race – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

Black Lives, American Love: Essays on Race & Resilience

By Scott J. Pearson | November 7, 2023October 22, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

After the horrific murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the most racially biased US presidential administration in about a century, America faced an uproar on a scale not seen since the 1960s. “A racial reckoning,” boomed the press while corporations funded new efforts for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Astute observers noted that real change would consist not in ephemeral gestures but in lasting structural change. Three years later, the uproar has died down. Some…

The Deep Faith of Paul Robeson

By Scott J. Pearson | September 24, 2023September 24, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

On August 29, 2023, the Pew Research Center released survey data about the crossing between religious groups and racial issues. 53 percent of Americans said that people not seeing racial discrimination where it does exist was a bigger problem. 45 percent said the opposite, that people seeing discrimination where it does not exist is a bigger issue. To anyone who has followed American politics in recent years, these results should come as no surprise. After…

Biography-Memoir

Benjamin Banneker & Us: 11 Generations of an American Family

By Scott J. Pearson | April 2, 2023April 2, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Living in the Revolutionary War period, Benjamin Banneker was a genius in an age of American greatness. He was a freed black man in Maryland who built a clock out of wood (yes, you read that right), published several almanacs, and critically helped survey the land for the District of Columbia. Rachel Jamison Webster found out in recent years that she is a white relative of his. A writing professor at Northwestern, she constructs a…

Religion-Philosophy

The Inconvenient Gospel: A Southern Prophet Tackles War, Wealth, Race, & Religion

By Scott J. Pearson | November 16, 2022November 16, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

The Baptist faith I grew up with, at its best, tries to transform the world by living out values alien to contemporary society. Clarence Jordan, a son of Georgia in the American South, paid attention to his Christian upbringing, but as an adult, realized that American society often did not follow Jesus Christ’s lead. Religion was often kept in the walls of the church instead of being practiced on the street. This collection of writings,…

Psychology Society

Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection & Bridging Divides

By Scott J. Pearson | November 2, 2022November 2, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

In recent decades, American society has collectively forgotten the virtue of fostering belonging in others. There seem to be many causes contributing to this central effect – political partisanship, technology, police injustices, lingering racism, the capitalistic thrust of media, and more. Cohen, a Stanford psychology professor, takes aim at this rich topic by presenting a comprehensive theory driven by research and then drawing out several practical applications. He does so to help modern social problems…

Fiction-Stories Society

The Man Who Lived Underground: A Novel

By Scott J. Pearson | July 27, 2022July 27, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

In the 1940s, Richard Wright published two seminal works (Black Boy and Native Son). Both dealt with the topic of race in America. Wright also wrote another full-length work (this one), but it was rejected by publishers for being too controversial about race. However, during the recent Black Lives Matter movement, many saw the censorship of this book as being a historical injustice that needed correction. So in 2021, this story was published for the…

Fiction-Stories Society

Passing by Nella Larsen

By Scott J. Pearson | July 21, 2022July 21, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

This short classic, set in New York City, was originally published in 1929 during the Harlem Renaissance. It examined the phenomenon of “passing” – a black person acting as a white person. Of course, the American context has changed significantly since 1929. The concept of race is now, thankfully, widely considered a social construct, without any biological merit. The concept of passing, though still present on occasion, is less of an issue. Nonetheless, Larsen gives…

Biography-Memoir Religion-Philosophy

Howard Thurman & the Disinherited: A Religious Biography

By Scott J. Pearson | July 12, 2022July 12, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

Howard Thurman is a name that scholars of twentieth-century Christianity and African-American culture know well, but few in the mainstream United States are familiar with it. However, more people should be, and Harvey writes this religious biography to bring his name to the fore. Thurman was known as “the mentor to the movement” and mentored dozens of civil rights’ leaders, including Martin Luther King. He laid the groundwork for the dismantling of Jim Crow and…

Fiction-Stories Society

Juneteenth by Ralph Ellison

By Scott J. Pearson | February 12, 2022February 12, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

Juneteenth, of course, is the day that word of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation reached the depths of Texas and marks the day when freedom was finally brought to all American slaves. Ralph Ellison, an African-American author of the outstanding and renowned Invisible Man, spent forty years compiling notes for this book. Eventually, death overtook him before a final version could be reached. Nonetheless, scholar John F. Callahan compiled this edition a few years after Ellison’s…

Biography-Memoir Society

Just Pursuit: A Black Prosecutor’s Fight for Fairness

By Scott J. Pearson | October 22, 2021October 22, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

For four years, Coates served as a federal prosecutor for the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in the District of Columbia. This gave her an up-front view on social ills plaguing America. As the title reveals, she, herself black, wrestles at length in this book with the dynamics of race and justice in the legal system. Her analysis does not provide easy answers. Someone surely is not guilty just because he/she is black, but neither…