In these times of ongoing wars, concurrent genocides, deportations, and attacks on our basic rights, we look back not to linger, but to remember how we have always found ways to keep going.

I want to uplift this Barre Center for Buddhist Studies offering co-taught by Dr. Melanie L. Harris and Joshuah Brian Campbell:

Black Spirituals & Protest Songs: Singing for Liberation – A BIPOC Residential Retreat

May 22–26, 2026

Chants and dharma songs have always carried suffering, joy, and liberation.

This third retreat in three years turns toward African-American Spirituals and U.S. Civil Rights movement songs as dharma gates, songs that have held grief, strengthened resolve, and emboldened people to lift their heads, claim their humanity, and move toward freedom, even in the midst of generational racial trauma.

Through meditation, singing, deep listening, and community, participants are invited into a living tradition where music is not separate from practice, but a path of heart transformation and collective movement.

Dr. Melanie Harris is a Womanist scholar of Religion and Ethics who has practiced Buddhist meditation for many years and integrates this into her work as a Christian clergy leader, retreat guide, and yoga instructor.

Joshuah Brian Campbell is an artist, composer, and ordained minister whose work includes the Oscar-nominated song “Stand Up” from Harriet.

This in-person residential retreat is for BIPOC practitioners, with care for LGBTQIA, queer, trans, and gender nonconforming communities.

No musical training needed. Just an appreciation for music and song.

Learn more: buddhistinquiry.org/cla…