the flames d...

@xroadproj.bsky.social Media and Technology Consultant, and Religion Dispatches editor @mpgphd.bsky.social
has written about MOVE as American religion on this 40th anniversary of the city of Philadelphia's bombing of the group.

@xroadproj.bsky.social Director @judithweisenfeld.com's work is featured in a Religion News Service interview.

Just 1 week until RNS’ free virtual event with Episcopal Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, legal expert Liz Reiner Platt and the Rev. Carlos Malavé! Register now at us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

‘Timestamp on our minds’: Philadelphia marks 1985 Move bombing that killed 11 Police bombing targeting Black liberation group ignited fire that killed 11, including five children, and burned 61 houses

‘Timestamp on our minds’: Philadelphia marks 1985 Move bombing that killed 11

Police bombing targeting Black liberation group ignited fire that killed 11, including five children, and burned 61 houses

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

‘Sinners’ opens a new conversation about Black religion in film (RNS) — As the conflict in the hit film ‘Sinners’ unfolds, it deftly interrogates the role of religion within the Black community.

OPINION: In his inclusion of hoodoo, writer and director Ryan Coogler expands the spiritual landscape of "Sinners" beyond the Christian context and presents the lived and historical complexity of religious identity in Black America.
religionnews.com/2025/05/07/s...

Underworld Work A rethinking of African American religious history that focuses on the development and evolution of Africana spiritual traditions in Jim Crow New Orleans.   When Zora Neale Hurston traveled to New Orl...

Congratulations to @xroadproj.bsky.social research fellow @ahmadgreene.com on *Underworld Work: Black Atlantic Religion Making in Jim Crow New Orleans,* which will be published by the University of Chicago Press on May 6.

The book is shipping now.

Thanks, Joseph. You've been such a great contributor!

CFP: Black Religion in the Americas Seminar 2025-2026  Call for ProposalsDeadline for Submission: June 30, 2025The Crossroads Project’s Black Religion in the Americas Seminar explores topics in religions and cultures broadly and from a variety ...

To apply, please submit a one-page proposal and brief CV. We are especially interested in featuring the work of independent scholars and contingent faculty, but all scholars and advanced graduate students are invited to apply.

More information: crossroads.princeton.edu/news/2025/cf...

The seminar will meet on selected Fridays (tbd) from 2:00-3:30PM EST on Zoom to discuss a pre-circulated paper.

We are especially interested in featuring the work of independent scholars and contingent faculty, but all scholars and advanced graduate students are invited to apply.

CFP: Black Religion in the Americas Seminar 2025-2026  Call for ProposalsDeadline for Submission: June 30, 2025The Crossroads Project’s Black Religion in the Americas Seminar explores topics in religions and cultures broadly and from a variety ...

CFP: Crossroads Project Black Religion in the Americas Seminar

Deadline June 30, 2025

The seminar explores topics in religions and cultures broadly and from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, emphasizing understanding religion in history and society.

Homepage - NYU Press Publisher of academic books and electronic media publishing for general interest and in a wide variety of fields.

In this Q&A with the Black Agenda Report's Book Forum, author Judith Weisenfeld explains how Black religious practices were seen as proof of mental illness by psychiatrists.