American history. The opening session is on africanamericans and religion. While we wait for the conference to begin, a look at a 2011 trip to a storage site in a washington, d. C. Suburb with the director of the Smithsonian National museum of African American history and culture. He showed us some of the artifacts that will be on display in the new museum, opening on the national mall, september 24, 2016. Right now, we are in the Storage Units of the National Museum of African American history and culture. In essence, this is the heart of the museum of. Because whats behind me, and what we will see today are many of the objects that are going to be the soul of this museum. This is an opportunity to sort of preview some of the material that the public will see when the museum opens in stores. The story of the africanamerican experience is both a story of resiliency at achievement, but its also a story of struggle. Parts ofe hard exploring this history is that were athe people who the worst tended to be other americans. That makes it hard to interpret this, because americans are used to being the bad guy. One of the things that is powerful is objects like this. Strongnvey the sort of antiblack sentiment. This is a ku klux klan banner four ks1920s, the stand for knights of the ku klux klan. It goes underground and then bursts a new as result of the film the birth of the nation, and the client becomes a National Phenomenon in the 20s and 30s. This kind of banner is the kind of thing that people would use to celebrate their investment and their participation in the ku klux klan. These are the kinds of things we tell the painful stories as well. And then, i think one of the things thats really interesting to me is to recognize that so much of what shapes a communitys work. We wanted to make sure that we found things that would give people an understanding of the way black america works. One of the most important stories, often a story that is not fully understood is the story of pullman porters. This is a wonderful item. Come to ays, we have point where pullman porters were seen may be a stereotypical way, as people only served. Who actually worked on the railroad to make the travel of elite White Community comfortable. But the pullman porters played even a more important role. They were, in some ways, the communicative heart of the African American community. They began to bring to different regions of the country and understanding of what was going on in the south, what was going on in california. They became one of the earliest black unions, so they were very successful in the early 20th century in unionizing, and establishing a pattern that many africanamerican businesses would follow in the future. For us, the pullman porters both the story ofwork, the limits of what people were able to do because they reference in american, but its also a story of how people transcended the limits of their job and created a way to help the entire community. And then, in some ways, the whole notion of struggling against racism, battling segregation is really at the heart of trying to understand the story. These two artifacts we are about to look at speak volumes about segregation. Hand, we have what was something that was ubiquitous throughout the 20th century which were colored drinking fountains. Thats that were insured the separation of the races were enforced. And as we know, that segregation was the law of the land throughout part of the 19th century and all of the 20th century. So colored fields good morning. The executivean, director of the American Historical Association. I want to join my friends and welcoming everyone to this conference on the future of the African American past. For those of you who were here yesterday, and thursday, they did the welcomes. I especially want to join lonnie in helping thank the National Endowment for the humanities. Not only chairman adams, but former interim chair carol lawson, who is here, and you had the faith in what we were doing, i think in many ways before lonnie and i did. And judiciously entrusted our nehaboration to the director of Public Programs, karen milton. And a team of Public Program staff and others who offered advice throughout the project, i see christie is here. I appreciate all the help we got. I also want to join lonnie in emphasizing that dana schafer at the American Historical Association and deirdre across at the National Museum of African American history and culture are the people actually made this happen. [applause] those of you who are the speakers and bloggers for the conference are well aware that they have continued to make it run smoothly. Not only was at the beginning. We are also grateful to john of thed the staff National Museum of American History for loaning us their facilities for the weekend, it was very generous of them. We had intended originally to be in the building across the way, which i recommend that everyone at least, even in the rain, go outside and take a look at. It sometimes took a little longer. Anyone who is running to their home, they know sometimes construction takes a little longer than you expect. Renovating their home, they know the construction takes longer than you expect. This is of special importance to lonnie and me. He worked here for a long time. In my case, this is where i first participated in the sort of small, specialized conference that establishes lifetime friendships in our business. Adria petty, yesterday, mentioned the landmark exhibition in this museum. What she didnt know that a conference associated with that exhibit is