The inspiration for this book occurred during conversations among American Baptist College and Vanderbilt Divinity School graduates regarding the fifty-year span of church and academy leadership, preaching, teaching, and writings of Forrest Harris. Those conversations eventually came to focus on the social narratives of the black leadership tradition and its religious, educational, and political impact on public life in America. These essays highlight the significant concepts and themes within the black freedom justice movements that involved black religious and moral leaders. Without these leaders' vision and sacrificial commitment to justice and black social progress, change would not have been possible. Given the ever-growing numbers of black leaders in the academy and church, the crises in education and politics to impact social change, and the continuing existential oppressions abounding in communities they serve, these contributors believe the time has come for substantial and systemic conversations among educators, church leaders, theological scholars, and social justice activists about leadership in the twenty-first century. This volume is designed to be as inclusive as possible, calling upon diverse scholars in the academy and church, education, and civil society to share their perspectives.

Contributors include Victor Anderson, Lewis V. Baldwin, Karen F. Brown Dunlap, Riggins R. Earl, Jr., Walter Earl Fluker, Yvette A. Flunder, Forrest E. Harris, James M. Lawson, Herbert R. Marbury, Marvin A. McMickle, William Myers, Peter J. Paris, Julius R. Scruggs, R. Drew Smith, and Wallace Charles Smith, and Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas.