Dr. Wylin Wilson grew up as an African American in a region she describes as the “black belt,” a broad swath of the South named for the color of its rich soil and the people who long tended it. The region is now associated with its struggling economy that disproportionately affects vulnerable populations.
Raised in the Floridian panhandle, Wilson said she saw the Black church provide economic development, setting her up to study its capacity in this role. Her engagement furthered her interest in the intersection of bioethics, theology, and gender in what she now studies.
Her most recent research at Duke University in North Carolina focused on the role of the Black church in bioethics to better understand the economic and supportive roles that church communities have on marginalized populations and its role in the continuation of history and culture…