A Reading List for a Summer of Somebodiness

June 16, 2026.Reading time 8 minutes.

“Martin, don’t let anybody ever tell you you’re not a Somebody.” It’s Martin Luther King Jr.’s foundational childhood story. His grandmother instilled a core belief in his own worth, which remains a critical teaching in the African American community. Somebodiness was popularized by King but dates to chattel slavery. “The essence of ante-bellum black religion […]

The Raceless Gospel as a Proclamation of Somebodiness

June 3, 2024.Reading time 8 minutes.

“I’ve been called everything but a child of God.” The raceless gospel follows the longstanding Black Church tradition of affirming the personhood of bodies racialized as black despite dehumanizing and oppressive systems while centering the self- determination of persons of African descent in America. The Black Church offers a new headquarters for minoritized and marginalized […]