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FootprintsDr. Larry Murphy

Historiographer, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc.

Each year during its national meeting the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference celebrates the “ministries and gifts” of select individuals with an awards ceremony under the theme “Beautiful Are Their Feet.” Feet, as mere functional appendages of the human biology, have no particular beauty in and of themselves. But as a metaphor for the intentional transiting through the human experience, feet can, indeed, be beautiful, most particularly the feet of those that “preach the gospel of peace, that bring glad tidings of good things.” And in so doing, feet leave enduring evidence of their benedictory advance. Their steps render “footprints.”

Footprints can point us to the past. We trace them back through the journey - sometimes perilous and daunting, sometimes exhilarating - whereby we have come to our present moment. And, like the Sankofa bird, we do well to look back to that journey, to learn its lessons; to be encouraged by its “overcomings;” to derive wisdom and strategic insight into how one effectively navigates the flux and flow of changing times; how one negotiates “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune;” and how one graciously receives those redemptive moments when “peace, be still” was the sustaining intervention we did not believe was possible. How good it is that those seeking both to find a constructive, fulfilling pathway through the chaos of life and also to make a way for Truth and inclusive community to be realized in the world have the gift of “footprints” – as recipients and as currency for paying forward.

This annual Proctor Conference, now celebrating its 15th year, is the beneficiary of the footprints of the Rev. Dr. Samuel DeWitt Proctor - scholar, pastor, prophet, public servant, exemplar of life well-lived. His legacy will surely be honored and referenced, with gratitude, in several ways during the days of the meeting. It has been extended through the conference leadership of some who literally walked in Dr.Proctor’s steps, such as conference co-founders Revs. Iva Carruthers, Jeremiah Wright, and Freddie Haynes . Even more so has it been extended by the public witness of the Proctor Conference, itself, from its inception to the present day, reflective of its oft-stated missional identity: “With Vision, By Faith, Through Action . . . Strengthening Churches, Empowering Leaders, Transforming Communities”

This unique, unprecedented assemblage of clergy and laity, including seminary students and social agency leaders, has engraved Proctor conference footprints on virtually every significant cause for justice advocacy to emerge in the last decade and a half. Captions chosen for its annual meetings give evidence of its fundamental commitments, as in these representative offerings:

2004 - God’s Call: Setting Captives Free: Equipping Pastors Beyond Worship2007 - In the Wake of Katrina: Lest We Forget . . . Call to Renewal2011 - Keepers of the Vision: Visionary Leadership for All Generations2012 - Reckoning with Power: Destroying Caste and Restoring Community2016 - Look Around: The Cries Will Be Heard

Putting “feet”on its vision, the Proctor Conference fostered the establishment of the Addie Wyatt-Bill Lucy Institute, dedicated to leadership development and civic engagement training for oncoming generations. So also by incorporating a curriculum of teaching/learning sessions for seminarians, for which they receive academic credit from their home institutions. Proctor established annual “Legislative Days”, in which intergenerational groups of clergy and laity travel to Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, to meet with elected officials and not for

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profit leadership, in recognition that the ills suffered in communities are not simply the outflow of individuals’ malefactions but are systemic, interwoven into the political, legal, and social structures whereby our lives are adjudicated. Proctor’s footprints have been impressed in national and international forums, as in its participation in the National Jena 6 Campaign, the National Council of Churches Middle East Delegation, the World Council of Churches Commemoration of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade; or in General Secretary Dr. Iva Carruthers’ 2016 presentation to the United Nations General Assembly on global drug problems and policy solutions [the only US citizen among nine persons invited to speak.] In myriad other ways, the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference has left, and continues to leave, transformative footprints on human lives: through publications, such as the breach: Bearing Witness. Report of the Katrina National Justice Commission of SDPC, Inc.; Blow the Trumpet in Zion: Global Vision and Action for the 21st Century Black Church; “Bill of Rights for the Poor,” by the Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III, and various resource and training manuals; through its inter-session consultations and advocacy initiatives; and not least through its annual meeting workshops and inspirational devotional services, both of which seek to prepare attendees to be prophetic actors when they return to their respective places of service.

As we fete this fifteenth year, we also mark the passing of one whose footprints provided the guiding, nurturing life path bequeathed to Proctor co-founder Dr. Iva Carruthers. I refer, of course, to Mama Lois Johnson, Iva’s cherished mother. She set a trail of passionate commitment to justice, to African American empowerment, and to the flourishing of our individual and collective lives. Gratias tibi; Requiescat in Pace.

Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once penned,”Lives of the great [ones] all remind usWe can make our lives sublime,And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time . . . .’

Footprints that other seekers, other strivers for a better way, believers against the disparaging odds that a different tomorrow is possible, that these may take heart in the sighting that there are those who have gone ahead and, thereby, have importuned them to stay courageously on the journey, extending the journey into the dim but beckoning unknown.

So let us, indeed, be on the journey, as inheritors of the trail blazed before us, while imprinting on this present age the empowering signs of our own faithful trek to transformative justice. Let us, again in the words of poet Longfellow, “. . .

Be up and doing, With a heart for any fate;Still achieving, still pursuing,Learn[ing] to labor and to wait.”

Dr. Larry MurphyHistoriographerSamuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc.

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A luta continuaRev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.

Co-FounderSamuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc.

When our cofounder and Executive Director told me that she would be working this year with the theme “FOOTPRINTS,” I immediately thought of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem. Then I thought about the story about two sets of footprints in the sand where one set of the footprints belonged to God; and then I thought of Sam Proctor’s classic illustration about footprints.

