The Project on Lived Theology was happy to host writer and speaker Danté Stewart for a special Nov. 17 event, “Writing Blackness: A Conversation with Danté Stewart on Theology and Memoir.” As part of his talk, Danté cited various Black authors and texts (as well as other voices) that inspired him on his journey. We’ve compiled that list below if you’d like to read along.
You can also watch the video or listen to the audio of Danté’s talk on the PLT website.
Elizabeth Alexander, The Black Interior: Essays (2004)
James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time (1963)
Toni Cade Bambara: Gorilla, My Love (1992); The Salt Eaters (1992); Deep Sightings and Rescue Missions: Fiction, Essays, and Conversations (1999)
Sarah Broom, The Yellow House (2019)
Tarana Burke and Brené Brown, You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience (2021)
Octavia E. Butler, The Parable series (1993-98)
Rebecca Carroll, Surviving the White Gaze (2021)
J. Kameron Carter, Race: A Theological Account (2008)
James H. Cone, The Cross and the Lynching Tree (2013)
Patricia Hill Collins, Intersectionality as Critical Social Theory (2019)
Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora, edited by Sheree R. Thomas (2000)
Angela Y. Davis, Women, Race and Class (1981)
Mark Dery, Black to the Future: Interviews with Samuel R. Delany, Greg Tate, and Tricia Rose (1994)
W. E. B. Du Bois, Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil (1920)
Farah Jasmine Griffin, Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature (2021)
Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism (1955)
bell hooks: Salvation: Black People and Love (2001), Killing Rage: Ending Racism (1995)
N. K. Jemisin, How Long ‘til Black Future Month? (2018)
Robert Jones, Jr., The Prophets (2021)
June Jordan, Some of Us Did Not Die: Selected Essays (2002)
Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967)
Nella Larsen, Passing (1929, also a 2021 Netflix movie)
Kiese Laymon, Heavy: An American Memoir (2018)
Audre Lord, Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (2020)
Charles W. Mills, The Racial Contract (1997)
Darnell L. Moore, No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America (2018)
Toni Morrison, “Unspeakable Things Unspoken: The Afro-American Presence in American Literature,” The Tanner Lectures on Human Values, delivered at the University of Michigan on Oct. 7, 1988
Reinhold Niebuhr, Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics (1932)
Deesha Philyaw, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies (2020)
Josef Sorett, Spirit in the Dark: A Religious History of Racial Aesthetics (2016)
Jean Toomer, Cane (1923)
Alice Walker, The Color Purple (1982)
Jesmyn Ward, Men We Reaped (2013)
Elie Wiesel, The Trial of God (as it was held on February 25, 1649, in Shamgorod) (1979)
The Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia is a research initiative, whose mission is to study the social consequences of theological ideas for the sake of a more just and compassionate world.