Parks-King Lectureship
The Parks-King Lectureship commemorates two civil rights activists, Mrs. Rosa Parks and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was established in 1983 through the efforts of the Yale Black Seminarians. The lecture brings the contributions of African American scholars, social theorists, pastors, and social activists to YDS and to the larger New Haven community.
2024
Marla Frederick, Dean, Harvard Divinity School. The Promise and Precarity of Black Institutions: Historical Pasts, Ethnographic Presents, and Collective Futures, Yale Divinity School, January 18, 2024.
2023
A panel of three distinguished alumni scholars: Keri Day ('04 M.A.R.), Associate Professor of Constructive Theology and African American Religion, Princeton Theological Seminary; Alisha Lola Jones ('07 M.Div.), Associate Professor in the Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge; Jeremy L. Williams (’16 M.Div.), Assistant Professor of New Testament, Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University; moderated by Willie James Jennings, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies, Yale Divinity School. From Where We Stand: Envisioning the Future of Black Theology, Yale Divinity School, February 24, 2023.
2022
William J. Barber II, President and Senior Lecturer at Repairers of the Breach and Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign. Reviving American Democracy: Why We Must Have a Moral Reset and Mass Movement to Shift the Narrative in American Public Life, Yale Divinity School, February 24, 2022.
2021
Barbara Savage, Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and Professor of Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania. Re-Envisioning Religion in 21st Century Black Politics, Yale Divinity School, February 2, 2021.
2020
Kelly Brown Douglas, Dean of Episcopal Divinity School and Professor of Theology, Union Theological Seminary. A Legacy of Slavery, Yale Divinity School, February 4, 2020.
2019
Bryan Massingale, Professor and James and Nancy Buckman Chair in Applied Christian Ethics, Fordham University. ‘They Do Not Know and Do Not Want to Know’: James Baldwin, Racial Ignorance, and the Authenticity of Christian Ethics, Yale Divinity School, February 12, 2019.
2018
The Parks-King Lecture was canceled this year due to a health emergency, but in March 2018, Yale Divinity School hosted a panel discussion in Memphis, Tennessee, on living the Martin Luther King legacy today. Panelists: Eboni Marshall Turman, Assistant Professor of Theology and African American Religion, Yale Divinity School; Traci Blackmon, Executive Minister of Justice & Witness Ministries, United Church of Christ; Gerald Durley, Senior Pastor Emeritus at Providence Missionary Baptist Church, Atlanta; Katie Bauman, Associate Rabbi at Temple Israel, Memphis. Moderated by Jonathan Judaken, Spence L. Wilson Chair in Humanities, Rhodes College. Temple Israel, Memphis, March 12, 2018.
2017
Bryan Stevenson, Founder and Executive Director, Equal Justice Initiative. Yale Divinity School, February 1, 2017.
2016
Emilie Townes, Dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School. Colored Orneriness: A Concerto in Four Movements, Yale Divinity School, February 23, 2016.
2015
Willie James Jennings, Associate Professor of Theology and Black Church Studies, Duke University Divinity School. Piety or Protest: Black Theology and the Divided Mind of the Black Church, Yale Divinity School, February 24, 2015.
2014
James A. Forbes, Jr., Harry Emerson Fosdick Distinguished Professor, Union Theological Seminary, and Senior Minister Emeritus, Riverside Church, New York City. When Our Actions are Ordered by God, Yale Divinity School, January 25, 2014.
2013
Raphael Warnock, Senior Pastor Ebenezer Baptist Church. Passing the Torch: Honoring Our Past, Embracing Our Future, Nurturing a New Generation of Leaders, Yale Divinity School, February 26, 2013.
2012
Elizabeth Alexander, Thomas E. Donnelley Professor of African American Studies and Professor of American Studies and English, Yale University. African American Poetry as the Sacred Word, Yale Divinity School, January 24, 2012.
2011
Andrew Young, Civil Rights Leader, Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Former Congressman, Former Mayor of Atlanta. Where do we go from here; and where is here? Yale Divinity School, February 3, 2011.
2010
Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Victor S. Thomas Professor of History and Chair of African and African-American Studies, Harvard University. Patriotism and the Dilemma of the Black Prophetic Voice, Yale Divinity School, February 23, 2010.
