UofL professor Michael Brandon McCormack and the UofL Black Diamond Choir are among the local, national and international faith, thought and community leaders who will participate in the event. Festival programs will celebrate the unique beauty, power and strength of the Black faith experiences while facing the profoundly brutal outcomes of genocide, slavery and “profit at any cost.”

McCormack, professor in the departments of Pan-African Studies and Comparative Humanities and director of the Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research, will present “The Ghosts and Growing Edges of Black Faith: Intersectional and Interreligious Conversations.” His presentation, Nov. 19 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., will focus on emergent religious experiences and spirituality as tools for liberation and inspiration to address the oppression of Black people and the justification of systemic racism, patriarchy, sexism and homophobia.

Co-presenters include Alexis Pauline Gumbs, author of “Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals” and cofounder of the Mobile Homecoming Trust; Sunni Patterson, an internationally acclaimed poet, performer and an initiated priestess and minister; and Starsky Wilson, president and CEO of the Children’s Defense Fund and co-chair of the Ferguson Commission.

“I am particularly excited about this panel discussion,” said McCormack. “It will invite us to expand our thinking about the interplay between faith and race by thinking about those who are often marginalized within, or by, our faith traditions. This might be those whose social location, in terms of age, gender or sexuality, has rendered their voices silent within Black church traditions. It might also be those who find their faith and/or religious identification outside of that tradition altogether. Many of those marginalized voices have important wisdom to share about how their particular experiences of faith and race might offer spiritual resources for those involved in ongoing struggles for freedom.”

Later that evening, from 7 to 9 p.m., the University of Louisville Black Diamond Choir will be among the presenters for “Artistic Expressions of Racial Healing and Repair.” The choir, along with the Keen Dance Theatre, the Louisville Jazz Initiative, spoken word artist Hannah Drake and poet Sunni Patterson, will offer an evening of music, dance and spoken word that celebrates hope and activism in the face of oppression.

“It is essential that the Black Diamond Choir and UofL are present for Festival of Faiths, because our students are still living through the daily struggle of racial repair,” said Brandyn Bailey, assistant director of the UofL Cultural Center and advisor for the Black Male Initiative. “From the perspective of gospel music, [the choir] will offer the lineage of our genre since the era of slavery. Our message is a double-edge sword for participants and onlookers alike, that invites hope, redemption and victory.”

Now in its 25th year, the Festival of Faiths is an annual event that celebrates religious diversity, promotes unity and strengthens the role of faith in society. According to Sarah Reed, managing director of the Center for Interfaith Relations, the community is long overdue for “sacred change.”

“National headlines shed light on Louisville’s deep-rooted, institutionalized/systemic disparities of human experience predicated by the color of our skin,” said Reed. “Our city may not be unique in this, but as we became an epicenter at this intersection of turmoil, the painful truth was unavoidably clear — as was our responsibility to seek transformative change.”

Details and tickets for the 2021 Festival of Faiths are . Discounts for student tickets are available.����

The ABI, a program within the College of Arts and Sciences, was established in 2006 and honors the work and legacy of longtime racial justice organizer, educator and journalist, Anne Braden. McCormack shares his thoughts in this Q&A interview.

UofL News: Describe your passion and the ‘why’ behind your desire to lead the institute.����

McCormack: I am drawn to the ABI’s mission of bridging the gap between scholarship and activism, and the possibilities that this mission presents for our campus and community in this crucial moment of racial reckonings.����

UofL News: What is your vision for the ABI and how does it build on the legacy of Anne Braden, along with co-founders Cate Fosl and the late J. Blaine Hudson?����

McCormack: As director, I want to position the ABI as a synergistic hub of critical thought, creative activity and community-engaged research. A place where faculty, staff and students across an array of disciplines can make connections between their research — whether it is in geography or gender studies; Jewish studies or jazz studies — and ongoing struggles for racial and social justice.����

UofL News: What goals do you hope ABI will accomplish over the next five years?����

