(Featued photo via Living Lutheran)
Last week, it was announced that the Trinity Lutheran Seminary would once again host the annual Trout Lectures, and the man who inspired it holds a fascinating spot in Capital’s history.
Nelson W. Trout was a professor and director of minority studies at Trinity Lutheran Seminary. Today, Trout is known as the first African-American man to become a bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, an elected position.
After his graduation, Trout traveled around America serving various congregations. At one point, he landed in Birmingham, Alabama, where he became friends with civil rights legend Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
In 1983, Trout was named bishop of the South Pacific District of the American Lutheran Church, which eventually merged with several other Lutheran churches to become the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
For quite some time, Trinity has been hosting an annual lecture series to commemorate the legacy of Trout. Last year, the lecture event was canceled due to the advent of COVID-19 pandemic. Originally, Rev. Dr. Beverly Wallace was supposed to be the keynote speaker at the event, so this year, she will be returning to give her keynote speech.
This year, from April 29-30, the community will be able to attend this year’s virtual lecture series for no price at all. At the time of this writing, the registration link is not available at this time.
