Webinar: "The Black Madonna for Racial Liberation"

The Medieval Institute, the Notre Dame Initiative on Race and Resilience, and the Departments of Africana Studies, PLS and Theology hosted the final webinar in our series on pilgrimage. Christena Cleveland, Ph.D., spoke about her new book, God Is A Black Woman (2022), which chronicles her 400-mile walking pilgrimage across France to the ancient shrines of Black Madonnas. Cleveland tells of the spiritual transformation she experienced as she encountered a God who affirms the sacredness of all Black people. 

A social psychologist, public theologian, author, and activist, Dr. Cleveland is the founder and director of the Center for Justice + Renewal as well as its sister organization, Sacred Folk, which creates resources to stimulate people’s spiritual imaginations and support their journeys toward liberation. An award-winning researcher and former professor at Duke University’s Divinity School, she lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

This webinar is part of a series of spring-semester events exploring the practice of pilgrimage, both historically across faith traditions and in present-day work for social justice.