Almost everyone who finished high school is familiar with Longfellow’s immortal words:

“Lives of [s/heroes] all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time;”

Persons of faith have all seen artistic renderings of the footprints in the sand made by the Pilgrim who, when looking back over their life’s journey, noticed that there were two steps of footprints for as far back as they could see with one odd exception. Every time there was a storm in the Pilgrim’s life, a serious challenge, a life-threatening illness, or brokenness in relationships one of the set of footprints would disappear.

The Pilgrim asked God why God deserted them when they needed God most; only to be pleasantly surprised and blessed by God’s answer which was, “Whenever you see just one set of footprints, it is not because I deserted you. It is because I knew you needed me most at that moment and I picked you up and carried you through the storm.”

Either one of those powerful illustrations would fit Dr. Carruthers’ theme for this year; but since we are the Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference, I decided to use Dr. Proctor’s illustration as the guiding principle for this fifteen year reflection.

Dr. Proctor tells the story of a farmer down in the “country” of Virginia (I would say Caroline County, Virginia or Surry County, Virginia.). A terrible snowstorm hit that area of the country and cut off all communication and transportation. The farm was blanketed in snow.

The cows still had to be milked, however. The livestock still had to be watered and the eggs had to be gathered from the chicken coop. The snow had accumulated up to about two and a half feet; so the farmer put on his goulashes, told his children to stay put and help momma in the kitchen while he went out to the barn to do the chores.

His ten year-old wanted to follow him and he warned him not to try to do so. The weather was too treacherous and it was too dangerous for him to walk fifty yards through the blinding blizzard.

The farmer closed the door tightly behind himself as he trudged the fifty yards in the bitter cold temperature and almost blinding gusts of snow caused by fierce winds. When he got to the barn and got inside, he had

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not stepped ten paces inside of the barn before he heard the door open, with howling winds and gusts of snow coming through the doorway.

The farmer thought he had not closed the tightly enough and when he turned around to do so only he saw his ten year-old standing there grinning. Caught between two emotions – not knowing whether to be angry with his son for being disobedient or to be grateful that his son was okay having made the treacherous trek all by himself – the farmer asked his son, “How in the world did you get here?”

His son answered, “It was easy, dad. I just walked in your footprints!”

When I look back across fifteen years, I look back to the snack bar of the basement lounge in the hotel where we were staying for the “State of Black America” Tom Joyner, Tavis Smiley C-SPAN show. Freddy Haynes and I were talking before the show about the need to revitalize a conference for Pastors, ministers, church officers and lay folk similar to the old Hampton Minister’s Conference where you had lectures, preaching, worship and different courses covered during the week which provided the attendees lectures on homiletics, theology, church history, history of religions, etc..

The old Hampton Minister’s Conference was much smaller than conferees within the past two decades have seen. The conference was held in Ogden Hall (for ministers) and there was an opportunity to question and have dialogue with the lecturers. After morning worship, the musicians went to another building on campus for their daily lectures and clesses.

What Freddy and I were talking about was not new to us. We had been talking about trying to have a renaissance of that kind of conference for several years. With both of us being Pastors, however, neither one of us had the time nor the energy to think through the logistics of such a conference and get it off the ground.

“God works in mysterious ways, God’s wonders to perform. He plants his feet upon the waves, and rides on every storm!”

The words of that hymn talk about the Providence of God and God worked providentially that afternoon that Freddy and I were engaged in our dialogue.

Dr. Iva Carruthers walked up on our conversation and showed me the audit that she had had performed for Urban Ministries. As the newly appointed Executive Director of the Urban Ministries Foundation, she had an audit done as any wise administrator would do, walking into a corporation or a church brand new!

While thumbing through the audit, I saw the old Urban Ministries “Christian Education Conference” figures and was astonished. That conference which was famous nationwide only cost $50,000 back in 2000 and 2001. I asked Dr. Carruthers if Freddy and I gave her $50,000 could she pull off the kind of conference we were talking about.

Dr. Carruthers said if we were serious, to give her a call after the Tom Joyner/Tavis Smiley show was over. We did and the first question she asked us as progressive African-American pastors at the turn of the 21st Century was, “Where is the female leadership in planning and hosting this conference?” We said, “You are,” And she quickly told us that she was talking about a female pastor like the two of us were male pastors.

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We did not have a female in mind and she told us to call her back when we got one in mind; then she hung up on us!

At the hotel lounge in Detroit, Dr. Carolyn Knight and Dr. Cynthia Hale had been sitting in a booth across from Freddy and me and they had heard most of our conversation. We called Carolyn, but Carolyn was no longer the pastor of a church. She did not have the financial resources to help that we needed in raising $50,000.

We called Dr. Hale and she very graciously said yes. So the three of us pastors and Dr. Carruthers began planning a conference that is now fifteen years-old. Dr. Carruthers made it clear that she was not interested in just having a group of clergy come together once a year to worship, praise God and go home. She wanted to make sure she had our commitment in being a social justice advocacy organization 24/7/365.

As I look back across fifteen years from the restaurant in the lounge through our working with local congregations on issues of mass incarceration, ministry to the affected churches and residents in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, our participation in the Transatlantic Roundtable on Religion and Race, our exposing young people to ministry that had social justice as its center piece, (the word “millennials” was not used in 2002.) and from our moving to get a charter for the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference up until today where we are now a recognized NGO and presenting before the United Nations and internationally, I say, “Gye Nyame” – nobody but God!

