In the latest edition of Becoming Beloved Community resources, Alvin Blount has gathered a few suggested books for adults.
Anti-racism, Social Justice, and Peace Sources for Adults
Diocese of East Tennessee
prepared by Alvin R. Blount for June 2022
Prices of sources can vary depending on where they are purchased.
Across That Bridge: A Vision of Change and the Future of America
-John Lewis
-paperback, $8.31
-hardcover, $45.99
-Kindle, $10.99
-210 pages-Hachette Books
-2019
-description: John Lewis, United States Congressman, and a leader of the Civil Rights Movement, draws from his experiences to offer the reader wisdom and principles for challenging injustices to inspire positive change in the world. This source is a winner of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work.
Lewis, J. (2019). Across That Bridge: A Vision of Change and the Future of America. Hachette Books.
Called to Reconciliation: How the Church Can Model Justice, Diversity, and Inclusion
-Jonathan C. Augustine
-paperback, $17.79
-Kindle, $18.31
-160 pages
-Baker Academic
-2022
-description: This source was written by Jonathan “Jay” Augustine, a nationally recognized speaker, church leader, reconciliation scholar, law professor, and senior pastor of St. Joseph AME Church in Durham, NC. The author challenges us to position the church as a model for reconciliation, justice, diversity, and inclusion in our parishes and society at large. He maps racial progress through his exploration of civil reconciliation from the era of civil rights to the Black Lives Matter movement. Augustine’s interdisciplinary scholarship here is deep in theology, with a foreword by Retired Bishop, William Willimon, United Methodist Church, and an afterword by The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church. A must-read for clergy, lay leaders, and any citizen interested in social justice!
Augustine, J. C. (2022). Called to Reconciliation: How the Church Can Model Justice, Diversity, and Inclusion. Baker Academic.
Deep River: The Negro Spiritual Speaks of Life and Death
-Howard Thurmond
-paperback, $14.00
-160 pages
-Friends United Press
-1975
-description: Howard Thurmond was a spiritual mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr. and other icons of the Civil Rights Movement, and founder of The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples, San Francisco. He was Dean Emeritus of Marsh Chapel, Boston University, and served as Dean of Rankin Chapel and professor of theology at Howard University in Washington, DC. One of the most influential religious leaders of the twentieth century, and author of more than twenty books including his well-known, Jesus and the Disinherited, he explores here how protest and resistance are expressed in spirituals, a genre of American, Christian music.
Thurmond, H. (1975). Deep River: The Negro Spiritual Speaks of Life and Death. Friends United Press.
Justified by Her Children: Deeds of Courage Confronting A Tradition of Racism
-Roy G. Pollina
-paperback, $19.95
-Kindle, $14.95
-290 pages
-Whaler Books
-2021
-description: In this must-have source, our own Roy Pollina, a semi-retired priest, and author, guides the reader to see that the evil of racism can easily masquerade itself as an accepted manner of doing things, and confronting this evil is opposing society’s order. He further guides the reader to explore that racism can be eradicated by small deeds of little-known citizens young and old.
Pollina, R. G. (2021). Justified by Her Children: Deeds of Courage Confronting A Tradition of Racism. Whaler Books.