On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed
If you read just one book this summer, may it be this one. My clergy group just finished it and we all loved it (which is unusual in our group. It's short and sassy reading and feels more like memoir than a history lesson. It's an essential, sweeping story of Juneteenth's integral importance to American history, as told by a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and Texas native.
It's online description:
Weaving together American history, dramatic family chronicle, and searing episodes of memoir, the book provides a historian's view of the country's long road to Juneteenth, recounting both its origins in Texas and the enormous hardships that African-Americans have endured in the century since, from Reconstruction through Jim Crow and beyond. All too aware of the stories of cowboys, ranchers, and oilmen that have long dominated the lore of the Lone Star State, Gordon-Reed—herself a Texas native and the descendant of enslaved people brought to Texas as early as the 1820s—forges a new and profoundly truthful narrative of her home state, with implications for us all.
My take: This brisk history lesson entertains and enlightens and was named as one the best books of the year in 2021.
"As painful as it may be, recognizing—though not dwelling on—tragedy and the role it plays in our individual lives, and in the life of a state or nation, is, I think, a sign of maturity."
What is Juneteenth and why should this day matter to Christians? https://www.r2hub.org/library/what-is-juneteenth
RevKelly
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