As one of the three co-founders of SDPC it is my hope that we have left, will leave and are leaving footprints for the generations behind us to follow safely across the treacherous terrain of “Uncle Tom religion” and so-called conservative-evangelical religion.

It is my hope that we have been able to set in motion a movement that will live on long after we have passed off the scene of time and begun our trafficking in eternity.

This journal will give you highlights of some of the memorable moments of ministry in which we have been engaged for the past decade and a half and as you look at the footprints we have left, please remember the slogan which was the rallying cry of the FRELIMO Movement during Mozambique’s war for independence. The phrase in Portuguese and the correct wording of the phrase is: “A luta continua, vitória é certa” which means, “The struggle continues, victory is certain!”

A luta continua…

The struggle continues. The storm is still raging. The struggle is dangerous. The winds of racism are still fierce. The struggle is arduous. The footing through the storm is still treacherous; but we tread on, leaving footprints for those following behind us.

The struggle is real; but we are determined to march on. We are determined to stay in the struggle until the battle is over because God says…. Victory is certain!

Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.Co-FounderSamuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc.

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Proctor Quotes for 2018

“Given all of the biblical scholarship at hand….It would be difficult to be confused about how Jesus felt about some people starving while other persons had so much…He left no doubt about how he felt about blind, homeless beggars, lame and palsied bodies, abused women and little children.”

“This is one nation, and we cannot let it become divided with those bound for success and sufficiency at the top and those destined for futility and failure at the bottom.”

“We who are better off need to look back and see how much of it we did on our own and how much was contributed by persons who welcomed us into the world under very favorable circumstances…. Most of what we have was not deserved at all but was an unearned social benefit. Those who missed out on such benefactions are left behind.”

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Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc. 2003-2018

The statue of the unnamed Haitian maroon memorializes the sacrifices, lives and faith of an African people who, in 1791, initiated a spiritual and military liberation struggle against the evils of the slave trade in Haiti and the Americas. Their victory, culminating in 1804, reverberated throughout the world. It is this symbol of faith and liberation that has been adopted as the logo of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc..

The symbol represents righteousness in the struggle for justice and liberation. In one hand the conch shell, like the ram’s horn, was used by the maroon to call the assembly together and to signal approaching danger. In the other hand, the sword, like the word of God, was used to proclaim the righteousness of our struggle on which all our hope lies.

Relevant then and relevant now, the logo symbolizes the Call to Sacred Assembly (Joel 2) and the Spirit of our Living God (Isaiah 61 and Luke 4).

Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc.

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Ties That Bind

Current Staff and Volunteers accepting 2018 Delivery of Haitian Maroons

“Our Haitian brothers and sisters send us love in the form of Haitian maroon statues. One hand on the sword, one hand using a conch to call for freedom, and a broken chain on his ankle, the Haitian maroon reminds us why we do the work we do. “A luta continua.”

Artist: Jeune Jn Baptiste Obert

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Leader: Israel’s sentinels are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all silent dogs that cannot bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. The dogs have a mighty appetite; they never have enough. The shepherds also have no understanding; they have all turned to their own way, to their own gain, one and all. Assembly: May the Word of God be engraved upon our hearts. Leader: Some pastors have given up on filling the shoes of Amos, Micah, Isaiah, or Jeremiah …God bless those pastors who stand tall and who, in love, tell the truth. They are the watchpersons in the tower, the sentinels at the gate who can save us from total pollution. Assembly: May the wisdom and words of Dr. Samuel DeWitt Proctor renew our call. Leader: For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully. Assembly: May the standards for education and excellence of Dr. Proctor guide our daily preparation for the work we are called to do.

Leader: Because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, if I perish, I perish.

Assembly: May the uncompromised integrity of Dr. Proctor be an example to us all.

Leader: For the least among all of you is the greatest.

Assembly: May the humility of Dr. Proctor permeate our being and our doing.

Leader: But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children.

Assembly: May the sacrifices and legacy of Dr. Proctor, and all the men and women who labor as he did, be known by generations yet to come.

Mission Litany: Call to Assembly

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Leader: I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

Assembly: May the loving spirit of Dr. Proctor be reflected in our relationships to family, friends and strangers in our midst.

Leader: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. ALL: May the words and faith of Dr. Proctor always lead us to the power beyond our fragile will through which a new human paradigm can be achieved. We, those who gather in the name of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, now do pledge to remember and honor his memory by our faithfulness to the One he served.

(Isa 56:10-11; 2 Tim 4:3-5; Acts 17:31;Esth 4:16; Lk 9:48; Deut 4:9; Jn 15:17; Heb 11:1) (NSRV) © 2003 Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc.

Mission Litany: Call to Assemblycontinue

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The Addie Wyatt / Bill Lucy Labor and Justice Institute was established in 2005 as a partnership of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. This Institute sponsors programs to enrich the understanding and advocacy efforts to connect human rights, worker justice and youth leadership and advocacy.

Embracing the principle that we must be global in our vision and local in our organizing, youth and young adults are sponsored to participate in SDPC Capitol Hill Advocacy Days and other justice campaigns, national and international.

