In this beautifully written book, Clint Smith leads us on a tour of the monuments and landmarks that tell the story of slavery in America. Smith transports us to locations like Monticello, the Whitney Plantation, and Angola Prison, painting a picture of both the present and the past. He brings these locations to life through interviews with people he encounters on his journey, deep historical research, and his own reflections on how he experiences each location.
Additional Resources
If you don't have time to read the book, check out one of these videos or podcast episodes and join the discussion.
The New York Times Book Review Podcast – June 25, 2021
The first 30 minutes of this podcast episode feature an interview with the author Clint Smith about How the Word is Passed.
A Reckoning with the History of Slavery in the U.S.: Author Clint Smith | Amanpour and Company
This interview provides a brief introduction to the book. (17 min)
Slavery in America: The Constitution to Reconstruction with Clint Smith
This extensive interview from the National Constitution Center provides an overview of the entire book. (53 minutes)
In Subversive Witness, Dominique DuBois Gilliard inspires readers to reimagine how they think about privilege and exercise power. Instead of denying the existence of privilege or feeling incapacitated by it, Christians can learn to wield privilege subversively as an instrument to advance the kingdom and sacrificially love our neighbors, particularly those who have been disenfranchised by the abuse of power.
Dominique illustrates how the faithful witness of biblical figures, from Esther to Zacchaeus, provides a blueprint for modern believers who desire to pick up the baton as drum majors of justice. By embodying Scripture's subversive call to leverage – and at times forsake – privilege, readers will learn to love their neighbors sacrificially, enact systemic change, and grow more Christlike as citizens of God's kingdom.
If you're not a reader, or if you want to dig in even deeper, check out one of these excellent interviews with the author and join us for the discussion.
- Perkins Fall Series: Subversive Witness - YouTube
- Holy Post Podcast – Episode 485 (Interview begins at 53:32)
- Be the Bridge Podcast – Episode 35
In this prophetic blend of history, theology, and cultural commentary, the authors reveal the far-reaching, damaging effects of the "Doctrine of Discovery." As other nations have instituted truth and reconciliation commissions, so do the authors call our nation and churches to a truth-telling that will expose past injustices and open the door to conciliation and true community.
Reparations explores the church's responsibility for the deep racial brokenness at the heart of American culture, investigates the Bible's call to repair it, and offers a vision for the work of reparation at the local level.
In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.
How to Fight Racism is a handbook for pursuing racial justice with hands-on suggestions bolstered by real-world examples of change. Tisby offers an array of actionable items to confront racism in our relationships and in everyday life through a simple framework--the A.R.C. Of Racial Justice--that helps readers consistently interrogate their own actions and maintain a consistent posture of anti-racist action. This book is for anyone who believes it is time to stop compromising with racism and courageously confront it.
"Many white Christians across America are waking up to the fact that something is seriously wrong―but often this is where we get stuck." Confronted by the deep-rooted racial injustice in our society, many white Christians instinctively scramble to add diversity to their churches and ministries. But is diversity really the answer to the widespread racial dysfunction we see in the church? In this simple but powerful book, Pastor David Swanson contends that discipleship, not diversity, lies at the heart of our white churches' racial brokenness.
Gospel unity creates racial harmony.
However, Martin Luther King Jr. once said that the most segregated hour in America is eleven o’clock on Sunday morning. Equipped with the gospel, the church should be the catalyst for reconciliation, yet it continues to ignore immense pain and division.
In an effort to bridge the canyon of misunderstanding, insensitivity, and hurt, Mark Vroegop writes about the practice of lament, which he defines as “the biblical language of empathy and exile, perseverance and protest.” Encouraging you to “weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15), Vroegop invites you to mourn with him over the brokenness that has caused division and to use lament to begin the journey toward a diverse and united church.
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