Home can be a place, a practice, a people, a memory—or the thing we spend a lifetime trying to find again.
That question sits at the center of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture’s 2026 Forward Religions Conference, titled Welcome Home. Taking place November 13–15 in Washington, DC, the gathering marks more than 250 years of Black religious traditions and the tenth anniversary of the museum’s Center for the Study of African American Religious Life.
A conversation larger than the sanctuary
The museum describes the conference as three days of conversations, performances, emerging technologies and intergenerational exchange. Scholars, faith leaders, artists, innovators and cultural creators are invited to consider the physical, spiritual, intellectual and digital spaces where Black life, faith and culture have been nurtured and transformed.
That framing reaches beyond a narrow definition of religious life. Black faith traditions have shaped music, organizing, education, literature, public leadership and the ways communities care for one another. They have also carried difficult debates about belonging, justice, gender, sexuality, authority and change. A conference built around the idea of home has room for those tensions as well as the celebrations.
Three days, multiple institutions and voices
The official schedule begins Friday, November 13, with an opening and commemoration at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino, followed by programming at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The museum’s published program includes the Pauli Murray Lecture with Yolanda Pierce, Ph.D., and a range of conversations and presentations with scholars, clergy and cultural practitioners.
Among the voices listed by the museum are Saul Williams, Bishop Yvette Flunder, Monica Coleman and other thinkers and practitioners working across religion, culture and public life. The full schedule and speaker biographies are maintained on the museum’s event page.
There is a practical note before you go
The conference is listed as free, but registration is required—and the museum’s event page currently says registration has reached capacity. A waitlist is available. Anyone hoping to attend should check the official page for the latest availability rather than assume walk-in entry will be possible.
The event is hosted by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, 1400 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20560, with portions of the opening schedule taking place at the National Museum of the American Latino.
QUESTION OF THE DAY
When you hear the words “Welcome Home,” what comes to mind first: a person, a place, a tradition, or a feeling?
STAY IN THE MOOD
To talk about home is to talk about what we carry, what we inherit and what we choose to build together. That is a conversation worth making room for.
Live Your Mood.
Reporting note: Dates, program description, venue details, registration status and speakers are drawn from the Smithsonian’s official conference page, checked November 7, 2026.
