In honor of Black History Month, Rethinking Religion, a radio series associated with Columbia University’s Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life, will air a two-hour special entitled “The Harlem Renaissance: Music, Religion, and the Politics of Race”:

Hosted by Norris J. Chumley (Emmy Award winner, Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer), the first hour explores the influence of the Great Migration on Harlem, what it meant to be a “New Negro” in the 1920s, the emergence of new artistic and religious forms in Harlem, and the spiritual connections between the blues and gospel music.  In hour two, guests discuss the emergence of the storefront church, the Harlem rent party, musicians’ roots in the church, and improvisation in music and the church service.

Guests include scholars Josef Sorett, Farah Griffin, Obery M. Hendricks Jr; Reverend Calvin O. Butts III of Abyssinian Baptist Church; writer Carl Hancock Rux; pianist and composer Courtney Bryan; and others. The episodes feature the voices of Langston Hughes, Sterling Brown, Zora Neale Hurston, plus music by Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Chick Webb, Ella Fitzgerald, and Mahalia Jackson, and more.

This radio special was developed in connection with IRCPL’s media project Religions of Harlem, organized by Josef Sorett and Obery M. Hendricks Jr.

The program will air throughout February on WNYC and select public radio stations. It will also be available for download at IRCPL.ORG and iTunes University. Read more about the program (including air times) here.