where lonnie and i first met, and where i first encountered a Remarkable Community of scholars, many of whom have become lasting friends and colleagues. I will always be grateful to the National Museum of American History. I want to knowledge the support of history, formally known as the history channel, and in particular, Senior Historian and Vice President kim gilmour, who can be with us, his back visiting with family in kansas city. It has asked me to remind everybody that the remake of roots will air on memorial day and 9 00 p. M. The website is roots. History. Com. I have seen the first episode, it is not the same as last time. It is very much not the same as last time. I also want to thank the universities who have sponsored their students to attend, and im now going to sheepishly thets that i left in my bag names of the universities, so i cant name them. But we appreciate your support, and i apologize. I have a question for everybody. Because its one of the things were curious about. Are just forle typical of the area local people . And how many traveled . Ok, so its about half and half. We were curious. Theyre all sorts of other things were curious about, but im not going to conduct a survey here. I do want to remind everybody that there are many people tweeting. Futureaaash tag past. We have had the huge numbers of people using the hash tagged manually 400 tweets have been sent yesterday. What was interesting was they were not as often happens just coming from seven or eight different people, they were coming from many, many different people. Many of whom are not even here. The conference is also being live streamed, and is being archived on the conference website. If you go to that website, which future and past, you can also see an ongoing blog about the conference. The first piece is already up, which is on the session yesterday morning thursday night. The other ones will be going up very soon. People have told me they have written them, they are being edited. We are trying to get these up as quickly as possible. These blogs are very short pieces, responses to the session. Wonderful notis a only summary of the session, but some ofy sharp take on the interpretive aspects of it, which is what we asked people to do. I encourage you to go take a look at these. About 80stream, we had to a couple hundred people watching yesterday from cities around the United States and beyond. Have a lot oft we interest, which is very gratifying to us. When i got here this morning at a quarter to 8 00, there were people waiting outside in the rain. I cannot begin to tell you how happy it makes historians that there are people waiting outside in the rain to come to history conference. Next week, im going to a meeting that is focusing on the relevance of history to everything. There is a hash tag, everything has a history. This is something that we deeply believe. It is a matter where you are interested in, it has a history, and that history matters. It is wonderful to see this many people realizing this is the case. Im going to turn the morning to the Medford Aetna Edna medford, who is when you get a started for today. Who is going to get us started for today. Medford thank you for joining us on this beautiful, rainy day in washington, d. C. Im honored to be the chair of this panel, which attempts to answer the simple and in many ways, complex question what is africanAmerican Religion . Africans in america, at least the vast majority, were, by law, sold,l, to be bought and exploited, apologetically, and often cast aside once every ounce of value had been extracted. Unlike the livestock that was listed alongside them on the state inventories and auctions, this peculiar brand of property fought to assert and preserve their humanity. And their relationships with each other, in the establishment and operations of their social institutions, and especially in their sacred beliefs. Peoples of african descent adopted a belief system that reflected their diverse ethnicities, and the particular circumstances that shaped their lives and labor. Altered anderiences redefined the beliefs and practices familiar to the ancestors. The descendents of these men and women adopted new ways of looking at the world and their place in it or it unlike those before them, they embraced religion as a means to challenge as well as cope with the realities of their existence in america. Institutionalized religion represented by the black church constituted the core of the Africanamerican Community and freedom. It was the center of training for black leadership. The First Responder in a time of crisis. The linchpin that connected black people in common cause, including in protest of their oppression. Growing up in rural virginia in the 60s, i could scarcely imagine if there was any religious experience the on my own. For me, African American religion was christianbased, maledominated ashman comprise the leadership, but women were the worker bees. As they still are today. It was church centered, and emotionally charged. Experienced, rooted in the Southern Baptist tradition, meant to our sunday two hour sunday service. Our ministers had never heard the message that no souls were saved after the first 60 minutes. There was preaching, hellfire and brimstone to be exact. Older ladies being overcome with the holy ghost. And music that would inspire godly behavior, at least for a day or two. I had graduated from high school, and enrolled at hampton institute, not hampton university, so you know how long ago that was. Before i ever heard of the ame church. Methodism was for