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Creator
Black Theology Project
Call number
Sc MIRS Black 1988-72
Physical description
19 audio_recordings
Language
English
Preferred Citation
Black Theology Project audio collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, The New York Public Library
Sponsor
An anonymous donor funded preliminary processing for this collection. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supported a research library-wide grant for the digitization, and funded the Schomburg for the description and production of the finding aid as part of The Next Century of Black Studies Project.
Repository
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
Access to materials
Appointment preferred: Request an in-person research appointment.

The Black Theology Project (BTP) was an interdenominational organization founded in 1976 under the leadership of Reverend Charles Spivey, M. Shawn Copeland, and Reverend Muhammad Kenyatta, among others. The collection consists of nineteen audio recordings primarily of the BTP's third national convocation in 1986, as well as the 1984 convocation, activities, and worship services led by members of the organization.

Biographical/historical information

The Black Theology Project (BTP) was an interdenominational organization founded in 1976 under the leadership of Reverend Charles Spivey, M. Shawn Copeland, and Reverend Muhammad Kenyatta, among others. Comprising Black theologians, clergy, academics, activists, and laypeople, the BTP was devoted to the discovery, development, and promotion of historic and contemporary Black religious thought. The organization was rooted in the belief that Black theology emerges from a common history, a shared social experience of worship, and a commitment to Black liberation. To this end, the BTP established theological dialogues with Hispanic, Pacific/Asian, and Native American Christians in the US, as well as with liberation movements across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

The BTP was originally organized as one of eight projects of Theology in the Americas (TIA), formed in 1974 to explore the meaning of liberation theology for North America. In 1976, the BTP held its first convocation in Atlanta, Georgia, with the theme "Black Theology and National Priorities." The project's activities have included annual convocations, conferences, domestic and international theological dialogues, local reflection groups, and publications. In 1984, the BTP sent a delegation to Havana, Cuba, to participate in the theological seminar in homage to Martin Luther King, Jr. The following year, at the invitation of La Coordinación Obrero Estudiantil Bautista de Cuba (COEBAC), BTP organized a music delegation of young adults from US Black churches to Cuba to share African American religious music and theology with Cuban Christians.

In its fifteen-year tenure, the BTP played a notable role in the development and dissemination of Black theology and its praxis in the US and internationally.

Scope and arrangement

The collection consists of nineteen audio recordings primarily of the BTP's third national convocation in 1986, as well as other years' convocations, activities, and worship services led by members of the organization. They are dated circa 1980s to 1986, and arranged chronologically first, then in order of proceedings. The original format of many of the audio items is cassette and contain two parts.

Ten recordings are of the 1986 BTP third national convocation titled "Black Spirituality and Social Transformation: Responding to the Spirit!," held at Howard Inn, Washington, DC, from February 5th to 8th. They include the keynote address delivered by pastor, historian, and scholar Vincent G. Harding. Participants' biographies are included in items' descriptions and come from the list of convocation participants found in the Black Theology Project records, Sc MG 286. They represent their positions at the time. The remaining recordings consist of the 1984 convocation; "The Black Church in Cuba" forum held at the Schomburg Center; worship services, including sermons by Pastor Wyatt Tee Walker of Harlem's Canaan Baptist Church; the 1985 BTP music delegation to Cuba; and a speech by sociologist Jualynne E. Dodson, who also served as executive director of the BTP.

Other notable participants represented in the collection are Howard Dodson, director of the Schomburg Center from 1984 to 2010 and former executive director of the BTP; Reverend Yvonne V. Delk, the first Black woman ordained in the United Church of Christ in New York City; Reverend James A. Forbes, senior minister emeritus of the Riverside Church in New York City; Randall Robinson, lawyer, author, and activist; and Gayraud S. Wilmore, writer, historian, educator, and theologian. To distinguish between Julyanne and Howard Dodson, who were married at the time, they are referred to by their first names. Square brackets indicate unclear names or spellings.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

The Black Theology Project, 1988.

Revision History

Source of acquisition updated by Ornella U. Baganizi. (2026-05-21)

Processing information

Collection inventoried by Stacey Doyle Ference. Collection processed and described by Ornella U. Baganizi, archivist. Finding aid published in 2026.

Separated material

See the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division for the Black Theology Project records, Sc MG 286.

See the Photographs and Prints Division for the photographs.

Related Material

Theology in the Americas records, Sc MG 369.

Theology in the Americas audio and moving image collection, Sc MIRS Theology 1988-51.

Using the collection

Location

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Third Floor

Access to materials

Appointment preferred: Request an in-person research appointment.