Lerone Martin, assistant professor of religion and politics in the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis, has been awarded a 2016-2017 American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Fellowship for a research project titled “J. Edgar Hoover’s Stained Glass Window: The FBI and Christian America.”
The fellowship, which comes with a $35,000 stipend, will support Martin’s research on how the religious culture of the FBI and its collaboration with clergy, faith communities and church organizations helped construct and shape popular notions of Christian America during the 20th century.
ACLS fellowships are one of the nation’s most competitive fellowship competitions, awarded to approximately 5 percent of applicants. The fellowships support scholarship in the humanities and related social sciences.
Martin’s research on Hoover also earned a 2016 book grant from the Louisville Institute for the Study of American Religion. That program enables junior, tenure-track religion scholars of color to complete a major study that contributes to the vitality of Christianity in North America. Grants of up to $40,000 support yearlong research projects that will lead to a book publication. The Louisville Institute is a Lily Endowment-funded program based at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary.