Civil Rights, 1983

Dr. C. Eric Lincoln, in the prime of his career, utilized his research and church history skills in a number of enterprises. Most notable was his research on the Black Muslims, culminating in his crowning work, Black Muslims in America. Out of this project came many interviews with Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan; the correspondence, including valuable postcards from Malcolm X, is indicative of the close contact Lincoln had with each of these personalities. In 1978, Lincoln launched and directed a research project on the Black Church, the rationale being to produce a body of data which would balance the image and the Christian religious experience. In the project, he addresses the historic and cultural impact of the Black Religion phenomenon, thus cleaning up any understanding otherwise disturbed by voids in the treatment of Black Religion. Sonja Stone, William H. Turner and Harry V. Richardson were among many who were consultants on the project, and T he Black Church in the African American Experience was the resulting work. From this collective effort comes correspondence to potential research contributors, manuscripts in final form and drafts.