white folks. Churches 11 black churches in my county. Every single one of them was a baptist church. Black hebrews did not exist in my sacred world. Nor did their perceived alternative groups, such as those founded by daddy graves and bob devine and elijah mohammed. You can imagine how far in the backwoods i was. We really didnt have that muslim presence there. Of course, my experience was one of many narratives that helped to define African American religion. This morning, each of our panelists either extends or challenges the traditional narrative. Is chair ofnelist the department of africanamerican studies and willm s todd, profession professor of religion at princeton. His discussion of the category of africanAmerican Religion will be followed by judith the professor of religion at Princeton University who will discuss sites and sources for the study for the African American religious past, now the lineup was a little bit different, but we have a panel of very feisty rebels here. They have decided that it didnt make a lot of sense to have the order that i had placed them in, and i agree with them totally. There is to always ask your panelists what they think, dont assume that you know. Be ird presenter will let me just indicate professor weidenfeld will talk about sites and sources for the study of African American religious past. She will be followed by a goat atprofessors of history harvard university, who will address bible politics of the black freedom struggle. And last, but certainly not least is a via butler. Anthea butler, associate professor of religious studies at the university of pennsylvania. She will discuss africanAmerican Religion outside of the black church, rethinking the framework. E will start [applause] welcomes Early Morning service. [laughter] the organizers for thinking of me and inviting me to this extraordinary conversation. We have learned a lot. Comingbeen a long time to see this happen. Im delighted, words cant really expect. Thank you for everything that you do. Of you for being here. You just jump into this. Let me just jump into this. Prof. Glaude i was thinking when i got up at some ungodly hour in preparation for this amount lumbers and splitters. I was thinking about the great isaiah berlins this tension between hedgehogs and foxes. I tend not to identify myself as either one, i like to take myself to be more attentive to what hedgehogs and foxes do. What splitters and the lumpers do. This is what im going to try to do today. What is African American religion . And informative body of religion has been written about the difficult is in the study of religion, generally. Aboutf the debates whether religion is reducible to some other more fundamental notion like the unconscious and the lot. Our adjusting the complicated when we think about religion in tandem with race. More specifically, the issue becomes even messier when the modifier black or africanamerican describes religion. These adjectives bear the unusual burden of a difficult history that colors the way religion is practiced and understood in the United States. They register the horror of slavery and the terror of jim crow, as well as the richly textured experiences of a captured people, for whom sorrow stands alongside joy. It is in this context, one characterized by the everpresent need to account for world inence in the the face of White Supremacy that africanAmerican Religion takes on such a distention. I want to make a distinction between africanAmerican Religion and africanamerican religious life. S not reducible to those wheres walter. Its not reducible to those wounds, that life contains within it avenues for solace and comfort and answers to questions about who we take ourselves to be in relation to the mistress of the universe. Moreover, meaning is found i got it all backwards. Meaning is found for some and submission to god in obedience to create and dogma commented ritual practice. Here, evil is accounted for and hope at least for some is assured. In short, African American religious life is as rich uncomplicated as the religious life of other groups in the United States. But africanAmerican Religion emerges in the encounter between faith and all of its complexities and whites of privacy. The main explain what i mean. My approach assumes that the political and social context in the United States is a necessary though not sufficient condition of any study of something called africanAmerican Religion. If the phrase African American religion is to have any descriptive usefulness at all, it must signify something more than African Americans who are religious. In fact, African Americans practice a number of different religions. There are people who are black people were buddhists, jehovah witnesses, mormons, and bahai. But that africanamericans just these traditions does not leave us to describe them to describe it as black buddhism or black mormonism. AfricanAmerican Religion singles out something more substantive than that. This something more does not have to be an idea of religion which stands apart from social and historical forces that impinge on the lives of African Americans, nor does it refer to a definite kind of experience that is itself religious or religious consciousness as distinct from other forms of consciousness. My aim here is not to secure the unique status of the category of africanAmerican Religion. The adjective refers instead to a racial context within religious meanings have been produced and reproduced. It all alright . Of howfor consideration religion has produced particular racial meanings, but