Addie Wyatt/Bill Lucy Labor and Justice Institute

Wyatt-Lucy schoLarship and FeLLoWship program

The Wyatt-Lucy Scholarships and Fellowships are designated for seminary and university students interested in the intersection of ministry, justice, human/worker rights and faith and faith. The program supports students’ ongoing studies and career development. Recipients focus on a variety of national and global issues ranging from workers’ rights, labor policy, mass criminalization, status of women and children, educational equity, voter protection, poverty and hunger. More than 25 scholarships and fellowships to students in a myriad of academic and career exploration areas have been awarded. As emergent leaders, ministers and professionals, students have been engaged in the planning and implementation of justice campaigns, been mentored by national and international thought leaders, written and published articles and reports, traveled, studied and served abroad.

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Our Legacy

Since the inception of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc. (SDPC) in 2003, we have made significant inroads with youth, young adult clergy, lay and community-based organizations. We have supported multiple strategic planning gatherings of these constituent groups, building a national network of youth and young adult activist organizations working together to solidify the needed infrastructure and resources to sustain the growing movement and their leadership role.

We are pleased to extend our shared legacy by the establishment of The Generation Now Network (GenNowNet) which consists of youth and young adult organizations and national university campus partnerships. The purpose of the GenNowNet is to design a national social justice awareness movement, which is fully committed to expand and sustain its faith-driven advocacy, activism, and education beyond the church. We seek to infuse human and social rights awareness and methodologies in the lives of our leaders and to incubate and support next generation leadership in their contexts.

Generation Now Network of theSamuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc.

Bill Lucy with GNN at SLTISummer Leadership Training Institute

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Rev. Iva at UN/ World Council of Churches, Sept. 25, 2017

Delegates to Afrophobia Conference, Geneva, Sept. 25, 2017

Rev. Traci Blackmon & Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II

2017 In Review

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Micah Institute Seed & Soil Proud Millennial VoterGadsden, AL

SDPC Food Justice ConveningChicago, IL

Kim Montroll F&M Girls of Village of Ma

2017 In Review

Bill Lucy with GNN at SLTISummer Leadership Training Institute

SDPC 2004 - 2017

SDPC 2004 - 2017

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2018 SDPC Truth Commissions on RacialEconomic Justice in North America

As part of its 15th Anniversary pre-conference program, the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc. (SDPC) hosted the inaugural “Truth Telling Commission on Racial Economic Justice” in Memphis Tennessee. The first of several national hearings on the topic, this historic event took place on February 1, 2018, at the National Civil Rights Museum. February 1 is the day SDPC elected to also honor the lives of Mr. Echol Cole and Mr. Robert Walker, two African Americans who were crushed to death in a garbage truck - an incident which sparked the historic sanitation workers’ strike in 1968. This first commission hearing was held on the 50th anniversary of the accident that resulted in the tragic loss of these men who were employees, working without benefits, at the time of their fatal demise.

Extending its education, advocacy, activism, and sacred memory agenda examining the impact of systemic racism and Afrophobia on people of African descent in the United States, Dr. Iva Carruthers said the goal of these Truth Telling Commission’s on Racial Economic Justice is to “incisively listen, document, synthesize and distribute, through reports and policy recommendations, narratives of the African American perspective, which are too often ignored, marginalized in mainline media, public discourse and at policy tables… and to situate commission findings in the framework of moral, principled and ethical arguments against the hierarchy of human value.”

The objectives specific to these Commissions on Racial Economic Justice in America include:1) Documenting the evidences and experiential narratives appropriate to explicating the hierarchy of human value related to the specific issue of the Commission.2) Identifying other stakeholders, advocacy groups and their positions related to the jettisoning and dismantling of the hierarchy of human value specific to the Commissions examination of racial economic justice in America. 3) Facilitating and encouraging the continuation of public awareness, discourse and civic engagement on the dismantling of racial economic injustice in America.4) Impacting the content, nature and Commission recommendations of public policies that are constructive, transformative and that uphold the highest values of citizenship and human rights for all those in America.

2018 Memphis Truth Telling Commissions on Racial Economic Justice Participants: Co-Chairs:William “Bill” Lucy, Civil Rights Labor Union Organizer (Washington DC)Rev. Dr. Gina Stewart, Senior Pastor at Christ Missionary Baptist Church & SDPC Trustee (Memphis, TN)Dr. William Spriggs, Chief Economist to the AFL-CIO (Washington DC)Rev. JoAnn Watson, National African American Reparations Commission (Detroit, MI) Commissioners include:Dr. Charles L. Hughes, (Memphis, TN) Dr. Charles McKinney, (Memphis, TN)Tami Sawyer, (Memphis, TN) Rev. Dr. Forrest Harris, (Nashville, TN)Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker- Smith, (Washington, DC) Rev. Rodney McKenzie, Jr., (Washington, DC) Dr. Idia Thurston, (Memphis, TN) Dr. Andre Johnson, (Memphis, TN)Mary Finger, ( San Antonio, TX)) Rev. Earle Fisher, (Memphis, TN)Rev. Anthony Trufant, (Brooklyn, NY) Rev. Dr. James Forbes, (New York, NY) National Truth Telling on Racial Economic Justice hearings of the Commission will be held in Washington, DC during the week of March 21, 2018. Please contact us for further information.

