Book Signing: "Colored Women Sittin’ on High: Womanist Sermonic Practice in Literature and Music"

Saturday, September 6, 2025 1:00 PM EDT
Off-Campus Location

Melanie R. Hill, Ph.D. is Named Term Chair Andrew W. Mellon Assistant Professor of Global Racial Justice and Assistant Professor of American Literature with specializations in African American Literature, Black Music Performance, and Womanist Literature/Thought/Theology in the Department of English at Rutgers University, Newark. Hill received her Ph.D. in English Literature with two graduate certificates in Africana Studies and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Hill has been a reviewer for the Yale Journal of Music and Religion and published articles on the art of the sermon in Black literature, Black feminism/womanism and the art of the sermon in African American literature as well as on the works of blues and jazz vocalists Bessie Smith and Ella Fitzgerald under the James Baldwin Review, Religions Journal, and Oxford University Press, respectively. In addition, Dr. Hill has held positions as Associate Research Scholar and Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion and Literature at Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music and Divinity School, respectively. Her new manuscript entitled, “Colored Women Sittin’ on High: Womanist Sermonic Practice in Literature and Music,” (UNC Press) focuses on the ways in which Black women preachers in African American literature, music, and in the space of the pulpit counter social injustices through sermon and song. Colored Women Sittin’ on High has been officially endorsed and praised by both Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple, and civil rights legend, Ruby Sales. To read Alice Walker’s praise of Dr. Hill’s new book, please visit www.alicewalkersgarden.com. Dr. Hill’s book was officially released April 29, 2025 and is available wherever books are sold.

Recently, Dr. Hill performed at Carnegie Hall in New York (2025) and was also invited as the keynote speaker and performing solo violinist in Paris, France for the James Baldwin Centennial Celebration, commemorating 100 years of Baldwin’s legacy (September 2024). She is also a keynote interviewee in the forthcoming American Girl® documentary. Dr. Hill’s research and pedagogical work have also been featured in Princeton University’s Mellon Research Forum and the Teagle Foundation, respectively. 

In addition to her scholarship, Dr. Hill is a classically-trained Gospel Soul Violinist who has performed at the White House on two occasions under the Obama administration, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the Apollo Theater, the Staples Center in Los Angeles, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, and for Pope Francis’s Papal Mass during his historic visit to the United States. Hill has also been featured on Showtime at the Apollo, Good Day Philadelphia, Philadelphia Style Magazine, NY1, BET, TV One, and has performed for Alice Walker, Senator Rev. Dr. Raphael G. Warnock, Ms. Sabrina Fulton, Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole, Mrs. Susan L. Taylor, and opened for John Legend and Jonathan McReynolds. In collaboration with the Mourning into Unity project, Dr. Hill performed at Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., honoring lives lost due to the global pandemic. In honor of precious lives lost during the pandemic, Dr. Hill opened for the National Council of Churches before the sermon of Bishop Michael B. Curry, presiding Bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church.

The event will be taking place at Barnes & Nobles - Paramus.

ParamusFashion Center
634 N State Route 17
Paramus, NJ 07652
(201) 445-4589