Shrine of the Black Madonna 2571967 when on Easter Sunday, Cleage unveiled an 18-foot-
high and 9-foot-wide black Madonna and Child, which
replaced a stained glass window depicting the Pilgrims’
landing at Plymouth Rock. With the Shrine as his insti-
tutional base, Rev. Cleage called for black churches to
reinterpret the teachings of Christianity to address the
social, economic, and political needs of the contemporary
African American community. Th e Shrine thus provided
a crucial physical and metaphysical space that fostered the
emergence of Afrocentric black theology in the late 1960s
and 1970s.
Formerly known as the Central Congregational Church,
founded by Cleage in 1953, the Shrine of the Black Madonna
has provided theological, philosophical, and institutional
support for the African American community in De-
troit and beyond. It had 50,000 members at its peak, and
although membership has declined in recent years, the
Shrine has expanded with new congregations in other lo-
cales, including Flint, Michigan; Kalamazoo, Michigan;
Houston; Atlanta; New York; Philadelphia; and South
Carolina. Featuring a strong focus on economic self-suf-
fi ciency and religious reawakening, the Shrine envisions
the church as a focal point of the African American com-
munity, playing an important role especially in political,
cultural, and educational life. Combining black separat-
ism with biblical inspiration, the Shrine stands fi rmly in
the long tradition of leaders who blended religion and
Black Nationalism; indeed, Cleage publicly acknowledged
his debt to such ideological predecessors as Malcolm X
and Marcus Garvey.
Th e Shrine became particularly prominent for its role
in city politics following the 1967 riots in Detroit. As many
whites fl ed the city to the suburbs, membership in black
social and political organizations exploded, and the Shrine
became one of the most important religious and civic or-
ganizations in the city. Th e Shrine actively campaigned to
elect black public offi cials and was instrumental in the 1973
election of Detroit’s fi rst African American mayor, Cole-
man Young. It also helped launch the political careers of
U.S. representative Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick and former
U.S. representative Barbara-Rose Collins.
Over the years, the Shrine has off ered a number of
institutional programs, including bookstores, community
service centers, youth centers and academies, a neighbor-
hood supermarket, and Beulah Land Farms in South Caro-
lina. Th e Shrine of the Black Madonna Culture Center andthe MGM Grand. Before leaving the hotel, Tupac and
his entourage were involved in the beating of Southside
Crips gang member Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, in
response to Anderson’s earlier robbery of a Death Row
employee. Aft er the beating, Tupac and Knight started
driving to the Death Row–owned Club 662. On the way, a
white Cadillac opened fi re on Knight’s car, hitting Tupac
four times: once each in the chest, pelvis, right hand, and
right thigh, with one of the bullets ricocheting into his
right lung. He died fi ve days later from internal bleeding
and was cremated. Knight suff ered minor head wounds
caused by shrapnel.
Th e case remains unsolved, leaving a wake of popular
theories. Some believe that Smalls and Combs arranged
the shooting in an escalation of their public rivalry. Others
suggest it was Knight or Death Row’s mob or gang con-
nections. Th e most enduring theory links it to Anderson’s
beating, a claim made more popular by Anderson’s mys-
terious shooting death less then two years later. Th e case,
thought to be cold, was reopened in 2007 following new
evidence presented by Tupac’s former bodyguard, Kevin
Hackie, implicating Knight and the allegedly corrupt re-
tired Compton policeman Reginald Wright Jr. Th e two
maintain their innocence, and the case remains unsolved.
See also: Black Panther Party; Hip-Hop
Aaron D. SachsBibliography
Dyson, Michael. Holler If You Hear Me. New York: Basic Civitas
Books, 2001.
Hoye, Jacob, and Karolyn Ali. Tupac: Resurrection. New York:
Atria, 2003.
Monjauze, Molly, Gloria Cox, and Staci Robinson. Tupac Remem-
bered. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2008.
Shakur, Tupac. Th e Rose Th at Grew from Concrete. New York:
MTV, 1999.
Vibe. Tupac Amaru Shakur, 1971 – 199 6. New York: Th ree Rivers
Press, 1998.
Shrine of the Black Madonna
Th e Shrine of the Black Madonna is part of the Pan Af-
rican Orthodox Christian Church (PAOCC), founded by
Rev. Albert B. Cleage Jr. (Jaramogi Abebe Agyeman) in
Detroit, Michigan. Th e Shrine gained national fame in