In recognition of Black History Month, Harvard Divinity School takes a look back at the distinguished career and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Dibinga wa Said, MDiv ’70, ThM ’71, ThD ’79.
The Rev. Dr. Dibinga wa Said spoke out against injustice wherever he saw it.
Dr. Said advocated for freedom in his home country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He called out global injustices such as apartheid in South Africa. And as a student at Harvard Divinity School in 1970, he helped outline a plan for the School to better its relationship with its Black students.
In an essay titled “A Theology of Decolonization,” Dr. Said offered an unvarnished truth for Harvard Divinity School in 1970. He wrote that the School, if it wanted to have a future, needed to reflect on its relationship to its Black students and their needs.
“Might the Ethics and Theology Department be served by an examination of Black theology a la James Cone? What does one do with the fact that Christian ethicists have systematically ignored the problems of race in our society? What ways can be developed so that each department of the school is responsible to the needs of the Black community? Might there be a richness of interpretation provided of the Old and New Testament from a Black point of view? Why does the History of Religion Department lack a concern for the African religious Experience? . . . This institution needs excruciating self-examination if it is to survive the decade,” he wrote.
Dr. Said’s essay came about from a report he coauthored with fellow HDS alumnus Craig J. Lewis, AB ’69, MDiv ’72. The two students were enlisted by then-Dean Krister Stendahl and coauthored “The Harvard Divinity School Consultation of the Black Experience Report,” or what came to be known as the Black Audit, over the summer of 1970. The report critiqued every aspect of HDS education in light of the experience of students of African descent.
This work led to changes that made both immediate and long-lasting impacts at Harvard Divinity School, and his actions continue to be recognized more than a half century later. One of those changes was the hiring of Preston N. Williams, the first tenured African American member of the HDS faculty and the first to lead the School as acting dean from 1974-75. Now the Houghton Professor of Theology and Contemporary Change Emeritus, Williams acknowledged Dr. Said’s push for change during the November 2021 celebration of the renaming of Swartz Hall’s chapel in honor of Williams.
The legacy of Dr. Said’s time at and impact on HDS was honored with inclusion in the School’s campus-wide Faces of Divinity bicentennial exhibit. It highlighted his work on the Black Audit and noted the publication of his essay in a special issue of Harvard Theological Review on the Black experience.
”Rev. Dr. Said’s work on the Black Audit led to fundamental changes to HDS's key practices in response to the needs of the Black community. Today, we continue his work, taking steps toward a more equitable future, acknowledging the sins of our past, and working to build an anti-racist and anti-oppressive reality for all,” said HDS Dean David N. Hempton. “Rev. Dr. Said leaves a remarkable legacy, and we are very proud to count him among our most accomplished alumni. The impact of his academic and professional accomplishments, his community leadership, and his mentorship of students will continue to resonate for many, many years to come.”
In addition to his degrees from Harvard Divinity School, Dr. Said also earned a PhD from the Sorbonne in France in 1981. He served as president of the Pan-African Council, executive director of the Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation in Zambia, adjunct professor at Boston College, assistant professor at Bentley University, and acting academic dean and professor at the Universite Nationale Du Zaire. He co-founded, along with his wife Dr. Ngolela wa Kabongo, a summer camp for Congolese youth in the early 1980s in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and was also one of the original organizers, along with Brother Sadiki Kambon, of the annual Community Kwanzaa events held in Boston.
Born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dr. Said died in 2020 at the age of 80, though his legacy at Harvard Divinity School continues to live on.
—by Michael Naughton