Description
Book SynopsisFor African Americans who have experienced the trauma of colonization, displacement, enslavement, and race-based violence, lament has long been a form of cultural expression that creates space to process these experiences. Lament and Justice in African American History: By the Rivers of Babylon explores the theme of lament in African American history from a theological perspective. In part one of this edited volume, scholars examine historical examples of African Americans’ use of lament as a framework for engaging both historical memory and social action. Part two offers examples of the incorporation of lament as a pedagogical tool in classrooms and other educational settings. Readers of this book will appreciate the importance of lament in the African American Christian tradition and will come away challenged to connect their own lament with the pursuit of justice.
Trade ReviewWhile lament is extremely difficult to do well, it is a necessary step in the continuing struggle for justice. This collection of essays points us to example after example of lament but it does not leave us with examples. These authors also remind us that lament is not a thing that we witness or read about; it must be experienced and implemented. We have reason to weep. Read this book and do so.
-- Malcolm Foley, Baylor University
Table of ContentsForeword, Jemar Tisby
Introduction, Timothy Fritz
Part I: Lament and Historical Practice
Chapter One: Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen: Black Lament in the Stories Untold, Alicia K. Jackson
Chapter Two: Frederick Douglass’s Fourth of July Speech, Lament, and Historical Memory, Trisha Posey
Chapter Three: The Planet and the Pageant: John Mitchell Jr.’s Lament and W. B. Cridlin’s Celebration in Richmond, Virginia, May 1922, Peter Slade
Chapter Four: “I'm tired of funerals. I'm tired of it! We've got to stand up!”: Collective Lament, Collective Anger and Collective Action in the Civil Rights Struggle, Ansley Quiros
Chapter Five: “A Tribute in Tears and a Thrust for Freedom”: Medgar Evers and the Politics of Lament, Patrick Connelly
Part II: Lament and Historical Pedagogy
Chapter Six: The Psalms and the Historical Pedagogy of Lament, Timothy Fritz
Chapter Seven: Teaching History in Mississippi: Lament as Pedagogy in an Era of Suffering, 2008-2022, Otis W. Pickett
Chapter Eight: A Pedagogy of Healing, Karen Johnson
Chapter Nine: A Mourning March: Learning Lament in the Classroom of the City, Gregory R. Perry
About the Contributors
