This dissertation examines the practice of the Lord’s Supper in the Afro-Baptist tradition. It identifies a disjunction in Afro-Baptist practice between celebrating the Lord’s Supper as a ritualized memorial of the death of Jesus, and concretely enacting the socio-ethical obligations that are rooted in the meaning of his death and symbolized in the Meal. In order to bridge the gap I argue that the church must recognize the social relevance of Jesus’ death, and commemorate his death through practices that reflect the character of his self-donation as a death for others. One task of this study, therefore, is to broaden the conceptual frameworks of the “death of Jesus” and “memorial.” To this end, I employ biblical and theological analyses to explore how a Pauline theology of the cross informs the church’s social conduct. Through socio-cultural analysis, I explore ways in which Jesus’ death has been invoked historically in black social life, both constructively and destructively, to achieve various ends. By applying these analytical tools and arguing that the cross of Christ contains resources for challenging injustice, this study seeks to reconnect the church’s practice of the Lord’s Supper and the practice of everyday life among African American Christians.