Hidden Histories Book Talk and Conversation with Monique Moultrie

Join us for a book talk and conversation with Dr. Monique Moultrie, associate professor of Religious Studies at Georgia State University and author of Hidden Histories: Faith and Black Lesbian Leadership. This book talk will include a conversation and wider q+a led by Ristina Gooden, PhD student in Homiletics and Liturgics, and Erica Johnson, PhD student in Religion, Psychology, and Culture with a light reception following.

In Hidden Histories, Monique Moultrie collects oral histories of Black lesbian religious leaders in the United States to show how their authenticity, social justice awareness, spirituality, and collaborative leadership make them models of womanist ethical leadership. By examining their life histories, Moultrie frames queer storytelling as an ethical act of resistance to the racism, sexism, and heterosexism these women experience. She outlines these women’s collaborative, intergenerational, and leadership styles, and their concerns for the greater good and holistic well-being of humanity and the earth. She also demonstrates how their ethos of social justice activism extends beyond LGBTQ and racialized communities and provides other models of religious and community leadership. Addressing the invisibility of Black lesbian religious leaders in scholarship and public discourse, Moultrie revises modern understandings of how race, gender, and sexual identities interact with religious practice and organization in the twenty-first century.

This event is a collaboration by the Carpenter Program in Religion, Gender, and Sexuality and the Kelly Miller Smith Institute on Black Church Studies.

Dr. Monique Moultrie is an associate professor of Religious Studies at Georgia State University. Her scholarly interests include sexual ethics, African American religions, and gender and sexuality studies. She has written Passionate and Pious: Religious Media and Black Women’s Sexuality (Duke University Press, 2017) and Hidden Histories: Faith and Black Lesbian Leadership (Duke University Press, March 2023) and is currently the co-principal investigator for “The Garden Initiative for Black Women’s Religious Activism.” Her current research is on reproductive justice and faith. Dr. Moultrie believes that people have callings on their lives that lead to fulfilling a greater purpose. She lives into her calling through a career that spans the academy and the Black church.

Host or Publisher Vanderbilt Divinity School