Revisiting Landmarks: James Melvin Washington’s Frustrated Fellowship at 40

In recent years, scholarship on African American religious history has moved away from Black Christian denominations as sites of scholarly inquiry. On the eve of the 40th anniversary of James Melvin Washington’s Frustrated Fellowship: The Black Baptist Quest for Social Power (1986), this panel argues for the diverse contributions that denominational histories can make to the study of African American religions.

The panelists for this session will place their work in conversation with Washington’s book. They will identify the ways in which their research grows the canon of scholarship of Black religious traditions through their focus on the Christian denominations that they investigate.