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Seminary Partners from 2004-201815-Years Attendance

American Baptist College

American Baptist Seminary of the West

Andover Newton Theological Seminary

Association of Chicago Theological Schools

Auburn Theological Seminary

Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond

Birkbeck University of London

Birmingham Theological Seminary

Boston University School of Theology

Brite Divinity School

Catholic Theological Union

Center for African American Theological Studies

Chicago Theological Seminary

Christian Theological Seminary

Claremont School of Theology

Colgate Rochester Crozier Divinity School

Columbia Theological Seminary

Dr. E. V. Hill Bible College

Drew University

Duke Divinity School

Ecumenical Theological Seminary

Eden Theological Seminary

Emory University Candler School of Theology

Forum for Theological Exploration

Fuller Theological Seminary

Fund for Theological Education

Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

Harvard School of Divinity

Howard University School of Divinity

Iliff School of Theology

Interdenominational Theological Seminary

Lancaster Theological Seminary

Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary

Lutheran School of Theology

McCormick Theological Seminary

Memphis Theological Seminary

McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University

New Brunswick Theological Seminary

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

New York Theological Seminary

North Park University

Northern Baptist Theological Seminary

Oblate School of Theology

Pacific School of Religion

Payne Theological Seminary

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary

Princeton Theological Seminary

Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology

San Francisco Theological Seminary

Seminary Consortium of Urban Pastoral Education

Shaw University Divinity School

SMU Perkins School of Theology

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Spelman College

St. Paul School of Theology

St. Thomas University

Temple University

Union Institute and University

Union Presbyterian Seminary

Union Theological Seminary

United Theological Seminary

Vanderbilt Divinity School

Webster University

Wesley Theological Seminary

Yale Divinity School

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Program and Educational Partners 2004-2018

AARP

Amalgamated Transit Union AFL- CIO, (ATU)

American Baptist College

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)

American Federation of Teachers (AFT)

Annie E. Casey Foundation

Bread for the World

Center for African AmericanTheological Studies (CAATS)

Center for Practical Bioethics

Center for Responsible Lending (CRL)

Church Center of the United Nations

Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU)

Communication Workers of America (CWA)

Deaconess Foundation

Drug Policy Alliance (DPA)

Duke University Divinity School/ The Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life

Ford Foundation

Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church

Hassib Saggagh Foundation (HSF)

Illinois Conference United Church of Christ

Institution of the Black World

Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary Lilly Endowment, Inc.

Lott Carey

Mo’Better Marketing

NAACP Legal Defense Fund

National Ministries, American Baptist Churches USA

Open Society Foundations/OSI

PICO National Network

Planned Parenthood

Prairie View A&M University

Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Washington, DC

The Interfaith Alliance

The Twenty-First Century Foundation

U. S. Census Department

Union Theological Seminary

United Automobile Workers (UAW)

United Church of Christ Building & Loan Fund (UCC)

United Church of Christ Justice andWitness Ministries (UCC)

United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)

University of Houston

VITAS HealthCare Corporation

W.K. Kellogg Foundation

World Relief

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2004-2018 Labor Sponsors and Contributors

A. Philip Randolph Institute, Chicago ChapterA. Philip Randolph Institute, Ohio Chapter

Amalgamated Transit Union, AFL-CIOAmerican Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIOAmerican Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO

Change to Win FederationCoalition of Black Trade Unionists, Chicago Chapter

Communications Workers of America, District 6, AFL-CIOGeorgia State AFL-CIOIllinois State AFL-CIO

International Coalition of Black Trade UnionistInternational Longshoremen’s Association, Local 1422, (ILA) AFL-CIO

International Union of Aerospace and Machinists, (IAM) AFL-CIOInternational Union of Painters and Allied Trades of North America, AFL-CIO

Laborers’ Union of North America, (LIAUNA) AFL-CIOMetropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO

National Association of Letter Carriers, Branch 11, (NALC) AFL-CIONew York State AFL-CIONorth Carolina, AFL-CIO

Ohio State AFL-CIORetail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, (UFCW), (AFL-CIO)

Service Employees International Union, (SEIU) CTWService Employees International Union, Illinois, Indiana (SEIU)

Service Employees International Union, Local 73 (SEIU)United Automobile and Aerospace Workers (UAW)

United Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO (USWA) (AFL-CIO)United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)

United Food and Commercial Workers, (UFCW) Local 23 United Food and Commercial Workers, (UFCW) Local 464AUnited Food and Commercial Workers, (UFCW) Local 540United Food and Commercial Workers, (UFCW)Local 881

United Food and Commercial Workers, (UFCW) Local 1500UNITE-HERE, AFL-CIO

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Lighting the path for future generations.

The Beautiful Are The Feet Award is a lifetime achievement award for the gifts and sacrifices of ministry and social activism evidenced and bestowed upon the African American and African Church community. In the exemplary tradition of Dr. Samuel DeWitt Proctor – preacher, pastor, teacher, scholar, activist, public servant, administrator, mentor – the Beautiful Are The Feet Award was established to acknowledge, honor and celebrate the work and wisdom of its recipients.

The words of Rev. Dr. John W. Kinney, Dean, Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology of Virginia Union University, guide our selection process.

Our honorees, in person, pronouncement, and production, have helped us rediscover the majesty and sanctity of the sable soul and reclaim the beauty and promises of life on this garden called earth. While critically pointing out broken places they have been agents of healing and restoration calling us to authentic celebration.

