Feb Public Meeting: Black Freethinkers: A History of African American Secularism
Join Minnesota Atheists online for the presentation:
Black Freethinkers: A History of African American Secularism
by Christopher Cameron, Ph.D.
Christianity has been a “mixed blessing” for Blacks in America. It was used on both sides of the slavery issue. It continues to be used to support both racism and Civil Rights. Yet there were many African Americans, some of them quite well known, who ran the spectrum from freethought to atheism. Unfortunately, even most atheists are unaware of the rich legacy of African American dissent towards religion.
Our speaker, Christopher Cameron, Ph.D., Professor of History and Interim Chair of Africana Studies, University of North Carolina at Charlotte has gone a long way to correcting this oversight with the publication of his book Black Freethinkers: A History of African American Secularism.
Dr. Cameron is also the co-editor of Race, Religion, and Black Lives Matter: Essays on a Moment and a Movement. He was the founding president of the African American Intellectual History Society (aaihs.org). He started this organization and its group blog “Black Perspectives” in order to provide a space for scholars in disparate fields to discuss the many aspects of teaching and researching black intellectual history.
His current book project is entitled Liberal Religion and Race in America. This book explores the history of African Americans’ engagement with religious liberalism from the First Great Awakening of the 1740s to the founding of Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism in 2015.
SCHEDULE (you do not have to attend the business meeting)
1:00 – Zoom Opens, join us and work out any tech issues
1:15 – Business Meeting and Board Election
2:00 – Program featuring Christopher Cameron
BOARD ELECTIONS
Elections for the board will occur at this meeting. Candidate statements are in the February Newsletter. The nominees are:
President: Ben Blanchard
Associate President: Stephanie Zvan
Chair: Michelle Morlan
Associate Chair: August Berkshire
Treasurer: Chris Matthews
Secretary: Hertzy Hertz
Director: Heather Hegi
Director: Frank Leonard Eller
Director: Mike Trombley
Director: Alyssa Ehni
Minnesota Atheists is a non-profit organization run by volunteers who are elected on an annual basis by the dues paying membership (Join or Renew your Membership at https://mnatheists.org/become-a-member/).
If you have any questions, feel free to email Heather at heather@mnatheists.org or any other board member. The new board will take effect on March 1, 2023.
