The Black Church Read-Alikes 
 
Have you watched The Black Church on PBS?  This two-part, four-hour series from executive producer, host, and writer Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (based on his nonfiction title of the same name), traces the 400 year-old story of the Black church in America, “all the way down to its bedrock role as the site of African American survival and endurance, grace and resilience, thriving and testifying, freedom and independence, solidarity and speaking truth to power.” If you would like to find more titles that illuminate similar aspects of Black history's influence on current events, we have a staff-recommended list of nonfiction titles for you. Click on a title to place a hold or to find electronic copies to download.
 
Find the series here.
 

The Black Church : this is our story, this is our song
by Henry Louis Gates

The Harvard University professor, NAACP Image Award recipient and Emmy Award-winning creator of The African Americans presents a history of the Black church in America that illuminates its essential role in culture, politics and resistance to white supremacy.
A Black Women's History of the United States
by Daina Ramey Berry

Two award-winning history professors and authors focus on the stories of African-American women slaves, civilians, religious leaders, artists, queer icons, activists and criminals in a celebration of black womanhood that demonstrates its indelible role in shaping America.
Stamped from the Beginning : the definitive history of racist ideas in America
by Ibram X Kendi

A comprehensive history of anti-black racism focuses on the lives of five major players in American history, including Cotton Mather and Thomas Jefferson, and highlights the debates that took place between assimilationists and segregationists and between racists and antiracists.
The Color of Christ : the Son of God & the saga of race in America
by Edward J. Blum

Explores the dynamic nature of Christ worship in the U.S., addressing how his image has been visually remade to champion the causes of white supremacists and civil rights leaders alike, and why the idea of a white Christ has endured.
The Color of Law : a forgotten history of how our government segregated America
by Richard Rothstein

Argues that laws and policies created by local, state, and federal government deliberately promoted segregation in metropolitan areas during the twentieth century, creating long-lasting consequences.
White Too Long : the legacy of white supremacy in American Christianity
by Robert P. Jones

"White Too Long draws on history, statistics, and memoir to urge that white Christians reckon with the racism of the past and the amnesia of the present to restore a Christian identity free of the taint of white supremacy."
Stony the Road : Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow
by Henry Louis Gates

The NAACP Image Award-winning creator of The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross chronicles America's post-Civil War struggle for racial equality and the violent counterrevolution that re-subjugated black Americans throughout the 20th century.
America's Original Sin : racism, white privilege, and the bridge to a new America
by Jim Wallis

A best-selling author and leading Christian activist shows how Christians can work together to overcome the destructive and pervasive nature of racism in American society.
Passionate for Justice : Ida B. Wells as prophet for our time
by Catherine Meeks

Ida B. Wells was a powerful churchwoman and witness for justice and equity from 1878-1931. Born enslaved, her witness flowed through the struggles for justice in her lifetime, especially in the intersections of African-Americans, women, and those who were poor. Her life is a profound witness for faith-based work of visionary power, resistance, and resilience for today's world, when the forces of injustice stand in opposition to progress. These are exciting and dangerous times. Boundaries that previously seemed impenetrable are now being crossed. This book is a guide for the current state of affairs in American culture, enlivened by the historical perspective of Wells' search for justice.
Lighting the Fires of Freedom : African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement
by Janet Dewart Bell

In Lighting the Fires of Freedom Janet Dewart Bell shines a light on women’s all-too-often overlooked achievements in the Movement. Through wide-ranging conversations with nine women, several now in their nineties with decades of untold stories, we hear what ignited and fueled their activism, as Bell vividly captures their inspiring voices. Lighting the Fires of Freedom offers these deeply personal and intimate accounts of extraordinary struggles for justice that resulted in profound social change, stories that are vital and relevant today.
Tears we cannot stop : a sermon to white America
by Michael Eric Dyson

Short, emotional, literary, powerful—Tears We Cannot Stop is the book that all Americans who care about the current and long-burning crisis in race relations will want to read.

As the country grapples with racist division at a level not seen since the 1960s, one man's voice soars above the rest with conviction and compassion. In his 2016 New York Times op-ed piece "Death in Black and White," Michael Eric Dyson moved a nation. Now he continues to speak out in Tears We Cannot Stop—a provocative and deeply personal call for change. Dyson argues that if we are to make real racial progress we must face difficult truths, including being honest about how black grievance has been ignored, dismissed, or discounted.



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