For 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.
Timothy Fritz is associate professor and Department Chair of History at Mount St. Mary's University. Trisha Posey is Professor of history and director of the Honors Scholars Program at John Brown University.
Foreword, 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
While 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
