This guide is designed to help reporters uncover fresh, compelling and nuanced religion stories in advance of the United States Semiquincentennial celebrations in July 2026.

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

Adam Meyer is the associate director and professor of the Jewish studies program at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. Much of his research focuses on the relations between blacks and Jews. He is the author of  Black-Jewish Relations in African American and Jewish American Fiction: An Annotated Bibliography .

Black Methodists for Church Renewal is the Black caucus of the United Methodist Church. It represents more than 2,400 congregations and 500,000 members across the United States. It is based in Atlanta, Ga. Contact Rev. Rita Howard, manager of programs and operations.

J. Kameron Carter is an associate professor of systematic theology and black church studies at Duke Divinity School. He recently participated in a panel on Black Lives Matter hosted by the school.

Nyle Fort is a minister, writer and community organizer based in Newark, N.J. His areas of study include critical race theory, African-American studies, the American prison system and hip-hop culture. He has been published in the Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy, The Guardian, Black Girl Dangerous and The Feminist Wire. He has linked the Black Lives Matter […]

Shannen Dee Williams is a writer and an assistant professor of United States and African-American history at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. She has called for Catholic theologians to remember the lives of black women in the Black Lives Matter movement.

Yavilah McCoy is a teacher, writer, diversity consultant and performer. She has linked the Jewish holiday of Purim to the fight for justice for the African-American community and the Black Lives Matter movement. She founded Dimensions Educational Consulting in Newton, Mass.