Mason Gudger

Prof. Goines

THEO

25 April 2024

Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference

Section 1: Overview

The Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference (SPDC) is an ecumenical organization that is

devoted to combating social justice issues that affect African American communities. They take

a holistic approach to change, believing that all forms of social injustice are so interconnected

that you cannot separate them. To combat one form of injustice, you must combat them all.1 The

SDPC provides a platform for discussion, collaboration, and action on topics such as racism,

economic inequality, healthcare disparities, and criminal justice reform. Through a series of

workshops, conferences and conventions, they connect underserved communities to the people

with the necessary infrastructure and resources to support their causes. 2

The SPDC attracts its constituents by word of mouth in the African American faith

community. The leadership of the SPDC consists of very well known faith leaders who have a

large audience. The leaders have large influences on the African American faith community and

they encourage their audience to spread the word of upcoming events that the SDCP is holding.

The SDCP also has an email subscription service that anyone can sign up for to learn about

what's going on with the conference. The African American community undoubtedly benefits

1
Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, inc.. Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc. | Leadership for a
Just World. (2024, March 6). https://sdpconference.info/
2
Reflections on the samuel dewitt proctor conference. School of Theology Reflections on the Samuel
DeWitt Proctor Conference Comments. (n.d.).
https://www.bu.edu/sth/reflections-on-the-samuel-dewitt-proctor-conference/
the most from the work of the SPDC, but the work of the SDPC is intersectional, meaning that

the issues of social injustice by the SPDC can be observed within multiple communities and

identities.

Section 2: Organizational History

The SDCP was founded on September 17, 2003 by Dr. Iva Carruthers, Dr. Frederick

Haynes III, and Dr. Jeremiah Wright. All three founders are prominent faith leaders and lead

their own churches in various places across the country. They founded the SDCP because they

saw a need for an organization that “could speak to the needs of those who were thirsty for sound

biblical knowledge and committed social advocacy.”3 The name of the conference comes from

the late Rev. Samuel Dewitt Proctor. Reverend Proctor died in 1997, so he did not have anything

to do with the conference directly but his impact on the African American community is

everlasting. He was a prominent figure in the civil rights movement; a friend and mentor of

Martin Luther King Jr. He was the president of Virginia Union University and North Carolina

A&T University. He was also the director of the peace corps in Africa as well as the president of

the National Council of Churches.4 The founders of the SDCP hoped to commemorate his life

and substantial work in social justice by giving the conference his name.

The SDPC is run by a board of 20 trustees. All three founders currently serve on the

board but none of them hold one of the two head chair positions. The board meets and plans all

the events and initiatives that the SDPC runs. Each member brings their own issues and the

board decides ways that they can help promote change. Due to the vast number of social justice

3
Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, inc.. Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc. | Leadership for a
Just World. (2024, March 6). https://sdpconference.info/
4
About Samuel DeWitt Proctor . GSE. (n.d.).
https://proctor.gse.rutgers.edu/content/about-samuel-dewitt-proctor%C2%A0
issues, the SDCP has multiple branches with its own initiatives devoted to a particular social

justice issue.

Section 3: Pan Africanism

One of the branches of the SDCP is the Samuel Dewitt Proctor Pan-African Institute. The

Institute is dedicated to connecting “Africans in diaspora to African foreign policy, renaissance

ideas, and fellow collaborators across the globe.” The idea behind the Institute is to create

change among diasporic communities by giving power to the people who are a part of said

communities. Power comes from knowledge. The SDCP seeks to empower diasporic

communities in two steps. First, they make sure that Africans in diaspora are aware of the

policies and regimes that led to disparity in significant areas of Africa, as well as the policies that

are currently in place that hold poor African nations back. Second, they connect multiple

communities and like minded people who know the routes for success when it comes to policy

reform. Honestly, the Institute is the SDPC version of itself. The instatement of the institute

shows how the SDPC recognizes that the social injustices faced by African Americans are also

faced by other communities among the African diaspora.

