Phillips Theological Seminary Presents 2026 Tulsa Race Massacre Lectureship April 27
Rev. Dr. Teresa L. Fry Brown, Candler School of Theology’s Bandy Professor of Preaching, to deliver annual lecture
Phillips Theological Seminary hosts its annual Tulsa Race Massacre Lectureship on Monday, April 27 at 901 N. Mingo Road in Tulsa. The event features a lecture by the Rev. Dr. Teresa L. Fry Brown, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Bandy Professor of Preaching at Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta.
A reception and opening for an art exhibit by Anthony Suber begins at 5:30 p.m., with the lecture at 6:45 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Registration is available at events.ptstulsa.edu.
Fry Brown holds the Bandy Professor of Preaching chair, a chaired professorship created in 1986 with a gift from B. Jackson Bandy that is considered by many to be the country’s premier chair in homiletics. She has taught at Candler since 1994, and in 2010 became the first African American woman to attain the rank of full professor there.
Her research interests include homiletics, womanism, womanist ethics, socio-cultural transformation, and African diaspora history with a focus on African American spiritual values. She is the author of multiple books, including Weary Throats and New Song: Black Women Proclaiming God’s Word (Abingdon Press, 2003), Can a Sister Get a Little Help: Advice and Encouragement for Black Women in Ministry (Pilgrim Press, 2008), and Delivering the Sermon: Voice, Body and Animation in Proclamation (Fortress Press, 2008).
Fry Brown is ordained in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and has served as the denomination’s historiographer, executive director of research and scholarship, and editor of the AME Review. She also served as president of the AME General Officers’ Council from 2021 to 2024.
She recently received recognition from the National Black Church Initiative as one of the 25 Most Effective Christian Biblical Preachers of 2025–2026. In February 2026, the Faculty of Seminary of the Southwest named her the 2026 McDonald Teaching Award recipient, given annually in recognition of exceptional teaching.
The Tulsa Race Massacre Lectureship is an annual event at Phillips that commemorates the May 31–June 1, 1921, destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, known as Black Wall Street, and examines the ongoing historical, spiritual, and social legacies of that violence. The lectureship engages Greenwood’s prosperity as evidence of faith and the devastation, shifting attention from the aesthetics of inanimate buildings to the stories of human lives.
The lecture will also stream live on the Phillips YouTube channel.
For more information, contact Krystal Grizzle at krystal.grizzle@ptstulsa.edu.
About Phillips Theological Seminary Phillips Theological Seminary is a progressive graduate school of theology in Tulsa, Oklahoma, affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Phillips prepares students for ministry, public service, and faithful leadership through rigorous academic study and formation. For more information, visit ptstulsa.edu.