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Thursday, February 7, 2013African American Heritage Celebration LectureLecture sponsored in part by the Nathan Baxter Fund for African American Studies Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright Background Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright was born and raised in Philadelphia’s Germantown neighborhood. His parents are the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Sr., who pastored Grace Baptist in Germantown from 1938 to 1980, and Dr. Mary Elizabeth Henderson Wright, a schoolteacher who was the first black person to teach an academic subject at Philadelphia’s Roosevelt Junior High, Germantown High School, and went on to become the high school’s first black vice principal. Wright attended Virginia Union University in Richmond, but left in 1961 to join the United States Marine Corps and became part of the 2nd Marine Division attaining the rank of private first class. In 1963, after two years of service, Wright joined the United States Navy and entered the Corpsman School at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center. Wright was then trained as a cardiopulmonary technician at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. In 1967 he enrolled at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1968 and a master’s degree in English in 1969. He also earned a master’s degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School. Wright holds a Doctor of Ministry degree (1990) from the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, where he studied under Samuel DeWitt Proctor, a mentor to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In the United Church of Christ Wright became pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago on March 1, 1972; it had some 250 members on its rolls, but less than 100 were actually attending worship by that time. By March 2008 Trinity United Church of Christ had become the largest church in the United Church of Christ denomination. Wright began the “Ministers in Training” (MIT) program at Trinity UCC, and has been a national leader in promoting theological education and the preparation of seminarians for the African-American church. He has taught at Chicago Theological Seminary, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and other educational institutions, and served on the Board of Trustees at Virginia Union University, Chicago Theological Seminary and City Colleges of Chicago. This is a very special opportunity for the Lancaster community. Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright is a theologian, a linguist, a musician, a military veteran, a scholar, and an impassioned preacher. We are blessed to be able to host him this winter to speak on one of the most significant unification acts ever passed by our government, the Emancipation Proclamation, on this its 150th anniversary.
PLEASE NOTE: Due to limited seating capacity, tickets are needed to attend BOTH events, but are available free of charge by emailing advancement@lancasterseminary.edu or by calling 717.290.8758. We sincerely apologize in advance for not being able to admit those who do not have tickets. To view the Sunday News article on Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, please click here. Read more |