Erika Gault is Director of the Center for the Study of African American Religious Life and the Lilly Endowment Curator of African American Religious History at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and  Culture. Her work focuses on the intersection of religious history, technology and urban black life in post-industrial America.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University

Lutherans for Racial Justice (LRJ) is a grassroots coalition committed to fostering multiethnic church and school cultures, as well as racial equity, justice and healing within The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). The founders are Matthew Ryan González and Joshua Salzberg.

Joseph Winters is the Alexander F. Hehmeyer Associate Professor of Religious Studies and African and African American Studies at Duke University. His research interests lie at the intersection of African-American religious thought, Black literature and critical theory. Winters is author of Hope Draped in Black: Race, Melancholy, and the Agony of Progress (2016).

Elizabeth McAlister is a professor at Wesleyan University with expertise in Afro-Caribbean religions including Haitian Vodou, Pentecostalism, race theory, transnational migration and evangelical spiritual warfare.

Michael Muhammad Knight is a scholar, author and gonzo journalist whose work covers Islamic studies, American Islam, hadith literature, gender studies, race and theories of the body.

Matthew J. Cressler is a scholar, comics creator and teacher whose work focuses on religion, race and justice. He is also chief of staff for the Corporation for Public Interest Technology. He is the author of Authentically Black and Truly Catholic: The Rise of Black Catholicism in the Great Migration (NYU Press, 2017).

Adelle M. Banks is the projects editor and a national reporter for RNS, covering topics including religion and race, the faith of African Americans and partnerships between government and religious groups. An award-winning journalist, Banks joined RNS in 1995. She previously was the religion reporter at the Orlando Sentinel and a reporter at The Providence […]

In this guide, we offer background, resources, expert sources and related content to help you better report on the religious life of Black Americans.