Race and Protestantism in America

This course explores the ways that American Protestantism and race intersect. It will specifically focus on Protestant attitudes towards African slaves and their conversion to Christianity. It will investigate how Western Christian theology has supported the construction of “whiteness” and “blackness” and look at how Protestant theologians interacted with the Civil Rights movement. It introduces students to Black theology and the spiritual resources that Black Americans utilize in order to deal with and resist unjust social structures.