Descriptive Summary
Creator(s)
Open for research. Medical, educational, and psychological records of living people are closed.
To browse this collection's digitized materials visit Pearl.
Materials marked "Digital" in the Collection Inventory may not have been digitized in their entirety.
Biographical Note / Administrative History
Gayraud Wilmore, a scholar of African American church history, was born on December 20, 1921 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Benjamin Franklin High School in 1937. He holds degrees from Lincoln University, Temple University, and Drew University. Wilmore attended Lincoln University in 1938 before being drafted into the United States Army where he served with the all-Black 92nd Infantry division. Post World War II, he continued his education at Lincoln University and graduated in 1947 with a Bachelor of Arts. He went on to complete a Bachelor of Divinity at Lincoln University in 1950 and was ordained by the Presbytery of Philadelphia at Second Presbyterian Church in West Chester in June 1950. Wilmore served as pastor of Second Presbyterian Church for three years. During this time, Wilmore worked to desegregate the West Chester public school system and his son became the first Black student enrolled.
Wilmore was a leader in Presbyterian Civil Rights activism. In 1953, he became the associate executive of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Department of Social Education and Action and led social justice initiatives in this position for five years. He was named the first executive director of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.'s Commission on Religion and Race (CORAR) in 1963. He traveled to Presbyterian churches to train pastors in how to organize protests and lobby for civil rights, and joined demonstrations throughout the South. Wilmore also helped found the National Conference of Black Churchmen in 1969 and was instrumental in the creation of the UPCUSA Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People in 1970. He served as the executive director of CORAR until 1972.
Wilmore also has a long and influential academic career. He became a leading scholar in Black theology, worked as a professor at six different seminaries, and lectured at colleges across the country. He served as a professor of social ethics, and the only African American professor, at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary from 1959 to 1963. He then taught social ethics at Boston University School of Theology from 1972 to 1974 and taught at Colgate Rochester Divinity School from 1974 until 1983. He was the dean of divinity at New York Theological Seminary from 1982 until 1987 when he moved to teach church history at the Interdenominational Theological Center. He stayed in this position until 1992. From 1995 to 1998, he taught at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. Wilmore wrote or edited sixteen books throughout his career, including Black Religion and Black Radicalism: An Interpretation of the Religious History of African Americans, published in 1998. Gayraud Wilmore and his wife Lee Ella Wilmore retired to Washington D.C. in 2000.
Collection Overview
Correspondence, essays, and teaching files document Gayraud Wilmore’s work as a Presbyterian pastor and scholar of African American church history.
The Personal matters and correspondence series, 1947-2019, mostly consists of incoming and outgoing correspondence with Wilmore. This includes academic correspondence such as reference questions to Wilmore, letters from former students, and correspondence with publishers. Also included is personal correspondence with members of Wilmore’s family.
The series also contains biographical information, including Wilmore's resume, bibliography, statement of faith, and autobiographical recollections on his experiences in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). There are two folders of photographs which mostly contain portraits and candid shots of Gayraud and Lee Ella Wilmore.
The Writings, speeches, and sermons series, 1964-2015, consists entirely of material written and delivered by Wilmore. The writings include published articles, manuscript drafts, reports, and some addresses given at conferences. A substantial amount relates to race relations within the PC(USA). This includes Wilmore's essay “Color Us Presbyterian” and responses to it. Writings and reports on Black Presbyterian history that were collected, but not written by Wilmore are in Series III: Teaching and subject files, 1948-2017.
This series also contains one folder of sermons that Gayraud labeled as “special” before donating his papers. Most of these sermons are undated; included is Wilmore’s sermon “The Cosmic Cross.”
The Teaching and subject files series, 1848-2017, consists of photocopied articles, essays, and periodicals that Wilmore used for research when teaching or writing. Subject files labeled as “classes” contain syllabi, lecture notes, sources, and student papers from specific courses Wilmore taught, mostly at the Interdenominational Theological Center.
