Black Theology Project: Organizational Gift, Intellectual Apparatus—Legacies of Dr. James Cone

Abstract:This article offers a brief review of Dr. James H. Cone's involvement with the organizational beginnings and function of the Black Theology Project. The discussion centers on the Project because Cone's writings and participation helped inspire U.S. African descendant clergy, laypeople, academics, activists, and theologians to work collectively in BTP efforts. BTP was also an influential and international touchstone for other groups of African descendants seeking to articulate liberation theology as developed within the historical realities of their existence. The article reviews the origins of BTP and some of what it accomplished during its fifteen-year tenure, drawing on archival materials held at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York City Public Library. In addition, I was an active member of BTP and served as a past executive director.