“First” is an adjective you can’t do without when describing Barry C. Black, PhD, the 62nd chaplain of the United States Senate. In 2000, he became the first-ever African American to head the Navy Chaplain Corps. He made history again in 2003 when he was elected to the Senate chaplaincy as the first African American, as well as the first Seventh-day Adventist, to hold that title.

Stetson community members will have a chance to hear Black share his wisdom on Values Day, Nov. 12, as he delivers the keynote speech, titled “Becoming 10 Times Better,” during the opening ceremony, 9-10:15 a.m., in the Stetson Room at the CUB. 

Values Day is an annual tradition at Stetson, a day when classes are canceled and offices are closed so that all members of the Hatter community can engage with one another on the university’s core values. Students can earn up to six cultural credits by attending the day’s programming. This year’s Values Day theme is “America’s 250th Birthday: What Values Will Shape the Next 250 Years?”

“Chaplain Black embodies the very question at the heart of Values Day 2026,” said Erin Doggette, PhD, Stetson’s executive director for Cultural, Civic and Community Engagement. “His life story is one of the most compelling in American public life: a young man who grew up in poverty in inner-city Baltimore and rose to become the 62nd chaplain of the United States. He is a living testament to the power of values-driven living, and there is no more fitting voice to anchor a day dedicated to reflection, dialogue and action. We are deeply honored to welcome him to Stetson.”

During a phone interview, Black recounted his upbringing in inner-city Baltimore, where his mother, a domestic worker and the daughter of a South Carolina sharecropper, raised him and his seven siblings while on public assistance. A social worker would regularly visit his family’s home to ensure there was no adult male clothing in the closet, he said, as one of the requirements for public assistance was that no adult male should live with his family.

Continued Black, “And yet, in spite of that, my mom managed to put all eight of us through college and at least half of us through graduate school because of values and connecting with people who had values.”

Speaking with Black is like speaking with a library that can talk, a vast collection of some of mankind’s most revered and time-tested philosophical and spiritual works neatly organized in the chamber of his mind for him to pull out and cite without effort. Growing up, he was an avid reader and “traveled all over the world” through the books available at Enoch Pratt Free Library, walking distance from his home. He has five advanced degrees, including two doctorates, and is the author of the autobiographical memoir, “From the Hood to the Hill: A Story of Overcoming,” which he will be signing at his session following the opening ceremony on Values Day.

Quoting Martin Luther King Jr., who wrote, “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny,” in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Black said. “So, we need one another. And when we begin to look at how to deal with right versus right conundrums, truth versus loyalty, the individual versus the community, long-term versus short-term, then we will, I think, be able to understand why the values we will be coming together to talk about are so critically important.”

Values Day attendees can also expect a complimentary community lunch at the Lynn Dining Commons with a special menu that features flavors from across America.

–Siyon Kim