Black Seminarians
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The Vanderbilt chapter of Black Seminarians was organized in 1977 as a means for supplying black students with a community that reflects and embodies the unique context of black Americans in a predominantly white educational framework. Membership includes all black students in the Divinity School and the Graduate Department of Religion, though people of all racial classifications are welcome and encouraged to participate in our programs and discussions.
Our Past:
The organization of Black Seminarians was originally formed in order that
black students in the Divinity School could have a place of cultural refuge
from the white Protestant hegemony that typically exists in academic institutions.
Their immediate concerns were to increase the diversity of the Divinity
School through finding viable non-white professors to add to the ranks
of VDS faculty, establish an endowed chair for black church studies, and
decrease the opportunities for racism to flourish in VDS, all of which
were met in some form.
Our Present:
Currently, Black Seminarians continue to work against ethnic imperialism
through reworking curriculum by drawing attention to non-white academic
sources as central rather than peripheral (LINK TO BIBLIOGRAPHY)
and exploring the issues that plague black institutions such as patriarchy
and the call for praxis. While Black Seminarians have joined the fight
to attract and retain a full-time black female professor, we are committed
to supporting all students and faculty in the Divinity School and Graduate
Department of Religion on their quest for true scholarship. This is reflected
in periodic study groups and writing help in a community of care.
Recently, Black Seminarians created a focus group to update the VDS commitment against racism, and the revisions were accepted by the Deans and the faculty in the Spring semester of 2006!
Our Future:
In the future, Black Seminarians plans to continue to work towards practical
solutions for issues that plague the black community while striving to
mediate a respectful reintroduction between the black and white communities.
We hope you will join us in our endeavors!
