Black Domers: Black Spirituality

Experience the Event

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Thursday, February 29, 2024 7:00 pm

“Recent events in our nation have led to a national reckoning, to soul-searching and a demand for action with regard to racial and social injustice…There is a widespread sense of urgency to come together, to take meaningful action to achieve a more just and equitable society. Accompanying the urgency is a sense of hope that now is the moment for constructive and lasting change.” – Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Notre Dame: A Strategic Framework, June 2021

Explore the ways our faith journeys can offer a path to healing, liberation and fulfillment, particularly when expressed according to the culture and traditions of a people rich with spiritual gifts. Alumni Relations Director of the Black Alumni of Notre Dame, LaDawn Burnett ’12 J.D. moderates a conversation between Rev. Hugh Page, Vice President for Institutional Transformation and Advisor to the President, and Dr. Jacqueline Rivers, member of the Board of Advisors of Notre Dame Law School’s Religious Liberty Initiative, who will discuss the faith experience of Black people and how faith influences our response to socioeconomic and social justice issues. They will also touch on the intersection of racial justice, religious freedom, and the Black church. Join us as we bridge the spiritual with the practical.

To submit a question for the speakers before the event, please use this form.

Meet the Moderator: LaDawn Burnett '12 J.D.

LaDawn Burnett is a 2012 graduate of Notre Dame Law School (NDLS). During her time at NDLS, LaDawn was a member of the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics, & Public Policy, president of the Black Law Students Association (BLSA), and also served as Assistant Rector of Howard Hall (Go Ducks!). Currently, LaDawn serves as Region 5 Director for the Notre Dame Law Association (NDLA) Board and as the Alumni Relations Director of the Black Alumni of Notre Dame. In addition, LaDawn is a member of the Board of Directors for the Missouri Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Association, which supports local CASA programs and leads advocacy efforts for abused and neglected children across Missouri.

Meet the Faculty: Rev. Hugh R. Page, Jr.

Hugh R. Page, Jr. is the University’s inaugural vice president for institutional transformation and advisor to the President. In this role, he serves as a strategic leader working closely with Father Jenkins and University leadership to create and coordinate an integrated diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) strategy centrally and across various divisions, colleges and schools. He facilitates the formulation and implementation of various DEI initiatives, monitors progress, and works with units to catalyze structural and cultural change consistent with the University’s values.

Page served as vice president and associate provost for undergraduate affairs from 2013-2022, dean of the First Year of Studies from 2005-2019. He has been a faculty member at the University since 1992 and holds appointments in theology and Africana studies. He has also served as associate dean for undergraduate studies in Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters and director of the African and African American Studies Program. He was instrumental in the development of the latter into the Department of Africana Studies, which he then chaired.

An Episcopal priest, Page holds a bachelor’s in history from Hampton University, two master’s degrees from The General Theological Seminary in New York, a doctorate in ministry from the Graduate Theological Foundation, and a master’s and doctorate in Near Eastern languages and civilizations from Harvard University. He joined the Notre Dame faculty in 1992 and, in 2001, received a Presidential Award for distinguished service to the University.

Page’s scholarly interests include early Hebrew poetry, Africana biblical interpretation, esotericism in Africa and the African Diaspora, poetry as a medium for theological expression, and the use of religious traditions and sacred texts in the construction of individual and corporate identity in the Africana world.

He is the author or editor of Exploring New Paradigms in Biblical and Cognate Studies, The Myth of Cosmic Rebellion: A Study of its Reflexes in Ugaritic & Biblical Literature, Exodus: A Bible Commentary for Every Day, The Africana Bible: Reading Israel’s Scriptures from Africa and the African Diaspora, and Israel’s Poetry of Resistance: Africana Perspectives on Early Hebrew Verse.

Meet the Speaker: Dr. Jacqueline C. Rivers

Jacqueline C. Rivers is a lecturer in Sociology at Harvard University; the Executive Director and Senior Fellow for Social Science and Policy of the Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies and a Senior Fellow at The King’s College in New York City. She was a Hutchins Fellow in the W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute at Harvard University and has presented at Princeton University, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Pennsylvania, the Vatican, Stanford University, the United Nations and in several other venues. Her publications include “The Paradox of the Black Church and Religious Freedom” in the University of St. Thomas Law Journal; a chapter in the volume Not Just Good but Beautiful; another in Race and Covenant: Recovering the Religious Roots for American Reconciliation and a chapter co-authored with Orlando Patterson in The Cultural Matrix published by Harvard University Press. Dr. Rivers works with leaders in the ecumenical black church to promote a philosophical, political, and theological framework for a pro-poor, pro-life, pro-family movement and has worked on issues of social justice and Christian activism in the black community for more than thirty years. She serves on the Board of Advisors for the Religious Freedom Institute, the Board of Directors for Becket Law, the Board of Directors for the Center for Early African Christianity and on the Religious Liberty Initiative Board of Advisors at University of Notre Dame.