Black and Lutheran

The story behind the Black and Lutheran History Project

What isn’t written down or recorded can be lost.

For decades the Rev. Dr. Richard Nelson Stewart, a seminary professor in Philadelphia, took to heart a mission to make use of his communications skills to document the history of Black and Lutheran leaders who were part of the church he loved so their stories could live on. Grover C. Wright, a former Pullman porter turned recruiter of gifted Black leaders to study for rostered ministry, persuaded Stewart he was meant to do this work. Rich served the faculty and students at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, now part of United Lutheran Seminary. He taught in the areas of media and parish administration for three decades.

The Black and Lutheran Project has been generously funded by the Louisville Institute. “Rich” had a vision that the history would have a timeline basis and that as a resource on the worldwide web, scholars and individuals curious about the history of Black Lutheran leaders would have easy access to background they wanted to learn about. Well-documented here are both struggles and accomplishments that deserve continuing notice.

Rich himself recorded, often in the company of his spouse, Dawn, at least 40 interviews with a wide variety of historic figures. This site includes them and other repurposed background and information reflecting the stories of hundreds of key leaders. He was bringing all of his research to life gradually as time permitted until he tragically fell ill with a brain tumor in 2022, dying in November of that year.

Grieving his loss, friends, his spouse, Dawn, and Black scholars decided to form a succession planning group to complete the work Rich started. The scholars have included Dr. Charles Leonard, convener; Dr. James Thomas, Dr. Richard Perry, Dr. Nelson Strobert, Dr. Joseph Donnella and Dr. Beverly Wallace. More information about them appears elsewhere on this site. Rich’s widow, Dawn, is a vital part of the initiative. John Kahler adds essential technical support. Journalist and writer Mark A. Staples, a friend of Rich’s over four decades, lends his presenceand encouragement.

The site is a work in progress. The scholars are contributing essays that relate to their expertise, research and disciplines. Mark and Dawn have assembled data on some 400 stories about Black leaders and activities from church periodicals with a particular focus on the decades of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. With the support of the succession planning team, Mark Staples has assembled a simple display focusing on more than 30 African American church leaders, rostered and lay. The display, also a work in progress, appears on this site in its most recent iteration and has been distributed widely.

It is not lost on the minds of the succession planning team that in a polarizing time some in the culture seem determined to ignore or expunge from our collective history certain aspects of that history. The Black and Lutheran Project aims to preserve a part of American history that is an underpinning of our collective culture.

Scholars involved in the project have contributed select work. Visit their pages here.