The Society for the Study of Black Religion is the oldest scholarly society dedicated to the study of the African-American religious experience.
It is dedicated to "scholarly research and discussion about the religious experiences of Blacks.
[2] The intellectual ferment which led to the group's founding began with Joseph B. Washington's publication of the seminal Black Religion in 1964,[3] and continued with the publication of James H. Cone's Black Theology and Black Power in 1969.
[4] The group chose the name "religion" rather than "theology" to avoid the constraints imposed by the narrower term.
[5] Charles Shelby Rooks, who would later become the first African-American head of a traditionally white-led seminary at the Chicago Theological Seminary, took a leading role in the founding and served as the SSBR's first elected president.