2021 AFP Skystone Partners Research Prize in Fundraising & Philanthropy
Award from Association of Fundraising Professionals recognizes book that “contributes significantly to knowledge & understanding of fundraising or philanthropic behavior.”
Top 5 best sellers for University of Illinois Press in FY 2021
Gospel of Giving ranks in Top 5 Best Sellers list at University of Illinois Press in First Year
2021 Terry McAdams Book Award
Award from Alliance for Nonprofit Management recognizes “those who seek to uplift & strengthen equity & inclusion to achieve social change.”
“When my book, On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker, was published almost two decades ago, I hoped there would be other scholars who would expand on what I had written. I intentionally included voluminous endnotes with citations and primary sources as breadcrumbs for those who wished to learn more and who had the curiosity to dig more deeply. Freeman has exceeded my expectation by exploring new dimensions of Walker as a philanthropist and as an educator. His work opens the doors for a more inclusive and more meaningful analysis so that black philanthropy is a feature rather than a footnote of American philanthropy.”
A’Lelia Bundles
Award-winning journalist, news producer, and Madam C. J. Walker’s great-great granddaughter
Author of On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker
Tyrone McKinley Freeman is an award-winning scholar and teacher who serves as Assistant Professor of Philanthropic Studies and Director of Undergraduate Programs at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. His research focuses on the history of African American philanthropy, philanthropy in communities of color, the history of American philanthropy, and philanthropy and fundraising in higher education. His newest book, Madam C.J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving: Black Women’s Philanthropy during Jim Crow, examines African American women’s history of charitable giving, activism, education, and social service provision through the life and example of Madam C.J. Walker, the early twentieth century black philanthropist and entrepreneur.
His research has appeared in O: The Oprah Magazine, USA Today, TIME, Newsweek, NewsOne, Blavity, The Conversation, Black Perspectives, Chronicle of Philanthropy, and the Stanford Social Innovations Review. He is co-author of Race, Gender and Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations (2011 Palgrave MacMillan). Follow him @mckinleytyrone
Book Trailer
NARRATED BY TYRONE MCKINLEY FREEMAN
Madam C. J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving tells the story of the origins and evolution of one woman’s generosity, but it was (and is) not her story alone. It is also the story of a people and how their generosity helped them navigate and ultimately overcome powerful and externally imposed constraints. This book provides a window into the evolution of black women’s philanthropy during the critical turn-of-the-century period, which sets the stage for the coming civil-rights movement and provides the historical grounding for giving by African Americans today.
Available
In-person book signing and keynote | August 28, 2022
Wrap up Black Philanthropy Month 2022 with an in-person book-talk exploration of the historical roots of African American philanthropy, its power and impact today. This program will feature Tyrone McKinley Freeman, Ph.D., international award-winning author of Madam C. J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving: Black Women’s Philanthropy During Jim Crow.
Alliance for Nonprofit Management | August 26, 2022
How can we live lives of generosity during times of struggle? How can we pursue social change when our very existence may be threatened at every turn? In this session, participants will explore dimensions of generosity through the life story of Madam C.J. Walker, the early twentieth century Black philanthropist who fought heartily against the racist and sexist American system of Jim Crow
A Conversation with Dr. Tyrone McKinley Freeman | October 21, 2021
A discussion about Gospel of Giving, Black philanthropy, and fundraising best practices. A brief audience Q&A will be included at the end of the conversation.
In-person book signing and keynote | August 28, 2022
Wrap up Black Philanthropy Month 2022 with an in-person book-talk exploration of the historical roots of African American philanthropy, its power and impact today. This program will feature Tyrone McKinley Freeman, Ph.D., international award-winning author of Madam C. J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving: Black Women’s Philanthropy During Jim Crow.
Alliance for Nonprofit Management | August 26, 2022
How can we live lives of generosity during times of struggle? How can we pursue social change when our very existence may be threatened at every turn? In this session, participants will explore dimensions of generosity through the life story of Madam C.J. Walker, the early twentieth century Black philanthropist who fought heartily against the racist and sexist American system of Jim Crow
History and Modern Implications of African American Philanthropy | October 21, 2021
Tyrone McKinley Freeman will be presenting virtually as part of the executive-style learning courses delivered through six half-day sessions over 3 weeks.
A Conversation with Dr. Tyrone McKinley Freeman | October 21, 2021
A discussion about Gospel of Giving, Black philanthropy, and fundraising best practices. A brief audience Q&A will be included at the end of the conversation.
Madam C. J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving and Black Women’s Philanthropy during Jim Crow presents the first comprehensive story of Walker’s philanthropic giving arguing that she was a significant philanthropist who challenged Jim Crow and serves as a foremother of African American philanthropy today. Born Sarah Breedlove (1867-1919) to formerly enslaved parents on a cotton plantation during Reconstruction, Madam C. J. Walker became a beauty culture entrepreneur known as America’s “first self-made female millionaire.”
A great African American and American philanthropist who practiced a distinctive racialized and gendered approach to giving that relieved immediate felt-needs in her community and thwarted the systemic oppression of the Jim Crow system in America, Walker’s “embodied” philosophy of philanthropy as a “gospel of giving” started in her twenties when she was a poor, suffering migrant in St. Louis, and expanded as she gradually acquired wealth and other resources over time. Ultimately, Walker worked to give to black people—particularly black women—some of what Jim Crow had taken away from them. In the process, she became a significant American philanthropist and a foremother of black philanthropy today.
