Garth Baker- Fletcher

Rev. Dr. Garth “Kasimu” Baker Fletcher, ordained by the American Baptist Church, has joined the ancestors and saints among the “great cloud of witnesses.” A long-time member of the Society for the Study of Black Religion (the Society) and the American Academy of Religion, Dr. Baker Fletcher was the husband of theologian Dr. Karen Baker-Fletcher.

We remember Garth “Kasimu” in celebration of his music, prolific scholarship in Black Christian Liberation Ethics, the loving impact he had on all those around him, and the faith he embodied and taught us to live accordingly. Garth was born on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1955, in Cleveland, Ohio to two loving community leaders, Kenneth and Superia Fletcher. Garth’s singing and music gifts were first discovered and cultivated in Antioch Baptist Church. He attended the renowned Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan for music during his formative years. Interlochen prepared Garth for New England Conservatory of Music, where he received his Bachelor’s degree. Garth received his Master of Divinity degree and his ThD degree from Harvard Divinity School, where he met the love of his life, Karen.

When he was matriculating at Harvard Divinity School he became a founding member of the Harvard Jubilee Singers, a group that recorded both traditional spirituals and original music. After receiving a Master of Divinity, he was ordained in the American Baptist Church. Rev. Dr. Baker Fletcher wrote in his dissertation, Somebodyness: The Theory of Dignity in the Thought of Martin Luther King, Jr. at Harvard Divinity School and he a Doctor of Theology from the same. He taught Christian ethics at the Christian Theological Seminary of Indianapolis and Claremont School of Theology in southern California during the 1990s. In Indianapolis he served on a Governor’s Board to end unjust violence by police against African Americans. In the 2000s he taught Bible and Christian Ethics at Texas College, an HBCU, in Tyler, Texas. After retiring from teaching in 2013, he went back to school for master’s in music in 2019. He received his Masters in Sacred Music with specialization in Music Composition from Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX in 2021.

A man of many gifts and talents, Garth was the author of Somebodyness: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Theory of Dignity. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993, Xodus: An African-American Male Journey.Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996, My Sister, My Brother: Womanist and Xodus God-Talk.Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1997, Black Religion After the Million Man March: Voices on the Future. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1998, Dirty Hands: Christian Ethics in a Morally Ambiguous World. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000, Bible Witness in Black Churches. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, and Pain, Suffering and Danger. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2018. He was a composer from a young and produced a 1979 album, “Songs: It’s Serious,” which is available on YouTube. His published books and music focused on Freedom, Dignity, Love, and Unity. His life-long vision and ministry were for unity in the Church, Nation, and World. He never met a stranger and within minutes a new friend would ask, “You’re a minister, aren’t you?”

In his last years of life, Garth “Kasimu” was the Minister of Worship at Trinity United Methodist Church, in Duncanville, TX . He was a person whose musical abilities were refined and honed by exposure to many traditions of music – from playing classical piano since the age of five to singing in the Cleveland Orchestra’s Children Chorus as a seventh and eighth grader; to playing violin in the Junior Division orchestra at the National Music Camp; and playing trombone in his high school band as a ninth grader.

Rev. Dr. Garth “Kasimu” Anthony Baker-Fletcher was a musician, professor, mentor, minister, and loving father and husband who is survived by his wife, Karen and three children, Kris, Kenneth, and Desiree. We send our thoughts and prayers to all who loved him, because he loved you within God’s own “dignified love.”