Also included in this series are subject files from organizations that Wilmore worked with such as Black Presbyterians United and the UPCUSA Commission on Religion and Race (CORAR). The folders on Black Presbyterians United contain correspondence, publications, and reports. The CORAR material mostly consists of copies of Wilmore’s reports as Executive Director. There is one folder related to Presbyterians in the Civil Rights Movement which includes documents from the Black Economic Development Conference and responses by the National Council of Churches to the Black Manifesto. Another folder contains correspondence related to “Is This New Wine?” which was a 1993 paper prepared by African American Presbyterians addressing whether or not to form a new denomination.
The Audiovisuals series, 1985-2011, consists of videocassettes, DVDs, and audiocassettes either created or collected by Wilmore. The series contains both published and unpublished recordings. The bulk of the recordings are of sermons and lectures given by Wilmore including lectures on the history of Black theology.
Also included is music that Wilmore collected, including his personal recordings of Tanzanian music. There is one audiocassette from a conference on the Presbyterian Church during the Civil Rights Movement held in 1995 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Organization and Arrangement
The collection is arranged as follows:
SERIES I: PERSONAL MATTERS AND CORRESPONDENCE, 1947-2019
SERIES II: WRITINGS, SPEECHES AND SERMONS, 1964-2015
SERIES III: TEACHING AND SUBJECT FILES, 1848-2017
SERIES IV: AUDIOVISUALS, 1985-2011
Alternative Formats
To browse this collection's digitized materials visit Pearl.
Materials marked "Digital" in the Collection Inventory may not have been digitized in their entirety.
Administrative Information
Received from Gayraud Wilmore in 2019.
Collection processed and guide prepared in 2019 by Elizabeth Wittrig, Processing Archivist, as part of the African American Leaders and Congregations Collecting Initiative.
Preferred Citation
Gayraud Wilmore Papers, RG 526, Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Catalog Headings
Collection Inventory
Box | Folder | Description | Alternative Formats |
|---|---|---|---|
| SERIES I: PERSONAL MATTERS AND CORRESPONDENCE, 1947-2019 | |||
| 1 | 1 | Awards and tributes (includes events honoring Wilmore), 1990-2019 | |
| 1 | 2 | Lincoln University Commencement address, 1947 | |
| 1 | 3 | Installation at Second Presbyterian Church (West Chester, PA) and farewell, 1950 and 1983 | |
| 1 | 4 | Biographical information (includes resumes and bibliography), 1968, 1994-2004, and undated | |
| 1 | 5 | Statement of faith, 2001 and undated | |
| 1 | 6 | Recollections (includes autobiographical accounts of Wilmore’s experiences in the PC(USA) and Angela Davis), 1960s and undated | |
| 1 | 7 | Photographs, 1983-2015 | Digital |
| 1 | 8 | Photographs, 1983-2015 | |
| 1 | 9 | Correspondence, cards (mostly Christmas and birthday), 2009-2018 and undated | |
| 1 | 10-12 | Correspondence with family members, 1980s-2017 | |
| 1 | 13 | Correspondence with Douglas Clark, 2016-2017 | |
| 1 | 14-15 | Correspondence, publications and copyright, 1993-2017 | |
| 1 | 16 | Correspondence, fiction publications, 1991-1996 | |
| 1 | 17 | Correspondence, speaking engagements, 1994-2017 | |
| 1 | 18 | Correspondence, 1982-1996 | |
| 1 | 19 | Correspondence, 1991-1996 | |