McCormack: What I appreciate most about Anne Braden was that she was deeply committed to racial and social justice, but never centered herself in the work. She once described herself as joining “a long chain of struggle,” that stretched back long before her and would extend long after she was gone. I hope to help more and more people find creative ways to join, and be sustained in, the work of that long chain of struggle. If by the end of my directorship, we can look back and see where more and more students, staff and faculty found ways to link up to, deepen their engagement with, persist in, and expand upon that ongoing freedom struggle, I will have done my job.����

UofL News: How does this support UofL’s anti-racism agenda?����

McCormack: The ABI, in collaboration with other units, can play a vital role in cultivating the critical intellectual thought and community-engaged practices that undergird the work of an aspiring “premier anti-racist public research university.” The recent racial uprisings — national, global, and perhaps most significantly, local — that called forth UofL’s anti-racism agenda require a renewed wrestling with the varied, and often fraught, relationships between scholarship and activism. In this moment of renewed struggle, and intensified backlash, those connected to the ABI must be committed to a sense of academic excellence and social responsibility that vigorously resists the violent workings of a white supremacist, capitalist, hetero-patriarchal, social order. At the same time, we must help others to imagine and envision a far more beautiful alternative that inspires people to want to strive to bring about a more just society for all of us. As I see it, that is Anne Braden’s legacy, and the ABI should further community-engaged intellectual work that expands upon that legacy.����

UofL News: Your research explores��the intersections between Black religion, popular culture, the arts and activism. Tell us more about this.������

McCormack: As a Black Studies scholar, trained in history and critical theories of religion, cultural studies, social ethics and practical theological approaches to the study of religion, I bring critical questions of meaning, value, vocation and what it means to be human to bear upon racial and social justice research and action. This means that in addition to the historical and social scientific approaches that have grounded the work of the ABI to date, I am interested in calling greater attention to the indispensability of spirituality, culture and the arts in movements for racial and social justice. I see this as consistent with Anne Braden’s profound relationship to, and struggle alongside, the likes of Martin Luther King, Jr., James Lawson, Vincent and Rosemarie Harding, Ella Baker and Bernice Johnson Reagan.����

UofL News: Describe your role as a speaker and influencer outside the academic setting.������

McCormack: As the child of parents who never attended college, I am deeply invested in speaking to, and learning from, communities of everyday people, who gather to make meaning and struggle for freedom outside of the academy. The ABI can play an important role in amplifying the voices and concerns of those who are consistently relegated to the margins of society — those who may never enroll at the University of Louisville, or even set foot on a college campus. I see my work as director as a way of becoming more deeply rooted in community-engaged scholarship while refusing to relinquish critical intellectual engagement with the best that the academy has to offer.����

UofL News: Anything else you’d like to share with us?����

McCormack: I am very excited to be entrusted with this work and I look forward to possibilities for collaboration on campus, within the community, and across the country!����

The Braden Institute’s work to preserve Kentucky’s LGBTQ history was done in association with the Fairness Campaign from 2015-2017. The project’s goal was “to produce the nation’s first statewide LGBTQ historic context report and two LBTGQ historic site designations, working with Kentucky’s State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO).”

“Widespread social hostility, including violence, has meant that the cultural contributions of LGBTQ people have long been undervalued or suppressed, resulting in invisibility of this aspect of Kentucky’s heritage,” reads the Braden Institute’s nomination letter. “Recovering those histories is a vital part of acknowledging the dignity of LGBTQ communities in order to create wider validity and acceptance.”

After vigorous research, including five statewide history gatherings or “History Harvests”, the Braden Institute’s report was published by the National Park Service as a part of its initiative to document minority communities. The project director and the report’s lead author was Institute director Catherine Fosl, who is also a Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. According to the nomination, “outcomes included new visibility, advocacy tools, and media coverage for partners; new research skills and publications for students; curricular transformation; two of the nation’s first-ever National Register historic sites with LGBTQ significance; and online public history report.”

