Twelve Years A Slave

By Solomon Northup

"So we passed, hand-cuffed and in silence, through the streets of Washington--through the Capital of a nation, whose theory of government, we are told, rests on the foundation of man's inalienable right to life, LIBERTY, and the pursuit of happiness! Hail! Columbia, happy land, indeed!" Solomon Northup, kidnapped free man at the outset of his twelve years a slave.

Solomon Northup is the reason the term, "required reading" was coined. Twelve Years A Slave is an eye opening, heart wrenching first-hand account of slavery near the Red River in Louisiana. Gripping and detailed, Northup's story is full of victims and villains, along with a kind-hearted few who, raised in milieu of Southern slavery, were ignorant but willing participants and perpetrators of its insensibility and insanity. Northup's account is well written and unvarnished, the stories as raw as the backs of the whipped slaves we meet. As he notes at the conclusion of his dark account, "If I have failed in anything, it has been in presenting to the reader too prominently the bright side of the picture." Readers of The Warmth Of Other Suns (Isabel Wilkerson) will find this a comparable volume for the way it transports the reader to another time and place, albeit an era that preceded the Great Migration about which Wilkerson writes. A "must read" that I wish I read much earlier in life.

Divided By Faith

By Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith

The writer's purpose is clear: "To learn about American life, this book examines the role of white evangelicalism in black-white relations." The authors contend that whites want to tear down the racial walls, but do more harm than good in their efforts. 

This book is a story of how well-intentioned people, their values, and their institutions actually recreate racial divisions and inequalities they ostensibly oppose.

Emerson and Smith set the stage in Chapter 1, "Confronting the Black-White Racial Divide." The challenge is racialization and a racialized society where "we are never unaware of the race of a person with whom we interact." A racialized society dispenses "economic, political, social, and even social rewards to groups along social lines." 

Divided by Faith does more than point fingers and lay blame. It constructs a way forward. The book is not a simple read or an easy read. It is well organized, thoroughly researched, and carefully noted.

The Warmth of Other Suns

By Isabel Wilkerson

A masterpiece. Isabel Wilkerson's impeccable research and captivating narrative weaves the migration stories of Ida Mae Gladney, Robert Foster, and George Starling as microcosms of The Great Migration of blacks who fled the South in search of freedom and a better life from 1915 to 1970. As she takes us on their journeys we meet Jim Crow in all his ugliness and feel the Southern caste system that imprisoned generations of African Americans. She brilliantly interlaces story with appropriate doses of hard demographics and sociological theory. What an education! Wilkerson exposed my misunderstanding of the "desegregated North." She increased my appreciation for and gratitude to those who have endured and overcome injustice so that a more just society exists.

Letter From The Birmingham Jail

By Martin Luther King Jr.

Confined to the Birmingham city jail, Dr. King succinctly and carefully answers the criticism of his fellow clergymen regarding the nonviolent protests of the civil rights movement. King writes, "I have looked at the South's beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive outlines of her massive religious education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: 'What king of people worship here? Who is there God? Where were their voices . . .?" King's questions for the white church and its leadership are one's for his day and our day too.

Ethical Leadership and Decision Making in Education

By Joan P. Shapiro and Jacqueline A. Stefkovich

Ethical Leadership and Decision Making in Education provides an overview of the ethics of justice, critique, and care. The authors argue for a fourth ethical paradigm, that of professional ethics. Shapiro and Stefkovich provide a framework to help educators develop that "professional ethic" paradigm through the use of a dynamic, multidimensional model. 

The author's overview of the ethics of justice, critique, and care is clear, sufficient, and brief. Personally, I would like to see them treat that portion of their book with a little more depth. That said, their overview of the literature and documentation is stellar and their explanations cogent.

Shapiro and Stefkovich do a really outstanding job of highlighting the complexity, i.e. paradoxical nature of ethical decisions. Their case-study approach is helpful and made more so by the number and variety of cases they attach to each of the complex dilemmas an educational leader may face.

It is easy to see why this book is in its fourth edition. A very helpful resource and guide. I echo Martha McCarthy's words: "This book is a must-read for the educational leaders and those who prepare them for their ethically challenging roles."

Hidden Figures

By Margot Lee Shetterly

I'm giving Hidden Figures five stars for bringing to light these hidden figures of flight, for her careful research, for her thoroughness, and for helping the reader to appreciate that our country can advance on two fronts (space and civil rights) even though one (space) may outpace the other (civil rights). Shetterly highlights the inequities for both blacks and women without an off-putting rancor; though justifiable for those who lived/live it.

While her story line could be more crisp and her characters more clearly differentiated in places, I love this book. It is history and civil rights advocacy presented in a compelling fashion.

In the Heart of the World

By Mother Teresa

As the title suggests, this work is a brief but rich compendium of Mother Teresa's thoughts, stories, and prayers (hers and others). You can read it quickly, but will benefit more by musing on it unhurriedly. Francis Bacon said, "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested." This book is to be chewed and digested.