| 1 | 20 | Correspondence, 1997 | |
| 1 | 21 | Correspondence, 1998-1999 | |
| 1 | 22 | Correspondence, 2000-2001 | |
| 2 | 1 | Correspondence, 2002-2003 | |
| 2 | 2 | Correspondence, 2004-2006 | |
| 2 | 3 | Correspondence, 2007-2011 | |
| 2 | 4 | Correspondence, 2012-2019 and undated | |
| SERIES II: WRITINGS, SPEECHES, AND SERMONS, 1964-2015 | |||
| 2 | 5 | Speech and writing notes, fiction writings, and research materials, 1987-2002 and undated | |
| 2 | 6-7 | Miscellaneous writings and speeches, 1970s-1990s and undated | |
| 2 | 8 | African American theological education, writings and speeches, 1970s-1980s | |
| 2 | 9 | African American theological education, writings and speeches, 1990-2003 | |
| 2 | 10 | Black theology and the Black church, writings, 1968-1979 | |
| 2 | 11 | Black theology and the Black church, writings, 1980-1999 | |
| 2 | 12 | Black theology and the Black church, writings, 2000-2012 | |
| 2 | 13 | Black theology and the Black church, speeches, undated | |
| 2 | 14 | Black theology and the Black church, speeches, 1960s-1980s | |
| 2 | 15-16 | Black theology and the Black church, speeches, 1990-2006 | |
| 3 | 1 | Bicentennial of African American Presbyterians, speeches, 2007 | |
| 3 | 2 | Black Presbyterians United, speeches, 1981-2012 | |
| 3 | 3 | Caribbean theology, speeches, undated | |
| 3 | 4 | Christianity and Crisis, published writings, 1985-1993 | |
| 3 | 5 | Christianity and race relations, writings and speeches, 1979-1981 | |
| 3 | 6 | Christianity and race relations, writings and speeches, 1981-1992 | |
| 3 | 6 | "Racism in Historical and Theological Perspective" speech given by Gayraud S. Wilmore, December 3, 1992 | Digital |
| 3 | 7 | Commencement addresses and other speeches given at seminaries, 1966-2015 | |
| 3 | 8 | “Higher Education” manuscript, undated | |
| 3 | 9-10 | “Hoppergrass in the Subway” manuscript, circa 1994 | |
| 3 | 11-12 | Martin Luther King Jr., writings, speeches, and collected resources, 1964-1986 and 2015 | |
| 3 | 13 | “Pragmatic Spirituality: Th Christian Faith Through Africentric Lens,” correspondence and notes, 2002-2007 | |
| 3 | 14 | Presbyterian Church and race relations, writings and reports, 1986-2000 | |
| 3 | 14 | "'Color Us Presbyterian:' The Challenge of Anti-Racism and Diversity in the Future of the PC(USA)" by Gayraud Wilmore, circa 2000 | Digital |
| 3 | 15 | Presbyterian Church and race relations, speeches, 1970s-1980s | |
| 3 | 16 | Presbyterian Church and race relations, speeches, 1990s-2010 | |
| 3 | 17-18 | “Prophesying to Pharaoh: How One Group of Church Leaders View Their Successes and Failures in the Civil Rights Movement” manuscript, circa 1995 | |
| 3 | 19 | Tributes, 1998-2013 | |
| 4 | 1 | Sermons, 1965-1979 | |
| 4 | 2 | Sermons, 1981-1997 | |
| 4 | 3 | Sermons, 2001-2009 | |
| 4 | 4 | Sermons labeled special by Wilmore, about 1970-1990s | |
| 4 | 5 | Sermons, Greek New Testament, 1950s-1997 | |
| 4 | 6-10 | Sermons, 1950s-2000s | |
| SERIES III: TEACHING AND SUBJECT FILES, 1848-2017 | |||
| 4 | 10 | African American history, sources, 1967-2013 | |
| 4 | 11 | African American Methodist movement, sources, 1970-1984 | |
| 4 | 12 | Baptists in the Bahamas (includes correspondence re: Amos Williams), 1973-1982 | |
| 4 | 13 | The Black church and gender, sources, circa 1990 | |
| 4 | 14 | Black Evangelical Christianity, sources, 1992 | |
| 4 | 15 | Black Presbyterian history, sources and lectures, 1848, 1896-1956 | |
