2015-2016: Lift Every Voice and Sing

The Pruit Memorial Symposium Committee and the Baylor University Libraries announce the 2015-2016 Pruit Symposium “Lift Every Voice and Sing” on February 25-26, 2016.  The event celebrates the heritage of Black Gospel Music and includes two inspiring public programs featuring The Rev. Dr. Emmett G. Price III, a leading expert on African American music, culture and worship.

The symposium begins on Thursday, February 25 at 3:30 p.m. in the Paul W. Powell Chapel of Truett Seminary with a panel on “Music and Worship from Hallelujah to Hip-Hop” featuring Dr. Price along with Baylor professors Dr. Coretta Pittman and Dr. Horace Maxile. Professor Robert Darden will moderate.

Dr. Price will also present “Life Every Voice and Sing” on Friday, February 26 at 11 a.m. in the Paul W. Powell Chapel of Truett Seminary. Joslyn Henderson, a first-year graduate student, will coordinate the music. A complimentary lunch and discussion session will follow the presentation. These events are free and open to the public.

The Pruit Memorial Symposium at Baylor University brings the perspective of Christian intellectual tradition on contemporary issues of common concern. Through the articulation of differing views within the realm of Christian understanding, Baylor aspires to be a locus for a distinctly Protestant and Christian worldview that is true to the best thoughts in Baptist tradition. In 1996, Ella Wall Prichard and the late Lev H. Prichard III of Corpus Christi established the Pruit Memorial Symposium Endowment Fund in memory of Helen Pruit Matthews and her brothers, Dr. Lee Tinkle Pruit and William Wall Pruit.

The 2016 Pruit Symposium is made possible by the Pruit Memorial Symposium Endowment. This year's event is co-sponsored by the Baylor University Libraries; American Studies; Journalism, Public Relations and New Media; and the George W. Truett Theological Seminary.