Please join us as we resume our book study on Undoing Racism with our next book:
“Four Hundred Souls” Edited by Ibram X Kendi and Keisha N. Blain
Four Hundred Souls is a unique one-volume “community” history of African Americans. The editors, Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain, have assembled ninety brilliant writers, each of whom takes on a five-year period of that four-hundred-year span. The writers explore their periods through a variety of techniques: historical essays, short stories, personal vignettes, and fiery polemics. They approach history from various perspectives: through the eyes of towering historical icons or the untold stories of ordinary people; through places, laws, and objects. While themes of resistance and struggle, of hope and reinvention, course through the book, this collection of diverse pieces from ninety different minds, reflecting ninety different perspectives, fundamentally deconstructs the idea that Africans in America are a monolith—instead it unlocks the startling range of experiences and ideas that have always existed within the community of Blackness.
The story begins in 1619—a year before the Mayflower—when the White Lion disgorges “some 20-and-odd Negroes” onto the shores of Virginia, inaugurating the African presence in what would become the United States. It takes us to the present, when African Americans, descendants of those on the White Lion and a thousand other routes to this country, continue a journey defined by inhuman oppression, visionary struggles, stunning achievements, and millions of ordinary lives passing through extraordinary history.
Reviews
A chorus of extraordinary voices tells the epic story of the four-hundred-year journey of African Americans from 1619 to the present—edited by Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist, and Keisha N. Blain, author of Set the World on Fire.”
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
From journalist Hannah P. Jones on Jamestown’s first slaves to historian Annette Gordon-Reed’s portrait of Sally Hemings to the seductive cadences of poets Jericho Brown and Patricia Smith, Four Hundred Souls weaves a tapestry of unspeakable suffering and unexpected transcendence.”
The Oprah Magazine
We will offer discussion groups twice per week:
- Tuesday, July 19, 2022, through August 16, 2022, from 4:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. via Zoom
- Thursday, July 21, 2022, through August 18, 2022, from 7 p.m. until 8 p.m. via Zoom
You may purchase the book on Amazon (and other sellers).
If you are interested in joining our Beloved Community of Care and Love Book Club, please contact Shirley Bolden via email at Sbolden2@comcast.net. Please provide your name, e-mail, phone number, and which session you would like to attend.
Please register by contacting Shirley Bolden via email at Sbolden2@comcast.net
The deadline for registration is Monday, July 15, 2022.