Mother Emanuel by Kevin Sack

This is an extended history of Mother Emanuel, one of the best know historically black churches in America. It is located in Charleston, South Carolina, which is known for it's plethora of beautiful churches, and it is also the location of a mass murder by a white supremacist in June, 2015 that occurred during a Bible study. The author covered the trial of the mass murderer and that was his inspiration for learning more about the history of the church itself. The book, published a decade after this shooting brought the church into the national news, tells the story of how Mother Emanuel has been at the forefront of the struggle for racial justice since it was founded by enslaved and free African-Americans in 1817. The book details many things about Chalreston that I did not know, including a large population of free mixed race people--the impetus for the creation of the church was when it became illegal to educate blacks. Most interestingly he recounts the history of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, placing it within the tragic saga of the South and memorably illuminating the efforts by African American Methodists to maintain their religious commitments in the teeth of cruel adversity. He traces the sobering evolution of Methodism from an abolitionist denomination to one that accommodated and even championed slavery, and he chronicles the brutal repression of Black worship by authorities who feared that religious observance might camouflage insurrectionist conspiracies. He depicts the figures who were exiled from the state by dint of laws that prohibited the teaching of literacy or freedom of assembly absent white supervision. On balance, things do not look good. Racism and white supremacy are openly celebrated right now, and this book chronicles the pushing back on that within a Christian framework. It is not an easy read, but it does make you think. If banning books is about shielding America's racist past, then this will be on the chopping black for sure.