| 4 | 16 | Black Presbyterian history, sources and lectures, 1960-1979 | |
| 4 | 17 | Black Presbyterian history, sources and lectures, 1980-1989 | |
| 5 | 1 | Black Presbyterian history, sources and lectures, 1990-2016 | |
| 5 | 2 | Presbyterians in the Civil Rights Movement, 1969-1995, 2005 | |
| 5 | 3 | Black Theology Consultations and Atlanta Area Black Scholars in Religion, 1973-1997 | |
| 5 | 4 | African American theological education, 1977-2006 | |
| 5 | 5 | Historically Black theological seminaries writing project, 2004-2018 | |
| 5 | 6 | Black Presbyterians United report to the session, 1977 | Digital |
| 5 | 6 | National Black Presbyterian Caucus mission design, 1987 | Digital |
| 5 | 6-7 | Black Presbyterians United, 1970-1999 and undated | |
| 5 | 8 | Black Presbyterians United, 2001-2008 | |
| 5 | 9 | Black Presbyterians United, 2010-2011 | |
| 5 | 10 | Black Presbyterians United, 2012-2013 | |
| 5 | 11 | Black Presbyterians United, 2014-2015 | |
| 5 | 12 | Black Presbyterians United Social Justice Committee, 2003-2005 | |
| 5 | 13 | Black religious history and theology, sources, 1859-1957 | |
| 5 | 14 | Black religious history and theology, sources, 1969-1989 | |
| 5 | 15 | Black religious history and theology, sources, 1990-2017 | |
| 6 | 1-3 | Allan Boesak manuscript, “The Divine Favour of the Unworthy: Probing New Frontiers in Black Liberation Theology," 2011 | |
| 6 | 4 | The Children's Equitation Center, 2003 | |
| 6 | 5 | Class: Black religion in the 20th century and history of the Black church, 1989-1991 | |
| 6 | 6 | Class: Black theology, 1993 | |
| 6 | 7-10 | Class: Black religious history, lectures, primary sources, and secondary sources, 1965-1998 | |
| 6 | 11-14 | Classes: African American church history, 1997, 2000, 2001, and 2001-2002 | |
| 6 | 15 | Commission on Religion and Race (CORAR), 1964-1968 and 2006 | |
| 6 | 16 | Dr. Warren Dennis manuscript, “Go Ye Back Into the World” | |
| 6 | 16 | General Assemblies, minutes and reports, 1967-2010 | |
| 6 | 17-18 | Roswith Gerloff correspondence and papers, 1997-2010 | |
| 7 | 1 | History of Christianity and interfaith dialogue, sources, 1997-2011 | |
| 7 | 2-3 | History of Christianity in Africa, indigenous religions of Africa, and African history, sources, 1948-2002 | |
| 7 | 4 | “Is This New Wine?” correspondence (includes Dr. Warren Dennis manuscript, “Go Ye Back Into the World: The Challenges of 'New Wine' to Theological Education"), 1993-2003 | |
| 7 | 5-6 | Lecture notes and worksheets, circa 1990s | |
| 7 | 7 | National Capital Presbytery, 2007 | |
| 7 | 8 | National Committee of Black Churchmen, 1969-1976 | |
| 7 | 9 | Barack Obama election and presidency (includes letter from Wilmore to the president), 2008-2015 | |
| 7 | 10 | Pan-African Christian Church Conference and the African Coptic Orthodox Church, 1988 | |
| 7 | 11 | PC(USA) African American Church Growth Strategy, 2008 | |
| 7 | 12 | Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley mission visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2003 | |
| 7 | 13 | Programs from events and memorials, 1978-2016 | |
| 7 | 14 | Protestant church history lectures, circa 1990s | |
| 7 | 15 | Race and the Pentecostal movement, sources, 1970-1984 | |
| 7 | 16 | Research notes, 1981 and undated | |
| 7 | 17 | Sexuality and the Presbyterian Church, 1998-2006 | |
| 7 | 18 | Society for the Study of Black Religion, 1995-1999, 2009 | |
