Another One!
I’m excited to share some great news!
Over the past three years, I’ve built a strong academic rapport with my professor for African-American Politics and Politics & Religion. Our conversations around my coursework, especially my work on the American Jeremiad, were so meaningful that he expressed interest in partnering with me on a future course.
For those who may not be familiar, the American Jeremiad is a rhetorical tradition that originated with Puritan sermons in colonial New England. At its core, it laments the nation’s moral decline, calls the community to account for its failures, and issues a hopeful charge to return to its founding ideals. Over time, this form has been adapted far beyond its Puritan roots. In African-American politics and religion, for example, leaders like Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr., and even contemporary activists have used the Jeremiad as both critique and vision, holding America accountable to its unfulfilled promises while urging moral and political renewal.
In my coursework, I’ve explored how this rhetorical form is not only about condemnation but also about aspiration. The Jeremiad functions as a bridge between despair and hope, reminding us that critique is not the opposite of patriotism but a demand for the nation to live up to its ideals. From Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” to King’s “I Have a Dream,” the Jeremiad remains one of the most powerful vehicles for social and political transformation in American life.
That’s why I’m so honored to announce that I’ve been invited to join a roundtable panel on this very topic. Our proposal was accepted, and I will be presenting at the 57th Michigan Political Science Association Annual Conference at Wayne State University on October 16–17, 2025.
It’s a privilege to see classroom scholarship translate into broader academic discussions. For me, this is not only about contributing to scholarly debates but also about deepening my work as a practitioner who believes in the power of rhetoric, history, and community to push us toward justice.
The work continues.
#drbobisloading