Beautiful Are The Feet Award Guidelines

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Beautiful Are Their Feet Honorees 2004-2018

2004: Rev. Gardner C. Taylor, Rev. Drs. Henry H. Mitchell andElla P. Mitchell, Rev. Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker

2005: Rev. Dr. Gayraud Wilmore, Rev. Dr. Addie Wyatt,Rev. Dr. Charles Adams, Archibishop Desmond Tutu

2006: Rev. Dr. J. Alfred Smith Rev. Dr. Willie Taplin Barrow,Bishop Leontine T.C. Kelly, Rev. Dr. Jacquelyn Grant

2007: Dr. Thelma Davidson Adair, Rev. Dr. James Cone, Rev. Dr. Otis Moss, Jr.,Sr. Francesca Thompson, OSF, Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.

2008: Dr. Dorothy Height, Rev. Dr. John Kinney, Dr. Anne E. Streaty Wimberly,Rev. Dr. James Forbes, Jr., Dr. Wangari Matthai

2009: Bishop John Hurst Adams, Bishop Barbara C. Harris,Rev. Dr. Cecelia Williams Bryant, Rev. Dr. Yvonne Delk, Rev. Dr. Michael Pfleger

2010: Rev. Dr. William Lucy, Rev. Dr. James Lawson, Jr., Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention, Rev. Dr. David Emmanuel Goatley, Hon. Maxine Waters

2011: Rev. Dr. William “Bill” Lawson, Bishop Barbara Lewis King,Dr. Delores Seneva Williams, Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr.

2012: Mrs. Lois B. Johnson, Rev. Dr. James Earl Massey, Rev. Dr. Delores Carpenter, Rev. Dr. Zan Wesley Holmes, Jr., Mrs. Beverley Adams Thomas

2013: Rev. Dr. Allan Boesak, Rev. Dr. Amos C. Brown, Dr. Iva E. Carruthers,Rev. Dr. Mack King Carter, Rev. Dr. Cain Hope Felder, Rev. Dr. Bernice Powell Jackson

2014: Rev. Dr. Vincent G. Harding, Elizabeth Williams Omilami, Rev. Dr. J. Deotis Roberts, Rev. Dr. Joseph L. Roberts, Jr.

2015: Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery, Rev. Dr. Larry G. Murphy,“Mama” Ruby Sales, Rev. Dr. Virgil Woods

2016: Rev. Dr. Samuel Billy Kyles, Rev. Dr. John Perkins,Sister Dr. Jamie T. Phelps, Rev. Dr. C. T. Vivian, Sister Mary Antona Ebo

2017: Rev. Dr. Yvette Flunder, Rev. Edwin C. Sanders, II,Rev. Dr. Renita Weems, Rev. Dr. Herbert Daniel Daughtry, Sr.

2018: Rev. Dr. Katie Cannon, Rev. Dr. Christine Wiley andRev. Dr. Dennis Wiley, Rev. Dr. James Netters, Rev. Dr. Clifford Jones

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Ella Jo Baker Award Recipients 2004-2018

2013 Michelle Alexander

2014 Danny Glover

2015 Congresswoman Barbara Lee

2016 Diane Nash

The Ella Jo Baker Human Rights Award is an honor granted for the exemplary and distinctive contributions of one who has inspired, challenged and expanded the African American faith community’s capacity to witness and engage in our traditions of prophetic ministry and justice campaigns. The Ella Jo Baker Human Rights Award signifies and affirms the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference’s belief that civil, economic, health, education and political rights are global human entitlements for which the African American faith community must uphold. The Ella Jo Baker Human Rights Award was established to acknowledge, honor and celebrate the work and impact someone has made on behalf of the marginalized and “least of these;” and, in the spirit of Ella Baker, with excellence, humility and sacrifice.

Ella Jo Baker Human Rights Award

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Malachi 3:16-17New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The Reward of the Faithful16 Then those who revered the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD took note and listened, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who revered the LORD and thought on his name.

17 They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, my special possession on the day when I act, and I will spare them as parents spare their children who serve them.

Edwin HawkinsJanuary 15, 2018

Simeon Wright(Cousin of Emmett Till)

September 4, 2017

Rev. Dr. Wyatt T. Walker January 23, 2018

Rev. Dr. Dale P. Andrews(Homiletics/Vanderbilt)

June 23, 2017

Mrs. Bessie Louise ProctorOctober, 2017

Mr. Anderson AyersJuly 12, 2017

Bishop John Hurst Adams(2009 BAFT Honoree)

January 12, 2018

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Dear Proctor Family,

Thank you for the many prayers that continue to be lifted up for us as we journey on this side without our Queen Mother, Mommy, Moms, Mama Lois, Ms. J. Darnell’s words capture the love in our hearts for her; the pictures exude the love she had for you as you enfolded her in this community of faith. Nothing but Holy Praise will do! Iva, Christopher and Darnell.

Queen Mother Lois Johnson (1918 - 2017)

January 5, 2018

I miss you Moms. I am still having a hard time accepting the fact that you have transitioned and that heaven is now your home…I look back now on the entirety of our relationship and am so deeply humbled that God would bless someone like me with someone like you. Know that when I breathe, I breathe for us. I am constantly inhaling and exhaling the airs of remembrance, love and gratitude. Just as you were the wind beneath my wings, you’ve become a part of the air I breathe as well.

I have a picture of us laughing and holding hands at the Proctor Conference in 2016...Thank you for teaching me how to snatch stars out of the sky and how to hold my head up in spite of any weight that was holding me down.

In case you are worried about Ma, please don’t trouble yourself. Chris and I will take good care of her and see to it that she is fine. She has given us a great example of how to love a parent and we will follow suit...

