Book Study: April, May, June
READING GROUP: APRIL THROUGH JUNE
Participants read the book independently in three sections, then convene by Zoom once monthly, on a Tuesday evening, continuing at 7pm on Tuesday 14 May, and ending, with the third meeting, in June. There may also be a closing (perhaps in-person) Juneteenth event for participants. To register to attend email the parish administrator (admin@stjvny.org). You do not need to have been to the first session to benefit from the second.
The meetings are three one-hour sessions, hosted by members of St John’s in the Village Anti-Racism Committee.
This “important and timely” (Drew Faust, Harvard Magazine) #1 New York Times bestseller examines the legacy of slavery in America—and how both history and memory continue to shape our everyday lives.
Beginning in his hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads the reader on an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks—those that are honest about the past and those that are not—that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation's collective history, and ourselves.
It is the story of the Monticello Plantation in Virginia, the estate where Thomas Jefferson wrote letters espousing the urgent need for liberty while enslaving more than four hundred people. It is the story of the Whitney Plantation, one of the only former plantations devoted to preserving the experience of the enslaved people whose lives and work sustained it. It is the story of Angola, a former plantation-turned-maximum-security prison in Louisiana that is filled with Black men who work across the 18,000-acre land for virtually no pay. And it is the story of Blandford Cemetery, the final resting place of tens of thousands of Confederate soldiers.
A deeply researched and transporting exploration of the legacy of slavery and its imprint on centuries of American history, How the Word Is Passed illustrates how some of our country's most essential stories are hidden in plain view—whether in places we might drive by on our way to work, holidays such as Juneteenth, or entire neighborhoods like downtown Manhattan, where the brutal history of the trade in enslaved men, women, and children has been deeply imprinted.
Informed by scholarship and brought to life by the story of people living today, Smith's debut work of nonfiction is a landmark of reflection and insight that offers a new understanding of the hopeful role that memory and history can play in making sense of our country and how it has come to be.
Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction
Winner of the Stowe Prize
Winner of 2022 Hillman Prize for Book Journalism
A New York Times 10 Best Books of 2021
You can purchase the book (Paperback $10.95; Kindle $12.99) here.
PREVIOUS EVENTS STILL AVAIABLE ONLINE
SERMON AT THE SUNDAY EUCHARIST ON THE JUNETEEN LONG WEEKEND
The Rector’s homily on Sunday 18 June 2023 addressed Christians’ changing attitude to slavery. The homily begins at 22min and 30 seconds in the liturgy which can be viewed here.
FREE TO BE
On Tuesday 22 Feb we presented: Free to Be: The African American Presence in New York City 1900 - 1950
Dr. Deidre B. Flowers, A’Lelia Bundles Scholar, Columbia University
“Free to Be” explores the experiences and contributions of African Americans to early twentieth century life in New York City. I investigate issues that affected the lives NYC’s Black citizens were able to live based on the effects of employment and education opportunities, social issues, and living conditions. This talk is contextualized by historical events including the Harlem Renaissance, the New Negro movement, freedom struggles, the world wars, and the Great Depression.
You can still view the presentation: click here.
LOVELY, DARK, AND LONLEY
Concert: Lovely dark and Lonely: music by African-American Composers
African-American baritone and music-historian Richard Hodges, accompanied by Tabitha Johnson, performed a concert program of works by African-American composers from the late 19th to the mid 20th century. Composers include Harry T. Burleigh (1866-1949), Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912), Florence B. Price (1887-1953), Mark Fax (1911-1974), and Margaret Bonds (1913-1972).
To view the concert click here.
African Americans in New York City: The First 150 Year
Thursday 25 Feb at 7pm: Professor John Singler, New York University
African Americans in New York City: The First 150 Years. In order to understand the role of African Americans in shaping New York City, we need to go back to the very beginning. As long as there has been a New York City, there have been African Americans here. The present talk looks at colonial New Amsterdam/New York. In the Dutch era, “half-free” African Americans were allotted farms along Minetta Creek in the Village. In the English era, slaveholding became so widespread that, of all American cities, only Charleston, South Carolina, had a greater percentage of households with at least one enslaved person.