About the university-community partnership that forms the basis for this award, Fairness Campaign Director Chris Hartman had this to say: “As we worked hand in hand with the Anne Braden Institute to complete the [project], the Fairness Campaign reconnected with many early leaders of our movement and ignited fresh interest in our work.”

The Institute hopes to expand its research in ways that may include uncovering more histories of LGBTQ Kentuckians of color and working with Kentucky school districts to include more LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum.

Henry Cunningham, UofL’s director of Community Engagement, said the university has submitted nominations for the W. Kellogg Awards and the C. Peter Magrath Award before, but has never gotten this far.

“The W. Kellogg Awards and the C. Peter Magrath Award were developed to provide national recognition for the outstanding community-university engagement work of public universities,” Cunningham said. “The purpose is to recognize the contribution universities are making to the community through joint collaboration with community partners using engaged scholarship, like teaching and research. Colleges and universities are recognized for redesigning their teaching/learning and research mission to increase the involvement of community partners.”

Applicants must demonstrate how scholarship bettered their communities, be it by teaching, research, or service. “The [application] exemplifies the role of the Office of Community Engagement working with faculty across the university to connect teaching and research to community issues in a mutually beneficial way,” said Cunningham.������������

As a recipient of the Kellogg Awards, UofL will receive $2,500 to produce a two-minute video showcasing the university’s journey with its partnerships, which will be shown at the ESC Annual Conference and will also be reviewed as a part of the review process for the Magrath Awards. If selected for the Magrath Awards, UofL will receive a sculpture and a $20,000 prize.

The 20 students participated in the Kentucky-Princeton Undergraduate Summer Institute on Inequality, sponsored by the Princeton University Center for Human Values. Through academic study, field study and service learning, the participants explored various theories of what inequality is and why it matters and examined how inequality affects people across sectors of society and aspects of their lives such as housing, justice and health.

Carmen Mitchell, a UofL School of Public Health and Information Sciences doctoral student, helped with the institute, serving as a local resource and residing with the group in Kurz Hall. She was impressed by the conversations, listening to “the participants connecting what they are learning with their own experiences. That’s one of the best parts, actually – them getting to interact freely, not being graded, building relationships and friendships as well.”

Mitchell also presented to the group on her focus area of health policy, particularly in health disparities. In giving a public health overview, she wanted to identify some of the barriers such as provider access, rural care and a history of racism and sexism. “It’s very complicated.”

“More than memorizing facts, I want the students to have a framework for how to talk about the issues,” Mitchell said.

After morning seminars in the Overseers House on Belknap Campus, the students ventured out to various sites in Louisville, including Churchill Downs and the Backside Learning Center, an environmental justice tour, a meeting with the mayor and a civil rights history driving tour developed by UofL’s Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research. Central Kentucky tours took them to a Pathways Inc. health clinic, a horse farm and a distillery. Capping off the week was a Saturday service learning project to participate in New Directions Housing Corp.’s Repair Affair on a Louisville house.

Micah Castanon, a UofL philosophy and sociology major and Pan-African studies minor, was looking forward to the hands-on nature of the service project after the week of an institute he described as “really good and super relevant.”

The Glasgow student was interested in the experience because of “the prospect of gathering practical learning of equality and inequality – who it affects – and being able to carry it away from here and implement it in actions and everyday decisions.”

UofL philosophy professor Avery Kolers and Anna Stilz, Princeton professor of politics with the University Center for Human Values, coordinated the institute. Additional faculty participants were from several UofL departments as well as Western Kentucky University, Eastern Kentucky University and University of Kentucky. The faculty volunteered their time, and the students had an all-expenses-paid educational experience.

In October, the students will go to Princeton for a weekend to learn from faculty presenters there and to work on op-ed writing projects together, as well as visit Trenton, New Jersey, Stilz said.

The institute “brings a lot of depth” to an academic experience, she said. “It adds a lot to your understanding. The students are fantastic.”

The summer institute was the first of its kind; organizers plan to gauge its impact and possibly offer future seminars, varying the topics annually to look at other questions about values in public life.