2009
M. Shawn Copeland, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, Boston College. The Fierce Urgency of Now: Critical Black Theology and Hope, Yale Divinity School, February 24, 2009.
2007
Dwight Hopkins, Professor of Theology, University of Chicago Divinity School. The Black Church and Its Mission for the 21st Century, Yale Divinity School, February 6, 2007.
2006
Vashti McKenzie, Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Passing the Torch: Honoring Our Past, Embracing Our Future, Nurturing a New Generation of Leaders, Yale Divinity School, February 28, 2006.
2005
John W. Kinney, Dean and Professor of Theology and Historical Studies, Virginia Union University’s Samuel Dewitt Proctor School of Theology. Being Fruitful: Reclaiming Virginity—Reclaiming Self, Yale Divinity School, February 15, 2005.
2004
Robert M. Franklin, Jr. Presidential Distinguished Professor of Social Ethics, Emory University. Religion and Civil Rights: The Revolution Led by Church Women, Preachers, and Sunday-School Children. Yale Divinity School, February 26, 2004.
2003
Joseph Lowery, Civil rights leader and co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Religion and Civil Rights: The Revolution Led by Church Women, Preachers, and Sunday School Children, Yale Divinity School, February 26, 2003.
2002
Barbara Holmes. Lecture delivered on February 28, 2002.
2001
Peter Paris, Professor of Christian Social Ethics, Princeton Theological Seminary. The Theology and Ethics of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Contributions to Ecumenical Christianity, Yale Divinity School, March 1, 2001.
2000
Bernard L. Richardson, Dean of the Andrew Ranking Memorial Chapel and Associate Professor of Divinity, Howard University. The Significance of Dr. Martin L. King and Rosa Parks in the New Millennium, Yale Divinity School, April 6, 2000.
1999
Renita J. Weems, Professor of Old Testament Studies, Vanderbilt University Divinity School. After the Bush Stops Burning, Yale Divinity School, February 5, 1999.
1998
Kelly Brown Douglas, Associate Professor of Theology, Howard University School of Divinity. Yale Divinity School, April 7, 1998.
1997
Floyd Flake, D-NY, 6th Congressional District. I Believe I Can Fly, Yale Divinity School, April 21, 1997.
1995
Barbara-Rose Collins, U.S. Congressional Representative from Michigan. Black Women: Pioneers in the Church and the Civil Rights Movement, Yale Divinity School, March 24, 1995.
1994
Peter Paris, Professor of Christian Social Ethics, Princeton Theological Seminary. Black Religious Leadership in the 1990s, Yale Divinity School, March 24, 1994.
1992
A lecture followed by a conference around the theme of Racism: A Crisis of the Heart. Lecture: James Cone, Charles A. Briggs Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology, Union Theological Seminary. Yale Divinity School, February 21, 1992. Keynote presenters at the conference: Rena Weller Karefa-Smart, Ecumenical Director of the Episcopal Church and Co-Designer and Commissioners of the World Council of Churches' Project to Combat Racism; Michael Williams, Pastor at Joy Tabernacle, Houston. Yale divinity School, April 24-25, 1992.
1991
Calvin O. Butts, III, Associate Pastor at Abyssinian Baptist Church, New York City. An Apology for Blacks, Yale Divinity School, February 7, 1991.
1990
Marcia Y. Riggs, Drew University. Ethics for Living--A Dream Deferred, Yale Divinity School, February 1990.
1989
Renita J. Weems, Assistant Professor of Old Testament, Vanderbilt University. After the Bush Stops Burning, Yale Divinity School, March 6, 1989.
1987
Lawrence E. Carter, Sr., Dean of the Martin Luther King, Jr. International Chapel and Professor of Religion, Morehouse College. These Bones Can Live: A Vision of Community, Yale Divinity School, March 25, 1987.
1986
Gardner C. Taylor, Pastor at Concord Baptist Church of Christ, Brooklyn. Lecture delivered on February 10, 1986.
1984
Thomas Hoyt, Professor of New Testament, Hartford Seminary. Lecture delivered on February 21, 1984.