| 7 | 19 | Theological Education in the 21st Century conference at Johnson C. Smith Seminary, 2011 April | |
| 7 | 20 | Dennis Wayne Wiley dissertation “The Concept of the Church in the Works of Howard Thurman," Union Theological Seminary, 1988 | |
| 7 | 21 | Workshops taught by Wilmore (includes Presbyterian racism workshop), 1970-1996 | |
| 7 | 22 | World Council of Churches, 1975-2009 | |
| SERIES IV: AUDIOVISUALS, 1985-2011 | |||
| 8 | 1 | Videocassette: Gayraud Wilmore lecture, “The Significance of Bishop Henry McNeal Turner for us Today” at NYTS, 1988 March 30 (50 minutes) | Digital |
| 8 | 2 | Videocassette: Gayraud Wilmore lecture “Black Theology: Historical Review and Assessment,” 1989 | Digital |
| 8 | 3 | Videocassette: Gayraud Wilmore JITC Awards Event, 1994 March 23 | |
| 8 | 4 | Videocassette: Gayraud S. Wilmore Community Learning House and the Lee Wilmore Technology Center dedication | |
| 8 | 5 | Videocassette: Lecture (Copy), 1987 October 26 | |
| 8 | 6 | Videocassette: How to Make the Bible Come Alive in the African American Church, 1999 July | |
| 8 | 7 | Videocassette: “Looking for Diamonds” Reunion of Reunions the Office of Racial Ethnic Schools and Colleges | |
| 8 | 8 | Videocassette: The Presbyterian Church of East Africa – Two Congregations in Dar es Salaam | Digital |
| 8 | 9 | Videocassette: Meet the Presbyterian Church of East African in Tanzania | Digital |
| 8 | 10 | Videocassette: Rev. Dr. William L. Banks, Black Theology (I Corinthians 1:26:29), 1994 January 30 | |
| 8 | 11 | DVD: Erica Wilmore, Christmas Eve Service: The Nativity, 2006 | |
| 8 | 12 | DVD: Gayraud Wilmore interview, 2007 May 31 | |
| 8 | 13 | DVD: Sargent Memorial Presbyterian Church (Washington D.C.), Reverend Juan P. Guthrie, 103rd Homecoming Celebration Hymn fest, 2011 October 23 | |
| 8 | 14 | DVD: Mary Grace Rogers “Come Sunday” | |
| 8 | 15 | DVD: America beyond the Color Line, “In Our Footsteps” video collection published by the African American Heritage Institute | |
| 9 | 1-3 | Audiocassette: Gayraud S. Wilmore lectures in Georgia and California | |
| 9 | 4 | Audiocassette: Gayraud Wilmore MLK Jr. lecture, 2000 | |
| 9 | 5 | Audiocassette: Beginning of lecture by Wilmore | |
| 9 | 6 | Audiocassette: Gayraud Wilmore, “Theological Reflections from a Black Perspective,” 1985 November 30 | Digital |
| 9 | 7 | Audiocassette: Gayraud Wilmore, “The Greater Works Are in Our Hands,” 1994 January 23 | |
| 9 | 8 | Audiocassette: Gayraud Wilmore lecture at clergy workshop, National Convocation, 1990 August 9-10 | |
| 9 | 9 | Audiocassette: Gayraud Wilmore and Rev. Calvin Rice, First Central Baptist Church | |
| 9 | 10 | Audiocassette: Presbyterian Church During Civil Rights Movement – Conference: Atlanta GA, Day 1 Tape 3, 1995 August 17 | Digital |
| 9 | 11-13 | Audiocassette: Church Street Cumberland Presbyterian Church sermons “Some Lessons from Jonah,” Dr. Mitchell M. Walker and Endia Scruggs, 2007 September | |
| 9 | 14 | Audiocassette: “Pulpit Exchange” Abyssinian Baptist Church the Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts III and Dr. Thomas K. Tewell Senior Pastor Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church | |
| 9 | 15 | Audiocassette: Trinity United Church of Christ Sanctuary Choir | |
| 9 | 16 | Audiocassette: Tanzanian music, March 18, 1991 | |
| 9 | 17 | Audiocassette: Medley of old favorites from our collection |