The Sam Hill Lecture in Southern Religious History

The Sam Hill Lecture for 2013 will be

"Jack Johnson, We Have Waited So Long For You"
Religion, Race, and Boxing in the New South

by
Dr. Arthur Remillard, Saint Francis University
(read more)

The Sam Hill Lecture in Southern Religion

The Sam Hill Lecture, sponsored by the Department of Religious Studies at UNC Asheville, brings distinguished scholars in the field of southern religious studies to campus on an annual basis, both to meet with students and to offer a lecture accessible to the general public.

Previous lectures

• Samuel S. Hill, Professor Emeritus, University of Florida, “Tell About the South: Why Are They So Religious?” (2009)
• Bill J. Leonard, Dean of the Divinity School, Wake Forest University, “Looking for Religious Appalachia: Mass Culture, Lost Mountains, and Vanishing Traditions” (2010)
• Marcie Cohen Ferris, Associate Professor of American Studies and Director of Southern Studies, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, “Matzoh Ball Gumbo: Culinary Tales of the Jewish South” (2011)
• Carolyn Medine, Professor of Religion, University of Georgia, "Double Consciousness and Double Identity: Being a Baptist-Buddhist in the South" (2012)

Dr. Samuel S. Hill

Dr. Samuel S. (Sam) Hill has been a student and scholar of Southern religion his entire life. Born in Virginia, raised in Kentucky, and educated at Georgetown College, Vanderbilt, and Duke University, Sam was one of the “founding fathers” of the study of Southern religious history.  His book, Southern Churches in Crisis, which originally appeared in 1966, has long been enshrined as a classic in the field.  During a long and distinguished career at the University of Florida, Sam continued to promote the scholarly study of religion in the South both in his own books and articles and as the editor of such indispensable reference works as the Encyclopedia of Religion in the South (2nd ed. 2005) and the New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 1: Religion (2006).  As a teacher, Sam nurtured multiple generations of young scholars, both those who were enrolled in his courses as well as those at other institutions who looked to him for wisdom and guidance. Always gracious and with a full sense of humor, Sam epitomizes the designation of being a true “Southern Gentleman.”

Although Sam spent most of his career at the University of Florida, he has many roots in North Carolina.  In addition to earning his Ph.D. at Duke University, he joined the faculty at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, as one of the first members of the Department of Religion there.  And after many years of “summering” in western North Carolina, he and his wife Helen moved to Black Mountain after his retirement where they still own a home. Even in “retirement,” however, Sam continues to remain active as a public speaker and a public scholar. The Sam Hill Lecture series not only honors Sam’s many contributions to academia, but celebrates the numerous and varied achievements of one of North Carolina’s “almost” native sons.