Join us at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music for a two-day commemoration of the 35th anniversary of Marlon Riggs’ groundbreaking documentary, Tongues Untied, a film that Riggs famously described as an effort to “shatter the nation’s brutalizing silence on matters of sexual and racial difference.” On Wednesday, February 12, 2025, from 6–8 p.m., we will host a screening of the film, followed by a talkback session where scholars, artists, and practitioners will reflect on its lasting impact on Black queer representation and Riggs’ powerful use of art to confront silence around race and sexuality. On Thursday, February 13, a keynote lecture by Jafari Allen, professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Columbia University and the author of There’s a Disco Ball Between Us: A Theory of Black Gay Life (Duke, 2022), will delve deeper into the intersections of Black queerness, politics, and the sacred within Riggs’ work. This gathering honors Tongues Untied as a foundational piece of Black queer visual culture and its influence across art, theology, and community.

Hosted by Professor Ahmad Greene-Hayes, ISM fellow, and Jathan Martin, Religious Studies Ph.D. Candidate.

The February 12 portion of this event will be held in the Alice Room (HQ L01) in the Humanities Quadrangle , 320 York Street, New Haven, and the February 13 portion will be held in the Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall, 128 Wall St., New Haven.

Free and open to the public.

Please register if you plan on attending lunch at the symposium on Feb 13 from 12:30-2:00 PM. Registration is only required for lunch and not for the overall event.

Note: The official 35th anniversary of Tongues Untied (1989) was last year, in 2024, but due to scheduling constraints, we are celebrating the film and its legacy this year.