The Center for African American Religious Research and Education honors Dr. Prathia Hall

The woman who inspired Martin Luther King to say “I have a dream,” The Reverend Dr. Prathia L. Hall will be honored at the inaugural events of the new Boston University School of Theology Center for African American Religious Research and Education in October.

When Martin Luther King, Jr. visited the site of a church, Mount Olive Baptist Church in Terrell County, Georgia, which the Klan had burned to the ground, a young woman, a college student named Prathia Hall led prayers. As she prayed, Hall began to intone her own vision of the future with the phrase, "I have a dream.” As African American ministers often do, King incorporated this effective phrase into his own speaking. On August 28, 1963 the phrase, "I have a dream” made its national appearance in King’s now famous speech given on the March on Washington.

Dr. Hall received her doctorate in theology from Princeton, where she specialized in Womanist theology, ethics and African-American church history. An associate professor at Boston University School of Theology, holding the Martin Luther King Jr. Chair in Social Ethics, Hall taught courses on Christian social ethics and the civil rights movement. Dr Hall’s untimely death on August 12, 2002 robbed the academic community and the church of her wisdom, knowledge and gifts.

The Center for African American Religious Research and Education established this year at the School of Theology by Assistant Dean for Studnet Affairs and Assistant Professor Imani Sheila Newsome Camara, seeks to honor the contribution of Hall and others to the multi-dimensionality of the African American Religious Experience within the global community.

One hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation, forty years after the March on Washington and one year after the death of Dr. Hall, the Center through its inaugural events celebrates the African American prophetic preaching tradition with the presence of Bishop Vashti McKenzie, the first woman to be named a Bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. This worship event will be held on October 1 at Marsh Chapel. On October 2, The Reverend Drs. Ray and Gloria Hammond will speak on their work to eradicate modern day slavery in Africa and their resulting abolitionist work. On October 15, UMC Bishop Leontine Kelly, colleague of the late Dr Hall, will preach at Marsh Chapel.

For more information on these events or CAARRE, contact Meghan Pifer at 617-353-3050 or mpifer@bu.edu.