When
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Monday, March 9, 2026 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm | Virtual
In this lecture, Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, Stephanie Shonekan will explore five songs that African American communities consistently cite as sites of worship—songs that function as prayer, testimony, and praise even when they emerge outside formal religious spaces. Drawing from Black sacred and secular traditions, as well as popular music, the talk examines how these songs carry theological meaning through sound, memory, and collective feeling. As part of a larger project on African American love songs, the lecture argues that love—of God, of community, of self—remains a central mode through which African Americans have journeyed through American history.