Ray Allen Billington (1903–1981)

Charlotte L. Forten (1838-1914) was sensitive, intelligent, and educated in the culture and conventions of pre-Civil War America. But one thing distinguished her from other young Philadelphia women: she was black, destined to endure the constant insults that were accorded any person of color in her day. Her remarkable diary reveals how her resentment against the prejudice of the white world became transformed into an iron determination to excel. Impatient to help the self-advancement of show more other blacks, she went to Massachusetts to become a teacher and became active in literary and abolitionist circles. Then, during the Civil War, she traveled to South Carolina to participate in a unique social experiment involving newly freed blacks of the Sea Islands. In 1878 she married the Reverand Francis J. Grimké, the son of Henry Grimké whose two sisters, Sarah and Angelina, were prominent abolitionists. Charlotte Forten’s zeal for justice and her personal renderings of the events and people of her day make her journal an important document in American social history. Her bequest to humanity, Ray Allen Billington writes, “was a journal which could reveal to a later generation her undying belief in human decency and equality.” - from publisher show less

For those who are concerned in the 21st century with the continued relevance of the church, here is an account of one man's journey to explore similar ideas in the 1960s. He describes setting up communities in parallel with traditional church gatherings. He explores the dichotomy between "Church and Non-Church", "Theology and non-Theology" and what it means to have human values. This book is of interest to all those who have engaged with the parallel "Honest to God" debate sparked by the show more then Bishop of Woolwich. show less

One of my favorite books of all time, when it comes to American history.

Uses famous American landmarks to tell the history of America.