The Origins of Black Humanism in America Reverend Ethelred Brown and the Unitarian Church

"The Origins of Black Humanism in America is a provocative examination of the religious and intellectual roots of African American humanist thought and praxis that weaves together history, biography, literary criticism, cultural studies, political theory, and religious studies drawn from widely scattered sources across the African diaspora. Floyd-Thomas tells the remarkable story of Reverend E. Ethelred Brown - a Jamaican immigrant ordained as a Unitarian minister in the early twentieth century - who founded the Harlem Unitarian Church, the first fellowship established by Unitarians of African descent in North America. By linking Brown's pioneering efforts in the Unitarian Church to the many varied expressions of religious and secular humanism within the African American experience, Floyd-Thomas offers a groundbreaking narrative that brings to life the overlooked legacy of visionary Black men and women who have led prophetic struggles for social justice in a desperate era, ultimately transforming liberal faith, working-class radicalism, and cultural nationalism in order to redefine contemporary notions of race and religion for a new generation."--BOOK JACKET.

Juan M. Floyd-Thomas is Associate Professor of Black Church Studies at the Kelly Miller Smith Institute, Vanderbilt Divinity School.