I will be graduating in four months and continuing to further my education. I plan to use my education to help make this world a better place for my people and community. Know that when I walk across that stage, I will be thinking about you and how you helped me make it through. I love you, Moms… ‘Cya’ round. Be good to yourself and don’t take any wooden nickels. They don’t spend well…

Love Always,

Darnell

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Queen Mother Lois Johnson (1918 - 2017)

Thank-you for the shared journey and love.

Stay Woke!Queen Mother Lois

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Dr. Iva E. CarruthersDevon Crawford

Tiauna (Boyd) WebbEricka ElionHolly JoinerJanet King

LaRita LoganQuincy James RinehartRev. Dr. Susan K. Smith

Rev. Marcus TabbDr. Itihari Toure

LaRon Washington

Current Staff / Scholars / Program Associates

15 Year History of Volunteers and Staff Conference Staff and Volunteers Past and Present 2004-2018

Patricia Abney Jack Akana Jr.Patricia Alex

Elizabeth Alexander Barbara Allen

Herbert O. AllenStella Allen

Pamela Ambrose Doris Ashley

Danielle Ayers Henry Baston

Melonye BatsonAlden Bell

Geneva Bell Tereica Benberry Walidah Bennett

Colin Benson S. Michelle Berry

Charlotte BlackmanClaude Bradshaw

Whitney Bradshaw Ronald Brisco

Katherine Brooks Bernice Brown

Chandrea Brown Enora Brown Jacqui Burton

Chalanda Canaday

Luthetis Carey Marquita Carmichael Burton

Anthony Carpenter Darnell Carruthers Valarie Carruthers

Al Chandler Lora Clack

Dana Clark-Brocks Darnell CrandleMary CraytonSean Crayton

Terence Crayton Pier Crenshaw Alani Colon John Cooper

Thomas CostleyStacy DandridgeDebra Daniels Kesha Daniels

Shun DavenportSavannah Dean Shokha Dean Theresa Dear Yvonne Delk Joe Dillard

Kelly Dixon Linda Dodd

Phyllis Doggett

Cametra Edwards Carol EdwardsMichele Ellis Sheldon Ellis Barbara Fears

Gracie Fears Horton James Fitzgerald Carlos Fletcher

Katie Foster Silver Funches Stanita GaddyRonnie Galvin

Alison Gise JohnsonAngelena Gomilia Maria Gonzalez

Augusta Green IVJanice GreenJohn Green Nakia Green

Lorrie Greenwood Linda GreshamNorma Guerin

Regina HallRick Hall

Dwight Harris Minnie Harris Viola Henry Wendi Hill

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Conference Staff and Volunteers Past and Present 2004-2018

Thelma HoggChala HollandChaka HolleyCharles Holley

Veta Holt Jo Ann Horton Carla Howlett Helen Hughes Lynda HughesCarolyn Hurd

Ann Hutchinson John Jackson Renitta Jacobs

Denise JenningsLois Johnson

Gloria Johnson Doria Johnson

Stephanie JohnsonTiffany Johnson

Joyous JoinerFelicia Jones

Kimberly Jones Shelia Jones

Carmen KatesLeslie Kelley

Sonny KierulfBrenda King

Lynda LawrenceAshley Lee

Benneth LeeTanesa Lee

Walonza LeeChuck Lester

Vee LikesBarbara Little

Christina Lock Charles LoftonDorothy Long

Corey LoveDamien Madison

Jeralyn MajorTyra Mariani

Laletricia Mathis

Ivey MatutePaullette McClainAngela McDow

Rhoda McKinney JonesMaurice McNeil

Rita McNeil Danish Iris Metcalf

Waltrina MiddletonJames Miles Karen Miller

Warren Mitchell Eleanor MooreNicole Morales Brenda MortonElaine Mosely Bettye Napier

