Doris Ulmann, Grave of Hackless Jenkins, 1878-1928, Sea Islands, Georgia, decorated with clocks, glassware, & other objects. Library of Congress.
The goal of this grant program is to support innovative work examining the diversity of Black religious communities and cultures, past and present. Crossroads emphasizes the diverse landscape of African American religions, reflecting the voices and leadership of those not featured in traditional accounts and engages a geography beyond the US, recognizing the historical and contemporary impact of African American religious connections to Africa and the Americas and the influence of immigration from the Caribbean and Africa on religious life in the United States.
Funded projects are featured on a companion website and provide tools for students, scholars, and interested publics to explore this rich story. The cohort of grantees will have the opportunity to be in conversation with one another and are expected to participate in several virtual meetings with the Crossroads Project team over the course of the grant as they develop their projects.
Learn more about earlier cohorts of Crossroads Fellows (2022; 2023; 2024) We expect to make ten grants total in the 2025 cycle.
You can see the Crossroads Fellows' work on SPIRIT HOUSE, our companion website.
Deadline: December 9, 2024
Award Notifications: February 10, 2025
Arts Fellows
With grants up to $10,000, Arts Fellows may be writers, visual artists, filmmakers, musicians, actors, and dancers, for example, whose renderings of Black religious histories and cultures in different forms provide novel interpretations and generate new questions for scholars and members of the public who engage the website.
Community Stories Fellows
With grants up to $10,000, Community Stories Fellows will contribute interpretive material about Black religious history and cultures from their grounding in community.
Research Fellows
With grants up to $5000, Research Fellows will draw on their areas of research expertise to produce interpretive materials for the website related to major topics or themes in Black religious studies.
Teaching Fellows
With grants up to $5000, Teaching Fellows will focus their work on providing resources for broader, deeper, and more nuanced teaching about major topics or themes related to Black religious history and cultures.
Crossroads Grants Information Session
Listen to the Audio Recording of the November 13, 2023 Grants Information Session with project Director Judith Weisenfeld, Associate Director Anthea Butler, and Media and Technology Consultant Megan Goodwin.
Introductory Notes for the Information Session.