Say It Loud: Poets, Preachers, and the Politics of Black Faith

A Performance and Public Conversation with Joshua Bennett and Saul Williams

Join us for a special event: “Say It Loud: Poets, Preachers, and the Politics of Black Faith,” hosted by Josef Sorett, Chair of the Department of Religion and Professor of Religion and of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Columbia University. The evening will feature a combination of live performance and a conversation between Joshua Bennett, award-winning author and Professor of English at Dartmouth College; and Saul Williams, critically acclaimed musician, poet, and actor. They will discuss the history and cultural politics of the spoken word: examining the connections between black poetics and black preaching, religious tradition and the literary arts, and performance as a practice of freedom. Professor Sorett will teach Religion and the History of Hip Hop at the 2022 Columbia Summer Session. 

This event is in person and is co-sponsored by the Columbia Summer Session; the Henry Luce Foundation; the Columbia University Center on African-American Religion, Sexual Politics and Social Justice; the Columbia University Arts Initiative; Columbia University Life; the Columbia University African American and African Diaspora Studies Department; the Columbia University Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life; and the Columbia University Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities.

Doors open at 4:30 p.m.; Event begins at 5:30 p.m.

RSVP by May 5, 2022

This event will be held in person. For questions, please contact sps-events [[at]] columbia [[dot]] edu.

For additional information about program offerings for Columbia University Summer Sessions, please contact an Admissions counselor at 212-854-9666 or summersessions [[at]] columbia [[dot]] edu.