Dernard NewellChris Norman

Sylvia Jo OglesbyEmmaneul Okai Deameris Oliver

Alexis Owens Christopher D. Owens

Brianna Parker Julie Parker

Desmond PattersonToni Pemberton Yolanda Perry Andrea Powell Angie Powell

Leo Pryor Shelia Pryor

Lydia Redmond Lazandria Richey

Dorothy RileySheila Robertson

Natasha Robinson Monte RogersAngelo RoseBonita Ross

Yvette RowlandBaron Rush

Stephen Santiago

Delisa Saunders Laticia Scott

Criss Seamster Lorena Serrato Shirlene Small

Ann SmithOzzie SmithAdrian Stitt

Jiles Taylor George Don Thomas

Tobia ThurmanTiffany TinsdaleCornell Towns Dian Tribble

Shirley TurnerBrenda Vance

Oscar VarnadoeMargaret Wafer

Brenda Wall Amryl WardKaren WarneNatalie Warne

Katara Washington PattonFauita WatkinsJoe Ann Watson

Mary Ann WeathersTaurean WebbRosa WebsterChris WellsFlora Wells Dora White

William White Marcus WhitesideLarry WhitmanTiffany WilhiteKevin Williams

Phillipa Williams Sydneye P. Wilson

Nadolyn Woody-DuniganJayme Wooten

Timothy Wright

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Past Trustees

Bishop John R. Bryant 2005 - 2006

Rev. Robert N. Burkins, Sr. 2012-2015

Rev. Dr. Cynthia Hale 2004 - 2010

Rev. Dr. Marcus D. Cosby 2005-2015

Rev. Dr. Floyd Flake 2006 - 2006

Bishop Donald Hillard, Jr. 2007-2014

Rev. Dr. Robert Franklin 2005 - 2009

Rev. Dr. Ann F. Lightner-Fuller 2005-2014

Bishop Rudolph McKissick, Jr. 2005 - 2009

Rev. Dr. Otis Moss, III 2005 - 2012

Rev. Dr. Susan K. Smith 2004 - 2009

Rev. Dr. Alyn Waller 2004 - 2005

Rev. Tom Watson 2007 - 2008

Rev. Dr. Lance Watson 2006-2014

Rev. Portia Wills Lee 2006 - 2009

Charter SupporterBishop Charles Blake

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Present Board of Trustees

rev. traci BLackmon

Bishop gregory

ingram

rev. dr. James ForBes

rev. dr. Forrest

e. harris

rev. dr. michaeL pFLeger

ms. roBin p. WiLLiams

rev. dr. WiLLiam marcus smaLL

rev. dr. vaLerie Bridgeman

hon. rev. WendeLL

griFFen

rev. dr. earL

mason

rev. dr. gina

steWart

rev. martin espinosa

ms. tyra mariani

rev. dr. anthony

truFant

rev. dr. Jeremiah

a. Wright, Jr.rev. starsky d.

WiLson

rev. dr. iva carruthers

rev. dr. Joe samueL ratLiFF

rev. dr. Frederick d. haynes, iii

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Post ScriptRev. Dr. Iva Carruthers

Co-Founder and General SecretarySamuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc.

As we mark the 15th year of global ministry of the Samuel DeWitt ProctorConference, I am confident that we will continue to leave footprints for generations yet unborn.

Our organization’s highest award bears the banner “Beautiful Are Their Feet” – (Romans 10:13-15). In the inaugural tribute book to Dr. Gardner Taylor, Drs. Ella and Henry Mitchell and Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker, Dr. John Kinney’s introduction noted, “The feet speak to the very essence and existence of a person and the character of his or her journey or walk in life.”

The markings of our organization’s footprints, and those we have and will honor, are a testament that despair will always be defeated by our faith. We have been entrusted to be beacons of hope.

The Proctor network has become family, forging new bonds of sacred community and testimonies of God’s favor and casting new visions for the future. Gye Nyame! Only God!

Proctor Conference has become known by the stripes of Jesus’ justice in this nation and the world; in the church, the academy and the community. Standing in and on the legacy of Samuel DeWitt Proctor, we have built new bridges, set new standards and cleared new paths for the journey to continue. Gye Nyame! Only God!

At a very personal level, when I look back over our footprints, I am enveloped in the presence of the Holy Spirit at work through the lives of those we have been blessed to touch. When I look back over our footprints, I am astounded by the unique impact the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference has had. When I look back over our footprints, I cannot help but rejoice in the ancestral wisdom embedded in the meaning of “Gye Nyame! Only God!” I am truly grateful that God ordained me to fulfill my call to ministry as the founding General Secretary of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference. Gye Nyame! Only God!

Fifteen years ago, God gave vision! And ever since, God has made provision! On behalf of all members of the Board of Trustees of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference over the past fifteen years, I extend our deepest appreciation for your support and sharing the journey. May our global footprints only deepen as a force of transformation on God’s earth. We will continue to struggle until the end!

To God be the Glory!

Rev. Dr. Iva CarruthersCo-Founder and General SecretarySamuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc.

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58

Letter Carriers Salutes theSamuel DeWitt Proctor Conference

15th Year Anniversary

Illinois State AssociationJohn Cooksey - President

Branch #11 ChicagoMack I. Julion – President

Commemoration of the 1968Memphis Sanitation Strike

&The Death of Martin Luther King, Jr

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6262

6363

The Chicago Chapter of Coalition of Black Trade UnionistsCongratulates and pledge our support and assistance to the

2018 Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference, Inc.

“Staying in the Struggle Until the End”The year of 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr.;

The year of 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the Sanitation Workers’ Strike in Memphis, TN;

50 years later we are still in an economic crisis in our communities;

50 years later we are still confronting a military industrial complex;

50 years later we are still seeking food justice to ensure that people have access tofood, water and other basic necessities.

Robert T. Simpson, Jr.President

6666

The Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc., wishes to thank our seminary and university

partners who have supported us over the years. Your commitment to developing students who

understand, care about and who may well become leaders in the quest for social justice is a bright light

in a world which has been darkened by injustice for decades. We thank you.

ANNOUNCING:SDPC 2018 Truth Telling Commissions & Town Hall Meetings

As part of its 15th Anniversary pre-conference program, the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc. (SDPC) hosted the inaugural “Truth Telling Commission and Town Hall on Racial Economic Justice. The goal of the Truth-Telling Commissions which SDPC will hold throughout the country during 2018 will be to “incisively listen to, document, synthesize and distribute, through reports and policy recommendations, the impact of the lack of racial economic justice. People of color have suffered, as have our communities. Finding and facing truth will enable us to seek reparatory justice. Our work is critical and will contribute to the United Nation’s global agenda of remembrance linked to the International Decade for People of African Descent. Please join us by sharing your interests and your willingness to become a co-sponsor of this great work. For information and for ways to become involved, please visit www.sdpconference.info. We are making new footprints into which those behind us will be able to walk and move forward.

Oh Say Can You See?Artist: Philippe Gibson

Rev. Dr. Iva CarruthersGeneral Secretary

Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc.

Roland S. MartinJournalist, Commentator, Television HostSpecial SDPC Town Hall Meeting Host