I would say that the SDPC has a duboisian ethos when it comes to Pan-Africanism.

Dubois believed that higher education was necessary for the improvement of the conditions of

black people. He believed that the top 10% should lead the bottom 90 out of the hell like

conditions they faced.5 Like Dubois, the SDCP recognizes that underserved communities cannot

5
Porter, L. (2018, April 24). W. E. B. Du Bois, Higher Education, and the Black Intellectual. AAIHS.
https://www.aaihs.org/w-e-b-du-bois-higher-education-and-the-black-intellectual/
access the resources that are necessary to create change. Their mission is to connect the

communities to the proper people and organizations that can help them fight for their cause.

Section 4: Ecumenical Ethos

The SDPC seeks to achieve organic unity through collaboration with members of

multiple communities. The SDPC prides itself on being all inclusive. They have a whole page

dedicated to anti discrimination and hate. Age, race, gender, sexuality, and class are not a factor

when it comes to joining in on the events that the SDPC organizes. The SDCP hopes to foster

environments where everyone is recognized and respected. Members of all denominations are

welcomed as well. In fact, the board of trustees is run by mostly reverends who pastor churches

of various denominations. The inclusion of different religious traditions allows participants to

learn from one another and build connections across religious, cultural, and ideological

differences. By creating a religious militia that extends across various practices, the collective

impact of the SDCP is amplified because they are able to get their message across to a larger and

broader audience.

The SDPC is not a membership organization. There are no mandatory fees or tithes that

must be paid to attend any of the proceedings. The Annual Clergy and Lay Leadership

Conference is the SDPC’s largest event of the year and everyone is encouraged to come, even if

you don't adhere to a christian doctrine. The news of the conference is spread by the leaders of

the SDPC and leaders of the African American faith community. There is also an emailing list

that you may sign up for on the SDPC website that informs “members” of all upcoming events

and proceedings.

Section 5: Solutions
 For section five, the article I identified to compare philosophies with was “Poverty,

Human Rights, and a Just Society '' by Simeon O. Ilesanmi. In the article he claims that “a full

implementation of fundamental human rights efforts is pivotal to any efforts to address poverty

in Africa. Ilesnami suggests that to alleviate poverty in Africa, you must alleviate the social and

environmental problems at the core first. He stresses the need for policy and infrastructure that

take into account the various aspects of human life that lead to poverty. He recognizes that social

justice issues are at the root of the economic and political crisis in Africa. It is very likely that

Ilesanmia would approve of the work of the SDPC seeing that they approach change holistically.

I think he would appreciate the fact that the SDPC does not overlook any aspect of struggle that

African Americans and other members of the African diaspora may face. Instead, they aim to

tackle every social injustice one at a time.

Bibliography

About Samuel DeWitt Proctor . GSE. (n.d.).

https://proctor.gse.rutgers.edu/content/about-samuel-dewitt-proctor%C2%A0

Porter, L. (2018, April 24). W. E. B. Du Bois, Higher Education, and the Black

Intellectual. AAIHS.

https://www.aaihs.org/w-e-b-du-bois-higher-education-and-the-black-intellectual/

Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, inc.. Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc. |

Leadership for a Just World. (2024, March 6). https://sdpconference.info/

Reflections on the samuel dewitt proctor conference. School of Theology Reflections on

the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference Comments. (n.d.).

https://www.bu.edu/sth/reflections-on-the-samuel-dewitt-proctor-conference/
 YouTube. (2011, January 21). “The scratch line” rev. dr. Samuel Dewitt Proctor--SDPC.

YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1la3TAxu8w

editor, S. T. (2024, February 26). The samuel dewitt proctor conference meets in Chicago

to Reimagine, rethink and reinvent. Good Faith Media.

https://goodfaithmedia.org/the-samuel-dewitt-proctor-conference-meets-in-chicago-to-reimagine

-rethink-and-reinvent/