Yolanda Pierce

Yolanda Pierce is a scholar, writer, womanist theologian and accomplished administrator in higher education. She currently serves as University Distinguished Professor of Religion and Literature and dean of the Vanderbilt Divinity School. Pierce’s newest book is The Wounds Are the Witness: Black Faith Weaving Memory into Justice and Healing, which explores how Black faith traditions hold memory, confront injustice and cultivate healing. Pierce’s research specialties include literature and religion, womanist theology and African American religions. A widely-published author, she has written several essays and articles for academic and trade journals including: Time Magazine; The Christian Century; Theology Today; and Christianity & Literature. Her previously published books include Hell Without Fires: Slavery, Christianity, and the Antebellum Spiritual Narrative and In My Grandmother’s House: Black Women, Faith, and the Stories We Inherit. Pierce is the creator and curator of “Touching the Sacred,” an exhibit on material religion and the Black Church. She was appointed the founding director of the Center for African American Life at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. She is a member of various professional organizations, including the Modern Language Association, the Society for the Study of Black Religion and the American Historical Association. Pierce has also been the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Pew Foundation. In 2023, she received the Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion from the American Academy of Religion. As a first-generation college student, Pierce earned degrees from Cornell University and Princeton University. She is a native New Yorker, mentor, community activist, daughter of the Black Church, ordained minister and proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.