GILKES, Cheryl Townsend 1947-

PERSONAL: Born November 2, 1947, in Boston, MA; daughter of Murray Luke, Jr. (a civil servant) and Evelyn (a homemaker; maiden name, Reid) Townsend; married Carlton I. Gilkes April 20, 1968 (divorced March, 1971). Ethnicity: "African American." Education: Northeastern University, B.A., 1970, M.A., 1973, Ph.D., 1979; attended Boston University 1982-86. Politics: "Liberationist." Hobbies and other interests: Music, fiction.

ADDRESSES: Office—Department of Sociology, Colby College, Waterville, ME 04901-8847; fax: 207-872-3752.

CAREER: Boston University, Boston, MA, assistant professor of sociology, 1978-87; Colby College, Waterville, ME, professor of African-American studies and sociology, 1987—. Ordained Baptist minister; Union Baptist Church, Cambridge, MA, assistant pastor for special projects, 1982—; United Baptist Convention of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, parliamentarian and member of board of directors.

MEMBER: American Sociological Association, American Academy of Religion, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Delta Sigma Theta (golden life member).

WRITINGS:

"If It Wasn't for the Women . . .": Black Women'sExperience and Womanist Culture in Church and Community, Orbis Books (Maryknoll, NY), 2001.

Contributor to books, including Studying Congregations: A New Handbook, edited by Nancy T. Ammerman, Jackson W. Carroll, and others, Abingdon Press (Nashville, TN), 1995; W. E. B. Du Bois on Race and Culture: Philosophy, Politics, and Poetics, Routledge (New York, NY), 1996; One Nation under God? Religion in America, edited by Marjorie Garber and Rebecca Walkowitz, Routledge, 1999; The Courage to Hope, edited by Quinton H. Dixie and Cornel West, Beacon Press (Boston, MA), 1999; and African Americans and the Bible, edited by Vincent L. Wimbush, Continuum (New York, NY), 2000. Contributor of articles, sermons, and reviews to periodicals, including Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Trotter Review, Social Compass, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Voices from the Third World, Journal of Religious Thought, Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Signs, Psychology of Women Quarterly, and Journal of Social Issues.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Lots of Small Pieces: African-American Women and Their Community Work; That Blessed Book: The Bible and the African-American Cultural Imagination.